Humanistic approach Flashcards
How did the humanistic approach arise?
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow added the assumption that humans were basically good to the standard existential assumptions of phenomenology is central and people have free will
According to Rogers, what do you need to know to fully understand someone?
Their phenomenal field, their entire panorama of conscious experience.
What aspect did Rogers add?
He introduced the idea that humans have a basic need to actualize, to maintain and enhance life, which was a contrast to existentialism’s idea that there was no goal.
What are the similarities and differences between Maslow and Rogers?
Maslow began with the same basic assumption that humans strive to self-actualize but differed in that he believed this motive only became active if basic needs were met.
What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
It’s the basis of human motivation, it dictates people’s greatest motives.
What is the problem of interpreting Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a pyramid?
It implies that once lower-levels are satisfied, it no longer motivates behavior
It implies that the same structure applies to everybody in the same way
It implies that the “higher” motivations are rarer and better.
What new take has Kenrick brought?
He and his colleagues updated the hierarchy of needs in a more evolutionary way, which kind of went against all of humanistic goal.
What is the person Maslow and Rogers believed was the best to be?
A fully functioning person, what existentialists would call an authentic existence.
How can one become a fully functioning person?
Through unconditional positive regard.
What are conditions of worth?
The idea that we are only worthy of love if we fulfill certain criteria, it gets in the way of developing a real sense of self, as one pretends to be and like what they are supposed to
What is the way of Rogerian and humanistic therapy?
Provide unconditional positive regard and insight into the patient’s own thoughts and feelings. Help the patient bring a better overlap between their ideal and real self.
What was George Kelly’s unique contribution to humanism?
He emphasized how one’s cognitive system assembles one’s construals of the world into individually held theories or personal constructs.
Personal constructs then help determine how new experiences are construed.
How did Kelly view constructs?
He viewed them as bipolar dimensions along which things can be arranged.
How would Kelly assess people’s personal constructs?
A method called Rep test, or Role construct repertory test. It consists on asking people to identify similarities between two things or people and then differences to a third.
What are chronically accessible constructs?
Particular constructs that come to mind more readily in certain individuals
Did Kelly believe your past experiences determine your constructs?
No, he actually believed that, although past experiences influence the constructs, there are multiple choices that might come from the same experience.
What are terms that Kelly loved?
Sociality corollary: to understand another person, you have to understand their personal construct system.
Constructive alternativism: there are multiple choices of construals that you can choose
What contributions does the emphasis on phenomenology by humanistic psychology brings?
It reminds us of the mystery of existence
It teaches us that the only way to understand others is understanding their view of the world
It focuses attention on happiness
What were the critiques of the approaches of the time of the rise of humanism?
Behaviorism - too reductionistic (ignored human experience), focused on animal research and saw organisms as passive, lacking capacity for change.
Psychoanalysis - Lack of free will and a pessimistic view of humanity.
What is the Organismic valuing process by Rogers?
It refers to evaluating subjective experiences to determine possible impact on self-actualization. It motivates behavior as we keep doing what satisfies us.
What does the fully functioning person experience?
Congruence and acceptance of self
Openness to new experiences
Trust in own self and organismic valuing process
Psychological well being
Where does congruence/incongruence comes from?
Unconditional positive regard, conditions of worth, the use of organismic valuing process and maybe therapeutic relationship.
How did Rogers utilize the Q sort?
He used it in therapy to compare the self and ideal sort and quantify self-perceptions
What was later added to Maslow’s pyramid when he was dying?
Self-transcendence
What is personality for Kelly?
The way we construe the world.
What approaches can Kelly’s be fit into?
Cognitive, motivational, phenomenological.
According to Kelly, when does psychological distress arise?
When personal constructs are too inconsistent, rigid or fail to predict new experiences.
What are the cultural critiques to phenomenological approaches?
They all focus on the independent self
They all emphasize personal and individual freedom
They all neglect structural factors that impact opportunities for growth and well-being
Maslow pyramid does not hold up in collectivist cultures.
What is TMT?
It’s a theory that examines how people cope with the existencial anxiety of being aware of the inevitability of death
What are the two ways TMT hypothesizes people defend themselves?
By either having faith in an internalized cultural worldview or by self-esteem, which can only be obtained by living up to the standard prescribed by one’s worldview.
What do these defenses against existencial anxiety bring?
A source of meaning and symbolic immortality.
What happens when mortality is made salient?
We cling more to these world views, especially those low in self esteem, but not so much for those high in mindfulness
What is positive psychology?
The study of the conditions that contribute to the flourishing of people, groups and institutions. The scientific study of what makes life worth living that builds up on humanistic ideas.
What are the three pillars of positive psychology?
Positive subjective experience
Positive individual characteristics
Positive institutions
