Humanistic approach

Question 1

what is the assumption of the humanistic approach and what does it differ from

Answer 1

Humanistic psychology differs from most other approaches in psychology by focusing on conscious experience rather than on behaviour on personal responsibility and free will rather than determination

Question 2

Who was it created by and what does it focus on

Answer 2

Originally developed by carl rogers and Abraham marslow in the 1950’s it emphasizes the importance of individuals striving towards personal growth and fulfilment

Question 3

what is free will

Answer 3

Free will is conscious control over our behaviour it doesn’t mean we are not affected by our external influences we are active agents and we make our own decisions and can reverse influences ultimately change behaviour due to decisions which suggest a person centred approach

Question 4

What Is Marlow’s Hierachy of needs

Answer 4

Marslow’s hierarchy of needs are organised in a hierarchy and we move through these steps as we develop, our most basic needs are physiological needs and our most advanced need is self actualisation

Question 5

How does the heirachy of needs work

Answer 5

actualisation each level needs to be fulfilled in order to move onto the next level so that we can develop. The most basic need is the most powerful and the hardest to ignore if it is not fulfilled.

Question 6

what is self actualisation

Answer 6

people have an intrinsic drive and motivation to achieve full potential

Question 7

what needs to happen before we self actualise

Answer 7

we need to meet the more powerful basic needs. This personal growth is an essential part of being human concerned with contionuos change and development and become fulfilled and satisfied. Not everyone will achieve self actualisation due to psychological barriers and conditions of worth

Question 8

what is self concept

Answer 8

We all have self concept this is how we see ourselves based in how we feel about ourselves and the type of positive regard that we get from people around us

Question 9

what is positive regard

Answer 9

Positive regard is the love and acceptance we get from other people

Question 10

what is unconditional regard

Answer 10

unconditional regard is receiving love and acceptance of eho you are regardless

Question 11

what are the steps for unconditional regard

Answer 11

when we receive unconditional positive regard from those around us leads to positive self concept and places no condition of worth thus there is less disrepacity between our self concept and our ideal seld so we are in congruence and so it is easier to achieve self actualisation which then leads to a healthy sense of self

Question 12

what is conditional regard

Answer 12

when love and acceptance when we do what another person wants us to do we get conditional regard from those around us when we place conditional worth on ourselves and leaves us unsatisfied with a negative self concept

Question 13

what are the steps for conditional regard

Answer 13

when we place conditional worth on ourselves and leaves us unsatisfied with a negative self concept. There is a large discrepancy between self concept and ideal self and this leads to congruence and it is harder to meet self actualisation and this leads to unhealthy sense of self which may lead o psychological difficulties. We can improve congruence by developing a more healthy sense of self and develop a more realistic and achievable ideal self

Question 14

one strength of practical applications

Answer 14

One strength is that there are practical application for example rogerian concepts have been extremely influential on counselling techniques used both in the uk and the us and is known as client centred therapy this is a strength as the humanistic idea that humans have free will and are self determining means the client can be encouraged to discover their own solutions in an environment which is positive and non judgemental this is achieved by the therapist providing empathy and unconditional positive regard helping the client to lose their conditions of worth and have more congruence between ideal self and self concept.

Question 15

holistic version

Answer 15

Another strength is that the humanistic approach is very holistic as the approach believs that human experiences can only be understood by considering the person and their behaviour as a whole. It rejects any attempts to break up behaviour into smaller components wheras approaches like the behaviourist approach are highly reducationist as they simplify complex behaviours into stimulus and response this is a s strength because it shows understandinf of complex behaviours and recognizes that behaviour is a combination of all factors and shouldn’t be viewed singly

Question 16

difficult to test scientifically

Answer 16

A weakness is that the humanistic approach is difficult to test scientifically most of the research revolves around concepts that are hard to operationalise and therefore measure such as self actualisation as duch concepts are hard to measure it can be argued that they are hard to falsify or prove statistically a futher problem is that with such poorly defined concept is self report and non experiemtnal methods therefore approach is unscientific and it diminishes psychology as a credible science

Question 17

approach is unrealistic

Answer 17

Another weakness is that the approach is unrealistic critics argue that people are not as growth orientated as humanistic theorist suggest and have the capacity for pessimism and self destructive behaviour in addition the approach does not recognize everyday complications which mean it is hard to achieve self actualisation such as break up or bereavement furtherore not all cultures have intrinsic motivation for self actualisation collectivist cultures focus on the family and the community rather than themselve

Question 18

how does therapy and counselling work

Answer 18

Rogers believe that individuals psychological problem are a direct result of conditions of worth and conditional regard from others believing that with counselling people can solve their problems constructively becoming a more functioning person therapy provides empathy and unconditional regard showing acceptance and understanding regardless of feeling and attitudes by the client aims are to support environment and dissolve conditions of worth.