Humanistic Approach Flashcards
What are in the hierarchy of Needs
Self actualisation Esteem Love/belonging Safety Psychological
Assumptions of the approach
Each person can exercise free will – explanation might focus on principle of determinism in science.
• Each person is a rational and conscious being and not dominated by unconscious primitive instincts.
• A person’s subjective experience and understanding of the world is of greater importance to understanding the person than objective reality.
• Humans should be viewed as a whole and not reduced to component parts.
• Humans strive towards achieving self-actualisation.
• Each person is unique – explanation might focus on general laws of behaviour / nomothetic approach.
Hierarchy of needs
Each need must be satisfied before we can move onto the next need.
• Children develop through the lower level needs first before moving onto the higher level needs as they grow and mature into adults. (ontogeny).
• Higher level needs are new to the evolutionary process (phylogenesis).
• The higher needs become linked to life experience and become less linked to biology.
• Every individual is unique (idiographic approach).
Basic tenants
- All humans are basically good and valued
- We have free will to become who we want
- We have responsibility for our own behavior • Feelings are important, as is their subjectivity • Reality itself is subjective
- We all choose to grow
- We are not just animals
Who was Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers was one of the pioneering founders of the humanistic approach.
• Rogers’ focus on the concept of self and self-acceptance
• He moved away from traditional psychoanalysis & developed person-centred approach to therapy - client led
• “each client has within him or herself the vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his or her self-concept, attitudes, and self-directed behavior—and that these resources can be tapped by providing a definable climate of facilitative attitudes.”
What is the ‘real self’
• How I am in the real world • More objective
• How others see me
Ideal Self
•Who I wish I could be if I were the best “me”
• Evidences the growth potential
• Can also evidence unrealistic expectations
What is a sense of well-being
- A healthy sense of wellbeing is established if an individual maintains a reasonable consistency between ideal self and actual behaviour. This is known as congruence.
- The greater the gap between the ideal self and the actual self, the greater the incongruence.
- Incongruence can lead to low self-worth and maladjustment.
- Defence mechanisms (distortion, denial, blocking) can stop the self from growing and changing, and widen the gulf between our ideal self and true self.
What is the ‘ideal self’
Who I wish I could be if I were the best ‘me’
Evidences the growth potential
Can also evidence unrealistic expectations
Incongruent
Incongruence is a humanistic psychology concept developed by Carl Rogers which suggests that unpleasant feelings can result from a discrepancy between our perceived and ideal self. The perceived self is how an individual views themselves and the ideal self is how an individual wishes they were.
Congruent
Congruence is a term used by Carl Rogers (a humanistic psychologist) to describe a state in which a person’s ideal self and actual experience are consistent or very similar. However, Rogers felt that it was rare for a complete state of congruence to exist and that all people experience a certain amount of incongruence.
Methodology used in humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychologists prefer qualitative methods
- Unstructured interviewing- This allows access to other people’s views and experiences without imposing on them the researcher’s ideas about what is important.
- Participant observation- This is where the researcher takes part in what the participants are studying in order to understand how their participants perceive it.
- Diaries, letters and biographical material- Humanistic psychologists may also analyse all sorts of other qualitative materials that allow them insight into how people understand their world.
- Rejecting scientific methods of experiments and making universal laws about people.
What is unconditional positive regard
Feeling valued by significant people in their lives e.g parents (love, praise and acceptance)
What happens when unconditional positive regard is given freely
The person receiving it will develop a healthy sense of self worth, recognising their abilities and difficulties.
What happens to children that receive conditions of worth (negative regard)
These children may end up developing low self esteem
