Humanistic Approach Flashcards
What are the humanist views on free will?
It claims that human beings are self-determining and have free will. Because of this, Maslow and Rogers reject general scientific models and so it is a person centred approach.
What was Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
It started with physiological needs, then safety and security, then love and belonging, then self-esteem and finaly when all four lower levels are complete, the individual can work towards self-actualisation and reach their potential.
What did Rogers believe (congruence)?
That for personal growth, a persons concept of themself must have congruence with their ideal self. If there is a too big gap, there is incongruence and self-actualisation will not be possible.
What did Rogers believe (conditions of worth)?
He believed that issues we experience as adults, such as low self-esteem, are due to a lack of unconditional positive regard. A parent who sets boundaries for their love (conditions of worth) causes psychological problems in the future. This lead to the development of client-centred therapy to help patients, giving them the unconditional positive regard they failed to recieve as children.
What are the strengths of the Humanistic approach?
It isn’t reductionist and so it may have more validity in real life, it has real life application to client based therapy, it is a positive approach which is optimistic.
What are the weaknesses of the Humanistic approach?
It has limited application perhaps due to abstract concepts, it has untestable ideas and so is short on empirical evidence, it has cultural bias as the ideas of freedom and personal growth are more associated with western society and not to collectivist cultures.
