humanistic approach (y13)

Question 1

what is. the self

Answer 1

-the self is our own experiences, our concept of who we are, and evaluations from other people- THIS IMPACTS OUR SELF ESTEEM

Question 2

what is congruence (in relation to self)

Answer 2

• self concept (who i am now) + ideal self concept (who i want to be) IS CONGRUENT
• if gap is too big, a person experienced incongruence (low self esteem) and self actualisation is not possible—> this can be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard from our parents in childhood so we need therapy

Question 3

what is maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 3

(BOTTOM-HIGHEST)

1. physiological- food, water, sleep, clothing
2. safety- employment, resources, health, property
3. love and belongingness- friendliness, intimacy, family
4. esteem- respect, good about yourself, status, recognition
5. SELF ACTUALISATION- ‘being’ need

Question 4

what happens if maslow’s hierarchy of needs aren’t met

Answer 4

-deficiency needs, he believed that we would experience this as having something important missing in our lives

Question 5

free will

Answer 5

• we are all unique, we adopt a ‘person centred approach’ focusing on subjective experience
• PEOPLE STILL AFFECTED BY EXTERNAL/ INTERNAL INFLUENCE BUT WE DETERMINE OUR OWN DEVELOPMENT

Question 6

what did Rogen emphasise about free will

Answer 6

-emphasised ability of people to reflect on their feelings and experiences to initiate change and growth

Question 7

influence of counselling

Answer 7

• non directive, realistic view of world
• each person is their own expert and therefore find their own solution
• therapist gives unconditional positive regard

Question 8

3 conditions of a therapist

Answer 8

1. empathetic understanding
2. unconditional positive regard
3. therapist is congruent

Question 9

strength of humanistic approach

Answer 9

-not reductionist, Humanistic psychologist take into account subjective experiences by using idiographic methods, this approach is more valid than other approaches; for example, Behaviourism explains all human learning with simple stimulus to response connections, this is the strength of the humanistic approach because it considers real life human experience

Question 10

weakness of humanistic approach

Answer 10

• cultural bias
• humanistic psychologist take into account individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth but these concepts are more readily associated with individualistic cultures like USA, this is a weakness because in other cultures such as collectivist cultures there may be key differences so we therefore cannot apply the subjective experience to everyone which results in it are lacking external validity

Question 11

another strength of humanistic approach

Answer 11

free will
-humanistic psychologists believe that people are in control and are capable of their own change, this is a strength because we can achieve self actualisation from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for example, good self-esteem; HOWEVER, Because we have free will, this cannot be studied directly as it is an abstract idea, it is not scientific and thus not credible, it is not held in high regard like the biological approach with formulates general laws of human behaviour (nomothetic)

Question 12

structure

Answer 12

1) free will + Rogen
2) the self + congruence
3) therapist
4) maslow