Humanistic Approaches 1

Question 1

What is humanism?

Answer 1

-Natural potential that we can ‘actualise’
-Unable to be our true self
-Described a hierarchy on human needs containing deficiency and growth, can only reach higher things when lower ones have been met
-Human nature is a positive thing

Question 2

What is extentialism?

Answer 2

-Human limitations and realities
-Fail to create meaning in life

Question 3

Freud views v Rogers views

Answer 3

-Freud had a pessimistic view that was linked to sexual drives causing aggression
-Rogers said humans were good and that actualising tendency leads to productivity

Question 4

What are the different sections of Rogers’ Person-Centred Approach?

Answer 4

-Actualising tendency
-Organismic valuing
-Experience and awareness
-Self-concept
-Conditions of worth
-Healthy and maladaptive development
-Mental disorders and distress

Question 5

Describe actualising tendency

Answer 5

-Leads to more productive life
-Single basic motivating drive that is present within all living things
-Includes maintenance e.g. food, water, reproduction, growth and fulfilment

Question 6

Describe organismic valuing

Answer 6

-Being true to ourselves
-Weighing experiences and placing a value on these based on how much they satisfied the organism
-Subjective experience
-Works best in infancy e.g. satisfying need for hunger

Question 7

Describe experience and awareness

Answer 7

-Awareness is based on the representation of experiences we go through
-Defensive denials/distortion

Question 8

Describe self-concept

Answer 8

-Based on perceptions you have of yourself
-Includes qualities you think you have, values and characteristics, relationships you have and what your ‘ideal self’ is
-Based on own perspective
-Not static, changes over time

Question 9

Describe conditions of worth

Answer 9

-Need for positive regard
-Unconditional or conditional (valued for who you are or valued for what others want you to do)
-Links to Freudian idea of super-ego
-Children may internalise feelings of worth, starting to act in a way that others want you to be even if you don’t agree

Question 10

Describe healthy v maladaptive development

Answer 10

-Fully functioning state means that there is unconditional self regard and regard from others
-Maladjusted state means there is conditional self regard and regard from others
-High functioning means most experiences are accurately perceived
-Low functioning means experiences are distorted

Question 11

Describe mental distress and disorders

Answer 11

-Incongruence between self concept and experience leads to threat
-Incongruence that is subceived (knowing there’s a threat without knowing what the threat is) leads to anxiety
-Defensiveness such as denial leads to neurotic behaviour

Question 12

What are the goals of person-centred therapy?

Answer 12

-Rejects ideas from medical model
-Client is fully responsible for their goals
-Therapist trusts actualising tendency
-Assistance in growth process which increases actualisation

Question 13

What is the therapeutic process?

Answer 13

-No specific techniques, it’s just based on relationship and attitude of therapist and client
-Due to actualising tendency, change with be positive

Question 14

What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for growth to take place?

Answer 14

-2 people in psychological contact
-Client in incongruent state, vulnerable and anxious
-Therapist in incongruent state, integrated in relationship
-Therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client
-Therapist has empathic understanding g of client’s view and want’s to communicate
-Communication to client of therapists empathic understanding

Question 15

What are the core attitudinal conditions?

Answer 15

-Congruence - genuineness, openness and authenticity
-Unconditional positive regard - spontaneous prizing of client
-Empathy - understanding clients feelings and having internal frame of reference e.g. listening, communicating etc.

Question 16

State 4 negatives when evaluating person centred therapy

Answer 16

-Actualising tendency cab’t be directly observed
-Too optimistic for human nature
-Concepts can’t be tested
-Lack of research to support study as there’s no interest in the topic

Question 17

State 4 positives when evaluating person centred therapy

Answer 17

-Emphasis on research
-Shows importance of empathy (Watson, 2002. had research that consistently showed that empathy was a key concept in progress)
-Importance of self concept to guide behaviour
(Strauman et al. 1991 found discrepancy between who you are and who others think you should be causes major anxiety)
-Suggests there is ‘no correct way of being’ and so is fully inclusive from a diversity perspective