Humanistic approaches to personality

Question 1

Maslow and Rogers

Answer 1

• reacted against psychoanalytic and learning theory
• emphasised active, free and creative aspects of human nature
• by taking rationality and consciousness and rejection of rewards and punishments.
• view people as ‘intrinsically motivated to grow and develop in positive ways’
• environment enables growth and self-realization
• focus on here and now

Question 2

Maslow & Self-actualisation

Answer 2

• people motivated to achieve certain needs and some needs take precedence over others (Instinctoid tendencies)
• ‘deficiency motives’ and ‘growth motives’
• individuals must satisfy lower level deficit needs before progressing to meet higher level growth needs

Question 3

Physiological Needs

Answer 3

• needs for survival
• air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sleep
• if needs not met human body can’t function optimally
• most important needs

Question 4

Safety Needs

Answer 4

• once individual’s physiological needs are met needs for security and safety become salient
• need for security, law-abiding communities , self-protection, a sense of order and predictability
  -can be fulfilled by the family and society

Question 5

Belongingness & Love Needs

Answer 5

• once physiological and safety need taken care of
• we all need to feel that we are needed and accepted by others
• refers to emotional need for interpersonal relationships, affiliating, connectedness, and being part of a group

Question 6

Esteem Needs

Answer 6

• last of the “basic needs”
  Maslow (1970) divided these into two types:
• need to see ourselves as competent
• need for esteem based on the evaluation of others

Question 7

The Need for Self-actualisation

Answer 7

• highest level of need is for ‘Self-actualisation’
• realization of a person’s potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
• demands individuals develop themselves so they can achieve full potential
• Maslow (1964) not all individuals achieve ‘Self-actualisation’, but many aim to (rare)

Question 8

Characteristics of Self-actualisers

Answer 8

• highly creative
• capable of deep appreciation of basic life-experience
• think differently (non judgemental form of thought)
• accept themselves and others for what they are
• perceive reality efficiently and can tolerate uncertainty
• strong moral/ethical standards
• concerned for the welfare of humanity
• problem-centered (not self-centered)
• establish deep satisfying interpersonal relationships

Question 9

Evaluation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Answer 9

• neat and simple- over simplification?
• Maslow formulated characteristics of self-actualized
  only looking at “self-actualized” individuals
• extremely subjective
• limited sample
• difficult to test Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• assumes lower needs need to be satisfied first
• details of personality development is lacking

Question 10

Carl Rogers- Self Actualisation

Answer 10

• optimism and belief are intrinsic human tendency to self-actualize
  -suggested from birth we all have a drive towards actualising our potential
• any ‘blocks’ in our actualising tendency are cause of psychological problems
• for person to develop and grow need an environment that provides empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence

Question 11

Carl Rogers Person-Centred Approach

Answer 11

• acknowledged experience plays important role in personality development
• saw humans as future-orientated which shapes beh
• felt individuals are best experts on themselves
• goal for counselling to provide safe environment to help individuals reconnect with their ‘true self’

Question 12

Evaluation of Rogers’ Theory

Answer 12

• overly optimistic conceptualisation of human beings
• mainly focuses on ‘conscious’ experience and neglects unconscious
• concepts like ‘unconditional positive regard’ and ‘congruence’ difficult to define and measure

Question 13

Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

Answer 13

• recent development focuses on human motivation and personality
• examines how social contexts and individual differences facilitate different types of motivation
• Basic needs theory
• Cognitive evaluation theory
• Organismic integration theory
• Causality orientation theory

Question 14

SDT: Intrinsic motivation

Answer 14

• completing an activity for fun, enjoyment and pleasure (Internal)

Question 15

SDT: Extrinsic motivation

Answer 15

• completing an activity because of an ‘external’ force (e.g., to avoid punishment or receive praise)

Question 16

SDT: 3 basic needs

Answer 16

Autonomy- extent which a person has control over their choices/actions

Competence- feeling one is effective in meeting environmental demands

Relatedness- feeling connected with and cared for by significant others

Question 17

SDT: Cognitive evaluation theory

Answer 17

• helps understand variability in intrinsic motivation
• helps explain influence rewards have on variability in intrinsic motivation

Key functional components of rewards:

Controlling function
- If rewards are seen to be controlling beh then withdrawal of reward likely to lead to subsequent decreases in intrinsic motivation

Information function
- If reward provides info about individuals’ competence thenquite likely that intrinsic motivation can be enhanced with rewards

Question 18

SDT: Organismic integration theory

Answer 18

Extrinsic motivation 4 types:

External regulation – motivations controlled by rewards and threats from external sources

Introjected regulation- behand attitudes motivated as a result of avoiding negative feeling

Identified regulation- involves conscious acceptance of beh as being important to achieve personally valued outcomes

Integrated regulation- involves internalisation of identified regulation so engaging in the beh is fully congruent with one’s sense of self and who one is

Question 19

SDT: Causality orientation theory

Answer 19

• looks at role of individual differences in motivation orientations
  Three different motivation orientations:

Autonomy orientation – reflects motivations towards aspects of the environment that stimulate the individuals intrinsic motivation

Controlled orientation- extent a person is orientated toward external motivation- places importance on extrinsic factors

Impersonal orientation- relates to amotivation and a lack of intention to engage in behaviour- lacks any motivation

Question 20

Evaluation of SDT

Answer 20

• brings together multiple theories to explain individuals beh with substantial empirical research
• contradicts behaviourists view that beh is learned through intersection with stimuli in environment
• lack of explanation of what ‘amotivations’ occur