Humanistic psychology Flashcards
Define the term humanistic psychology.
An approach to understanding behaviour that emphasises the importance of looking at individuals as a whole person and their capacity for self-determination.
Define the term free will.
The ability to make genuine free choices over their actions.
Explain free will in the humanistic approach.
Humanistic psychology suggests that humans have free will over their actions. Therefore, it rejects the attempts by other approaches to establish general laws of behaviour, suggesting that human behaviour is unpredictable and that each person is unique, as everyone makes their own choices in life.
- claims human beings are self-determining and have free will.
- doesn’t mean people aren’t affected by external and internal influences but are active agents.
How are other approach different in regards to free will?
Other approaches to psychology are determinist to a greater or lesser extent, believing that human behaviour is shaped or determined by influences such as biology, learning, upbringing and so on.
Define the term self-actualisation.
The desire to grow psychologically and fulfil one’s full potential - becoming what you are capable of.
What is the hierarchy of needs?
A concept created by Maslow who is one of the founders of the humanistic approach it’s a five level hierarchal sequence where basic needs (such as hunger) must be satisfied before higher psychological needs (such as self-esteem and self-actualisation) can be achieved.
State the sequence of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Self-actualisation
Esteem - respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, freedom.
Love and belonging - friendship, intimacy, family, sense of connection.
Safety and security - personal security, employment, resources, health, property.
Physiological needs - breathing, food, sex, water, shelter, homeostasis, excretion.
Explain the self and congruence.
Rogers suggested that in order to grow and develop, there must be congruence (equivalence) between a person’s concept of self and their ideal self. If there’s too big a gap between these, the person experience is incongruent and they wont be able to self-actualise therefore becoming anxious and depressed.
Define self.
The way they see themselves.
Define ideal self.
The person they want to be.
What is client-cantered therapy?
A therapy developed by Rogers, this aims to achieve congruence in the client, who takes an active role in the therapy. The cause of incongruence may have been a lack of unconditional positive regard from parents- this means that the person’s parents attached ‘conditions of worth’ to them- setting conditions on their love. For example, telling them they will only love them if they achieve something (good exam results). This creates psychological problems for the person. In the therapy, the therapist provides the client with unconditional positive regard, along with empathy and genuineness, to try and reduce the incongruence between the client’s concept of self and ideal self.
What are the strengths of the humanistic approach?
Not reductionist.
Positive approach
How is the humanistic approach not reductionist?
More holistic than many others, as it considers a range of influences on a person and does not try to explain behaviour in simplistic terms. This is a strength as it better represents the complexity of human behaviour.
Define the term reductionism.
Reducing complex phenomena into their most basic parts.
How do other approaches display reductionism?
Behaviourist: Explain human and animal learning in terms of simple stimulus - response connections.
Cognitive: See humans as information-processing ‘machines’.
Biological: Reduce behaviour to its basic physiological process
Psychodynamic: Freud described the whole of personality as a conflict between three things: Id, Ego and Superego.
