Humanistic Psychology Flashcards
Free will
All the approaches we have considered so far are determinist to some degree in their suggestion that behaviour is entirely, or at least partly, shaped by forces over which we have no control. Even the cognitive approach, which claims we are free to choose our own thoughts, would still argue that such choice is constrained by the limits of our cognitive system. Humanistic psychology is quite different in this respect, claiming that human beings are essentially selF-determining and have free will. People are still affected by external and internal influences, but are also active agents who can determine their own development.
For this reason, humanistic psychologists such as Rogers and Maslow, reject more scientife models that attempt to establish general principles of human behaviour. As active agents we are all unique, and psychology should concern itself with the study of subjective experience rather than general laws. This is often referred to as a person -centred approach in psychology.
Maslows hierarchy of needs
Abraham Maslow was one of the founders of the humanistic movement in psychology.
One of his main interests was in what motivates people. He described a hierachy of needs that motivate our behaviour. In order to achieve our primary goal of self-actualisation, a number of other deficiency needs must first be met. At the bottom (see diagram below left are physiological needs such as food and water. Imagine you wanted to produce the best psychology essay you had ever written, this would be very difficult if you were hungry or tired.
Moving up the hierarchy, the next deficiency need is safety and security followed by love and belongingness and then self-esteem. A person is only able to progress through the hierarchy once the current need in the sequence has been met. At the top is self-actualisation.
Self-actualisation
Most people have an innate desire to achieve their full potential - to become the best they can possibly be. Self-actualisation represents the uppermost level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Alfour lower levels of the hierarchy (deficiency needs) must be met before the individual can work towards self-actualisation (a ‘growth need) and fulfil their potential. This applies to early development when a baby is first focused on physiological needs and applies throughout life.
Humanistic psychologists regard personal growth as an essential part of what it is to be human. Personal growth is concerned with developing and changing as a person to become fulfilled, satisfied and goal -orientated. Not everyone will manage this, however, and there are important psychological barriers that may prevent a person from reaching their potential.
The self, congruence and conditions of worth
Carl Rogers argued that for personal growth to be achieved an individual’s concept of self (the way they see themselves) must be broadly equivalent to, or have congruence with, their ideal self (the person they want to be). If too big a gap exists between the two ‘selves’ the person will experience a state of incongruence and self-actualisation will not be possible due to the negative feelings of self-worth that arise from incongruence.
In order to reduce the gap between the self-concept and the ideal self, Rogers developed client-centred therapy - also called ‘counselling’ to help people cope with the problems of everyday living. Rogers claimed that many of the issues we experience as adults, such as worthlessness and low self-esteem, have their roots in childhood and can often be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard (or lack of unconditional love) from our parents. A parent who sets boundaries or limits on their love for their child (conditions of worth) by claiming “I will only love you if’ is storing up psychological problems for that child in the future. Thus, Rogers saw one of his roles as an effective therapist as being able to provide his clients with the unconditional positive regard that they had failed to receive as children.
Strength-not reductionist
Rejects attempts to break up behaviour and experience into smaller components (reductionism). Behaviourists-simple stimulus-response connections. Cognitive-humans are information-processing machines. Biological-reduces behaviour to its basic physiological processes. Freud- Id ego and superego. In contrast humanists advocate holism, the idea that subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person. This approach may have more validity than its alternatives by considering meaningful human behaviour within its real world context.
Counterpoint-reductionist approaches may be more scientific. Ideal of science is the experiment, and experiments reduce behaviour to independent and dependant variables. In humanistic psychology there are few concepts that can be broken down into single variables and measured. Short on empirical evidence to support its claims.
Strength-positive approach
Optimistic. Humanistic psychologists have been praised for bringing the person back into psychology and promoting positive image of the human condition. Freud saw humans as prisoners of their past and claimed all of us existed somewhere between common unhappiness and absolute despair. In contrast humanistic psychologists see all people as basically good, free to work towards the achievement of their potential and in control of their lives.
Limitation- cultural bias
Many ideas centered around humanistic psychology like individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth would be more readily associated with countries that have more individualist tendencies. Countries with collectivist tendencies emphasise more the needs of the group and interdependence. Ideals of humanistic psychology may not be as important as in others. Therefore the approach doesn’t apply universally.
