Humanistic psychology Flashcards
what is humanistic psychology
an approach to understanding behaviour that emphasises the importance of subjective experience and each person’s capacity for self-determination.
free will
Humanistic psychology claims human beings are 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. Humanistic psychologists reject more scientific models that attempt to establish general principles of human behaviour.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Maslow described a hierarchy of needs that motivate our behaviour. In order to meet self-actualisation, a number of deficiency’s must be met. At the bottom are physiological needs such as food and water. Next is the need for safety and security followed by love and belongingness and then self-esteem. A person can only progress through the hierarchy once the current need in the sequence is met. At the top is self-actualisation.
self-actualisation
Self-actualisation is the desire to grow psychologically and fulfil one’s full potential.
Humanistic psychologists regard personal growth as an essential part of being human. Personal growth is concerned with developing to become fulfilled, satisfied and goal orientated.
the self + congruence
Carl roger’s argued that to achieve personal growth an individual’s concept of self (the way they see themself) must have congruence with their ideal self. If too big a gap exists then the person will experience incongruence and self-actualisation will not be possible.
conditions of worth + influence on counselling psychology
In order to reduce the gap between self-concept and ideal self, Rogers developed client-centred-therapy to help people cope with the problems of everyday living. Rogers claimed many of the issues adults face have roots in childhood and can be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard. A parent who sets conditions of worth and boundaries on their love for their child by claiming ‘I will only love you if…’ Is storing up psychological problems for that child in the future. Rogers saw one of his roles as a therapist to provide his clients with unconditional positive regard that they failed to receive as children.
Evaluation of the humanistic approach (brief)
strength - optimistic approach
weakness - culturally biased
weakness - hard to scientifically test
strength of the humanistic approach
the humanistic approach is optimistic. Humanistic psychologists have been praised for promoting a positive image of the human condition. Freud saw human beings as prisoners of their past and claim we all exist somewhere between ‘common unhappiness and absolute despair’. Whereas, humanistic psychologists see all people as free to work towards achieving their potential and in control of their lives. Therefore, suggesting the humanistic approach offers a refreshing optimistic alternative to other approaches.
weaknesses of the humanistic approach
this approach may be culturally biased. Many of the ideas central to humanistic psychology, such as individual freedom and autonomy, would be much more readily associated with countries that have more individualist tendencies. Countries with collectivist tendencies emphasise more the needs of the group and interdependence. In such countries, the ideals of humanistic psychology may not be as important as in others. Therefore, it’s possible this approach doesn’t apply universally and is a product of the cultural context within which it was developed.
it is hard to scientifically test the effectiveness of humanistic counselling as it cannot be done in an experimental context. People believe they benefit from counselling, and there is considerable empirical evidence to support this effectiveness of counselling methods derived from Rogers’ model, such as CBT and ACT. Since a cause and effect relationship cannot be established between the treatment and outcome, scientific credibility about the validity of the theory is almost impossible.
