humanistic psychology Flashcards
who are the humanistic psychologists?
Maslow, and Carl Rogers
what do Maslow and Carl Rogers both reject?
scientific models
does the humanistic approach have positive or negative view of humans?
positive
is it holistic or reductionist?
holistic- as takes mind, body etc into account
what does it mean by saying the view takes an idiographic approach?
it accepts humans are unique (no two people are the same)
this is opposite to nomothetic which groups people
humanistic psychology we are all unique and psychology should study…
subjective experience over general laws
what is free will?
- suggests humans are self-determining and have free will
- ppl= affected by internal + external influences but also are agents who can determine their own development
- this is different from other approaches which= determinist to some degree (even cognitive approach though it suggests we are free to choose our thoughts it argues choice as constrained by limits of cognitive system)
what is maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
- main interest= what focuses people
- hierarchy of needs motivates our behaviour to achieve our goal (self-actualisation)
what is the order of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
- self actualisation
- self esteem
- love + belonging
- safety + security
- physiological needs (food + water)
Steve Someties Loves Scranning Pies
what can you say about the hierarchy of needs?
- have to start at bottom and work up, you can’t skip a stage but can go back
what is self-actualisation?
- people have innate desire to reach full potential and become the best they can be
- personal growth= essential part of being human
explain personal growth.
- developing and changing as a person to become fulfilled, satisfied + goal orientated
- sometimes have psychological barriers which prevent someone from reaching full potential
what was carl rogers about?
- he spoke about self, congruence and conditions of worth
what did carl rogers say we must do to achieve personal growth?
- to achieve personal growth an individuals concept of self must have congruence with their ideal self
what happens if gap between real and ideal self is too big?
- there will be incongruence meaning self-actualisation is not possible due to negative feelings of self worth.
what is real and ideal self?
real self= who we are
ideal self= who we want to be
what did Rogers create to reduce the gap between real and ideal self?
- Rogers developed client-centred therapy (counselling) to help people cope with problems as many issues in adults are due to low self-esteem + worthlessness
how do adults develop problems?
- roots in childhood + can be explained by lack of unconditional positive regard from parents e.g. conditions of worth
what is conditions of worth?
- ‘I will love you more if…’
- limits love of your child= stores psychological problems for child in future
how do therapists help with people who have received conditions of worth?
- they provide the unconditional positive regard someone didn’t receive in childhood –> helps you receive congruence
eval- point 1
Not reductionist (holistic)
- doesn’t try and break up behaviour + experience into smaller components
- subjective experience= only understood by considering person as a whole= more validity
BUT
- reductionist approaches= more scientific
- humanistic psychology has few concepts that can be broken down to single variables + measured
- its short on empirical evidence to support its claims
eval- point 2
positive approach
- Freud saw humans as slaves to their past whereas humanist contrasts this and sees people as good + free to work to achievement of potential + in control of our lives
eval- point 3
can be applied to business + education for exam success etc
eval- point 4
client-centred therapy
improves peoples well-being + doesn’t dwell on past
BUT
- may not work for everyone
- relies on motivation + sometimes may be necessary to focus on past
- has less applications to real world than other approaches
eval- point 5
Q-sort
- humanistic gathers subjective, qualitative data= hard to compare + personal
- Q-sort turns data into quantitative (objective), which is numerical= allows us to measure for congruence
eval- point 6
- western cultural bias
- individualistic (western) cultures e.g. USA focus on themselves, individual freedom= autonomy + personal growth
- whereas collectivist (eastern) cultures e.g. India emphasise needs of the group, community + interdependence meaning they may not identify with humanist psychology e.g. self-actualisation
- therefore approach doesn’t apply universally (limits generalisability)
