L10 - Humanistic Approach (Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs) Flashcards
Key assumptions
- psychology should study the whole person as everyone is unique
- people have free will to make own decisions in life
- the scientific method is too objective as the methods employed fail to acknowledge the subjective experience of the individual
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- persons most basic physiological needs are at the bottom of the pyramid and most advanced are at the top
- people are motivated to progress through levels, each one has to be fulfilled to move up onto a higher need
- the more basic the need the more powerfully it’s experienced and harder to ignore long-term
the pyramid
self-fulfilment needs
- Self-actualisation - achieving full potential incl. creative activities
psychological needs
- esteem needs - prestige & feelings of accomplishment
- belongingness & love needs - intimate relationships & friends
basic needs
- safety needs - security & safety
- physiological needs - food, warmth, rest, water
self-actualisation
- occurs when a person reaches full potential and is the best version of themselves
- concerns psychological growth, fulfilment and satisfaction in life and is final stage in hierarchy
- occurs when content/happy, no regrets, reach goals/dreams e.g. bucket list
What did Maslow find?
- those who attained self-actualisation shared certain characteristics such as being creative, accepting of others & had an accurate perception of the world around them
- believed that such individuals experienced self-actualisation in the form of peak experiences
- these are moments of extreme inspiration & ecstasy during which they fell able to leave behind all doubts, fears & inhibitions
Focus on the self - Rodgers
- focus on the concept of self & self-acceptance
- claims we have 2 basic needs - positive regard from others & feelings of self worth
- feelings of self-worth develop in childhood as a result of the child’s interactions with parents, further interactions with significant others in adulthood have influence
- the positive regard given by other people may be unconditional (unconditional positive regard) when a person is accepted for who they are or conditional (conditional positive regard)
What happens when people experience conditional positive regard
- develop conditions of worth - conditions which they believe have to be met if they are to be accepted by others
- an individual will only experience a sense of self-acceptance if they meet the expectations that others have set as conditions of acceptance
- psychological issues are thought to arise as a result of conditions of worth, which are constraints and individual believes are put upon them by significant others that they deem necessary to gain positive regard
Congruence/incongruence
- when there is a similarity between a person’s perceived self & their ideal self a state of congruence exists
- but if there’s a difference between the perceived self & ideal self the person experiences a state of incongruence, can lead to negative feelings of self-worth
- closer the perceived self is to the ideal self the higher the feelings of self-worth
- rare for a complete state of congruence to exist, most people experience some degree of incongruence
- but most people see themselves in ways that are largely consistent with their ideal self
Counselling psychology - Rodgers (1959)
- rodgers claimed the an individual’s psychological problems were a direct result of the conditional positive regard they receive from others
- with counselling people would be able to solve their own problems in constructive ways
- instead of acting in a directive way, humanistic psychologists regard themselves as guides to help people understand themselves & find ways to enable their potential for self-actualisation
- therapists provide unconditional positive regard expressing their acceptance & understanding, therefore are able to provide a supportive environment to help dissolve the client’s conditions of worth
- results in the client moving towards being more true to their self (behave in a way that’s true to who they are not what someone else wants them to be)
Evaluation of the humanistic approach
strengths
- research support
- focus on personal growth
weaknesses
- determinism
- not scientific
- operationalisation
- cultural context
Research support
There is supporting research evidence about the role of conditions of worth by Harter et al. They found that teenagers that felt they had to fulfil certain conditions in order to gain parents approval, frequently end up not liking themselves, and were more likely to develop depression. Therefore conditions of worth are an important element for well-being and mental health
Determinism
A disadvantage of the humanist approach is that even though humanists believe in free will; science believes that all behaviour is caused by something (i.e. it has been determined). Determinism in science allows for general laws and predictability of behaviour, so there is limited application of the humanistic approach to behaviour
Not scientific
A criticism of the humanistic approach is that it lacks scientific rigour; it proposes that we should study the whole person because each individual is unique. However science relies on reductionism i.e. reducing behaviour into its simplest components so that they can be studied objectively.
Operationalisation
A problem of the Humanist approach it that it proposes concepts such as self-actualisation where definitions lack operationalisation. There is no objective measure of whether someone has self-actualised leading to a lack of empirical evidence to support its claims.
Cultural context
A problem about the ideas of humanistic psychology, such as personal growth, would be much more readily associated with individualist cultures in the Western world (e.g. the United States). Collectivist cultures (e.g. in China) which emphasise the needs of the community may not identify so easily with the ideals and values of humanistic psychology. Therefore, it is possible that this approach is the product of the cultural context within which it was developed.
