Lesson 8 - Humanistic Approach

Question 1

Humanistic approach assumptions

Answer 1

• Humans have free-will

• Psychology should study the whole person since everyone is unique

• Scientific method is objective because methods employed fail to acknowledge subjective experience of the individual

Question 2

What is free-will

Answer 2

The ability to make choices based on personal judgement, in spite of external factors

Question 3

What are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 3

• Physiological needs

• Safety needs

• Belongingness and love needs

• Esteem needs

• Self-actualisation

Question 4

What are deficiency needs

Answer 4

• First four needs

• If needs not met, feel like having something important missing from lives

Question 5

What are being needs

Answer 5

• Self-actualisation

• Desire for personal fulfilment
-provides true self-awareness and honest relationship with imperfect reality

Question 6

What are physiological needs

Answer 6

Food, water, warmth, rest

Question 7

What are safety needs

Answer 7

Security, safety (both psychologically and physically)

Question 8

What are belongings and love needs

Answer 8

Intimate relationships, friends

Question 9

What are esteem needs

Answer 9

Prestige and feeling of accomplishment

Question 10

What is self-actualisation

Answer 10

Achieving full potential, being creative, “being involved in a cause outside themselves”

Question 11

What is congruence

Answer 11

The comparability between perceived/actual self and ideal self

Question 12

What are conditions of worth

Answer 12

When others impose conditions on what to do/how to behave in order to love/accept them

Question 13

What is the ideal self

Answer 13

What a person wants to be

Question 14

What is the actual self

Answer 14

The way a person sees themselves

Question 15

Why is congruence important

Answer 15

• If too big a gap between the actual & ideal self exists
–>Personal growth is unachievable

–> Negative feelings of self arise

Question 16

What does client-centred therapy aim to achieve

Answer 16

• Fix low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness

• Stems from lack of unconditional positive regard from parents in childhood

Question 17

How does client-centred therapy work

Answer 17

• Therapists provide unconditional positive regard

• Dissolves client’s conditions of worth

Question 18

What are the three core conditions essential for a therapeutic relationship

Answer 18

• Empathetic understanding - aim to understand client’s perspective

• Unconditional positive regard - accepting of client regardless of who they are

• Congruent therapist - therapist must be in touch with their own feelings

Question 19

+ Not reductionist approach

Answer 19

• Holism practised
-subjective experience only understood by considering person as whole

• More validity
-considers human behaviour within irl context

Question 20

+ Allows personal development

Answer 20

• Concept of growth as a consequence to environment

• Opposite to psychodynamic
-states childhood leads to unchanging ‘destiny’

Question 21

+ Research support

[preamble to] Harter et al(1996)

Answer 21

Adolescents who experience conditional compared to unconditional positive regard are likely to display behaviour that meets others expectations even if they clash with their own values

Question 22

+ Researcher support

Harter et al(1996)

Answer 22

• Found: Teenagers who have to fulfil conditions iot gain parents approval don’t like themselves

• Thus imposing low conditions of worth on themselves
-lower self-esteem

Question 23

+ Researcher support

[postamble to] Harter et al(1996)

Answer 23

• Researchers found: Adolescents that create a ‘false-self’ to pretend to be the person their persons Would love

• More likely to develop depression
-tendency to lose touch with own self

Question 24

(-) Untestable concepts

Answer 24

Lacks falsifiability
anti-scientific since no empirical evidence

[eg ‘Self-actualisation’ ‘Congruence’ ] cannot be assessed under experimental conditions

Question 25

(-) Limited application

Answer 25

• Humanistic psychology has little irl application

-Rogerian therapy revolutionised counselling

-Maslow’s hierarchy explains motivation
particularly in workplace

• Humanistic psychology lacks comprehensive theory, evidence
-mostly abstract concepts

• Cannot be applied irl

Question 26

(-) Cultural bias

Answer 26

• Individualistic cultures in western world (USA) emphasise autonomy, personal growth, individual freedom

• Collectivist cultures emphasise needs of groups/interdependence

• Approach is Western centred culturally biased
Not applicable cross-culturally