Lesson 8 - Humanistic Approach Flashcards
Humanistic approach assumptions
• 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
What is free-will
The ability to make choices based on personal judgement, in spite of external factors
What are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Physiological needs
• Safety needs
• Belongingness and love needs
• Esteem needs
• Self-actualisation
What are deficiency needs
• First four needs
• If needs not met, feel like having something important missing from lives
What are being needs
• Self-actualisation
• Desire for personal fulfilment
-provides true self-awareness and honest relationship with imperfect reality
What are physiological needs
Food, water, warmth, rest
What are safety needs
Security, safety (both psychologically and physically)
What are belongings and love needs
Intimate relationships, friends
What are esteem needs
Prestige and feeling of accomplishment
What is self-actualisation
Achieving full potential, being creative, “being involved in a cause outside themselves”
What is congruence
The comparability between perceived/actual self and ideal self
What are conditions of worth
When others impose conditions on what to do/how to behave in order to love/accept them
What is the ideal self
What a person wants to be
What is the actual self
The way a person sees themselves
Why is congruence important
• If too big a gap between the actual & ideal self exists
–>Personal growth is unachievable
–> Negative feelings of self arise
What does client-centred therapy aim to achieve
• Fix low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness
• Stems from lack of unconditional positive regard from parents in childhood
How does client-centred therapy work
• Therapists provide unconditional positive regard
• Dissolves client’s conditions of worth
What are the three core conditions essential for a therapeutic relationship
• 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
+ Not reductionist approach
• Holism practised
-subjective experience only understood by considering person as whole
• More validity
-considers human behaviour within irl context
+ Allows personal development
• Concept of growth as a consequence to environment
• Opposite to psychodynamic
-states childhood leads to unchanging ‘destiny’
+ Research support
[preamble to] Harter et al(1996)
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
+ Researcher support
Harter et al(1996)
• 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
+ Researcher support
[postamble to] Harter et al(1996)
• 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
(-) Untestable concepts
Lacks falsifiability
anti-scientific since no empirical evidence
[eg ‘Self-actualisation’ ‘Congruence’ ] cannot be assessed under experimental conditions
(-) Limited application
• 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
(-) Cultural bias
• 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
