Lesson 8- Humanistic Approach Flashcards
free will
humanistic psychology argues that humans are self-determining and have free will- active agents who have the ability to determine our development
humanistic psychologists tend to reject scientific models that attempt to establish general principles of human behaviour
as active agents we are all unique and psychology should concern itself with the study of subjective experience rather than general laws- ‘person centred approach’
maslows hierarchy of needs
maslow 1954 theory of motivation updated to hierarchy of needs 1987
an enduring model of psychological development, argued that human needs exist in hierarchy with basic needs at the bottom and higher order needs at the top, in order to move up hierarchy each need must be met
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS- those required for human survival, needs are fundamental and if not unlikely anything above will be pursued
SAFETY NEEDS- includes physical and psychological safety
LOVE AND BELONGINGNESS- form of acceptance from friends and family
ESTEEM NEEDS- the need to feel good about oneself and to establish a sense of competence and achievement
first four levels referred to as deficiency needs, if these were not met Maslow believed we would experience this as having something important missing from our lives
SELF ACTUALISATION- desire for personal fulfilment, defined personally and can be pursued many different ways, rare but provides possibility of true self awareness and an honest relationship with the realities of an imperfect world, believees that when ahcieved takes the form of peak experiences characterised by feelings of euhporia and seeing the world with awe and wonder without any fear or inhibitions, creativity spontaneity and think outside the box, involved in a cause outside themselves working at something which they love so that the work-joy dichotomy in them disappears
self, congruence and conditions of worth
the self- this is your concept of you and how you perceive yourself and is based on how much self worth you think you have, basis of self-esteem
congruence- the fit/match/comparability/constency between the perceived/actual self and ideal self
conditions of worth- when others impose conditions on individuals in what to do or how to behave in order to love and accept them
-rogers argued that for personal growth to be achieved, an individuals concept of self/actual self must be broadly equivalent/congruent with their ideal self, if too big a gap exists between two selves the person will experience a state of incongruence and self actualisation willl not be possible due to negative feelings and self-worth
-rogers claimed that many of the issues we experience as adults have their roots in childhood and can often be explained by lack of unconditional positive regard/unconditional love from our parents
a parent who sets boundaries/limits on their love for their child (conditions of worth) is creating potential for psychological problems for that child in the future
-to close gap developed ‘client centred therapy’ to help people cope with problems of everyday living, saw one of his roles as an effective therapist as being able to provide his clients with unconditional positive regard that they had failed to receive as children
influence on counselling psychology
-ideas very influential, person-centred counselling is strongly non-directive and is based on rogers view that each person is the best expert on themselves and should therefore be able to find their own solution
-thus, purpose of Rogerian therapy to closr the gap of incongruence between self-concept and the ideal self, allowing an individual to recognise both their psychological limits and their strengths, and achieve a realistic balance between them
-believed taking a client/person centred approach to counselling means an individual would be helped in making positive steps towards resolving their issuesm learn a deeper understanding of themselves and ultimately achieve self-actualisation
-role of therapist is to provide unconditional positive regard to the client by expressing acceptance, empathy and understanding of their condition, when the client feels sufficiently supported, their conditions of worth affecting self concept with dissipate enabling them to move towards their ideal self and how they want to behave rather than how they feel they should, counsellor encourages the individual to talk as openly as they can, with counsellor listening carefully and reflecting back on what they think is being said to check understanding
-aim is to enter clients world and see through their eyes, accepts clients feelings and offers them unconditional positive regard, accepting and prizing them for who they are without imposing conditions of worth, acceptance means client is able to clarify and accept their own feelingsm so that feelings of harmony and acceptance of self can replace inner conflict
core conditions for therapist/client relations
empathic understanding- therapist should aim to understand the reality of experience for the client and enter into their world, with the aim of seeing it as if it were their own
unconditional positive regard- acceptance and praising of the client by the therapist for who they are without conditions of worth
-a congruent therapist who is in touch with their own feelings
humanistic approach strengths
-not reductionist, instead holism-subjective experiences can only be understood by considering the whole person, more validity-more meaning within real life context
-allows for personal development and change throughout lifespan, acknowledges we can change as a consequence of our environment
-research support, Harter et al 1996, discovered that teenagers who feel that they have to fulfill certain conditions in order to gain parents approval frequently end up not liking themselves thus imposing low conditions of worth on themselves and consequently lower self-esteem, researchers found adolescents who create ‘false-self’ pretending to be the kind of person their parents would love (due to conditional positive regard) are also more likely to develop depression and a tendency to lose touch with their true self
humanistic approach weaknesses
-falsifiability/untestable concepts, includes a number of vague ideas that are abstract and difficult to test, may be useful therapeutic tools but would prove problematic to assess under experimental conditions, desribes itself as anti-scientific so short of research to support its claims
-little real world application, has revolutionised counselling techniques/used to explain motivation, but has had limited impact within discipline of psychology as a whole, lacks sound scientific evidence and described as a loose set of abstract concepts
-cultural bias, may central ideas (freedom, autonomy, personal growth) are more associated with individualistic cultures in the western world such as usa, collectivist cultures which emphasise needs of the group may not easily identify with ideals of approach, would not be accepted cross-cultural
