THE HUMANISTIC APPROACH

Question 1

Humanistic psychology

Answer 1

humanistic psychology assumes that all individuals are unique and we have our innate drives to reach or maximum potential.

Question 2

major assumptions of humanistic approach

Answer 2

1. we all have free will.
2. every individual is unique.
3. people should be viewed holistically
4. scientific methods are not appropriate to measure behaviour.

Question 3

maslows hierarchy of needs ( 1943)

Answer 3

bottom to top
1. physiological needs like food, shelter, water
2. safety and security like property, health, employment
3. love and belonging : affection, acceptance and belonging
4. self esteem : achievement and gaining respect from others
5. self actualisation where we realise our fullest potential.

Question 4

freewill

Answer 4

the humanistic approach believes that human behaviour is determined by free will, people can choose how to behave and their behaviour is not caused by external or biological factors.

Question 5

characteristics of self actualised people according to maslow

Answer 5

• strong self awareness
• fully accepting who they are and others for who they are as well
• ability to deal with uncertainty and the unknown.
• strong sense of creativity.

Question 6

evidence for maslows hierarchy of needs pyramid

Answer 6

Aronoff ( 1967) compared two jobs in british west indies, fisherman and cane cutter. the cane cutters worked in groups and they were paid accordingly even if they wwre sick or had a day off, so they had ahigh level of work security. however fishermens worked alone and were less secure in their job but they overall earned more. so all of these participants wewre asked to identify themselves in maslows hierarchy of needs pyramid.

Question 7

result of aronoff study

Answer 7

more cane cutters were at lower levels of hierarchy still tryin to obtain safety and security whereas most fishermens were satisfied with lower levels of hierarchy .

Question 8

conclusion of aronoff study

Answer 8

only mens whi were satisfied with lower levels of hierarchy choosed to become fishermens which suggests that people cannot reach higher levels of maslows hierarchy until they have fulfilled the lower levels

Question 9

evaluations of aronoff study

Answer 9

• has a high ecological validity as participants were studied under natural settings.
• however, only studied people from one culture, so the findings cannot be generalised to the whole population.

Question 10

rogers explanation for self actualisation

Answer 10

according to roger, people can only self actualise if they have a positive view of themselves ( positive self regard) which can only happen if they have unconditional positive rewards ( if they feel that they are loved and valued without any reservations) from others around them specially during childhood by their parents.

Question 11

how is self actualisation possible

Answer 11

self actualisation is only possible if there is a congruence between the way an individual sees themselves and their ideal self.

Question 12

self concept and ideal self

Answer 12

• self concept is how you see yourself and ideal self is what you want to be.

Question 13

roger and his therapy

Answer 13

roger developed his idea into a form of therapy which was called the client centred therapy or person centred therapy.

Question 14

client centred therapy

Answer 14

rogers believed that psychological problems were caused by incongruence.
- his theory aims to remove this incongruence by making it possible for the person to become their ideal self.

Question 15

how can the therapist focus on client centred therapy

Answer 15

1. rephrasing and repeating the clients sentences.
2. unconditional positive regard - therapist needs to be supportive and genuine no matter what.

Question 16

evidence for rogers therapy

Answer 16

• gibbard and hanley ( 2008) studied impact of client centred therapy on a number of patients with psychological disorders like anxiety and depression. they studied almost 700 people over 5 years and then used a questionnaire to compare the condition before and after. as a result, nearly 70% of people showed significant improvements.

Question 17

strenghts of humanistic approach

Answer 17

• much of these studies done in this approach uses qualotatiove data which is very rich in details.
• rogers client centred therapy has been found effective in treatingg some psychological disorders.
• this approach treats people as individuals and takes whole person into account.