The Humanistic Approach

Question 1

What is free will?

Answer 1

Notion that humans can make choices which aren’t determined by internal, biological, or external forces.

Question 2

What is Maslow’s hierarchy?

Answer 2

Self-actualisation
Esteem
Love/belonging
Safety
Physiological

Question 3

Explain Maslow’s hierarchy

Answer 3

Everyone has an innate tendency to achieve full potential.
All four lower levels (deficiency levels) must be met before individual can wheel towards self-actualisation (‘a growth need’) and fulfil their maximum potential.

Question 4

What is self- actualisation?

Answer 4

the process of becoming ‘everything you are capable of becoming’

Question 5

Explain the self, congruence, and conditions of worth

Answer 5

Self- Individual has a ‘self’ and an “ideal self”
Congruence- “compatibility” if gap between perceived and ideal self is too big, incongruence occurs
Conditions of worth- to reduce gap, client centred therapy used to help individuals with daily life problems. Greater understanding of themselves, adult issues rooted in childhood.

Question 6

What are Rogers’ core conditions in counselling?

Answer 6

1. Empathy- understanding of clients situation, putting themselves in clients shoes.
2. Congruence- genuine, trusting relationship between client and therapist
3. Unconditional positive regard- seeing/treating client positively no matter what.

Question 7

Evaluate the humanistic approach

Answer 7

Strength: Holistic approach
Rejects attempts to break up behaviour and experience into smaller counterparts, means it’s not reductionist compared to other approaches. The fact that humanist psychologists advocate holistic means it could have more validity than its alternatives due to studying meaningful human behaviour within a real world context. High internal.
Weakness: Holism can be seen as less scientific
Relatively few concepts that can be broken down into single variables and measured (studied scientifically), meaning humanistic psychology is short on empirical evidence. Low internal.
Weakness: Culturally biased.
Many ideas which underpin humanistic psychology like freedom, autonomy, personal growth are much more readily associated with western individualistic cultures. Collectivist cultures tend to emphasise needs of the group, community and interdependence. Possible that the approach can’t be applied universally and is a product of the cultural context in which it was developed. Low external, culture bias.

Question 8

Evaluate the humanistic approach acronym

Answer 8

+ HA
X HLS
X CB