The Humanistic Approach

Question 1

What does the humanistic approach claim?

Answer 1

Human beings are self determining and have free will

Question 2

What is a hierarchy of needs?

Answer 2

A levelled sequence in which basic psychological needs must be satisfied before higher psychological needs can be achieved

Question 3

What are the levels on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Answer 3

Top:
Self actualisation
Self esteem
Love and belongingness
Safety and security
Physiological needs

Question 4

What did Carl rogers argue?

Answer 4

For personal growth to be achieved, an individuals concept of self must be broadly equivalent or have congruence with their ideal self

Question 5

What happens if the gap between the self and the ideal self is too big?

Answer 5

The individual will experience incongruence and self actualisation will not be possible

Question 6

What did Roger’s do to reduce the gap between the self concept and the ideal self?

Answer 6

Developed client centred therapy to help people cope with the problems of everyday living

Question 7

What are the strengths of the humanistic approach?

Answer 7

It is holistic— rejects attempts to break up behaviour and experience into smaller components.
May have more validity as it considers meaningful human behaviour within its real-world context

It is optimistic — sees all people as being good and able to work towards their potential and gain control of their lives

Question 8

What are the limitations of the humanistic approach?

Answer 8

Short on empirical evidence — As it is holistic, there are very few concepts that can be broken down into single variables and measured

May be culturally biased — many of the ideas used have more individualist tendencies (eg, the US) this approach may not be as important in countries with collectivist tendencies (emphasise needs of the group and interdependence)