the humanistic approach Flashcards
what does the humanistic approach focus on
conscious experiences rather than on behaviour
personality responsibility and free will rather than determinism
discussion of experience rather than on use of the experimental method
what is the basic assumptions of the humanistic approach
Free will Maslow's theory - hierarchy of needs, self actualisation Focus on self congruence conditions of worth
what Is free will
The ability to act at ones own discretion, i.e. chose how to behave without being influenced by external forces
what is the hierarchy of needs
the motivational theory proposed by moslow, displayed as a pyramid. The most basic needs are at the bottom and higher needs at the top
what are the different hierarchy of needs
physiological (food, water, sex, sleep)
Safety (security of body, employment, family, health etc)
Love/belonging (Friendship, family, sexual intimacy)
Esteem (confidence, self-esteem, achievement etc)
Self actualisation (morality, creativity spontaneity)
what is self actualisation
a term used in different ways. Rogers used it as the drive to realise one’s true potential. Maslow used it to describe the final stage of his hierarchy of needs.
what does the focus on self mean.
Rogers believed that people have two basic needs, positive regard from other people and a feeling of self worth.
Rogers believes how we think about our selves, and our feelings of self worth, are important in determining our psychological health.
when is a great self worth achieved
when our self-concept and our ideal health are close to each other, the greater the feelings of self worth and the greater our psychological health.
what is congruence
if there is a similarity between a persons ideal self and self image, a state of congruence exists. A difference represents a state of incongruence.
what are the conditions of worth
conditions imposed on an individuals behaviour and development that are considered necessary to earn positive regard from significant others.
what is the strengths for humanistic approach
Maslow hierarchy of needs
-Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is linked to economic development. Research has suggested that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has relevance to a much larger scale than individual growth, Hagerty looked at the relationship between economic growth and measures of Maslow’s need levels in 88 countries over a 34 year period. Finding that countries in early economic development wee at lower levels of the hierarchy, only in advanced stages of economic development did esteem needs and self actualisation become important.
research to support conditions of worth
Research with adolescents has shown evidence consistent with rogers view, i.e. those individuals who experience conditional positive regard are likely to display more ‘false self behaviour’.
For instance, Harter et al found that teenagers who create a ‘false self’, pretending to be the kind of person their parents want is more likely to develop depression and a tendency to lose touch with their own true self.
what are the limitations of the humanistic approach
scientific
- the approach is argued not to be scientific, because of the evidence used to support this approach fails to establish causal relationships between variables. Rogers in particular was an advocate of non-experimental research methods, arguing that the requirements of experimental methods make it impossible to verify the results of counselling. However, there has been undoubtable evidence to support the approach, it just has been difficult to scientifically prove so.
what is the limitations of the humanistic approach
unrealistic
- a criticism of the humanistic approach is that it represents an overly idealised and unrealistic view of human nature. Critics argue that people are not as inherently good and ‘growth orientated’ as humanistic psychologists suggest. It is seen that the approach is overly simplified and thus is reductionist as they make the assumption that all problems arise from the blocking of self actualisation.
