The Humanistic Perspective

Question 1

The humanistic perspective – History 1

Answer 1

Key theorists:
❖ Abraham Maslow: 1943 “A Theory of Human Motivation” published
in Psychological Review.
❖ Carl Rogers: 1951 published “Client-Centered Therapy,” which described his
humanistic, client-directed approach to therapy.
❖1961 - American Association for Humanistic Psychology was formed
❖By 1971, humanistic psychology become an APA division

Question 2

The humanistic perspective – History 2

Answer 2

❖Maslow published “Toward a Psychology of Being,” in
which he described humanistic psychology as the
“third force” in psychology.
❖1st force was behaviourism (Skinner)
considered a robotic conception of humans
❖2nd force was psychoanalysis (Freud)
considered a pessimistic view of human nature

Question 3

The humanistic perspective – History 3

Answer 3

The Human Potential Movement 
manifested itself in the 1960s,1970s & 
1980s in ‘encounter groups’ aimed at 
helping people encounter reality of their 
own experiences more directly via group 
self-disclosure in an atmosphere of 
mutual trust.
Exercises to promote being more in touch 
with one’s sensory experiences & 
emotions were common.

Question 4

The humanistic perspective - An Introduction

Answer 4

The humanistic perspective takes a whole person approach Basic
assumptions are that:
❖ People have free will (personal agency)
❖ People are basically good and want to make themselves and the world better
❖ People are motivated to self-actualize (growth and fulfilment)
❖ The subjective, conscious experiences of the individual is most important (phenomena)
❖ Humanism uses qualitative research methodologies

Question 5

The phenomenological approach to personality asks

Answer 5

❖ Do we perceive exactly what our senses record of reality?
❖ How important is the subjective experience of each
individual?
❖ Is each individual person unique ?
❖ Are we merely products of our genes & past experiences or
do we have free will to grow, develop & make choices?
❖ How important is the concept of ‘self’?

Question 6

Implication of hierarchy of needs: Part 1

Answer 6

❖ Low-level needs are more primitive 
and demanding than higher-level
needs
❖ Power of motive forces decrease as 
you go up the pyramid
❖ Needs at lower level must be met 
before attending to higher-level needs

Question 7

Implication of hierarchy of needs: Part 2

Answer 7

❖ Higher-level motives represent more 
distinctly human characteristics
❖ Low-level needs are deficit motivated
and high-level needs are growth
motivated

Question 8

Characteristics of self-actualizers: Part 1

Answer 8

1. Efficient and accurate in perceiving reality
2. Accepting of themselves, others, and of nature
3. Spontaneous in thought and emotion, natural rather than artificial
4. Problem-centered, concerned with eternal philosophical questions
5. Independent and autonomous when it comes to satisfactions
6. Freshness of appreciation of ordinary events

Question 9

Characteristics of self-actualizers: Part 2

Answer 9

7. Deep ties, but only with a few persons
8. Appreciate, for its own sake the process of doing things
9. Philosophical, thoughtful, nonhostile sense of humor
10. Maintain inner detachment from culture in which they live
11. Appear temperamental and even ruthless

Question 10

Critics of Maslow’s theory

Answer 10

❖Hierarchy of needs has been accused of having a cultural bias mainly reflecting Western values and ideologies.
❖University of Illinois researchers Ed Diener and Louis Tay,tested
Maslow’s ideas collecting data from 60,865 participants from 123 countries. Concluded there were universal human needs regardless of cultural differences.
❖Evidence that needs development not as hierarchical as initially described.
❖Maslow was criticized for noting too many exceptions to his theory. He acknowledged them but did not do much to account for them.

Question 11

Carl Rogers - Person-centred theory

Answer 11

❖ Carl Rogers (1902-1987) originally 
developed theory of psychotherapy. 
❖ Theory of personality evolved from this
❖ Significant figure in human potential
movement - an approach to psychotherapy 
emphasising human potentialities for 
healthy & creative growth

Question 12

Humanistic psychology & free will

Answer 12

❖ Emphasises people are free to determine:
• How they act
• What to become
• If they are to be self-actualized or
• accept conditions of worth
❖ Reactance:
• Assertion of freedom when a threat to freedom is perceived
❖ Perceptions of free will can be experimentally manipulated

Question 13

Central concepts of Roger’s theory 1

Answer 13

Two constructs fundamental importance to Rogers’ theory of personality
a) Phenomenal field: Our subjective reality, all we are aware of, including objects & people, and our behaviours, thoughts, images, and ideas like justice, equality, etc…
Mind & body are viewed as united by a phenomenal field which combines all of a person’s experience in a unique & subjective fashion.
b) The self: Those parts of the field seen by individual as ‘self’, ‘me’ or ‘I’ make up
the self.

Question 14

Central concepts of Roger’s theory 2

Answer 14

❖ Self-concept
• refers to conscious self-definition we give ourselves - “who we are” - our identity:
- a changing but integrated & organised pattern of perceptions
❖ Ideal self
• The self concept the person would most like to possess
❖ Psychopathology
• viewed as defined partly by discrepancies between
- ideal self & actual self (i.e. the self one is presently )

Question 15

Self-actualization 1

Answer 15

❖ Rogers viewed people as forward-moving, maintaining that the
tendency toward positive healthy growth will naturally express itself in every organism’s behaviour
❖ Self-Actualization —promotes maintenance or enhancement of
self:
- moves person toward greater autonomy & self sufficiency
– promotes congruence, organisation, wholeness & integration in the person
❖ Fully functioning person - open to experiences of his/her life & who is self-actualising

Question 16

Self assessment of actualization

Answer 16

Organismic value process—mechanism that evaluates
whether experiences are actualizing:
• If not, nagging sense that something isn’t right
• If yes, person is operating as “fully functional
person”

Question 17

Need for positive regard

Answer 17

Strong motive for love, friendship & affection from important others:
❖ Unconditional Positive Regard
– given without any conditions or contingencies
❖ Conditional Positive Regard
– given only in situations that meet particular conditions
• Conditions of Worth—conditions under which a person is
considered worthy of regard
• Conditional Self-Regard—application of conditions of worth to self

Question 18

Implications of conditions of worth

Answer 18

❖ Conflicts between self-actualization & fulfilling conditions of worth
– Example: Desire to be a musician in conflict with recognition
of parent’s aspirations for their child to be a doctor
❖ Sometimes difficult to tell true desire from conditions of worth
– Condition of worth is a precondition for acceptance and is always coercive

Question 19

Congruence & self-consistency

Answer 19

❖ The concept of self-consistency developed by
Lecky (1945)
❖ Individuals behave in ways that are consistent
with their self-concept even if behaviour is
unrewarding
❖ Rogers emphasised a human tendency to
congruence between the self & experience

Question 20

Incongruity, disorganisation & subception

Answer 20

Incongruence:
❖ Disorganization in self detected by organismic value
process
• Leads to anxiety
• Can cause low self-esteem
❖ Through a process called subception we can become aware of experience that contradicts self-concept before it reaches consciousness & prevents it from entering our consciousness.

Question 21

Defense: Part 1

Answer 21

Ways to defend against anxiety of incongruence:
❖ Distortions of the experience
• Rationalisation, minimization, reconstruction
- e.g. seeing an event differently - if you hit someone else’s car in
car park & drive off telling yourself you needn’t feel bad they’ve got insurance & wont mind you not leaving details as
no-one does

Question 22

Defense: Part 2

Answer 22

❖ Denial (blocking from awareness) / Subception
• Avoid situations that trigger perceptions of incongruence
- e.g. ignoring all evidence indicating one’s business is losing so much money it’s going to fold; fact one’s drinking is out of control, one’s hearing is going.

Question 23

Self-esteem maintenance & enhancement

Answer 23

❖Defenses protect & maintain self-esteem
❖Conditions necessary for an event to have effect on self-esteem:
– event attributable to you
– event interpreted as good or bad
• Defense against failures
– minimize negativity of event (wasn’t so bad)
– resist attributions to stable qualities of self
• blame others, lack of effort, excuses
• Enhancement through success
– attribute to stable characteristics of self
– claim control of those characteristics

Question 24

Self-handicapping

Answer 24

❖ Acting in way that creates condition for failure
❖ Difficult goals & substantial risk of failure represent
threats to self-esteem
❖ Create external situation on which potential failure can be attributed & self-esteem can be maintained
• Athlete performance anxiety – purposely does
something that has the potential of injuring
themselves
❖ No threat to stable qualities of the self

Question 25

Human happiness

Answer 25

❖ Rogers measures the extent of human 
psychological adjustment by the amount of 
freedom from inner tension
❖ Ryff & Singer (2000) hypothesise a 
multifaceted view of positive mental health:
1. self acceptance
2. positive relations with others
3. autonomy
4. environmental mastery
5. purpose in life
6. personal growth

Question 26

Growth & development

Answer 26

❖ What are reasons for development of rift between experience and self-concept or actual self and ideal self?
❖ If parents give a child unconditional positive regard there will be no need for him/her to deny experiences.
❖ Children whose parents are accepting feel more comfortable in their bodies & with t/selves generally, faults & all.
❖ Children’s perception of parents’ appraisals of them are crucial.
❖ Self acceptance is related to self-esteem - a personal judgement of worthiness

Question 27

Rogers views on psychopathology

Answer 27

❖ Emphasised individual’s efforts to maintain
consistency among self-perceptions
❖ People want to behave & view behaviour in ways
consistent with self-image
❖ Lead Rogers to stress consistency or congruence
between self & experience
❖ Openness to experience & ability to assimilate
experiences without defensiveness lead to:
• psychological wellbeing
❖ Incongruence:
• is a breakdown in the unitary sense of self
• can lead to anxiety

Question 28

Problems in behavior

Answer 28

Problems arise from:
❖ Incongruity & negative affect
❖ Inability to meet conditions of worth
❖ Inability to manage realisation of mortality

Question 29

Client-centered therapy (Client)

Answer 29

Roger views the aim of therapy is to:
❖ Facilitate client’s natural tendency toward self-actualization
• Client centred therapy removes distractions so self-actualization processes can move client toward
greater integration
• Responsibility for improvement lies with client
• Process of ‘becoming’ where client reintegrates
incongruent aspects of self &/or incongruency
between self & experience

Question 30

Client-centered therapy (Therapist)

Answer 30

Process whereby therapist demonstrates unconditional positive regard & empathy
❖ a process whereby the therapist behaves non-directively & non-evaluatively
❖therapist reflects with:
• clarification of feelings
• restatement of content

Question 31

Assessment techniques: Part 1

Answer 31

1. Interview—content analysis 
organizes responses into 
meaningful groups
2. Q-Sort—Sort items into piles that 
correspond to particular criteria 
(e.g., most like you to least like you) 
3. Inventories for self-actualization, 
autonomy, control

Question 32

Assessment techniques: Part 2

Answer 32

1. Interviews:
   ❖ To the phenomenologist assessment is a process of
   finding out what a person is like
   ❖ The clinical interview offers maximum flexibility
   • major disadvantage is:
   - lack of structure
   - limited means of standardisation

Question 33

Assessment techniques: Part 3

Answer 33

2. Q-Sort & measurement of the self-concept
   ❖ The phenomenological approach considers way people view
   themselves, as being of central importance
   ❖ A technique Rogers used for measuring self-concept is the
   Q-Sort procedure:
   • a person is given large set of cards
   • on each is written a statement about a personality
   characteristic which need to be sorted into a row of piles
   • from “most like you” to “least like you” and points inbetween

Question 34

Assessment techniques: Part 4

Answer 34

3. Inventories for self-actualization, autonomy, control
   >. Personal Orientation Inventory:
   >. Developed by Shostrom (1964), paired statements
   >. People select 1 from each pair they most agree with

Question 35

Assessment techniques: Part 5

Answer 35

Two major scales:
❖Time-competent scale
• degree to which person lives in present & not distracted by past & future.
• People aren’t living mainly with regrets/resentments from past or idealised goals/fears for future.
❖Inner-other directedness scale
• sorts out self-actualizers who are theorised to be more inner-directed in the search for values and meaning.
• validity of scale for measuring self-actualisation unclear but it has been positively correlated with positive group therapy outcomes

Question 36

STRENGTHS

Answer 36

❖ Is viewed by many as most intuitively
accessible of theories emphasising
uniqueness & validity of each person’s experience
❖ Aims at systematic inquiry into the necessary
& sufficient conditions for therapeutic change
❖ Emphasises a strategy for living, self-actualisation, & importance of appreciating one’s own reality
❖ Practical & helpful
❖ Recognises the holistic integrated aspects of
personality
❖ Tries to integrate phenomenology &
empiricism

Question 37

LIMITATIONS

Answer 37

❖ Excludes unconscious processes, defences etc. from
research as hard to create easily tested hypotheses
❖ Criticised as arbitrarily assuming
there’s a self-actualising tendency & people are good
❖ Beyond self-report lacks
objective measures of behaviour
❖ Ignores impossibility of bias-free
observations