Humanistic Approach Evaluations Flashcards
Humanistic Holistic…
The humanistic approach is a holistic approach (rather than reductionist like many other approaches).
The approach focuses on how ye whole person and doesn’t attempt to reduce individuals to their component parts.
This is a strength as it means the approach may have more validity than the other approaches as it considers human behaviour within its real life context.
Humanistic Practical application…
The humanistic approach has limited practical (real world) applications.
For example, Roger’s client centred therapy has revolutionised counselling techniques in the UK and US and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been used to explain motivation especially in the workplace.
This is a weakness because whilst the approach has impacted wider society, it has had a limited impact on the discipline of psychology. This may be due to the fact that the humanistic approach lacks a sound evidence base and is viewed as a loose set of abstract concept.
Humanistic Scientific credibility…
However, the humanistic approach includes several vague/abstract concepts which are untestable and therefore lacks empirical evidence.
For example, concepts such as self actualisation and congruence would prove hard to access under experimental conditions as they are not clearly defined observable behaviours.
This is a weakness because it means the theories are unfalsifiable and since falsification is a key feature of science, this approach is considered unscientific. However, Rodger’s did attempt to introduce more rigour into his work by developing the Q-sort, an objective measure of progress in therapy!
Humanistic Cultural bias…
Furthermore, the approach has been criticised for its cultural bias.
For example, ideas such as individual freedom and personal growth are more readily associated with individualist cultures in the Western world. Whereas, collectivist cultures such as India emphasise the needs of the group and interdependence, so they may not identify with the ideals and values of humanistic psychology.
Therefore, it is possible that this approach would not travel well and this is a product of the cultural context within which it was developed, meaning it shouldn’t be generalised to all cultures which is a limitation.
