Humanism Flashcards
What is a strength of the humanist approach?
It takes on a holistic approach to explaining behaviour
What is holism?
It takes into account how a person’s subjective experience would influence and explain their whole behaviour (social and cultural context)
What does reductionism do in comparison?
Reduces complex human behaviour to a consequence of stimulus, response, association
What is humanism a more valid way of?
It is a more valid way of understanding human behaviour in a real life context than the more reductionist alternative explanations
What is a further strength?
It has practical applications
What are the practical applications?
This is because the principles of the theory, that individuals have the free will to choose their behaviour has revolutionised counselling techniques and has led to the treatment of person centred therapy.
What is PCT?
It can be used to treat abnormalities in the real world by closing the gap between actual and ideal self, such as depression by helping the individual to achieve congruence and self-actualise.
What is the humanistic explanation an important part of ?
It is an important part of applied psychology as it helps to treat people in the real world - link to economy
What is one limitation of this approach?
It is bound by cultural relativism
Why is it bound by cultural relativism?
Many of the concepts of humanism such as self actualisation and personal growth are associated with individualistic cultures whereas collectivist cultures such as India emphasis the needs of the community and working as a group.
What does the approach not apply to?
It does not apply universally and is limited to western cultures.
What is a final strength of this approach?
It takes a more positive stance to explain human behaviour as the approach argues for free will
What does free will suggest?
It is suggested that individuals can choose their behaviour and can neglect external and internal influences e.g an individual choosing to self actualise
Why is it seen to be a more positive approach?
More positive to understanding human nature, especially compared to the more deterministic theories such as the biological approach that argues behaviour is controlled by internal influences such as genes, therefore humanism my be viewed as a more approriate way of explaining behaviour
