Humanism appoach

Question 1

Humanism Key Points

Answer 1

• Very Positive and optimistic
• Direct contrast to behaviourism
• Emphasises subjective experience and focusses on the uniqueness of individuals
• Person centred approach
• Humans have free will

Question 2

Humanism debates

Answer 2

Holism- consider every aspect of a person as it all shapes behaviour
Interactionism- both nature and nurture
Self determining- free will

Question 3

Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in humanism

Answer 3

Humans have a hierarchy of needs, you go up the triangle to the top, you can fall back a stage but you cannot skip a stage

1. Self actualisation
2. Self esteem
3. Love and belonging
4. Safety and security (shelter)
5. Physiological needs (food and water)

Question 4

What is Self Actualisation in Humanism

Answer 4

• An innate desire to achieve full potential
• Personal growth is essential, development and change of an individual allows them to feel fulfilled and satisfied
• Not everyone manages it

Question 4

What is Self Actualisation in Humanism

Answer 4

• An innate desire to achieve full potential
• Personal growth is essential, development and change of an individual allows them to feel fulfilled and satisfied
• Not everyone manages it

Question 5

Describe Carl Rodgers’ ideas about self in Humanism

Answer 5

Concept of self develops in childhood

Real self: Who we are
Ideal self: Who we want to be

Congruence- When the real self and ideal self are seen to broadly match
Incongruence - if selves are too far apart then it is psychologically unhealthy, cannot reach self actualisation, caused by lack of unconditional positive regard

Conditions of worth - when a parent places limits or boundries on their love for their children eg saying “I love you too, but I will love you more if you tidy your room”

Question 6

Measuring congruence in Humanism

Answer 6

Q sort method , decide categories and match self to them
Social desirability bias lowers validity
Very subjective- each idea is open to interpretation and individual preferences
Very unscientific
Positive view of humans

Question 7

How is culture related to humanism

Answer 7

Culture is either individualistic (all about the self, Western or UK) or collectivist (community, Eastern or India)
Culturally bound –> humanism is based on individuals and cannot be applied to collectivist

Question 8

Humanism strengths and weaknesses

Answer 8

Strengths - sees humans as individuals, positive, sees people as good
Weaknesses - unscientific, poor experiments, theories cannot be backed up, unhelpful for collectivist communities