Humanistic Psychology

Question 1

What are ‘conditions of worth’?

Answer 1

conditions imposed on an individual’s behaviour and development that are considered necessary to earn positive regard from significant others

Question 2

What is congruence?

Answer 2

when there is a similarity between a person’s ideal self and self-image

Question 3

What is incongruence?

Answer 3

when there is a difference between a person’s ideal self and self-image

Question 4

Define free will

Answer 4

the ability to work at one’s own discretion, i.e. how to choose to behave without being influenced by external forces

Question 5

What is the hierarchy of needs?

Answer 5

the motivational theory proposed by Abraham Maslow often displayed as a pyramid. The most basic needs are at a bottom and higher needs at the top

Question 6

What is meant by the term ‘humanistic’?

Answer 6

refers to the belief that human beings are born with the desire to grow, create and o love, and have the power to direct their own lives

Question 7

What is mean by ‘self’?

Answer 7

our personal identity

Question 8

What is self-actualisation?

Answer 8

1. Rogers used it to describe the drive to realise one’s true potential.
2. Maslow used it to describe the final stage of his hierarchy of needs

Question 9

How does humanistic psychology differ from other approaches?

Answer 9

• focuses on conscious experience rather than on behaviour
• on personal responsibility and free will rather than on determinism
• on the discussion of experience rather than on use of experimental method

Question 10

Who developed humanistic psychology? (and when)

Answer 10

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow (1950s)

Question 11

What does humanistic psychology (mainly) focus on?

Answer 11

striving towards personal growth and fulfilment

Question 12

What does Maslow’s hierarchy of needs emphasise the importance of?

Answer 12

personal growth and fulfilment

Question 13

Name each step of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (bottom to top)

Answer 13

1. physiological - sleep, food, breathing
2. safety - security of body, family, and health
3. love/belonging - friendship, family, sexual intimacy
4. esteem - self-esteem, confidence, respect for others
5. self-actualisation - morality, creativity, spontaneity

Question 14

In a humanist therapy session, what does the therapist show?

Answer 14

empathy, unconditional positive regard, expressing their acceptance and understanding - REGARDLESS of the feelings and attitudes the client expresses

Question 15

How do humanistic therapists see themselves, and what is their ultimate goal?

Answer 15

see themselves as ‘guides’ or ‘facilitators’ to help people understand themselves and to find ways to enable their potential for self-actualisation

Question 16

The humanistic approach in psychology developed as a rebellion against …

Answer 16

what some psychologists saw as the limitations of the behaviorist and psychodynamic psychology.

Question 17

What is another term often used for the humanistic approach?

Answer 17

The humanistic approach is often called the “third force” in psychology after psychoanalysis and behaviorism

Question 18

Why did humanists reject behaviourism?

Answer 18

because it is characterized as deterministic, focused on reinforcement of stimulus-response behavior and heavily dependent on animal research.

Question 19

Why did humanists reject psychodynamic?

Answer 19

because it is also deterministic, with unconscious irrational and instinctive forces determining human thought and behavior.

Question 20

When did humanists expand their influence?

Answer 20

throughout the 1970s and the 1980s

Question 21

Humanistic psychology impact can be understood in terms of three major areas:

Answer 21

1) It offered a new set of values for approaching an understanding of human nature and the human condition.
2) It offered an expanded horizon of methods of inquiry in the study of human behavior.
3) It offered a broader range of more effective methods in the professional practice of psychotherapy.

Question 22

What are the 6 basic assumptions of humanistic psychology?

Answer 22

1. Humanistic psychology begins with the existential assumption that people have free will
2. People are basically good, and have an innate need to make themselves and the world better
3. People are motivated to self-actualize
4. The subjective, conscious experiences of the individual is most important
5. Humanism rejects scientific methodology
6. Humanism rejected comparative psychology (the study of animals) because it does not tell us anything about the unique properties of human beings

Question 23

Humanistic psychology begins with the existential assumption that people have free will

Answer 23

Personal agency is the humanistic term for the exercise of free will. Personal agency refers to the choices we make in life, the paths we go down and their consequences.

Question 24

People are basically good, and have an innate need to make themselves and the world better

Answer 24

The humanistic approach emphasizes the personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human values, and the creative, active nature of human beings.

The approach is optimistic and focuses on the noble human capacity to overcome hardship, pain and despair.

Question 25

People are motivated to self-actualize

Answer 25

Self-actualization concerns psychological growth, fulfillment and satisfaction in life.

Both Rogers and Maslow regarded personal growth and fulfillment in life as a basic human motive. This means that each person, in different ways, seeks to grow psychologically and continuously enhance themselves.

However, Rogers and Maslow both describe different ways of how self-actualization can be achieved.

Question 26

The subjective, conscious experiences of the individual is most important

Answer 26

Humanistic psychologists argue that objective reality is less important than a person’s subjective perception and understanding of the world.

Sometimes the humanistic approach is called phenomenological. This means that personality is studied from the point of view of the individual’s subjective experience.

For Rogers the focus of psychology is not behavior (Skinner), the unconscious (Freud), thinking (Wundt) or the human brain but how individuals perceive and interpret events. Rogers is therefore important because he redirected psychology towards the study of the self.

Question 27

Humanism rejects scientific methodology:

Answer 27

Rogers and Maslow placed little value on scientific psychology, especially the use of the psychology laboratory to investigate both human and animal behavior.

Humanism rejects scientific methodology like experiments and typically uses qualitative research methods. For example, diary accounts, open-ended questionnaires, unstructured interviews and unstructured observations.

Qualitative research is useful for studies at the individual level, and to find out, in depth, the ways in which people think or feel (e.g. case studies).

The way to really understand other people is to sit down and talk with them, share their experiences and be open to their feelings.

Question 28

Humanism rejected comparative psychology (the study of animals) because it does not tell us anything about the unique properties of human beings:

Answer 28

Humanism views human beings as fundamentally different from other animals, mainly because humans are conscious beings capable of thought, reason and language.

For humanistic psychologists’ research on animals, such as rats, pigeons, or monkeys held little value.

Research on such animals can tell us, so they argued, very little about human thought, behavior and experience.

Question 29

What are the 5 Issues and Debates?

Answer 29

1. Free will vs Determinism
2. Nature vs Nurture
3. Holism vs Reductionism
4. Idiographic vs Nomothetic
5. Are the research methods used scientific?

Question 30

Free will vs Determinism

Answer 30

It is the only approach that explicitly states that people have free will, but its position on this topic is somewhat incoherent as on one hand it argues that people have free will.

However, on the other hand it argues that our behavior is determined by the way other people treat us (whether we feel that we are valued and respected without reservation by those around us).

Question 31

Nature vs Nurture

Answer 31

The approach recognizes both the influence of nature and nurture, nurture- the influence of experiences on a person’s ways of perceiving and understanding the world, nature- influence of biological drives and needs (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).

Question 32

Holism vs Reductionism

Answer 32

The approach is holistic as it does not try to break down behaviors in simpler components.

Question 33

Idiographic vs Nomothetic

Answer 33

As this approach views the individual as unique it does not attempt to establish universal laws about the causes of behavior, it is an idiographic approach.

Question 34

Are the research methods used scientific?

Answer 34

As the approach views the individual as unique it does not believe that scientific measurements of their behavior are appropriate.

Question 35

Give 3 advantages of the approach

Answer 35

1. Psychological counselling - wider application
2. Free will
3. Positive and holistic focus

Question 36

Give 3 disadvantages of the approach

Answer 36

1. Culture bias
2. Unrealistic view of human nature
3. Not Scientific

Question 37

Culture bias

Answer 37

Another limitation is the humanistic approach is that it is ethnocentric. Many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology, such as individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth, would be more readily associated with individualistic cultures in the Western world such as the US.

Collectivist cultures such as India, which emphasise the needs of the group and interdependence, may not identify so easily with the ideals and values of humanistic psychology.

Therefore, it is possible that the approach would not travel well and is a product of the cultural context within which it was developed and an emic approach is more appropriate.

Question 38

Unrealistic view of human nature

Answer 38

However, some critics argue that the humanistic approach offers an unrealistic view of human nature. Critics point to the more sinister aspects of human behaviour and argue that humanism focuses on ‘growth-orientated’ behaviour while ignoring individual capacity for self-destruction. Consequently, such critics argue that a focus on self-development ignores situational forces that may provide a more realistic explanation of everyday human behaviour.

Question 39

Psychological counselling - wider application

Answer 39

One strength of Humanistic psychology is that it has had a major influence on psychological counselling. For example, many contemporary therapists use Rogers’ ideas of unconditional positive regard to help clients work toward self-awareness. This means it is a useful theory with real-world applications and has helped improve the outlook of many patients support from psychological issues.

Question 40

Positive and holistic focus

Answer 40

Many psychologists praise the humanistic approach for its positive and holistic focus. Humanistic psychologists, unlike other psychologists, do not try and reduce behaviour and experience to simpler component parts. For example, biological psychologists reduce psychological disorders to neurochemical imbalances and/or genetic inheritance. In stark contrast, humanistic psychologist put forward a holistic view of human nature and is the only approach that attempts to consider all aspects of human nature in a holistic manner while promoting free will and human choice.

Question 41

Not Scientific

Answer 41

A possible reason for this lack of impact on academic psychology perhaps lies with the fact that humanism deliberately adopts a non-scientific approach to studying humans.

Humanistic psychologists rejected a rigorous scientific approach to psychology because they saw it as dehumanizing and unable to capture the richness of conscious experience.

As would be expected of an approach that is ‘anti-scientific’, humanistic psychology is short on empirical evidence. The approach includes untestable concepts, such as ‘self-actualisation’ and ‘congruence’.

However, Rogers did attempt to introduce more rigour into his work by developing Q-sort – an objective measure of progress in therapy.

Question 42

Who developed the client-centered therapy

Answer 42

Developed by Rogers

Question 43

What does C-C therapy aim to do?

Answer 43

aims to achieve congruence in the client, who takes an active role in the therapy.

Question 44

What is cause of incongruence example?

Answer 44

The cause of incongruence may have been a lack of unconditional positive regard from parents - this means that the person’s parents attached ‘conditions of worth’ to them - setting conditions on their love. For example, telling them they will only love them if they achieve something (good exam results).

Question 45

What does a lack of unconditional positive regard cause for an individual?

Answer 45

This creates psychological problems for the person; e.g. lack of self love/feeling of self worth

Question 46

How does therapist attempt to fix the individual’s incongruence

Answer 46

in the therapy, the therapist provides the client with unconditional positive regard, along with empathy and genuineness, to try and reduce the incongruence between the client’s concept of self and ideal self.