The humanistic approach Flashcards
Free will
Humanistic approach
Humanistic approach claims humans are self-determining
People are still affected by external & internal influences but are also active agents who can determine their own development
Therefore, humanistic pyschologists such as Rogers & Maslow reject more scientific models that attempt to establish general principles of human behaviour
As active agents we are all unique & psychology should concern itself w/ study of subjective experience rather than general laws - often referred to as person-centred approach
Maslow’s hierachy of needs
Humanistic approach
Maslow’s main interests was what motivates people
Described a hierarchy of needs that motivate our behaviour
In order to achieve our primary goal of self-actualisation, a number of other deficieny needs must first be met
At bottom are physiological needs such as food & water
Moving up hierarchy, next deficiency is safety & security followed by love & belongingness & then self-esteem
Person is only able to progress through hierarchy once current need in sequence has been met
Self-actualisation
Humanistic approach
Most people have innate desire to achieve their full potential
Self-actualisation is top Maslow’s hierarchy
Humanistic psychologists regard personal growth as essential part of what it is to be human
Personal growth is concerned w/ developing & changing as person to become fufilled, satisfied & goal-oriented
Not everyone will manage this & there are important psychological barriers that may prevent a person from achieving their potential
The self, congruence & conditions of worth
Humanistic approach
Rogers argued that for personal growth to be achieved an individual’s concept of the self must have congruence w/ their ideal self
If too big gap exists between the two selves, person will experience state of incongruence & self-actualisation will not be possible due to neg feelings of self-worth
Client-centred (C-C) therapy
Humanistic approach
To reduce gap between self-concept & ideal self, Rogers developed C-C therapy to help people cipe w/ problems of everyday living
Rogers claimed many issues we experiemce as adults, such as worthlessness, have roots in childhood & can be explained by lack of unconditional positive regard
A parent who sets boundaries or limits in their love for their child (conditions of worth) is storing up psychological problems for that child in the future
Rogers saw one of his roles as an effective therapist as being able to provide his clients w/ unconditional positive regard they had failed to receive as children
Evaluation: Not reductionist
Humanistic approach
Strength: rejects attempts to break up behaviour & experience into smaller components
Behaviourists explain learning in terms of stimulus-response connections
Cog approach see humans as little more than info-processing machines
Bio psychologists reduce behaviour to its basic physiological processes
Freud described whole of personality as conflict between 3 thinsg (Id, ego & supergo)
In contrast, humanistic psychologists advocate holism, idea that subjective experience can only be understood by considering whole person
Therefore, approach may have more validity than its alternatives by considering meaningful human behaviour w/in real-world context
Evaluation: Not reductionist (Counterpoint)
Humanistic approach
However, reductionist approaches may be more scientific
This is because ideal of science is experiment & experiments reduce behaviour to independent & dependent variables
One issue w/ humanistic psychology is that there are relatively few concepts that can be broken down to single variables & measured
Therefore, means humanistic psychology in general is short on empirical evidence to support its claims
Evaluation: Positive approach
Humanistic approach
Strength: optimistic
Humanistic psychologists have been praised for bringing person back into psychology & promoting positive image of human condition
Freud saw human beings as prisoners of their past & claimed all of us existed seomwhere between ‘common unhappiness & absolute despair’7
In contrast, humanistic psychologists see all people as basically good, free to work towards the achievement of their potential & in control of their lives
Therefore, humanistic psychology offers refreshing & optimistic alternative to othr apps
Evaluation: Cultural bias
Humanistic approach
Limit: culturally-biased
Many ideas are central to humanistic psychology, such as individual freedom, autonomy & personal growth, would be much more readily associated w/ individualist countries
Collectivist countries tend to emphasise needs of group & interdependence
In such countries, ideals of humanistic psychology may not be as important as in others
Therefore, it is possible this app does not apply universally & is product of cultural context w/in which it was developed
