Humanistic perspective

What force is the humanistic perspective?

Third force in psychology.

Whole person approach

People have free will, want to grow and improve, and their personal experiences are key. Humanism studies these experiences to understand how people seek fulfillment.

Maslows hierarchy of needs

physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization

How do low-level and high-level needs differ in Maslow's hierarchy?

Low-level needs are more primitive and deficit-motivated, while high-level needs are growth-motivated and represent distinctly human characteristics.

What must happen before higher-level needs can be addressed?

Lower-level needs must be satisfied first.

How does the strength of motive forces change in the hierarchy?

Motive forces decrease as you move up the pyramid.

How do self-actualisers perceive reality and themselves?

They perceive reality accurately and accept themselves, others, and nature.

Describe the thinking and emotional style of self-actualisers.

Spontaneous, natural, problem-focused, and philosophical.

What is unique about self-actualisers' social relationships and appreciation of life?

They have deep but few close ties and appreciate ordinary experiences and activities for their own sake.

How do self-actualisers relate to culture and what is their temperament like?

They maintain inner detachment from culture and can be temperamental or ruthless.

What is a main criticism of Maslow's hierarchy by American empiricists?

It is considered "too soft scientifically" and culturally biased toward Western values.

How is Maslow's hierarchy criticized regarding the order of needs?

Evidence suggests needs development is not as strictly hierarchical as Maslow described.

Carl rogers theory

A person-centered of psychotherapy

Person-centered theory assumes??

The core of our nature is essentially positive. People need to be free to fulfil their basic nature as positive and social animals.

Reactance

assertion of free will when a threat to freedom is perceived

Perceptions

of free will can be experimentally manipulated

What is the phenomenal field?

Our subjective reality, including everything we are aware of—objects, people, behaviors, thoughts, and ideas—combining mind and body in a unique, subjective way.

What makes up the self according to the phenomenal field concept?

The parts of the phenomenal field that the individual sees as "self," "me," or "I."

Self concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"

Ideal self

one's perception of whom one should be or would like to be

Psychopathology

defined partly by the discrepancies between the ideal self and actual self.

Self actualisation

The desire to grow psychologically and fulfil one's full potential - becoming what you are capable of

Organismic value process

The mechanism that evaluates whether experiences are actualizing

If not, nagging sense that something isn't right

If yes, person is operating as "fully functional person"

What is conditional positive regard and how does it relate to conditions of worth and self-regard?

Conditional positive regard is when positive attention is given only if certain conditions (conditions of worth) are met. This leads to conditional self-regard, where a person judges their own worth based on those conditions.

What are conditions of worth?

External demands or expectations that a person feels they must meet to be accepted (e.g., parents expecting their child to be a doctor).

How do conditions of worth affect a person?

They are often coercive, pressuring the person to meet these conditions for acceptance, they can conflict with genuine desires, making it difficult to distinguish between true wants and others expectations.

Self consistency

an absence of conflict among self-perceptions

Incongruence

The degree of disparity between one's self-concept and one's actual experience.

Defenses

Ways to defend against anxiety of incongruence, distortions of the experience, denial/subception.

How do defenses protect self-esteem?

They minimize the negativity of failures by resisting stable self-blame (e.g., blaming others) and maintain self-esteem by attributing successes to stable, controllable personal qualities.

What conditions must be met for an event to affect self-esteem?

The event must be seen as caused by you and interpreted as either positive or negative.

Self-handicapping

the strategy whereby people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves

Human happiness

Rogers measured the extent of human psychological adjustment by the amount of freedom from inner tension.

What causes a rift between experience and self-concept, and how does parental regard affect this?

If parents give unconditional positive regard, children don't deny experiences and feel comfortable with themselves, faults and all. Children's perception of parental acceptance is crucial for self-acceptance, which is closely linked to self-esteem—a personal judgment of worthiness.

What is the importance of consistency between self-perceptions and experience?

People strive to maintain consistency (congruence) between self-image and behaviour. Openness to experience without defensiveness leads to well-being. Incongruence—a breakdown between self and experience—can cause anxiety and distress.

Problems in behaviour arise from?

Incongruity and negative affect, inability to meet conditions of worth and inability to manage realisation of mortality.

Client-centered therapy

the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (Also called person-centered therapy.)

Interview

Allows therapist to find out what a person is like, offers maximum flexibility.

Q-sort measurement of self concept

A person is given a large set of cards, each card contains a statement about a personality characteristics then person sorts the cards into row of piles from most like you to least like you.

Personal orientation inventory

A self-report questionnaire that asks people to classify themselves on a number of dimensions for the various characteristics of self-actualization or mental health

Strengths of humanistic theory

Intuitively accessible, systematic, strategic practical, holistic and integrated.

Limitations of humanistic theory

Excludes unconscious, assumptions, subjective and bias.