Humanistic APPROACH

Basic assumptions

- Humans have free will and are the main agents in driving their own personal development

- We are also affected by external and internal influences

- Humans are unique, creative and uniquely good

- People are best studied subjectively + Ideographically as there are no general laws of behaviour

- Everyone has an innate tendency towards Self-actualisation

Ideographic

Focusing on individual as a unique entity rather than applying general laws/patterns

Client centered therapy

- Created by Rogers to help individuals reach Congruence

- Provides Client with Unconditional Positive Regard

Unconditional Positive Regard

- Roger claims lack of Unconditional Positive Regard in childhood is the cause of esteem issues in

Maslows Hierarchy of needs

- Maslows Idea of what motivates us and how to reach Self-actualisation

- All levels must be met and achieved to reach Self-actualisation

- Lower levels are more basic needs

Every level of Maslows Hierarchy of needs

When can you move up a level

1. Physiological needs eg food water

2. Safety needs eg security, degree of predictability to life

3. Social needs eg friendship, love

4. Esteem needs eg positive self-image

5. Self-actualisation

Can only move up once current level has been met

Self actualisation

- Final level of Maslows hierarchy

- Achievement of an individuals Full Potential

- Can only be reached when all previous needs (Deficiency needs) have been met

Deficiency needs

All the lower needs that must be met to achieve Self-actualisation

What did Rogers suggest is necessary for personal growth

Congruence

Big gap between self image + ideal self leads to incongruence, making self-actualisation impossible

Congruence

When a persons self image overlaps with their Ideal Self

Who are The Two Humanistic Psychologists

Maslow and Rogers

Rogers beliefs

- Personal growth is achieved by having Congruence with self-image and Ideal self

- Incongruence prevents reaching self actualisation

- Self esteem issues arise from lack of Unconditional Positive Regard in childhood

- Developed Client centered therapy to help individuals reach Congruence

- Therapy involves giving Clients Unconditional Positive Regard

Maslows Beliefs

We have a Hierarchy of needs with an innate tendency to fulfil it

After fulfilling the Hierarchy you become self-actualised

Holistic Strength of the Humanistic Approach

- Takes Holistic view of behaviour

- Means it considers all aspects rather than focusing on specific aspects like the Biological approach

- Therefore can understand a person in a real life context rather than reducing them to a set of variables

- eg Rogers emphasised a person self concept and their subjective experiences

- Therefore increases Real World Application eg in Therapy, education

Optimistic Strength of Humanistic approach

- Takes Optimistic + Empowering view of Human nature

- Unlike Psychodynamic approach which focuses on unconscious conflict

- eg Rogers + Maslow argued we have an innate growth to self-improvement

- More empowering compared to Deterministic approaches

- Could be seen as Positively Socially Sensitive as it encourages individuals to take positive outlook on human behaviour

Scientific limitation of Humanistic Approach

- May lack Scientificness

- Many concepts rely on Qualitative Data which can lack reliability

- eg Self-actualisation is hard to define + measure Objectively

- May also differ across cultures

- Makes it hard to Operationalise + apply scientific methods to

- Therefore reduces Scientific Credibility + Reliability

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