Outline and evaluate the humanistic approach

AO1: Who founded the humanistic approach?

Carl Rodgers & Abraham Maslow (1950)

AO1: What are the main assumptions of the humanistic approach?

• Every individual is unique & generalisations between people should not be made.  

• Everyone has free will - ability to choose what they do.

• People should be viewed holistically - as a whole.

• Scientific methods should not be used to study behaviour as all humans are different from each other.

AO1: What does the humanistic approach claim about humans?

Human beings are self-determining and have free will - it is the only approach that suggests we do.

This means that our behaviour is not affected by external or internal influence and that we are active agents who have the ability to determine our own development.  

Biological, behaviourist and psychodynamic all take a hard determinism stance - behaviour has a cause and we have no free will.

AO1: Hierarchy of needs

A 5 level hierarchy where all 4 levels below the top need to be met before an individual can work towards self-actualisation.

1. Physiological

2. Safety

3. Love & belonging 

4. Esteem 

5. Self-actualisation - A person's motivation to reach their full potential.

AO1: Define self-concept

The way a person sees themselves

AO1: Define ideal self

The self a person wished to be

AO1: Define congruence

When the self-concept and ideal self are close together

AO1: Define conditions of worth

Requirements that an individual feels they need to meet to be loved/feel worthy

AO3: Cultural bias (Limitation)

The heirachy of needs doesn't account for cultural differences.

Maslow later acknowledged that, for some people it may occur in different orders/ be completely different.

This is shown by cross-cultural evidence. For example, a study in China (Nevis, 1983) found that belongingness needs were found as more fundamental needs than physiological needs. Self-actualisation was defined more in terms in contributing to the community than in terms of ones' own personal development

Many other studies confirmed that Europeans and Americans focus more on the individual whereas Chinese, Japanese and Koreans define self-concept more in terms of social relations.

AO3: Unrealistic (Limitation)

The humanistic approach in psychology is unrealistic.

It represents an overly idealistic and unrealistic view of human nature.

Critics argue that people are not as inherently good and 'growth orientated' as the approach suggests and does not properly recognise people's capacity for pessimism and self-destructive behaviour. The idea that personality development is directed only by an innate potential for growth is seen as an oversimplification.

This suggests that encouraging people to focus on their self-development rather than on situational forces may be neither realistic or appropriate in modern society.

AO3: Research support (Strength)

There is research to support conditions of worth in the humanistic approach.

People who experience conditional regard are more likely to show 'false self behaviour'. Rogers' view has research to go along with his idea.

It was discovered in 1996 that teens who feel they have conditions that come with parental approval frequently end up not liking themselves.

In line with Rogers' predictions adolescents who created a 'false self', pretending to be someone their parents would love, were more likely to develop depression and lose their true self.

AO3: Economic development (Strength)

he humanistic approach links to economic development.

Research suggests that Maslow's heirachy of needs may have relevance on a much larger scale than individual growth.

Hagerty in 1999 looked at relationship between economic growth and measures of Maslow's levels in 88 countries over 34 years. Countries in early economical development were characterised by lower level needs (physiological need etc).

As predicted by the model, it was only in the advanced stages of economic development that self-actualisation became important. (e.g. education level as a measure people's desire to better themselves)