Humanistic approach

What does humanistic psychology claim

That humans are self determining and have free will

Who made the hierarchy of needs and what is it

Maslow - shows what motivates people and what we need to achieve self-actualisation

What is the hierarchy of needs bottom upwards

Food and water, safety and security, love and belongingness, self esteem

What is self-actualisation

The innate desire to achieve your full potential

What did Rogers argue

That for an individual to achieve personal growth their concept of their self must be in congruence with the person they want to be

What will happen if the gap between concept of self and ideal self is too big

There will be incongruence and self-actualisation won’t be possible

What did Rogers develop to reduce the gap

Client-centred therapy which helps people cope with issues in everyday living

What did Rogers argue issues we have stem from

Lack of unconditional positive regard as children

What are conditions of worth

When parents place limits on their love for their children

What is a strength of the humanistic approach

It is not reductionist - humanist psychologists advocate holism which is the idea that subjective experience can only be understood by looking at the whole person

Increases validity because it considers human behaviour in real-world context

What is a counterpoint to the previous point

Reductionist approaches may be more scientific because science is based one experiments and experiments reduce behaviour to independent and dependent variables

In humanistic psychology there are relatively few concepts that can be broken down into variables and measured

Suggests approach is short on empirical evidence

What is a strength of the approach

It is positive and optimistic - Humanistic psychologists see all people as basically good and free to work towards their potential and in control of their lives

Offers an optimistic alternative to other approaches

What is a limitation of the approach

Cultural bias - many ideas of freedom and personal growth are associated with individualist countries

In collectivist countries they emphasise more the needs of the groups and interdependence so things like self-actualisation would not apply

Possible the approach does not apply universally