Humanistic approach

How does humanistic differ from other approaches?

It focuses on the conscious experience, on personal responsibility and free will.

Humanistic psychologists are able to make significant personal choices.

What are the two psychologists which developed this approach?

Abraham Maslow

Carl Rogers

What is Maslow’s theory?

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Most basic needs at bottom of pyramid, most advanced at top.

Each level must be fulfilled before a person can move up to a higher need

what is the order of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Self Actualisation

Esteem

Love/belonging

Safety

Physiological

what is self-actualisation?

whoever attained this level tended to be creative, accepting of others, had an accurate perception of world around them.

what are the three ways that we can treat others/ be treated by them according to Rogers?

• Unconditional positive regard

• Conditional positive regard

• Negative regard

what is UCR, CR, NR?

UCR: we are regarded positively by our significant others no matter what. We do not have to achieve anything or meet conditions of worth to receive.

CR: we are regarded positively by our significant others but only IF we meet our conditions of worth.

NR: we are regarded negatively - not given love, support, praise etc by our significant others.

What is the ideal self vs actual self?

How does this link to congruence/incongruence?

How does this link to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

ideal self - idealised version of ourselves. vision of a perfected version of ourselves without any of our flaws.

actual self - how we see ourselves as we actually are.

Congruence - ideal self and actual self being close together. HIGH SELF ESTEEM.

Possible to reach self actualisation as self esteem is no longer a barrier.

Incongruence - ideal self and actual self being far apart. LOW SELF ESTEEM.

Impossible to reach self actualisation as self esteem is a barrier, stopping progress.

what are conditions of worth?

When people are treated with conditional positive regard, they develop conditions of worth.

These are the conditions that they perceive significant others put upon them and believe they have to meet to be accepted by others.

What are the strengths of the humanistic approach?

• supported by research from Harter

• Avoids being overly reductionist

• Real world application

What are the limitations to the humanistic approach?

• application is relatively limited

• concepts are untestable

• Culture bias

PEC

Harter

P: A strength is that it’s supported by research from Harter

E: Harter research supports Roger’s view - individuals who experience CPR at more likely to develop low self-esteem.

C: This provides empirical evidence to support a key concept of the humanistic model.

PEC

Overly reductionist

P: A strength is that it avoids being overly reductionist.

E: the approach emphasises the importance of a holistic approach; subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person.

C: it recognises the complexity of human behaviour rather than oversimplifying it by reducing it to a lower level of explanation.

PEC

Real world application

P: A strength is that it has real-world application

E: the model led to the development of counselling- an effective therapy for a number of neuroses

C: this supports the approach - suggest that the approach is not simply abstract but has real world application.

PEC

Limited

P: A weakness is that its application is relatively limited.

E: limited as counselling is an insight therapy, it isn’t appropriate for treating more serious psychoses like schizophrenia.

C: therefore, this undermines the approach - it suggests that the therapy has limited real world application.

PEC

Untestable

P: A weakness - many concepts are untestable.

E: Concepts such as “congruence” and “self actualisation” are useful in a therapeutic context but difficult to test under experimental conditions,

C: therefore, the approach is consciously anti-scientific. This lack of research support based on rigorous scientific methods and identification of cause and effect. Could be seen as undermining the validity of the approach.

PEC

Culture bias

P: a weakened is that it can be accused of culture bias

E: emphasises personal autonomy and growth. May not be applicable to people from collectivist non-western cultures. E.g. in a study in china, Nevis found that belonging needs were seen as more fundamental than physiological needs.

C: therefore, applicability of the humanistic approach may be restricted to a limited number of western cultures - this undermines the usefulness of the approach.