Humanistic psychology

Free-will

- The approach claims that humans are self-determining and they have this. People are still affected by external and internal influences, but are also active agents who can determine their own development. For this reason, humanistic psychologists such as Rogers and Maslow, reject more scientific models that attempt to establish general principles of human behaviour.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

- Describes our motivation for certain behaviours. In order to achieve our primary goal of self-actualisation, a number of other deficiency needs must first be met. At the bottom are physiological needs such as food and water, the next deficiency need is safety and security followed by love and belonginess and then self-esteem - A person is only able to progress through this once the current need in the sequence has been met.

Self-actualisation

• Most people have an innate desire to achieve their full potential and to become the best they can possibly be. All four lower levels of the hierarchy must be met before an individual can work towards this. This applies to early development when a baby is first focused on physiological needs and applies throughout life.

• Self-actualisation is the uppermost level.

• Humanistic psychologists regard personal growth as an essential part of what it is to be human. Personal growth is concerned with developing and changing as a person to become fulfilled, satisfied, and goal-orientated.

The self, congruence and conditions of worth

- Rogers argued that for personal growth to be achieved an individual's concept of the way they see themselves must be broadly equivalent to the ideal self (the person they want to be). If too big a gap exists between these, the person will experience a state of incongruence and self-actualisation will not be possible due to the negative feelings of self-worth that arise from incongruence.

Client-centered therapy (counselling)

• In order to reduce the gap between the self-concept and the ideal self, Rogers developed this to help people cope with the problems of everyday living. Rogers claimed that many of the issues we experience as adults, such as worthlessness and low self-esteem, have their roots in childhood and can often be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard (or lack of unconditional love) from our parents. A parent who sets boundaries or limits on their love for a child (conditions of worth) is storing up psychological problems for that child in the future

• Rogers saw one of his roles as an effective therapist as being able to provide his clients with the unconditional positive regard that they had failed to receive.

Strengths

• The approach is positive and optimistic. Humanistic psychologists have been praised for bringing the person back into psychology and promoting a positive image of the human condition. For example, Freud saw human beings as prisoners of their past and claimed all of us existed somewhere between 'common unhappiness and absolute despair'. In contrast, humanistic psychologists see all people as basically good, free to work towards the achievement of their potential and in control of their lives - This suggests that humanistic psychology offers a optimistic alternative to other approaches.

• The approach rejects attempts to break up behaviour and experience into smaller components (not reductionist). Behaviourists explain human and animal learning in terms of simple stimulus-response connections. Supporters of the cognitive approach see human beings as little more than information-processing 'machines'. Biological psychologists reduce behaviour to its basic physiological processes. Freud described the whole of personality as a conflict between the Id, Ego, and Superego. However, humanistic psychologists advocate holism (subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person). This approach may have more validity than its alternatives by considering meaningful human behaviour within its real-world context.

• Reductionist approaches may be more scientific. The ideal of science is experiment and experiments reduces behaviour to IVs and DVs. Humanistic psychology has relatively few concepts that can be broken down into single variables and measured. This means that it is short on empirical evidence to support its claims.
  

Limitations

- The approach may be culturally biased. Many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology, such as individual freedom, autonomy, and personal growth, would be much more associated with countries that have more individualist tendencies (e.g. the US). Countries with collectivist tendencies emphasise more the needs of the group and interdependence. In such countries, the ideals of this approach may not be as important as in others (e.g. self-actualisation). Therefore, it is possible that this approach does not apply universally and is a product of cultural context within which it was developed.

Influence on counselling psychology

- Rogers' client-centered therapy is applied in many settings today (e.g. Samaritans and other helplines). Rogers' work transformed psychotherapy and introduced a variety of counselling techniques. In the UK and the US, similar counselling skills are practiced, not only in clinical settings, but throughout education, health, social work, and industry. Client-centered therapy has been praised as a forward-looking and effective approach that focuses on present problems rather than dwelling on the past, however, like psychoanalysis, it is best applied to the treatment of 'mild' psychological conditions, such as anxiety and low self-worth.