Humanistic approach

What is evaluation one: optimistic?

• Humanistic psychologists have been praised for bringing the person back into psychology and promoting a positive image of the human condition

• Freud saw human beings as slaves to 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 refreshing and optimistic alternative to other approaches.

What is evaluation two: culturally bias?

• Many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology, such as individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth, would be much more readily associated with individualist cultures in the Western world such as the United States

• Collectivist cultures, such as India, emphasise the needs of the group, community and interdependence

• Such cultures may not identify so easily with the ideals and values of humanistic psychology (such as self-actualisation)

• Therefore, it is possible that this approach does not apply universally and is a product of the cultural context within which it was developed.

What is the counter argument?

advocates holism. This is the idea that subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person. Consequently, Humanistic psychologists reject any attempt to break up experience and behaviour into smaller components (reductionism). This means the approach may have more validity than alternatives by considering meaningful human behaviour within its real life context.

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