Untitled Flashcards Set

Module  61: Humanistic Theories

Note: all responses should be in bold or colored font. 

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are credited with creating the humanist perspective of personality.  Review the information on the following websites to learn more about the humanistic perspective.  

Abraham Maslow and the Humanist Perspective  

1. Give three examples of physiological needs: Physiological, safety, love, self-esteem, self actualization. 

2. Maslow believed that needs lower on the hierarchy take precedence over those higher.  Give an example of how the need for belongingness is more important than the need for esteem. Need for belonging is essential for community--if not it could result in social isolation and loneliness. 

3. According to Maslow, if your needs in an area are fulfilled, you don’t notice them.  Think about your own life.  Which of your needs are being fulfilled?  Which are currently salient needs for you? OPINION QUESTION. 

4. What did Maslow believe led to neuroses? Significant problems as a child, which results in fixating on a sense of needs for the rest of your life. 

5. How is the need for self-actualization different from the other needs?  In other words, why isn’t it a “D-need”? Don’t involve balance or motivation, once engaged they continue to be felt, not deficit needs but be needs (growth motivation) 

6. According to Maslow, approximately what percent of people are self-actualizing? Maslow suggests only 2% of people are self-actualized. 

7. What are some flaws also found in self-actualizing people? Not scientifically supported, hierarchy is arbitrary, constraints of self-actualization

Carl Rogers and the Humanist Perspective 

8. According to Rogers, what is the actualizing tendency? the built-in motivation present in every life-form to develop its potentials to the fullest extent possible

9. Do you feel that you have an actualizing tendency?  What is interfering with you reaching your full potential? OPINION QUESTION

10. How does conditioned positive regard lead to conditioned positive self-regard?  Why is this (conditioned positive self-regard) a problem? Love, affection, attention -->self-esteem, self-worth, self-image, we experience the latter by the former, so if positive regard doesn’t exist, or is not present, it will influence our positive self-regard. 

11. According to Rogers, what causes neurosis? When our real self and ideal self are not congruent. 

12. Rogerian therapy is “non-directive”.  What does this mean? Therapist does not direct progress of therapy, client does, client centered approach. 

13. What is “reflection” as it is used in Rogerian therapy?  What is the goal of reflection in therapy? Mirroring of emotional communication, the therapist reframes the client’s statements to clarify what they are saying.

14. Name and describe three traits the therapist must have according to Rogers?

Congruence -- genuineness, honesty with the client.

Empathy -- the ability to feel what the client feels.

Respect -- acceptance, unconditional positive regard towards the client.

Reflection:

15. According to Rogers and Maslow, psychological health requires realizing our true selves and working toward fulfilling our potential.  However, culture and expectations from others often prevents us from realizing that potential.  Spend a few minutes thinking about what is really important to you in life.  What do you want to be remembered for?  In the space below, describe the person you would be in 20 years if you were truly self-actualized (achieving your potential in the way YOU want to – not the way you think others want). OPINION QUESTION. 

16. None of us are actively working towards self-actualization all the time.  What aspects of your life prevent you from fulfilling your potential?  Be as specific as possible.  For example, instead of writing “school”, indicate exactly what part of school is the problem. OPINION QUESTION. 

17. Maslow and Rogers differ slightly on their beliefs for why people are not self-actualizing.  Maslow felt that we are prevented from self-actualizing because lesser, more essential needs (such as the need for love, respect, and safety) are not being met.  Rogers, on the other hand, felt that conditioned positive regard from others causes us to create an “ideal self” that attempts to live up to others expectations instead of our own.  Which do you feel more accurately describes your personal situation?  Explain. OPINION QUESTION.

Examine Abraham’s Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and answer the following questions:

1. What is self-actualization? The motivation to fulfill one’s fullest potential; the fulfillment of one's talents and potentialities

2. Using the numbers 1-5, rank the following needs in the correct order in which they would be satisfied: 

3 relationships with others

1 fundamental biological needs

5 attainment of one’s potential

2 security and protection

4 self-respect and feelings of accomplishment

3. Carl Rogers believed that people are motivated to maintain a consistent self-concept.

4. What is unconditional positive regard? A caring, accepting, non judgemental attitude which helps people develop self-awareness and self acceptance

5. According to Rogers, what is the problem with conditional positive regard?  Conditioned positive regard is when approval is only given if the individual meets a certain condition. This is very limiting for the development of self-worth and self-concept. 

6. According to Rogers, why are feelings and experiences denied or distorted?  Because of a lack of unconditional positive regard.

7. What does it mean when a person is in a state of incongruence? When a person’s vision of their ideal self and their self image are too different, they are said to be incongruent. Rogers believed that in order to achieve self-actualization ,a person needs to be in greater congruence. 

8. Identify the correct order of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:

   1. What is the first (bottom) level of needs that must be met? physiological needs

   2. What is the second level of needs that must be met? Safety needs

   3. What is the middle level of needs? love/belonging

   4. What is the fourth level of needs that must be met? Esteem of other and self 

   5. What is the top or final level of needs that people are motivated to fulfill? Sef; actualization

9. How did Maslow define his top or final level of needs?  Self transcendence; striving for identity, meaning and purpose beyond the self

10. Maslow’s research identified several characteristics of self-actualized people.  Identify these characteristics. They are self-aware and self-accepting, open and spontaneous, loving and caring, not paralyzed by other’s opinions. 

If the tendency toward self-actualization is innate, why are not more adults self-actualized? 

Maslow estimated that only one percent are. He offered four basic explanations for this low number.

1. Self-actualization is at the top of the motivational hierarchy. This makes it the weakest of all needs and the most easily impeded. He wrote, “This inner nature is not strong and overpowering and unmistakable like the instincts of animals. It is weak and delicate and subtle and easily overcome by habit, cultural pressure, and wrong attitudes toward it.”

2. Maslow identified the Jonah complex as another obstacle to self-actualization. We fear and doubt our own abilities and potentialities. To become self-actualized, one must have enough courage to sacrifice safety for personal growth. Too often, fear takes precedence over the challenge of self-actualization.

3. The cultural environment may also stifle self-actualization by imposing certain norms on major segments of the population. Definitions of “manliness” may prevent the male child from developing traits such as sympathy, kindness, and tenderness, all of which characterize the self-actualized person.

4. Childhood experiences may inhibit personal growth. Maslow observed that children from warm, secure, friendly homes are more likely to choose experiences that lead to personal growth. Excessive control and coddling is obviously harmful but so is excessive permissiveness. Too much freedom in childhood can lead to anxiety and insecurity, which can prevent further growth. Maslow called for “freedom within limits” in which there is the right mixture of permissiveness and regulation.