humanistic psychology

• what do human psychologists look at?

  individuals as a whole which considers a range of influences on them and explaining healthy growth
• what are the 4 elements of humanistic psychology?

  1. free will
  2. self actualisation
  3. self and congruence
  4. client-centred therapy
• outline free will

  humans have the ability to make genuine free choices over their actions

  • suggests behaviour is unpredictable and that each person is unique
• who identified the hierarchy of needs?

  Maslow
• what's the hierarchy of needs?

  a set of needs that need to be met in order to be satisfied and develop as a person
• outline maslow's hierarchy of needs for self actualisation

  • most basic needs are physiological (food and water)
  • safety and security (home and family)
  • love and belongingness (friends and positive relationships)
  • self esteem (self confidence and respect)
  • self actualisation (creativity and spontaneity)
• define self-actualisation

  ability to develop and achieve potential
• what happens if the basic needs are not met in the hierarchy of needs?

  person can't self actualise and become depressed
• define congruence based off Rogers

  in order to develop there must be congruence between a person's self concept and their ideal self
• what happens if the gap of congruence is too large?

  person experiences incongruence and not able to self-actualise therefore becoming anxious and depressed
• who developed client-centred therapy?

  carl rogers
• what does client-centered therapy aim to achieve?

  congruence in the client, who takes an active role in the therpay
• what is the cause of incongruence?

  lack of unconditional positive regard from parents
• define unconditional positive regard

  person's parents attached conditions of worth to them
• what's the effect of unconditional positive regard?

  psychological problems
• outline the process of client-centred therapy

  therapist provides client with unconditional positive regard with empathy and genuineness to reduce incongruence between concept of self and ideal self
• evaluate humanistic psychology

  • approach is holistic as considers range of influences on a person and doesn't attempt to simplify behaviour, better represents complexity of behaviour

  
  

  • more positive approach as it's optimistic and focused on personal growth and development, an optimistic explanation

  
  

  • approach isn't scientifically rigorous as concepts are hard to test empirically, weakens approach due to lacking scientific credibility