AO3 - Humanistic Approach

• A practical application of client-centred therapy is useful as it aims to increase self-worth and decrease the incongruence between the self-concept and the ideal self.
• Client-centred therapy focuses on the present rather than dwell on the past unlike psychoanalysis.
• The humanistic approach is very subjective as it is based on unique feelings or experiences.
• The humanistic approach does not scientifically measure thoughts or behaviours so is less objective than other approaches.
• Humanistic Psychology has given rise to a new way of looking at people’s needs, e.g. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is widely used in health and social work as a framework for assessing clients’ needs.
• It uses methods that gather qualitative data such as unstructured interviews or participant observations, which can be more biased.
• The humanistic approach is holistic, as it does not try to break down behaviours in simpler components.
• The humanistic approach is non-determinist as it recognises free will.
• The humanistic approach recognises both nature and nurture; nature through influences from biological drives and needs, and nurture from a person's experiences of perceiving and understanding the world.
• Humanistic Psychology is not reductionist, opting to take a more holistic view.
• The humanistic is short on empirical evidence to support its ideas.
• Many aspects of humanistic Psychology are difficult to break down and objectively measure.
• Many ideas in the humanistic approach are believed to be culturally biased to more individualistic cultures (western).
• Client-centred therapy has helped develop the principles of modern day counselling.
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs has been used to explain motivation in the workplace.