Humanistic Approach

• Humanistic Psychology

  • Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers = founding fathers
  • Focused on discovering what it means to be human
  • Argue that other approaches are reductionist and deterministic - more complex
  • Conscious experience
• Free Will

  • Every individual can assert free will
  • Have a choice in behaviour
  • Conscious control over destiny even with outside forces
  • Still subject to biological and societal influences but can make significant personal choices 
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

  • Maslow - often individuals “work-up”, but not always the case
  • E.g need self-esteem before finding love
  • Finding out what could go right
  • Importance of growth and fulfilment 
  • More basic the need, the more powerfully it is experienced and more difficult to ignore
• Self-Actualisation

  • Rare
  • Possibility of true self-awareness and an honest relationship with the realities of an imperfect world
  • Takes form of peak experiences
  • Euphoria
  • Seeing world with awe and wonder
  • No fear or inhibitions
  • Trend in people: 
  • Accurate perception of world
  • Creative
  • Accepting of other people
• Focus on the Self

  • Rogers interested in need for self-worth and need for unconditional positive regard
  • Emerge from good relationships with supportive parents
  • Friends and spouse later in life
  • Direct impact on well-being
  • Closer self-concept and ideal safe = greater self-worth and greater psychological health
• Role of Conditions of Worth

  • Unconditional positive regard = conditions of worth
  • Conditions of worth (have to behave in certain ways) = receive positive regard
  • Type of expectation
  • Self-acceptance = meeting conditions of worth
  • Produce feeling of incongruence
• Congruence

  • Unhappiness and dissatisfaction are outcomes of gap between self-concept and ideal self
  • Concepts incongruent = use defence mechanisms (no negative feelings)
• Counselling Psychology

  • Psychological problems = result of conditions of worth and conditional positive regard
  • Rogerian therapy - close gap between self-concept and ideal self
  • Allow individual to recognise psychological limits and strengths (find realistic balance)
  • Client-centred approach
  • Deeper understanding of themselves
  • Reach self-actualisation
  • Therapist = provide unconditional positive regard
  • Acceptance, empathy and understanding
  • Conditions of worth will dissipate, move towards ideal self - how they want to behave, now how they feel they should
• Evaluation Point 1: Strength: Not Reductionist

  Not reductionist

  Rejects attempts to break up behaviour

  E.g Behaviourists + Stimulus-Response Units

  Subjective human experience only through considering whole person

  Holistic

  Meaningful behaviour within real world context
• Evaluation Point 1: Counter

  Counter: less scientific

  Relatively few concepts that can be measured 

  Cannot be broken down to single variables - e.g can’t measure self-actualisation

  Short on empirical evidence
• Evaluation Point 2: Weakness: Culture

  Cultural bias

  Individual freedom, autonomy, personal growth = individualist cultures

  Collectivist Cultures = group needs + interdependence 

  Self - actualisation not as important for them

  Do not identify with values and ideal

  Not universal
• Evaluation Point 3: Strength: Optimistic

  Optimistic

  Praised for bringing the person back into psychology

  Positive image of human condition 

  Good, free to work towards potential

  Refreshing and optimistic
• Evaluation Point 3: Counter: Unrealistic

  Counter: unrealistic view of human nature.

  More sinister aspects of human behaviour 

  Focuses on ‘growth-orientated’ behaviour whilst ignoring an individual’s capacity for self-destruction.

  Overlooks possible situational forces that may provide a more realistic explanation of everyday human behaviour.