Humanistic approach

• Who created the humanistic approach and in what year?

  Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow in the 1950s.
• Explain how the humanistic approach came about:

  Rodgers said Freud dealt with the 'sick half' of psychology so the humanistic approach was concerned with healthy growth in individuals. importance of subjective experience and each persons self-determination
• What does free will mean to humans?

  that we are active agents who have the ability to determine our own development. external and internal influences also affect us as people, but we do have some ability to control what happens to us
• What are the 5 tiers in Maslows hierarchy of needs?

  Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, Self-Actualization
• Why did Maslow create the hierarchy of needs?

  importance of personal growth and fulfilment. every person has an innate tendency to achieve their full potential and become the best that they can be (self actualisation, the top). each level must be fulfilled before a person can move up, however not everyone reaches the top as their are barriers which prevent them.
• Describe what you would find at each tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs:

  1. physiological (breathing, food, water, sleep, homeostasis, excretion)
  2. safety (security of body, of employment, of resources, of the family, of health, of property)
  3. love/belonging (friendship, family, sexual intimacy)
  4. esteem (self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others)
  5. self-actualisation (creativity, problem solving, spontaneity, acceptance of facts)
• What were the 2 needs Rodgers claimed people have:

  1. a feeling of self worth
  2. a positive regard from other people
• What is 'a feeling of self worth'?

  'the self' is how we perceive ourselves as a person

  the closer our 'self' (how we view ourselves) and our 'ideal self' are, the greater our feelings of self-worth and the better are psychological health. this similarity is knows as congruence. the closer together, the closer the congruence, the higher our feelings of self worth.

  incongruence = difference between self and ideal self
• What is positive regard from other people?


  unconditional positive regard: love and acceptance is unconditional, a person is accepted for who they are.

  conditional positive regard: when people are only accepted if they do what others want them to do.
• What are conditions of worth?


  Conditions of worth develop when people experience conditional regard. they are the conditions someone perceives significant others put upon them. When they believe to be in a place where they have to be accepted by others and so receive their positive regard to perceive themselves positively. Self-acceptance is achieved if they follow these conditions of worth
• The influence on counselling psychology

  Rogers believed that an individuals physiological problems were a direct result of their conditions of worth and the conditional positive regard that they receive from other people.

  humanistic therapists regard themselves as facilitators to help people understand themselves + enable their ability to reach self actualisation.

  therapists provide empathy + unconditional positive regard, expressing acceptance and understanding, regardless of the feelings and emotions their client expresses. client can develop self worth
• Strengths of humanist approach:


  • takes a positive approach to human behaviour and promotes a positive image of humans. optimistic view, all people are good, have freewill and can achieve their potential
  • Harter et al. teenagers who have to fulfil certain conditions in order to gain parents approval usually end up not liking themselves
  • not reductionist. humanists advocate holism, a hollistic approach; the idea that subjective experience can only be understood if the whole person is also understood. considers meaningful human behaviour within its real life context.
• Weaknesses of the humanistic response:


  • based on vague and abstract ideas that are difficult to test. self actualisation and congruence are useful therapeutic tools but not in experimental test conditions. Rogers developed the Q-sort, a measure of progress in therapy, creating a more objective measure.
  • culturally biased. individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth are present in individualistic cultures but may not be the same in collectivist cultures. Is a product of the cultural content in which it was developed therefore would not generalise well.