The humanistic approach

• What are the basic assumptions of the humanistic approach?


  - Subjectivity should be emphasised to understand individuals.

  - We have free will over our behaviour and development.

  - Humans are complex and cannot be understood by studying them in parts.
• What do humanistic theories emphasise?


  Humanistic theories emphasise free will, and therefore that people have full conscious control over their own destiny. Humanistic psychologists still consider that we are subjected to many other forces, including biological and social influences, but they believe we are able to make significant personal choices within the restraints of these forces.
• Define self-actualisation.


  Self-actualization is the complete realization of one's potential - considered as a need or a drive present in everyone.
• What is the hierarchy of needs and the order of it?


  Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a model of psychological development where deficiencies at each level need to be fulfilled to progress up to self actualisation. Satisfying physiological needs prepares people for achieving safety, then love and belonging, then esteem, then self actualisation. (know some examples from the image).

  
• What did Maslow believe about self actualisation?


  Maslow found that most who had attained self-actualisation were creative, accepting, and accurately perceptive of the world around them. He also believed it was experienced in the form of peak experiences - moments of extreme inspiration and ecstasy.
• What did Rogers believe about conditions of worth?


  Rogers believed that self-worth impacts psychological well-being. Experiencing conditional positive regard leads to people developing conditions of worth - unconditional positive regard is ideal. Conditions of worth are a type of expectation an individual feels they must meet to be accepted and loved. They can produce a feeling of incongruence.
• What is congruence? What is incongruence?


  Congruence - When there is similarity between a persons ideal self and how they perceive themselves to be in real life.

  Incongruence - When there is a difference between a persons ideal self and how they perceive themselves to be in real life.
• What is a positive criticism of Humanism? (therapy)


  Humanism has led to person-centred counselling, which aims to reduce incongruence and allow an individual to recognise both their psychological limits and their strengths and achieve a realistic balance between them. This means that humanism has had a positive real-world application, as it has been used to develop therapy techniques to help people more effectively.
• What is a positive criticism of Humanism? (holistic)


  A positive criticism is that this approach is not deterministic as other theories such as the biological approach are. It takes a more holistic stance with the idea that subjective experience can be understood by considering the whole person. This may therefore mean the humanistic approach has more validity than the alternatives such as behaviourism or the cognitive approach as it considers meaningful human behaviours in its context.
• What is a positive criticism of Humanism? (optimistic)


  Another positive criticism of the humanistic approach is that it has been praised for 'bringing the human back into psychology'. Freud stated that we are all 'slaves' to our past and that we all exist between 'common happiness and absolute misery'. The humanistic approach offers a refreshing alternative where people are regarded as having free will to work towards their full potential, providing the field of psychology with a wider scope of perspectives.
• Evidence in support of humanism? (teenagers)


  In support, Harper et al (1996) found that teenagers who feel they have to fulfil certain conditions in order to gain parental approval frequently ended up not liking themselves very much. This supports the idea of incongruence and the conflict between self and conditions of worth, validating the concepts and therefore allowing people to apply it in the real world (e.g. Rogerian therapy).
• What is a negative criticism of humanism? (unrealistic)


  A criticism of the humanistic approach is that it is unrealistic as it represents an idealised view of human nature. The theory fails to recognise that people can have a capacity for self-destruction and that encouraging people to focus on their own goals and growth rather than acknowledging potential difficulties with development may not be realistic in our society or constructive to the individual in question. Therefore, the humanistic approach may be limited in its application to the real world.
• What is a negative criticism of humanism? (cultural bias).


  A criticism of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is that it is culturally biased, as it was devised by western psychologists so one could argue it can only be applied to western societies. It has been found that, for example, Americans focus more on self-actualisation whereas Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people value cultural actualisation more. This means that any research on it cannot be generalised as it is not applicable to some cultures, meaning it is limited in scopre.