HUMANISTIC

• What does the humanistic approach focus on?

  Positive psychology, disagrees with Freuds emphasis on “sick mind”
• what is the key assumption of humanistic approach?

  free will is central, we are all unique and psychology should focus on subjective experience rather than general laws. more person-centred
• what is Maslow’s hierarchy?

  a hierarchy of needs where each need must be met to progress to the next level
• what are the levels of Maslow’s hierarchy?

  physiological

  safety

  love/belonging

  esteem

  self actualisation
• what is the physiological level?

  food, sex, sleep, water, breathing

  Things needed for survival
• what is the safety level?

  employment, health, shelter, family
• what is the love and belonging level?


  Friendship, family and romance
• what is the esteem level?

  self esteem, confidence, respect
• what is self actualisation?

  the innate tendency that each of use has to want to achieve our full potential and become the best we can possibly be
• What is focus on the self?

  Refers to ideas and values that characterise you
• What is our self concept?

  Proposed by Rogers, how we see ourselves as a result of interactions with others
• what is an ideal self?

  who we would like to be
• what happens if self concept and ideal self are similar?

  a state of congruence exists

  high congruence = high self worth
• What are conditions of worth?

  The messages we take on board about what we have to do to be valued, we gain the ideas from others expectations. These influence our wellbeing
• what is counselling psychology?

  Client centred therapy developed by Rogers, aimed to help overcome psychological barriers.

  the therapy should be client led and they have the power. Transformed psychotherapy
• what must the therapist do in counselling psychology?

  be genuine, have empathy and unconditional positive regard
• what is the aim of counselling psychology?

  increase feelings of self worth and reduce incongruence between the self concept and ideal self.
• Evaluation 1:

  LIMITATION

  Untestable concepts that are vague and abstract, the approach describes itself as anti-scientific so there is limited empirical evidence
• evaluation 2:

  STRENGTH

  praised for promoting a positive image of the human condition, seeing people in control of their lives and having the freedom to change. Completely disregards Freud. offers a refreshing and optimistic alternative
• evaluation 3:

  STRENGTH and LIMITATION

  has real life application eg in schools or workplaces and counselling psychology has advanced many therapies

  However this is very very limited to a few areas and has very limited impact within psychology due to lacking a sound evidence base, not a comprehensive theory instead a loose set of abstract concepts
• evaluation 4:

  STRENGTH

  anti reductionist, take a holistic approach which has greater validity as it considers the whole and human behaviour in real life context
• evaluation 5:

  LIMITATION

  culturally biased towards western culture. Many central ideas are heavily associated with western, individualist cultures. Collectivist cultures (eg India) emphasise the needs of the group and interdependence so may not identify with humanist values