humanistic approach

• The humanist approach was developed by Abraham Maslow
• The humanistic approach is an explanation of the mind and behaviour which perceives all individuals as unique, motivated to fulfil their potential and maximise their well-being
• The humanistic approach assumes individuals have free will. We have the ability to chose what we do and are in control of our behaviour. We are not determined by biological or external forces.
• The humanistic approach assumes every individual is unique. This mean we can never generalise results from an experiment
• Humanistic psychology rejects the scientific method to measure behaviour as it is objective and humans are subjective
• Humanists acknowledge there are constraints on the choices available to an individual and an individual cannot always behave in the way they would have preferred. Individuals may be restricted by circumstance.
• Individuals have an innate drive to achieve their full potential
• Self-actualisation is the achievement of an individual reaching their full potential. It is the ultimate feeling of well-being and satisfaction
• All individuals have the drive to achieve self-actualisation but not everyone achieves it. A positive attitude means self-actualisation is more attainable.
• Maslow argued self-actualisation can be achieved through the hierarchy of needs.
• Physiological needs are the first level of the hierarchy and basic needs consisting food, water, oxygen and sleep.
• Safety needs are the second need of the hierarchy and basic needs consisting of security, protection, stability and freedom of fear.
• Love and belonging are the third need of the hierarchy and a psychological need consisting of friendship, family and reciprocal relationships
• Esteem needs are the fourth need of the hierarchy and a psychological need consisting of confidence, respect, achievement and dignity.
• Self-actualisation is the final need of the hierarchy. It is realising full potential and consists of understanding, knowledge, experiencing beauty and creative expression.
• Carl Rogers developed a method of humanistic counselling, based on his theory of the self. Rogers suggested we have 3 selves which need to integrate to achieve self-actualisation
• The self-concept is what you think of yourself. The ideal self is what you would like to be. The real self is the person you actually are.
• For a person to achieve self-actualisation, Rogers said a person must be congruent meaning their ideal self and self-concept are the same
• If a person's selves are not congruent then people could experience feelings of sadness, anxiety or insecurity and could benefit from humanistic counselling
• conditions of worth are requirements an individual feels they need to meet in order to be loved.
• Unconditional positive regard is where a person must be loved for who they are by someone else at some point in their life
• The main feature of humanistic counselling is unconditional positive regard. This helps remove a client's conditions of worth, allowing them to achieve congruence.
• Humanistic counselling has practical applications. The humanistic approach has been applied to develop treatments for mental disorders. Rogers developed client-centred therapy which emphasises the client's free will and subjective experience. This is beneficial as the approach has had positive implications for psychology
• Concepts are vague and abstract. Concepts like self-actualisation and congruence can't be operationalised, which means we cannot test cause and effect relationships or make predictions about behaviour. This is problematic as humanistic theories are untestable making the approach unscientific and subjective.
• Ignores biological explanations for behaviour. The humanistic approach offers a holistic account of behaviour so it can't incorporate more reductionist accounts of psychological disorders. This is problematic as it cannot offer useful treatments for biological causes.
• Supports concept of free will which matches our subjective experience of life. Assuming free will allows us to improve and achieve self-actualisation, which is a key focus of humanism. This is positive as other approaches do not consider that human behaviour has an element of free will.