Humanistic approach

• humanistic approach? 


  approach to understanding behaviour that empathises the importance of subjective experience and each persons capacity for self determination.
• free will? 


  notion that humans can make choices and aren't determined by internal biological or external forces.
• self-actualisation ? 


  desire to grow psychologically and fulfil ones full potential - becoming what u are capable of
• congruence? 


  when the self concept and ideal self are seen to broadly accord or match
• conditions of worth? 


  when a parent places limits or boundaries on their love of their children
• mallows hierarchy of needs?

  in order to achieve self-actualisation, number of basic physiological needs must be met first. consist of (from bottom to top): physiological needs (food and water), safety and security, love and belongingness, self-esteem and self-actualisation.
• strength of humanistic approach?

  p- rejects attempts to break up behaviour and experience into smaller components (not reductionist)

  e- behaviourists explain human and animal learning as simple stimulus response connections. cognitive approach sees humans as information processing machines. biological psychologists reduce behaviour to its basic physiological processes. humanists advocate holism idea that subjective experience can only be understood considering the whole person.

  l- more validity than alternatives by considering meaningful human behaviour within its real world context.
• CA for strength for humanistic approach:

  p- reductionist approaches more scientific

  e- ideal of science is experiments and they reduce behaviour to IVs and DVs. humanistic has relatively few concepts that can be broken down to single variables and be measured.

  l- short on empirical evidence to support its claims
• another strength of humanistic approach?

  p- optimistic

  e- have been praised for bringing the person back into psychology and promoting positive image of the human condition. sees all people as basically good, free to work towards the achievement of their potential and in control of their lives.

  l- offers a refreshing and optimistic alternative to other approaches
• limitation of humanistic approach?

  p- culturally biased

  e- many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology much mire readily associated with countries that have more individualist tendencies. countries with collectivist tendencies emphasise more of the needs of the group and interdependence. so ideals of humanistic psychology may not be as important as in others.

  l- this approach doesn't apply universally and is a product of the cultural context which developed in.