The Humanistic Approach

• The Humanistic Approach

  • Developed by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
  • 'Third force' in psychology alongside behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches
  • Focuses on subjective experience of being human - 'what's it like to be this person?'
• Key Ideas of The Humanistic Approach

  • All humans are unique
  • Humans can't be reduced to components
  • Humans are conscious and aware of themselves in context of others' reactions to them
  • Humans have free will
  • Humans are purposeful & creative
• Assumptions of the Humanistic Approach

  • Free will
  • The self, congruence and conditions of worth
  • Maslow's hierarchy of needs
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs

  1. Phsyiological - food,water,sleep
  2. Safety - of family, health, property
  3. Love/Belonging - Family, friendships, sexual intimacy
  4. Esteem - Confidence, self-esteem
  5. Self-actualisation → Mortality, creativity

  Life events (redundancy, marriage) can cause fluctuation
• Self- actualisation

  Concept where you become the best person you can be and achieve full potential
• Client centred therapy

  Developed by Rogers to help ppl cope with the problems of everyday living. Depends on:

  - Genuine and transparency

  - Unconditional positive regard

  - Genuine desire to understand the client
• Research Support for CCT

  Gibbard and Hanley (2008)

  Aim: See CCT's impact on a group of patients suffering common mental health disorders

  • 7000 pps studied over 5 years (longitudinal study, cause & effect est.)
  • Questionnaire used to measure the extent of conditions before and after therapy
  • Nearly 70% of pps showed significant improvement in their mental health after CCT
• The self, congruence and conditions of worth

  • Rogers believed people could only fulfil their potential for growth if they had a positive view of themselves (positive self-regard) which only occurs if an individual has unconditional positive regard of others
  • Unconditional positive regard - We're accepted regardless

  Conditions of worth - Criteria an individual believes must be met before they're valued and loved
• Congruence

  • Self-actualisation is the concept that humans strive to fulfil their potential.
  • A person sees themselves in two ways: the current self (self-concept) and the way they want to be (ideal self).
  • A person who has fulfilled their potential is congruent.
  • If a person has a disconnect between their self-concept and their ideal self, they are incongruent
  • The closer together the ideal self and self-image, the more similarities there are between both - close to self-actualisation

  
• The Humanistic Approach Evaluation

  - Incl. vague ideas which are hard to measure e.g, self-actualisation. Hard to assess under experimental conditions. Lacks scientific evd. to support ideas

  + Praised for promoting a positive image of human behaviour. Freud saw all humans as slaves but this approach see all as good. Suggests individuals are free to work towards achievement of their potential and control of their lives

  - Ideas central to the approach (hierarchy of needs) have been criticised for cultural bias, low generalisability