Humanistic Approach

• Humanistic Psychology


  An approach that emphasises the importance of subjective experience and each person's capacity for self-actualisation.
• Free Will


  Humanistic Psychologists reject more scientific models and determinism and claim we are all active agents who can determine our own development, we have free will.
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

  
Maslow proposed a a five levelled hierarchy of needs that motivate our behaviour all in the goal of reaching self-actualisation. From the bottom you start with Physiological needs, Safety and Security, Love and Belongingness, Self esteem, and Finally Self-actualisation.

  
• Focus on the self

  Carl Rogers proposed three selves needed for self-actualisation. Self Concept (the self you feel you are, your self-esteem(often distorted), The ideal Self (the self you wish to be) and the Real self (who you actually are (difficult to see due to subjectivity).
• Congruence

  According to Carl Rodgers Congruence is necessary for self-actualisation. This happens when the ideal self and the self-concept are the same. This can be helped by unconditional positive regard, it's much easier to achieve it if at some point we have been loved for who we are by somebody else.
• Conditions of worth


  Requirements an individual feels they need to meet to be loved, real or imagined. This is conditioned positive regard.
• client-centred therapy


  Rogers's ideas have been developed into a system of counselling. The therapist's role is to provide the client with unconditional positive regard they may be lacking, focusing on reducing the difference between the ideal self and the self-concept in order to improve the level of congruence. The client is treated as an expert on their own condition and expected to find their own solutions.
• Self-concept


  how you feel you are, your self-esteem. This is often a distorted veiw.
• Ideal self 


  How you wish you were
• Real self


  how you actually are (this is hard to see due to subjectivity)
• Humanistic Approach and Reductionism

  A strength of the humanistic approach is it isn't reductionist. Behaviourists explain learning in terms of simple stimulus-response connections. The Cognitive approach sees the mind as a processing machine. Biological Psychologists see behaviour as basic physiological processes. Freud explained personality as a conflict between three things Id, Ego and Super-ego. In contrast, the humanistic approach advocates holism, considering the whole person. This approach may have more validity by considering meaningful human behaviour within real-world context.
• Limitation of the approach not being reductionist

  A strength of Reductionist studies is they may be more scientific. This is because experiments reduce behaviour to independent and dependent variables. the humanistic approach has a few concepts that can be broken down into single variables and measured. This means the humanistic approach in general is short on empirical evidence to support it's claims.
• Strength of the humanistic Approach's Approach

  A strength of the humanistic approach is it is optimistic. Humanistic psychologists have been praised for bringing the person back into psychology and promoting a positive image of the human condition. Unlike Frued who sees humans as slaves to their pasts, tFreudhe humanistic approach sees all people as good, free to work towards the achievement of their potential and in control of their lives. This suggests the humanistic approach to psychology offers a refreshing and optimistic alternative.
• Culture bias of the humanistic approach

  One limitation of the humanist approach is it may be culturally biased. Many of the idea that are central to humanist psychology, such as individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth, are much more associated with individualist cultures. Collectivist cultures such as India emphasise needs of the group, community and interdependence. Such cultures may not identify easily with the ideas and values proposed. Therefore it is possible the approach does not apply universally and is a product of cultural context within which it was developed.