humanist approach

• Humanistic psychology sees humans as affected by external and internal influence but self-determining (have free will)

  Assumptions:

  • Humans have free will (personal agency)
  • All individuals are unique and have an innate drive to achieve their maximum potential
  • Psychology should study the individual, rather than creating laws
  • We can only understand behaviour by studying humans
• Humanistic psychology claims we are self determining and have free will over out behaviours and actions.

  People are still affected by external and internal influences, however we can determine our actions around these.

  Humanists therefore reject scientific models as we are all unique and we should look at the individual person
• Maslow believed humans are born with the desire to grow, create and love.

  He said we aim to reach self-actualization – growth, fulfilment and satisfaction in life.

  In order to reach this, we must first meet our other needs…

  
• Most people have an innate desire to achieve their full potential (become the best they can be) – self-actualisation

  To reach self-actualisation, we must first meet the needs of the other lower levels in the hierarchy e.g. security

  Personal growth is essential in what it means to become human – not everyone reaches self-actualisation however, due to barriers in the lower levels.
• Alongside Maslow, Carl Rogers is a huge part of the humanist theory.

  Rogers said we have 2 basic needs:

  • Positive self-regard from others
  • A feeling of self worth
• Congruence exists when the ideal self and the self are in line with one another. If there is a difference, there is a state of incongruence.

  The greater the state of congruence, the higher our feeling of self worth.
• It is rare to have a complete state of congruence as we are always trying to reach our full potential. However, if the incongruence is too large, we can not reach self-actualisation

  
• Issues of worthlessness and low self-esteem have their roots in childhood and are due to a lack of unconditional positive regard (being loved and accepted for who you are)

  A parent who sets boundaries on their love (conditions of worth) by claiming ‘I will only love you if…’, can cause psychological problems in the future
• Rogers put forward client centred therapy which says the therapist should provide:

  • Genuineness
  • Empathy
  • Unconditional positive regard

  Aims to increase self-worth and reduce incongruence between the self and ideal self.
• strength -

  Humanistic psychologists argue we should look at the subjective experience of the whole person and their experiences. They therefore take a holistic view to understanding behaviour.

  Humanistic approach may have higher validity as it considers meaningful aspects within a real-world context
• strength -

  Humanists have been praised for having a positive view of the human condition – see people as in control of their lives and the freedom to change.

  Humanistic approach offers a refreshing and optimistic view in comparison to other approaches, such as the psychodynamic approach
• weakness -

  Many humanistic ideas would be more associated with individualistic cultures and may not apply to collectivistic cultures which emphasise the needs of the group.

  Humanistic approach may not apply universally and may only apply to the culture it was created in.
• weakness -

  Compared to other approaches, humanistic psychology may have limited real world application as we can not apply general laws to help predict/treat behaviour.

  Humanistic approach may have limited application to real life (lacks ecological validity)