AO3

• What is a weakness of this approach(economic growth)

  -Maslow's hierarchy may have relevance on a larger stage than individual growth.

  -e.g Hagerty(1999) examined the relationship between economic growth and measures of Maslow's needs in 88 diff countries over a period of 34 years.

  -He found that countries in early stages of economic growth were characterised by lower needs (basic needs such as safety as demonstrated by higher murder rates)
• What is this research a weakness for the approach then?

  -only in advanced stages of economic development did the later needs in the hierarchy become important.

  -it was argued that enrolment rates to education are a significant indication of a drive for self actualisation as people want to better themselves
• What is another criticism of Maslow's hierarchy(china: culture bound)

  -devised by western psychologists and one could argue that it can only be applied to western societies.

  -however Maslow did later recognise that in some cultures of the hierarchy may be in a different order to the one he suggested

  -this was evidenced by Nevis (1983) who found that the feeling of belonging was as important as the need for food in China
• Why does further research mean the theory is a weakness

  -FR also supports this cultural variation it has been found that Americans focus more on personal identity and self concept whereas Chinese Japanese and Koreans define self concept more in terms of social relationship
• What is a strength of this approach/Rogers(non-deterministic)

  -This approach is not determinstic as other theories such as biological approach are. It takes a more holistic stance with the idea that subjective experience can be understood by considering the whole person

  -This may therefore mean the humanistic approach has more validity than the alternatives such as behaviourism or cognitive approaches as it considers meaningful human behaviours within its context
• What is another strength of this approach/Rogers(happier)

  -HA has been praised for "bringing the human back into psychology".

  -Freud stated that we are all slaves to our past that we all exist between common happiness and absolute misery

  -The humanistic approach offers a refreshing alternative where people are regarded as having free will to work towards their full potential
• What is another weakness criticism of the HA/rogers(unrealistic)

  -unrealistic as it represents an idealised view of human nature

  -critics argue that humans are not as inherently good as this approach suggests

  -the theory fails to recognise that people can have a capacity for self destruction and that encouraging people to focus on their own self development rather than on situational factors may not be realistic in our society or constructive to the individual in question