Humanistic approach

• Humanistic approach


  Came about in the 1960s in America as a reaction against Freudian psychodynamics and behaviorism
• Humanistic psychology


  • Rejects the idea of universal laws that apply to large groups of people
  • Believes each individual is unique and it's not useful to generalize
  • Emphasizes free will and the ability to choose behavior
  • Views people holistically rather than reducing them to simple aspects
  • Rejects the scientific method as inappropriate for studying human behavior
• Self-actualization


  Achieving one's full potential and becoming the best version of oneself
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs

  1. Physiological needs

  2. Safety needs

  3. Belongingness and love needs

  4. Esteem needs

  5. Self-actualization
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs suggests that lower level needs must be satisfied before higher level needs can be met
• Self-concept


  How one views oneself, influenced by cultural ideas of what it means to be a "good" person
• Ideal self


  The self one wishes to become, which may differ from the self-concept
• Real self


  The true, unknowable self that is obscured by one's self-concept and experiences
• Congruence


  The alignment between one's self-concept and ideal self, which is necessary for self-actualization
• Unconditional positive regard


  When others care for and accept someone without any preconditions, which facilitates congruence
• Conditions of worth are pressures from others or oneself to be a certain way in order to be accepted and loved
• Conditions of worth


  Ideas like "I'd like you a bit more only if XYZ", things that you need to achieve to be loved/accepted
• Conditions of worth


  • A child feeling her parents only love her when she gets high grades
  • Overhearing parents criticize a sibling's poor grades and worrying they feel the same way about her
• Unconditional positive regard


  People caring for you no matter what you did, just for who you are
• Conditional positive regard


  Positive regard based on prior conditions being met
• Conditions of worth in romantic relationships


  • Examples needed
• Client-centered therapy


  • Therapist gives the client unconditional positive regard
  • Helps the client explore their own issues and come up with their own solutions
  • Not about the therapist giving explicit solutions
• Humanistic psychology argues that most of psychology has it wrong by trying to explain the behaviors of groups rather than the range of differences between individuals
• Terms like "self-actualization" and "congruence" in humanistic psychology are not fully operationalized or measurable
• Humanistic psychology is a construct of 1960s America, reflecting individualism, which may not apply to more collectivist cultures
• Humanistic psychology is positive, focusing on personal change and development at any stage of life