Humanistic Approach

• humanistic psychologists criticised the earlier work of psychodynamic and behaviourist psychologists for being too deterministic
• humanistic psychologists argue that human behaviour is not determined, instead we have free will and are able to make our own decisions on how to behave
• a strength of the proposal of free will is that it has positive implications on the criminal justice system since it involves offenders claiming responsibility for their crimes

  this is a strength because placing the responsibility on the criminal means that they will be fairly punished
• a limitation of the proposal of free will is that it rejects the scientific method since science relies on determinism to establish cause and effect.

  this is a limitation since it means that general laws cannot be created to better explain human behaviour
• maslow's hierarchy of needs focuses on the importance of personal growth and fulfilment since every person is proposed to have an innate need to reach their full potential
• to achieve self actualisation people must need to progress through maslow's hierarchy of needs
• every level of maslows hierarchy needs to be fulfilled before progressing to a higher need and eventually reaching self actualisation
• what are the levels of maslow's heirarchy?

  Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, Self-Actualization
• a strength of maslow's hierarchy is that it takes a more positive outlook on human behaviour since it proposes that humans are essentially good and are able to progress to better themselves

  this is a strength because it reduces feelings of hopelessness and is considered more optimistic than the psychodynamic approach which focuses on the negatives of humans
• a limitation of maslows hierarchy is that is presents an overly simplified view of human nature since maslow proposed that everyone has an innate need to self improve.

  this is a limitation since people not as good or growth orientated as maslow suggests, and this approach tends to ignore peoples tendency to be pessimistic and self destructive
• a limitation of maslows hierarchy is that it is unscientific sicne assessing whether someone has reached their full potential requires subjective interpretation

  this is a limitation because it means that research into self actualisations lacks objectivity
• humanistic psychology proposes that we should focus on the self when studying humans as each individual is unique, meaning that they take an idiographic approach in a holistic manner
• humanistic psychologists suggest that congruence leads to positive feelings of self worth
• congruence refers to when the perceived self and your ideal self match
• conditions of worth are expectations placed upon people which they need to meet to be perceived positively
• conditions of worth can cause incongruence because if these expectations are too high the individuals perceived self will not match the ideal self
• incongruence can therefore lead to negative feelings of self worth
• congruence can be achieved by

  developing a healthier view of perceived self

  having a more realistic ideal self

  losing conditions of worth

  achieving positive unconditional regard whereby individuals feel accepted or supported regardless of what they do
• a strength of the focus on the self is that it has influenced counselling psychology since humanists claimed that psychological problems are caused by conditions of worth

  so they developed a client centered therapy that provides unconditional positive regard in a supportive environment

  this a strength since it helps clients lose the conditions of worth which has been found to be effective for disorders like depression
• a strength of the focus on the self is that is that it has resulted in the gathering of in-depth data since it focuses on qualitative data collection

  this is a strength since rich data means that any conclusions drawn are more likely to be valid
• a limitation of the focus on conditions of worth is that alternative theories have been provided, for example, biological psychologists propose that depression can be caused by too little serotonin

  this is a limitation since other theories that can be objectively tested exist
• humanistic psychology proposes that each individual is unique and so counselling psychology focuses on the client as an individual
• humanistic psychology proposes that everyone has an innate need to self actualise so counselling psychology focuses on helping individuals achieve personal growth
• humanistic psychology proposes that incongruence can lead to negative feelings of self worth and so counselling psychology aims to reduce incongruence by removing conditions of worth and providing unconditional positive regard
• a limitation is that it takes a a holistic approach since it considers how multiple factors play a part in human behaviour such as free will and conditions of worth

  this is a limitation since science relies on reductionism to enable behaviour to be studied more objectively, so by explaining it in a holistic manner, its not clear how much each factor plays a role
• the humanistic approach has received opposing evidence since humans have tendencies to be self destructive and pessimistic

  this is a limitation because it contradicts maslows proposal of self actualisation
• a strength of the humanistic approach is that it relies on interviews and case studies since they focus on studying individuals as whole so those methods can be personalised to gather detailed data

  this is a strength since gathering detailed data means that means that more valid conclusions will be drawn