Humanistic psychology

• Free will


  Humanistic psychology claims that humans are self-determining and have free will. People are still affected by external and internal influences, but are also active agents who can determine their own development. For this reason, humanistic psychologists such as Rogers and Maslow reject more scientific models that attempt to establish general principles of human behaviour and instead argue that psychology should concern itself with the study of subjective experience rather than general laws.
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs


  Abraham Maslow was interested in what motivates people. In order to achieve our goal of self-actualisation, a number of other deficiency needs must first be met. At the bottom are physiological needs like food and water. The next is security and safety, followed by love and belongingness, then self-esteem. At the top is self-actualisation.
• Self-actualisation

  Most people have an innate desire to achieve their full potential. Humanistic psychologists regard personal growth as an essential part of what it is to be human. Personal growth is concerned with developing and changing as a person to become fulfilled. Not everyone will reach this and there are important psychological barriers that may prevent a person from reaching their full potential.
• The self and congruence


  Carl Rogers argued that for personal growth to be achieved an individual's concept of the self must be broadly equivalent to, or have congruence with, their ideal self. If too big a gap exists, the person will experience a state of incongruence and self-actualisation will not be possible due to the negative feelings of self-worth. In order to reduce the gap, Rogers developed client-centred therapy, or 'counselling' to help people cope with the problems of everyday life.
• Conditions of worth


  Rogers claimed that many of the issues we experience as adults, such as worthlessness or low self-esteem, have their roots in childhood and can often be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard from parents. A parent who sets boundaries on their love is storing up psychological problems for that child in the future. Thus, Rogers saw one of his roles as an effective therapist as being able to provide his clients with the unconditional positive regard that they failed to receive in childhood.
• Counselling psychology


  Roger's client-centred therapy led to the general approach of counselling which is used in many settings today (e.g. Samaritans). For Rogers, an effective therapist should provide clients with genuineness, empathy and unconditional positive regard. The aim of Rogerian therapy is to increase the person's feelings of self-worth and reduce the level of incongruence. Like psychoanalysis, counselling is best applied to the treatment of 'mild' psychological conditions, such as anxiety.