humanistic approach

• the humanistic approach aims to understand behaviour that emphasises the importance of subjective experience and each person’s capacity for self-determinism
• Free will - behaviour of human beings expresses choice and is not determined by biological or external forces
• All other approaches are deterministic to some extent as they suggest behaviour is shaped by forces over which we have no control but humanistic psychology is different as it claims that individuals are self-determining and have free will
• Maslow and Rogers reject scientific models that try to establish rules and principles to explain behaviour
• humanistic psychologists believe psychology should be a subjective experience and adopt a person centred approach
• Self-actualisation - top level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: to realise one’s true and full potential
• This approach believes that every person has an innate tendency to achieve their full potential
• All levels of Maslow’s hierarchy must be completed before the next one can be achieved
• Personal growth is regarded as an essential part of the process to becoming an accomplished human
• Congruence - when the self concept and ideal self are seen to broadly accord or match
• For self-actualisation to occur, Rogers argues that the individual's concept of themselves must have congruence with their ideal self
• In order to reduce incongruence, Rogers developed client-centred therapy
• He saw one of his roles as an effective therapist as being able to provide his patients with unconditional positive regard they lacked in childhood, which led to feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem
• Counselling therapy is non-directive and the client is encouraged to discover the solution within a warm, supportive and non-judgemental environment
• Conditions of worth - placing limits or boundaries on parent’s love of their children; e.g ‘I will only love you if..’
• Hierarchy of needs - a five-levelled hierarchical sequence in which basic needs (e.g hunger) must be satisfied before higher psychological needs (e.g self-esteem and self-actualisation) can be achieved