Humanistic

• Assumptions

  • people have an innate desire to grow and develop throughout life
  • focuses on individual experience
• Free Will

  • humanists believe that people are self-determining and have free will
  • reject more scientific models
  • psychologists should study subjectively - not general laws
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

  • can only progress through the hierarchy once the current need is met

  
• Self-Actualisation

  • the desire to grow psychologically and fulfil ones potential
  • personal growth - changing as a person to become fulfilled
• The self, congruence and conditions of worth

  • Rogers
  • self - the way you see yourself
  • for personal growth to be achieved, the self and the ideal self must be similar (have congruence with each other)
• Client Centred Therapy

  • client is just encouraged towards the discovery of their solutions
  • supportive and non-judgmental atmosphere
• Unconditional positive regard/love

  • parent will love you no matter what
• Strengths of humanistic approach

  • not reductionist - holism - subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person
  • positive approach - optimistic
• Limitations of Humanistic Approach

  • less scientific because it rejects reductionism
  • cultural bias - individualist communities instead of collectivist communities
  • critics say that the approach had little impact on psychology