Humanistic

• What is the main assumption of Humanistic psychology?

  people are active agents who are self determining and have free will
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs:

  Maslow identified five basic human needs which are prioritised in a hierarchy and you can't achieve higher needs until lower ones are met
• What are the five basic human needs?

  • Physiological - food, sex, sleep, water breathing
  • Safety - employment, shelter, health
  • Love/belonging - Friends, family, romance
  • Esteem - confidence, self-esteem
  • Self actualisation - achieving your full potential
• The self and congruence (Rogers)

  • Our self develops as a result of interactions
  • We also have an ideal self
  • If these are similar a state of congruence exists
  • High congruence = High self esteem
• Conditions of Worth

  Messages we take on board about what we have to do to be valued
• What is the drawback of conditions of worth?

  • conditions of worth arise from other peoples dreams and expectations
  • They do not always align with our natural talents, interests and abilities
  • As a result it is more likely they lead to a life of unhappiness and lack of fulfilment
• Client Centred Therapy (Rogers):


  Helps overcome psychological barriers by helping people self actualise and reach high congruence by increasing a persons feeling of self worth
• What are the key concepts of client centred therapy?

  • Honesty
  • Unconditional positive regard
  • Empathetic
• Evaluation 1:

  • LIMITATION
  • Untestable concepts that are vague and abstract, the approach describes itself as anti-scientific so there is limited empirical evidence
• Evaluation 2:

  • STRENGTH
  • Praised for promoting a positive image of the human condition, seeing people in control of their lives and having the freedom to change.
  • Completely disregards Freud. offers a refreshing and optimistic alternative
• Evaluation 3:

  • STRENGTH and LIMITATION
  • Has real life application eg in schools or workplaces and counselling psychology has advanced many therapies
  • However this is very very limited to a few areas and has very limited impact within psychology due to lacking a sound evidence base, not a comprehensive theory instead a loose set of abstract concepts
• Evaluation 4:

  • STRENGTH
  • Anti reductionist, take a holistic approach which has greater validity as it considers the whole and human behaviour in real life context
• Evaluation 5:


  • LIMITATION
  • Culturally biased towards western culture. Many central ideas are heavily associated with western, individualist cultures.
  • Collectivist cultures (eg India) emphasise the needs of the group and interdependence so may not identify with humanist values