Humanistic Approach

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Introduction

  • Focus on subjective human experiences.
  • Depends on people having the freewill to control their behaviour.
  • Emerged in USA in 1950s
  • Abraham Maslow & Carl Rodgers rejected Behaviourist and Psychodynamic approach because:
    • Psychodynamic:
      • Determinisic- no freewil- no choice
      • Unconscious- instinct forces
    • Behaviourist:
      • Scientific- objective- everyone different- can't generalise to general population
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Freewill & Unique human experience

  • External forces can affect behaviour but we have the power to reject them.
  • Wundt attempted to scientifically analyse subjective conscious experiences of humans- failed due to being objective
    • used Introspection: describe experience after being presented with a stimulus (e.g. sounds).
  • Humanistic- focuses on subjective thoughts, feelings and experiences of people.
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Carl Rogers (pt1)- 'fully-functioning' person

  • Believed all people were 'good' n capable of achieving life goals
  • Those who achieve their goals are called 'fully funcioning' people:
    • OPEN TO EXPERIENCE- pos & neg emotions accepted. Negative feelings are 'worked through'.
    • EXISTENTIAL LIVING- avoid making prejudgements & preconceptions. In touch with different experiences in life.
    • TRUST FEELINGS- feelings & instincts paid attention to.
    • CREATIVITY- creative thinking and risk taking are undertaking.
    • FULFILLED LIFE- feelings of happiness & satisfaction are experienced and new challenges and experiences being sought. 
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Carl Rogers (pt2)- Conditions of Worth

  • people have 2 basic needs:
    • Unconditional positive regard: 
      • a type of love- love & respect someone regardless of their flaws. 
      • in childhood this comes from parents.
      • psychological problems developed from any conditions of worth which children may have been exposed to- "i will love you if..."
    • Self-worth:
      • confident & positive feelings about themselves.
      • faces challenges in life.
      • accepts failure and unhappiness.
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Carl Rogers (pt3)- Self-concept & Congruence

  • a person's concept of themselves (how they view themselves) must be similar to their ideal self (how they want to be).
  • this congruence between self & ideal self is what allows personal growth to occur. Incongruence may occur if there is a difference between self & ideal self- may prevent personal growth.
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Abraham Maslow (pt1)- Hierarchy of needs

  • Human motivation is also based on seeking personal growth and fulfilment. 
  • Humans are constantly 'wanting' things:
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Abraham Maslow (pt2)- Characteristics of Self-Actu

  • Needs lower down the hierarchy must be satisfied first.
  • Higher up you go- more difficult to achieve. (1-2% achieve SA)
  • Life events (i.e. loss of job) may prevent people moving up.
  • Famous S-A include- Albert Einstein & Abraham Lincoln.
  • Some features of a self-actualiser:
    • Percieve reality effectively
    • accept yourself & others
    • problem centred, not self centred
    • highly creative
    • strong moral & ethical standards
    • need for privacy
    • look at life objectively
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Evaluation of Humanistic Psychology- Strengths

  • Holistic (looks at person as whole) Approach:
    • Contasts the behaviourist approach (stimulus-response) and the psychodynamic (parts of conscious mind).
    • More validity when explaining human behaviour in real-life context.
  • Developed an important form of mordern-day psychotherapy:
    • Carl Rogers developed Person-Centred Therapy
    • 'Clients' not 'patients'- responsible for own recovery.
    • Purpose- increase feelings of self-worth, descrease incongruency 
      • Operates according to three basic principles:
        • Therapist is congruent w/ client- genuine, revealing personality and past experiences
        • Therapist provides unconditional positive regard- accept client regardless of flaws
        • Therapist shows empathetic understanding- understanding without judgement
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Evaluation of Humanistic Psychology- Weaknesses

  • Idiographic/unscientific & lacks empirical evidence:
    • Rejects use of experiments.
    • Many ideas are vauge, abstract & difficult to test.
    • Self-actualisation & congruency cannot be objectively tested.
    • Critics argue that humanistic approach shouldn't be practiced if Psych wants to be classes as a science.
    • Humanistic psychologists argue that psychology should not focus on objective science- if their method helps it is valuable.
  • Culturally Bias
    • Key ideas- personal growth, self-esteem & achievement- important in individualistic (America) cultures.
    • Collectivist (India) value other ideas- family, community & independence- can't explain their behaviour using these ideas.
    • Can't be generalised to other cultures.
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