Humanistic Approach
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- Created by: EmilyZNorton
- Created on: 08-09-17 14:43
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
- Psychodynamic:
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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.
- Unconditional positive regard:
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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
- Operates according to three basic principles:
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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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