– Established in the 1950s in America by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
– The humanistic approach is seen as the third force in psychology (after behaviourist and the psychodynamic approach)
– The approach formed largely due to concerns from the therapists regarding the limitations of psychoanalysis and the deterministic nature and scientific approach of the behaviourists.
– Focuses on free will and the individual
– They don’t use lab experiments or experiments at all
– They instead use non-scientific, idiographic methods like case studies
– It considers both the nature and nurture side of the debate – Interactionist approach
– It is not deterministic as it is all about free will
– It is not reductionist but holistic as humans should be studied as whole
ASSUMPTIONS
– Humans are essentially good and will grow psychologically if given positive regard
– Each person can exercise free will and has control over what they think and feel, and how they behave.
– Each person is a rational and conscious being and not dominated by unconscious, primitive instincts (unlike in the psychodynamic approach)
– Humans should be viewed as a whole and not reduced to component parts – must be looked at from a holistic perspective
– Humans are active agents – able to control and determine their own development
– Humans strive toward achieving self-actualisation
– To be psychologically healthy, the real and ideal self must be congruent.
– Humanism rejects the behaviourist assumption that we are stimulus-response machines and can be compared to animals – It views it as too deterministic.
FREE WILL
– Humanistic psychologists believe that humans have free will and we are active agents for our own self
– Humans are able to make their own decisions and are not determined by biological or environmental factors.
– Humanistic psychologists still believe that we are influenced by external and internal influences but we are active agents who have the ability to determine our own development
– The humanistic approach is the only approach which emphasizes free will
ABRAHAM MASLOW
– Unlike the psychoanalysts, Maslow was not interested in what went wrong with people but what goes right with people
– Emphasises the importance of personal growth and fulfilment
– He came up with his concepts by studying wealthy, famous and high-status individuals through reading their biographies (people who he thought had self-actualised)
HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
– Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.
– The pyramid is made up of basic deficiency needs and growth needs.
– The person must meet the 4 deficiency needs before they reach the goal of self-actualisation
– There are four lower levels of the hierarchy, the deficiency needs
– Esteem – Highest
– Love/belongingness
– Safety
– Physiological needs. – Lowest
– The top level of the hierarchy = self-actualisation – is referred to as the growth need.
Physiological Needs
– These are biological requirements for human survival, e.g. air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sex, sleep.
– If these needs are not satisfied the human body cannot function optimally.
Safety Needs
– Protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.
Love and Belongingness Needs
– The need for interpersonal relationships motivates behaviour
Esteem Needs
– Maslow indicated that the need for respect or reputation is most important for children and adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or dignity.
Self-Actualization Needs
– Reaching personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
SELF ACTUALISATION
– The top level of the hierarchy which can only be achieved after all of the other levels have been achieved
– Reaching your full potential
– Maslow believed self-actualization could be measured through the concept of peak experiences.
– This occurs when a person experiences the world totally for what it is, and there are feelings of euphoria, joy, and wonder.
– Maslow predicted that estimated that only two per cent of people would reach the state of self-actualization.
CARL ROGERS
– Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist who agreed with the main assumptions of Abraham Maslow
– He believed that all human beings need to be nurtured and looked after
– He believed that we are experts of ourselves
– Rogers emphasizes the ability of people to reflect on their feeling and experiences
– Rogers found that counselling and therapy worked if the person had the desire to change
THE SELF
– Rogers thought that there were three selves:
The Self-Concept
– The way in which a person sees him/herself and what they are capable of doing
The Ideal Self
– The person they would like to be
The Real Self
– The person we actually are
– Rogers claimed that people had two basic needs: positive regard and self-worth
– Rogers said the concept of self emerges in childhood and are developed from interactions with parents
– As the child grows older, they become aware of their own identity, personality, likes etc.
– He stated that in order for an individual to achieve personal growth, they must become congruent with their sense of self
CONGRUENCE
– To achieve congruence the real self and the ideal self-gap must be close together, which leads to high self-esteem and self-worth
– If the gap is large then there is high incongruence which leads to a low self-esteem
– The aim of person-centered therapy is to increase the client’s level of congruence – to close the ‘perceived’ gap between the ideal and real self.
– Rogers stated that the relative degree of congruence is a good indicator of psychological health.
CONDITIONS OF WORTH
– When a parent places limits or boundaries on their love of their children
– Eg. “I will only love you if you study medicine”
– An effective therapist should not place conditions of worth on the patients
UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD
– Unconditional positive regard is accepting and respecting others as they are without judgment or evaluation
– Humans have a basic need to feel nurtured and valued by significant people in their lives, such as parents (and receive unconditional positive regard)
– Rogers stated many of the psychological problems experienced as adults were due to a lack of positive regard from our mothers as children.
– If love is given freely without conditions then people develop a healthy sense of worth
– Children who receive regards, such as criticism and blame, develop low self-esteem and will only feel worthy if they adhere to certain conditions
– An effective therapist should give unconditional positive regard
THE INFLUENCE OF COUNSELLING
– In order to reduce the gap between the ideal self, Rogers developed client-centered therapy
– Rogers claimed that an individual’s psychological problems were a direct result of their conditions of worth and their perception of themselves
The Purpose of Therapy:
– To increase self-worth
– To reduce incongruence between ideal self and actual self
– To help them become more fully functioning
The Therapist Must Be:
– Congruent with the client – act genuine toward the client to reflect harmony
– Provide the person with unconditional positive regard – accept everything they think without judgement
– Demonstrate empathy towards the client – always understand their situation
– Congruent themselves and show an empathetic understanding
EVALUATION OF THE HUMANISTIC APPROACH
STRENGTHS
Links to Economic Development
– Maslow’s hierarchy has had an enormous impact and practical application within the workplace.
– Employers understand that for individual satisfaction and efficiency, it is essential they discover how their employees perceive their jobs in terms of need satisfaction.
– This then allows employers to match people to jobs that they are not only qualified for but which would give their employees the most satisfaction as well.
– This means that their mental health and physical health is better so workers take less time off
– This boosts the economy as more people are able to work full time as their needs are cared for by their employer
Free Will and Positivism
– The humanistic approach is the first approach that focuses on free will
– This means that this approach is less deterministic than other approaches
– Freedom is seen as not only possible but also necessary if we are to become fully functional human beings.
– Humanistic psychologists have been praised for ‘bringing the person back into psychology’ and promoting a positive view on the human condition
– Freud saw humans as slaves to their past and claimed all of us existed somewhere between ‘common unhappiness and absolute disappear’
– Humanistic psychology offers a refreshing and optimistic alternative as it sees all people as good and free to work towards their potential
– This is a more positive approach as it shows that we are free to make our own choices and not be held back by our childhood (psychodynamic) or conditioning (behaviourism)
Research Support for Conditions of Worth
– Research with adolescents has shown evidence consistent with Rogers’ view
– Individuals who experience conditional positive regard are likely to display more ‘false self-behaviour’ by doing things to meet others’ expectations even when they clash with their own values
– Harter et al (1966) discovered that teenagers who feel that they have to fulfil certain conditions in order to gain their parents’ approval frequently end up with low self-esteem
– This is constant with Rogers’ predictions that adolescents who created a false self to be someone their parents would love were more likely to develop depression and a loss of their true self
– This gives research support to Rogers’ predictions which makes his theory stronger and valid
LIMITATIONS
Lack of Scientific Rigour
– The humanistic approach tends to include qualitative data, investigating individuals in a personal and detailed way.
– Methods of research include case studies, unstructured interviews, self-reports, autobiographies and personal documents.
– However, this leads to a lack of objectivity and reliability in their findings due to a lack of control over extraneous and confounding variables
– This means that their methods have no standardised instructions that can lead to their experiments being repeated to establish reliability
– The lack of control over variables also leads to problems with establishing cause and effect
– Therefore, the use of idiographic methods means that findings cannot be reliable and cannot establish cause and effect
Culture Bias
– The humanistic view represents a white middle-class North America
– Many ideas that are central to this approach, like individual freedom and personal growth reflect a individualistic culture of the west
– This is because this approach was devised in the cultural context of America
– Collectivistic cultures, such as India, emphasise the needs of the group and the community may not easily identify with the ideals and values of humanistic psychology
– The Humanistic approach is beta biased in culture as it applied and generalised theories from America and applied them to the rest of the world where they are not applicable
– Therefore, these theories are not generalisable to the rest of the world so this approach lacks external validity