Humanistic

Question 1

Define the humanist approach

Answer 1

Human experiences, uniqueness and, freedom and choice

Question 2

What are the assumptions of the humanist approach?

Answer 2

1. Humans have free will
2. Humans are innately motivated to self actualise
3. The individual subjective experience of a person is most important
4. They have a positive view of people and think humans are innately good
5. Rejects scientific methods
6. We cannot test for human behaviours on animals

Question 3

What does free will mean?

Answer 3

We have choices in how we act and are self-determining

Question 4

How does the humanist approach suggest we have free will?

Answer 4

Humanists believe we have free will to make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces.

Internal and external forces do affect us but we are active agents who control our own development

Question 5

Who founded the humanistic approach?

Answer 5

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

Question 6

What is the hierarchy of needs and who created it?

Answer 6

Abraham Maslow
It believes that in order for someone to reach their full potential (self-actualise), they must complete all 4 ‘deficiency needs’

Question 7

What are the 5 stages of the hierarchy of needs?

Answer 7

Self-actualisation: morality, creativity, problem solving

Self-esteem needs: achievement, status, responsibility, respect

Love and belongingness: family, affection, relationships, work groups

Security and safety: protection, security, stability, order, rules and law

Psychological needs: air, water, food, drink, warmth, sleep, sex

Question 8

What is self-actualisation?

Answer 8

The desire for personal growth and development to achieve our full potential

Question 9

What is the self?

Answer 9

For personal growth, an individual’s concept of ‘self-concept’ (the way they see themselves) must have congruence to their ideal self (the person they want to be)

Question 10

What is incongruence?

Answer 10

When there is a gap between the ‘self-concept’ and the ‘ideal self’. The greater the gap, the greater the incongruence

Question 11

Describe client centred therapy

Answer 11

Focuses on reducing the gap between self-concept and idea self. Therapist gives person the unconditional positive regard that they did not receive as children

Question 12

Describe conditions of worth

Answer 12

People sometimes believe that others will only love them if they achieve certain things such as owning certain possessions, or acting in certain ways

These lead to people pursuing the wrong goals in life and people may try to produce the illusion of congruence by getting into debt or chasing high status positions, meaning they are unable to reach self-actualisation

Question 13

How is being a holistic approach an advantage of the humanistic approach?

Answer 13

It takes the person as a whole into account rather than just one factor. It does not believe in individual factors, meaning it gives a more in-depth explanation

Question 14

What could be a possible issue with this being a holistic approach?

Answer 14

It is unable to establish cause and effect meaning it cannot isolate relative importance of individual factors

Question 15

What is cultural bias in the humanistic approach?

Answer 15

Core concepts of self-actualisation are only relevant for individualist cultures eg. UK and USA because they’re motivated to personally succeed, meaning it lacks generalisability to collective cultures who value whole group success

Question 16

How is testability of the humanistic approach a limitation?

Answer 16

It isn’t scientific and is subjective, meaning it is unfalsifiable so is therefore difficult to establish validity of the concepts

Question 17

What practical application does the approach have?

Answer 17

It has lead to development of counselling therapies to treat disorders like anxiety and depression through congruence, meaning it has had positive contribution to anxiety