OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE HUMANISTIC APPROACH AS A WAY OF UNDERSTANING
BEHAVIOUR
The Humanistic approach focuses on the conscious experience rather than on behaviour. It
favours personal responsibility and free will over determinism and is very much about
personal growth and fulfilment. It’s based on the theories of two psychologists: Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs and Rodger’s work on the self. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has six levels
the most basic being physiological needs and then goes up to safety then love and belonging
then esteem and finally self-actualization. Rodger’s work accompanies this as his theory
states that close the ideal self and how people perceive themselves, the higher the level of
self-worth. The closer these are, the better the levels of congruence and if there are
discrepancies then incongruence occurs. Most people will experience a level of
incongruence and may use defence mechanisms to deal with the threat that creates.
One piece of evidence to support the humanistic approach is that it has had a major
influence on psychological counselling. For example, many therapists use Rogers’ ideas of
unconditional positive regard to help patients work towards self-awareness. This means it is
a useful theory with real-world application as it has helped improve the outlook on support
for psychological issues and therapy. However, due to the dispute of what causes some
mental illnesses, means you cannot establish cause and effect to see if this influence on
reshaping counselling is improving patients’ symptoms or not.
Another piece of evidence to support the humanistic approach is that it has a very positive
and holistic focus. Humanistic psychologists, unlike other psychologists, don’t try and reduce
behaviour and experience to simpler components, they instead put forward a rounded view
of human nature and is the only approach that attempts to consider all aspects of behaviour
by promoting free will and choice. However, it can be argued that the humanistic approach
offers an unrealistic view of behaviour as it ignores individual’s capacity for self-destruction.
This mean that the humanistic approach cannot be used alone to understand behaviour as it
doesn’t take situational forces into account that may provide a more realistic explanation of
everyday behaviour.
A final piece of evidence that criticises the humanistic approach is that evidence for the
existence of the hierarchy of needs is empirically thin, as would be expected from an
approach that disputes the validity of empirical research. Some of the concepts within the
hierarchy of needs are difficult to operationalise and therefore very difficult to test
empirically. However, self-actualization is always going to be subjective, and the humanistic
approach is about supporting and helping the individual not to be rigorous and scientific
meaning it has face validity.
BEHAVIOUR
The Humanistic approach focuses on the conscious experience rather than on behaviour. It
favours personal responsibility and free will over determinism and is very much about
personal growth and fulfilment. It’s based on the theories of two psychologists: Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs and Rodger’s work on the self. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has six levels
the most basic being physiological needs and then goes up to safety then love and belonging
then esteem and finally self-actualization. Rodger’s work accompanies this as his theory
states that close the ideal self and how people perceive themselves, the higher the level of
self-worth. The closer these are, the better the levels of congruence and if there are
discrepancies then incongruence occurs. Most people will experience a level of
incongruence and may use defence mechanisms to deal with the threat that creates.
One piece of evidence to support the humanistic approach is that it has had a major
influence on psychological counselling. For example, many therapists use Rogers’ ideas of
unconditional positive regard to help patients work towards self-awareness. This means it is
a useful theory with real-world application as it has helped improve the outlook on support
for psychological issues and therapy. However, due to the dispute of what causes some
mental illnesses, means you cannot establish cause and effect to see if this influence on
reshaping counselling is improving patients’ symptoms or not.
Another piece of evidence to support the humanistic approach is that it has a very positive
and holistic focus. Humanistic psychologists, unlike other psychologists, don’t try and reduce
behaviour and experience to simpler components, they instead put forward a rounded view
of human nature and is the only approach that attempts to consider all aspects of behaviour
by promoting free will and choice. However, it can be argued that the humanistic approach
offers an unrealistic view of behaviour as it ignores individual’s capacity for self-destruction.
This mean that the humanistic approach cannot be used alone to understand behaviour as it
doesn’t take situational forces into account that may provide a more realistic explanation of
everyday behaviour.
A final piece of evidence that criticises the humanistic approach is that evidence for the
existence of the hierarchy of needs is empirically thin, as would be expected from an
approach that disputes the validity of empirical research. Some of the concepts within the
hierarchy of needs are difficult to operationalise and therefore very difficult to test
empirically. However, self-actualization is always going to be subjective, and the humanistic
approach is about supporting and helping the individual not to be rigorous and scientific
meaning it has face validity.
