Haris Rizqi Arifin

Class: B

NIM: 0204510007

Introduction to the Humanistic Approach

The Humanistic Approach began in response to concerns by therapists against perceived
limitations of Psychodynamic theories, especially psychoanalysis. Individuals like Carl
Rogers and Abraham Maslow felt existing (psychodynamic) theories failed to adequately
address issues like the meaning of behavior, and the nature of healthy growth. However, the
result was not simply new variations on psychodynamic theory, but rather a fundamentally
new approach.

There are several factors which distinguish the Humanistic Approach from other approaches
within psychology, including the emphasis on subjective meaning, a rejection of
determinism, and a concern for positive growth rather than pathology. While one might
argue that some psychodynamic theories provide a vision of healthy growth (including Jung's
concept of individuation), the other characteristics distinguish the Humanistic Approach
from every other approach within psychology (and sometimes lead theorists from other
approaches to say the Humanistic Approach is not a science at all). Most psychologists
believe that behavior can only be understood objectively (by an impartial observer), but the
humanists argue that this results in concluding that an individual is incapable of
understanding their own behavior--a view which they see as both paradoxical and dangerous
to well-being. Instead, humanists like Rogers argue that the meaning of behavior is
essentially personal and subjective; they further argue that accepting this idea is not
unscientific, because ultimately all individuals are subjective: what makes science reliable is
not that scientists are purely objective, but that the nature of observed events can be agreed
upon by different observers (a process Rogers calls intersubjective verification).

The issues underlying the Humanistic Approach, and its differences from other approaches,
are discussed more fully in the text, but the sources below provide useful supplementary
information. One point worth noting: if you want to fully grasp the nature of the Humanistic
Approach, you cannot consider it in abstract terms. Instead, you must consider if and how the
ideas connect to your own experience--for that is how the meaning of behavior is derived!

Humanistic Approaches to Teaching

A Link to "An Overview of Humanistic Education" by Bill Huitt
The Trouble with Behaviourism - How a humanist teacher keeps his students motivated
Humanism would concentrate upon the development of the child's self-concept. If the child
feels good about him or herself then that is a positive start. Feeling good about oneself would
involve an understanding of ones' strengths and weaknesses, and a belief in one's ability to
improve. Learning is not an end in itself; It is the means to progress towards the pinnacle of
self-development, which Maslow terms 'Self-actualisation'. A child learns because he or she
is inwardly driven, and derives his or her reward from the sense of achievement that having
learned something affords. This would differ from the behaviourist view that would expect
extrinsic rewards to be more effective. Extrinsic rewards are rewards from the outside world,
e.g. praise, money, gold stars, etc. Intrinsic rewards are rewards from within oneself, rather
like a satisfaction of a need. This accords with the humanistic approach, where education is
really about creating a need within the child, or instilling within the child self-motivation.
Behaviourism is about rewards from others. Humanism is about rewarding yourself!

Much of a humanist teacher's effort would be put into developing a child's self-esteem. It
would be important for children to feel good about themselves (high self-esteem), and to feel
that they can set and achieve appropriate goals (high self-efficacy). This form of education is
known as child-centred, and is typified by the child taking responsibility for their education
and owning their learning. The behaviourists might advocate positive reinforcement such as
praise, and punishment in the form of negative criticism. Both praise and blame are rejected
by the humanists. Children can become addicted to praise, and put much effort into receiving
praise from their teachers. Such children will often work for the praise, and not work if their
efforts go unnoticed. This is so unlike an interested adult surfing through the internet, who
derives satisfaction from learning something new, even though nobody is around to witness
this acquisition of knowledge. If education is preparing the child for adult life, it would seem
the humanist approach is the correct one.

The humanist teacher is a facilitator, not a disseminator, of knowledge. Participatory and

discovery methods would be favoured instead of traditional didacticism (i.e. learn parrot-
fashion every thing the teacher says). As well as the child's academic needs the humanistic
teacher is concerned with the child's affective (or emotional) needs. Feeling and thinking are
very much interlinked. Feeling positive about oneself facilitates learning.

Humanistic - The self or the individual is important. Not the similarities between humans as
much as the individuality of humans.

Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers was not only one of the founders of the Humanistic Approach, but also arguably
the most influential therapist in the 20th century: a number of surveys, including several done
after his death, found that more therapists cited Rogers as a major influence on their thinking
and clinical practice than any other person in psychology (including Freud). To understand
this, one must know something about Rogers as a person, as well as his theoretical ideas.

I never met him, but have seen several videos of him, and have read a number of accounts,
both biographical and anecdotal, by individuals who know him well. Consistently, what
comes across is a person who was caring and respectful of others, a man who found value in
all people, yet was humble about his own achievements--in many ways, he represented the
fully functioning person which his theory describes!

In terms of his theory, there are two fundamental ideas which are particularly worth noting.
(For a more complete discussion, see the text.) First, Rogers talked about healthy
development in terms of how the individual perceived their own being. A healthy individual
will tend to see congruence between their sense of who they are (self) and who they feel they
should be (ideal self). While no one tends to experience perfect congruence at all times, the
relative degree of congruence is an indicator of health. Some researchers have tried to
measure congruence by using a self-assessment technique called a Q-Sort

The second fundamental idea is Rogers's concept of the conditions for healthy growth, and
the role of a therapist in fostering healthy growth. Through a process Rogers called person-
centered therapy, the therapist seeks to provide empathy, openness, and unconditional
positive regard. These conditions for growth are discussed further in the text; for information
on person-centered therapy.

Behaviour control by Rogers (Rogers & Skinner, 1956)

 1 Value humanity as a self-actualising process; value creativity.

 2 Use science to discover the conditions that best lead to the above.
 3 Individuals or groups should be self motivated. Set their own goals.
 4 Students become - self-responsible, make progress in self- actualisation, flexible, creative.
Because they have autonomy.
 5 All this creates a social system - (Values, knowledge, adaptive skills, concept of science) -
all these would continually change and grow.
Humanistic Movement in Education.

Behaviourism
Freudian
Humanism - third force in Psychology

o 1) Uniqueness and importance of the individual.

o 2) Reaction against overly mechanistic and dehumanising approaches.

Principles of Humanistic education

Current and future welfare of students

worth and rights of the individuals
Openness, honesty, selflessness, altruism.
Traditional approach -

 large numbers, regimentation, anonymity,

 competition for academic success.
 Little time nor energy.

Can be humanistic teacher in a traditional teacher classroom.

Common Emphasis on humanistic approaches to education.

 1 Affect - emphasis on feeling and thinking.

 2 Self-Concept - positive, self-concept important Many students are ‘disinvited students’
(Borton, 1970). [look at box p250].
 3 Communication - positive and honest
 4 Personal Values - Importance of personal values, facilitate the development of positive
values. Must know themselves, express themselves, self-identity, actualise themselves.

Traditional

I. Mastery of academic content

II. good citizenship
III. sportsmanship.

Humanistic approaches use group processes.

Groups

Students can express their feelings more openly, discover and clarify their feelings. Explore
interpersonal relationships Articulate personal values. Games - including role-playing.
Problems - Novice teacher will lack specific guidelines.

3 approaches

 1) Open classroom
 2) Learning Styles
 3) Co-operative learning
Problems with traditional schools

Compelled to attend
Little choice in the content of a curriculum, the value of which may not be apparent.
Share teacher’s time and other resources with other students. Classmates differ from one
another in ability and experience. Have to put up with an instructional tempo that is often
either too fast or too slow. Set of rules - not talking, moving around, going to the toilet. [Not
user-friendly!] no doubt that traditional schools favour some.

The Open Classroom

Goals - individual growth, critical thinking, self-reliance, co- operation, commitment to

lifelong learning.
Most important person - student not teacher.
Not curriculum bound
Not age/grade locked.
Student-centred - intensive, but relaxed teacher/pupil contact.
Needs low teacher/pupil ratio.
de-emphasises schedules.
Almost no control or competition
Difficult to draw the line between chaos and order, rebelliousness and expression of rights.
Productive and unproductive time.
Students tend to have better self-concepts and are more creative and co- operative, but
academic achievements are lacking.

The Learning Styles Approach

Allow student to use a learning style that suits them.

e.g. working on soft carpet or around a table
highly structured lessons, peer teaching, computer-assisted instruction, self-learning.
Subjects rotated, to be taught at different times of the day.

Evaluation.

Dunn and Griggs (1988) - 10 learning styles-driven schools visited, learners performed well
on a variety of measures of academic performance.
Many passed subjects, previously failed. Most loved school.
Difficult to measure (Snow and Swanson, 1992) - current list of learning styles and
instruments used to measure them are unorganised, lengthy, include a large range of habits,
personality characteristics and abilities.

Co-operative Learning

Students are often in competition with each other or have to work individually towards
achieving their personal goals.
Co-operative Learning not only combines cognitive and affective aspects of learning, as well
as emphasising participation and active engagement, But also stresses academic achievement
and clearly defined curricular goals.
Reasons for co-operative learning

 Without co-operation our planet is doomed!

 Bossert (1988) - cornerstone of democracy - political and economical survival.
 Decreases dependence on teachers
 Decreases divisiveness and prejudice.
 Improves academic performance (Johnson et al, 1984)
 Eradicates feelings of alienation, isolation, purposelessness and social unease amongst
students (Johnson et al, 1984).
 Promotes positive attitudes to schools (Snow and Swanson, 1992)
 Students prefer co-operative approaches (Huber et al, 1992).
 Teaches personal skills and life skills.

Definition

 1 Requires face to face interaction - usually 4 to 6 students.

 2 relationship between group members is one of positive interdependence (co-operate in

allocating resources, assigning roles and dividing labour in order to achieve goals)

 3 Assigns individual responsibility for sharing, co-operating and learning.

 4 Goals and rewards are contingent on the performance and contribution of all group
members.

 5 Interpersonal skills necessary e.g. taking turns, facilitating, collaborating, etc.

Johnson et al (1984) outlines 4 components of co-operative learning:

1. Positive interdependence - students work towards a common goal and share materials.
2. Individual accountability - every student must contribute to the final outcome
3. Interpersonal and small-group skill development - The goal has an inbuilt social skill
component.
4. Face to face interactions - an essential part of this leaning strategy.

  

Circles of Knowledge or Circles of Learning

1 learning together

4 to 6 students have a worksheet they must learn or complete together.

encouraged to help each other.
Praise for co-operating and finishing the assignment.
No competition among groups.

2 Student Teams - Achievement Division (STAD)

As above, except:
Each team has high and low ability students,
different ethnic backgrounds, children of both sexes.
New material presented in class in traditional manner. Following this groups given material
to study and worksheets to complete.
can work individually or together
Encouraged to help each other. At end of that week's material, students answer quizzes
individually.
Team scores are calculated.
team that has improved the most is given the most recognition.
Slavin (1983) 'Students see learning activities as social instead of isolated, fun instead of
boring, under their own control instead of the teacher's'
Help each other more, do not make fun of those with learning difficulties.

Teams-games-Tournaments (TGT)

Same as above, but tournaments at end.

Regrouped into individual competitors, from different groups of a similar ability. In threes,
they take turns to draw cards, and ask the question printed upon it. Can challenge the
answers. They keep the card if correct. At end, points are added up and credited to the pupil's
original (learning) group.

Jigsaw

Each member gets separate parts of the whole. Must teach what they have learned to other
members of the group.

Group Investigation

Students select topic - then divided into sub-topics, based on student's interests. Groups are
formed to investigate each sub-topic.
Each group formulates a plan and assigns responsibilities. members can work individually or
with others. At end group members meet to share information. They then decide how to
present this information to the rest of the class.
Teachers help with academic and social skills.

Reciprocal Teaching

Students taught specific procedures in questioning, clarifying, summarising and predicting.

They then have to teach some of the material to their teacher. (Palinsar and Brown, 1984)

Advantages of co-operative learning

1 Unlike 'Learning styles' approach, requires no major restructuring of the school day.
2 Fosters co-operation among students of different abilities, ethnic backgrounds, ages and
sexes.

How much?

Used in conjunction with traditional lessons for 60 to 90 minutes a day. Others recommend
70% of class time to be used in this way. 20% individualistic. 10% competitive. (Johnson and
Johnson, 1975).
Disadvantage

Careful preparation of materials, worksheets, questions, resource materials, etc.

Evaluation

Johnson et al (1981) 122 studies analysed.

1 Better achievement at all grades and for all subjects, because group discussion and co-
operation promote discovery.
Develop higher-quality cognitive strategies.
Increases motivation, comprehension (by having the student teach) enrich learning by having
students of different abilities and experiences. Promotes highly positive relationships among
group members.
Israeli and Arab students not only performed better academically, but also displayed fewer
signs of ethnic tension in their language (Sharan & Shachar, 1988).
Bossert (1988) agrees but says the effect could be because lessons are more highly structured
and systematic, rather than effect due to peer interaction.

Drawback

Some students waste time talking about irrelevant matters. Some members dominate and
others are ignored.

Why it works

Slavin(1990)
1 Incentive to co-operate
2 Individual accountability
Vygotsky (1978) theory says learning is highly dependent on
1 Social interaction
2 Language.

Drawback

 1 Bossert(1988) low achieving students are sometimes embarrassed by their performances

and ashamed of lowering the groups score. Motivation and self-concepts deteriorate. To
counteract this make sure you reward the group that has shown the most improvement.

 2 Bossert (1988) - One reason why the technique works is because it is a change from
normal classroom teaching. If teacher goes over to 100% co-operative learning, this
advantage is lost.

 3 Bossert (1988) - Also important for student to learn competitive and individualistic
skills.

  
Some reactions to humanistic education.

Humanistic teachers aim for good things, but these are not clearly defined. Also not easily
measured.
Humanistic approaches are highly dependent upon the capabilities of the teacher.
Overall, ‘Open schools do not deliver academic performance, but non- graded schools (no
age/grade placement and no graded report cards), have positive effects on achievement
(Gutierrez & Slavin, 1992).
Present structured curriculum in ungraded, no fail environment.
But
Criticisms can not be directed at learning styles-oriented schools and co-operative learning.
many learning styles schools use group methods which involve co-operative learning.