Describe and evaluate the humanistic approach in psychology.

Refer to at least one

other approach in your answer (16 marks)

The main assumption of the humanistic approach is that people are self determining as
they have free will and can make choices about the way they think and act. These
choices are not determined by biological factors or other external factors. It also states
that people are responsible for how they develop and progress in life and that they have
the ability to reflect on their feelings and experiences and initiate personal change and
growth.
Maslow stated that there are five stages that explain people’s motivation and behavior.
The first stage is physiological needs such as food, water and oxygen. The second
stage is safety needs such as security, stability and freedom from fear of harm. The
third stage is establishing a sense of love and belonging through acquiring friendships
and intimate relationships. The fourth stage is building self esteem through confidence,
achievement and attaining respect from others. The last stage is self actualization
where an individual achieves their full potential, a sense of wellbeing and satisfaction.
These stages are known as the hierarchy of needs and achieving self actualization
involves working through the first four stages.
Carl Rogers stated that people can only self actualize if they have a positive view of
themselves which can only happen if they have unconditional positive regard from
others. Feelings of self worth are developed in childhood through interactions with
parents and other significant figures such as friends and intimate partners. Rogers also
stated that individuals have three versions of themselves that they need to integrate in
order to self actualize. The self concept which how people feel they are as a person, the
ideal self which is the version of themselves people wish to be and the real self which is
who the person actually is.
Congruence occurs when a person’s ideal self and self concept are seen as the same.
If they ideal self and self concept are different then a state of incongruence occurs and
the person is unable to self actualize.
Furthermore, there are certain requirements a person believes that they must meet in
order to be loved and accepted. These are known as the conditions of worth and they
may be real or perceived. For example, a child may feel the need to get good grades in
order to be loved by their parents. These conditions of worth may lead to an individual
experiencing conditional positive regard, making self actualization more difficult to
achieve.

The humanistic approach is considered a positive approach and is praised for ‘bringing
the person back into psychology’ and gives us an optimistic alternative to other
approaches such as the psychodynamic approach. Rogers referred to those in therapy
as clients rather than patients and stated that an effective therapist should provide the
client with genuineness, empathy and unconditional positive regard. Rogers’ work
transformed psychotherapy and introduced a variety of counseling techniques. This
increases the explanatory power of the humanistic approach.
Moreover, the humanistic approach is non-reductionist as it rejects to break up behavior
and experience into smaller components. Freud described personality as a conflict id,
ego and superego; biological psychologists reduce behavior to its basic physiological
processes. In contrast, humanistic psychologists advocate holism which is the idea that
subjective experiences can only be understood by considering the whole person. The
approach considers human behavior within its real life context which increases
credibility.
The approach is supported by research evidence. Research into gender differences has
that differences within men and women are greater than the differences between them.
This research supports the assumption that everyone needs to be treated as unique
therefore adding to the credibility of the approach.
However, the approach has limited application and has had little impact within
psychology as a whole. The approach lacks evidence and is described using a loose set
of abstract concepts rather than a comprehensive theory, reducing the credibility.
Furthermore, the approach is criticized to be unrealistic it assumed all people are good
and interested in personal growth and ignores the fact that people can be pessimistic or
self destructive. It also assumes that problems arise due to people being unable to self
actualize and encourages people to simply focus on their own personal development
when situational factors may be the true cause.
Finally, the approach is argued to be culturally biased and based on the assumptions of
western society. Studies have found that cultures such as China, Japan and Korea
define self concept through social relationships rather than personal identity and
individual needs. Therefore, the approach lacks population validity and the theories
cannot be generalized to eastern cultures.