You are on page 1of 28

The Humanistic Approach: Theory,

Application, and Assessment


Chapter 11

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
Roots of Humanistic
Psychology
 The rapid growth of humanistic psychology
was in part a reaction against the research-
oriented approaches
 people cannot be reduced to a set of numbers
 finding a person’s place along a trait continuum
erases that person’s uniqueness and
individuality
 was developed to attend to the “human”
element
 started in the 1950s.
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reerved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 5
Roots of Humanistic
Psychology
1. Existential philosophy
 Addresses the meaning of human existence, role of
free will, and uniqueness of each human being
 Existential psychotherapists  works of the great
existential philosophers:Nietzsche, Sartre
 focuses on existential anxiety
 the feelings of dread and panic that follow the realization that
there is no meaning to one’s life
 Therapy often emphasizes the freedom to choose and develop
a lifestyle that reduces feelings of emptiness, anxiety, and
boredom
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product orservice or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 5
Roots of Humanistic
Psychology
 Humanism assumes people are basically good,
 existentialism assumes people are neither good nor
bad (human nature has no inherent quality).
 Humanistic psychology is concerned with the
search for self (and man's estrangement from
one's own self)
 existential psychology is concerned with the search for
meaning (and man's estrangement from the world),

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 5
Roots of Humanistic
Psychology
2. Ideas promoted by Carl Rogers and
Abraham Maslow
 were writing about their personal transitions
from traditional psychology theories to a
humanistic perspective

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 5
Key Elements of the
Humanistic Approach
1. Personal responsibility

• People are responsible for what happens to them


• Our behaviors represent personal choices of what we want
to do at a particular moment.
• We are active shapers of their own lives

2. Here and now

• People become fully functioning individuals when they live


their lives as it happens
• Past experience should not dictate what we can become

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 6
Key Elements of the
Humanistic Approach
3. Experience of the individual

• No one knows you better than yourself


• Therapists provide therapeutic atmosphere that allows clients to help
themselves

4. Personal growth

• People are motivated to progress toward some ultimately satisfying


state of being
• We progress toward this satisfying state unless certain problems
prevent us from doing so
• The therapist does not put clients back on track. Only the client can
do that.

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 6
Carl Rogers
 pioneered humanistic psychotherapy and
was the first therapist to popularize a
“person-centered” approach
 Believed in every individual’s potential to
for a fulfilling and happy life
 we naturally strive to reach an optimal sense
of satisfaction with our lives
 Fully functioning person: who strive and
reach an optimal sense of satisfaction in their
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 7
Carl Rogers
 Fully functioning person:
 are open to their experiences
 try to live each moment as it comes
 learn to trust their feelings
 sensitive to the needs of others,
 are less prone to conform to the roles dictated
by societal expectations
 accept and express their feelings

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 7
Carl Rogers
If we all have the potential to be fully functioning, why is
there so much unhappiness in the world?
 we experience anxiety and respond with various
psychological defenses
 Anxiety is the result of acquiring knowledge that
is inconsistent with the way we think of ourselves
 If you were fully functioning, you would accept the
information.
 If the information is excessively threatening to your
self-concept, the anxiety will be difficult to manage
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 7
Carl Rogers
 if it contradicts our self-concept, we’ll rely on
defenses to keep the information from entering
consciousness
 Distortion and denial
 we can also become anxious when encountering
positive information if that information is inconsistent
with our self-concept
 When the gap between self-concept and reality is so
large, people may experience disorganization
 protective barrier against threatening information collapses,
and the result is extreme anxiety
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 8
Carl Rogers
 Most parents love their children as long as the children
do what is expected of them
 Conditional positive regard: Atmosphere when
admiration is gained when accepted behavior is
portrayed
 When parents disapprove of their children’s behavior,
they withhold their love.
 children learn to abandon their true feelings and
desires
 Resolved through unconditional positive regard
 knowing we will be accepted and loved no matter
what we do.
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 8
Abraham Maslow
 Maslow wondered what psychology could
do for the happy, healthy side of personality
 Motives identified by Maslow
 Deficiency motives: Results from a lack of
needed object
 Satisfied when obtained (e.g., hunger and thirst)
 Growth needs: Not satisfied by finding the
object of need
 Satisfied by expressing the motive (e.g., giving of
love to others)
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 9
Hierarchy of Needs
 Categories of needs identified and arranged
by Maslow
 Physiological needs - Hunger, thirst, air, and
sleep
 Must be satisfied before moving to higher level
needs
 Safety needs - Security, stability, protection,
structure, order, and freedom from chaos
 Prominent when the future is unpredictable

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 10
Motivation and the Hierarchy
of Needs
 Belongingness and love needs
 Satisfaction of lower level needs does not guarantee
happiness, the need for friendship and love soon
emerges
 Esteem needs
 Need to perceive oneself as competent and achieving
 the need for admiration and respect
 Need for self-actualization
 Satisfied when people identify their true self and
reach full potential
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 11
Figure 11.1 - Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 12
Misconceptions About
Maslow’s Need Hierarchy
 Assumption that lower needs must be
satisfied before turning to higher needs
 Description that need hierarchy is universal
 Means of satisfying a particular need varies
across cultures
 Oversimplification that any behavior is
motivated by a single need
 Behavior is the result of multiple motivations

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 13
Optimal Experience
 What makes people happy?
 Csikszentmihalyi  opportunities for
happiness lie all around us in the everyday,
routine activities that fill our lives
 when he asked people to describe the
experience, he found they used surprisingly
similar terms
 Flow: Moments in which a person’s
attention is entirely focused on a activity
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 15
Optimal Experience

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 16
Optimal Experience
 Csikszentmihalyi  True happiness comes
when we take personal responsibility for
finding meaning and enjoyment in our
ongoing experiences

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
Application: Person-Centered
Therapy
 Application of Rogerian therapy makes
clients more fully functioning and happier
 Involves creating a proper relationship with
clients
 Open and genuine
 Unconditional positive regard
 Reflection - Helping clients understand
their own thoughts and feelings
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 17
Application: Job Satisfaction
 Spending several hours a week at a job that
pays well but doesn’t allow for development
of personal potential is a tragic waste.
 Occupations should provide opportunities
for personal growth and satisfaction of
higher order needs
 Jobs can satisfy people’s need for
belongingness, self-esteem, and respect for
others
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 18
Application: Job Satisfaction
 Eupsychian Management: Rearranging an
organization to help employees satisfy
higher level needs
 Employers can structure jobs so that workers
take pride in their performance and thereby
develop a sense of self-worth about what they
do for a living
 Careers provide an avenue for personal growth

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 19
Assessment: Q-Sort
Technique
 Basic procedure used to assess a wide
variety of psychological concepts
 California Q-Sort
 Requires the client to sort a deck of 100 self-
descriptive cards into nine categories according to
his/her real and ideal self
 A self-descriptive phrase is printed on each card,
such as “is a talkative individual,” “seeks reassurance
 from others,” or “has high aspiration level for self.”
 Allows the clients to describe themselves
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 20
Assessment: Q-Sort
Technique
 On the first sort, you
would be asked to
place the cards into
nine categories
according to how
much you believe the
description on the
card applies to you.
 2nd  ideal self
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 21
Strengths of the Humanistic
Approach
 Emphasis on the healthy side of personality
 Several aspects have been adopted by
therapists from other theoretical
perspectives
 Growth of encounter groups

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 23
Strengths and Criticisms of
the Humanistic Approach
 Humanistic psychology adopted in
education, communication, and business
 Organizations promote job satisfaction by
taking care of employees’ higher needs
 Teachers and parents have adopted Rogers’
suggestions for education and child rearing

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 24
Criticisms of the Humanistic
Approach
 Reliance on the concept of free will to
explain human behavior
 Key concepts are poorly defined
 Self-actualization
 Fully functioning
 Limited applicability of psychotherapy
techniques
 Naive assumptions about human nature
© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. 11 - 25

You might also like