Heirarchy of Needs
Humanistic Psychology Assumptions
- Theory developed by Abraham Maslow in 1943
- It is the explanation of how human needs change through an individual's lifespan
- 1. Physiological: Physical requirements for survival
- 2. Safety: Security of the body and resources
- 3. Love & Belonging: Family, friendship, & intimacy
- 4. Esteem: Confidence & achievement
- 5. Self Actualization: Morality, creativity, & acceptance
- One cannot be achieved without achieving the tier prior to it
Abraham Maslow
What is its methodology?
- Phenomenology is central & people have personal agency
- Exercise of free will
- People are basically good and have an innate need to better themselves as well as the world
- Rogers & Maslow regarded personal growth & fulfillment in life as a basic human motive
- Humanistic psychologists argue that what is actually real is less important than what people believe to be real
- Humanism rejects scientific methodology and opts for qualitative research instead
- Humans are fundamentally different from other animals because they are capable of thought and reasoning and language
- Qualitative methods
- Case studies
- in depth investigations of a single person, group, event, or community
- Q-Sort Method
- Procedure for measuring congruence
- State of internal consistency
Carl Rogers
What are its strengths?
What are its limitations?
- Shifted the focus of behavior to the individual/whole person rather than the unconscious mind, genes, observable behavior, etc.
- Satisfies most people's ideas of what being human means because it values personal ideals & self fulfillment
- Qualitative data gives genuine insight & more holistic information into behavior
- Highlights the value of more individualistic & idiographic methods of study
Conclusion
- Ignores biological factors that play into the actions that the theory suggests
- Unscientific: subjective concepts
- Cannot objectively measure self actualization
- Humanism ignores the unconscious mind
- Behaviorism (Human & Animal behavior can be compared)
- Qualitative data is difficult to compare
- Ethnocentric (biased towards western culture)
- Belief in free will is in opposition to the deterministic laws of SCIENCE
What is Humanism?
Where is it applied?
- Person-Centered Therapy
- Abnormal behavior
- Incongruent, low self-worth
- Education
- Motivation
- Psychological approach that emphasizes the study of the whole person
- It is observed through the observer & through the person doing the behaving
What are Humanism's key features?
Humanistic psychologists believe that a person's behavior is connected to their inner feelings & self-concept (self image)
- Qualitative research
- diary accounts
- open ended questionnaire
- unstructured interviews & observations
- Idiographic Approach
- The desire to learn what makes each of us unique
- Self-Concept
- self-worth
- self-image
- self-actualization
Humanistic Theory