This document provides an overview of key aspects of humanistic psychology. It discusses how humanistic psychology emerged in response to limitations of behaviourism and psychodynamic approaches. Unlike these deterministic approaches, humanistic psychology emphasizes free will and viewing the individual holistically. The document outlines Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Rogers' concepts of the ideal self and conditions of worth. It also discusses how humanistic psychology influenced counselling psychology through Rogers' emphasis on unconditional positive regard in therapy. Evaluation of humanistic research methods and concepts is also presented.

1. Humanistic
Psychology

2. Humanistic Psychology
• Humanistic psychology emerged in the US in the 1950’s as the result of the
work by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. It was formed as many
psychologists noted the limitations of the behaviourist and psychodynamic
approaches- therefore it is often known as the ‘third’ force in psychology.
• It represents a challenge to both behaviourism and psychodynamic
psychology as unlike most other approaches which are deterministic, the
humanistic approach looks at free will and the individual as a whole
(holism).
• It emphasises the importance of the individual striving towards personal
growth and fulfilment.

3. Free Will vs Determinism
• Determinism proposes that all behaviour has an internal or external cause
and is thus predictable. This means that we have no choice (free will) over
how we act.
• Humanistic psychology, however, emphasises that people have full
conscious control over their own destiny.
• Although it accepts that we are subject to many forces i.e. biological and
societal influences, humanism believes human beings are still able to make
significant personal choices within these constraints.

4. Abraham Maslow (1943)
• Unlike many other approaches, Maslow was not concerned with what was
wrong with people, but finding out what could go right with them.
• His hierarchy of needs emphasised the importance of personal growth and
fulfilment.
Maslow didn’t
actually include
the visual idea of a
pyramid, however
it is often used to
represent his
hierarchy of
needs.

5. Your Task!
Arrange the following needs into a hierarchy…
Have the most essential, necessary needs at the bottom and
work your way up!
Safety & security of: Body,
employment, resources,
morality, family, health &
property
Self Esteem:
confidence,
achievement, respect
of others, respect by
others
Morality, creativity,
spontaneity, problem
solving, lack of
prejudice, reaching
personal goals.
Needs for oxygen, food,
water, sleep, sex and
homeostasis.
Friendship, family,
relationships,
intimacy

7. Abraham Maslow (1943)
The most basic, physiological needs are represented at the
bottom and the most advanced needs at the top.
Each level must be fulfilled before a person can move up to a
higher need.

8. SA
Esteem
Love/Belonging
Safety
Physiological

9. SA
Esteem
Love/Belonging
Safety
Physiological
Can you make a hierarchy of needs for dogs?!

10. Self- Actualisation
• Every person has an innate tendency or need to want to fulfil their full potential
(to become the best they could possibly be).
• Self- actualisation represents the uppermost level of Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs. Where a person achieves their full potential and had become the best
they can possibly be!
• All 4 other levels must be met before the individual can work towards self-
actualisation- however not everyone will achieve SA.
• Maslow found that most people who did achieve it shared similar
characteristics- they were creative, accepting of other people, independent,
appreciative, happy, caring and held and accurate perception of the world
around them.
• He defined peak moments of self-actualisation as moments of extreme
inspiration and ecstasy during which a person feels able to leave behind all
doubts, fears and inhibitions.

11. Do all stages apply to
people of different
ages? Do you think it
applies to you?
June is an elderly woman living in a nursing home. All her
basic needs are met- she is fed, has a nice room, is in good
health and feels safe. However she is not happy and has not
achieved self-actualisation. When she was younger she used
to love playing the piano and painting pictures.
What would you suggest the nursing home could do to
help promote her self actualisation?
Can you think of any
people in the media,
or anyone who know
personally, who
might be a self-
actualiser?

12. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was born to a very poor family in a New York
slum, the child of immigrant Russian Jews. As a child he was the victim of
anti-Semitism. Despite having an IQ of 195 (with anything over 136 being the
top 1% of the population) he still flunked some of his undergraduate courses
and found it difficult to focus on his studies.
He eventually became an intellectual whose influence stretched far beyond
academic psychology, into the world of business and popular culture.
Using the information above and the hierarchy of needs- can you
explain why Maslow struggled to achieve at university?

13. A03- Evaluation
Maslow’s Hierarchy is Linked to Economic
Development
• Hagerty (1999) looked at the relationship between economic growth and
Maslow’s needs in 88 countries over 34 years.
• He found countries in early stages of economic development were
characterised by lower levels of need (physiological needs e.g. food and safety-
high murder rates)
• Only in the advanced stages of economic development did self-esteem needs
(e.g. female emancipation) and self-actualisation (e.g. levels of educational
enrolment) become important.
• Educational enrolment is a significant indication of the drive to self-actualise
as education is seen as a way for people to better themselves.

14. A03- Evaluation
Cultural Differences in the Hierarchy of Needs
• In a later development to his hierarchy Maslow acknowledged that for some
people, needs may appear in different orders or some may not be present at
all.
• A study carried out in China by Nevis (1983) found that belongingness needs
were more fundamental than physiological needs and that self-actualisation
was defined more in terms of contribution to the community rather than in
terms of individual development.
• Many studies have confirmed that Europeans and Americans focus more on
personal identity whereas Asian cultures define self-concept more in terms of
social relationships.

15. • Imagine you meet someone
on a date, in the pitch black,
for the first time!
• You have 30 seconds to
describe yourself to them
(can be physical and/or
personality.)
• What do you say?!

16. 60 Second Challenge
1. Pair up
2. One of the partners needs a stop watch
3. The other person has to try to talk continuously
about the humanistic approach for 1 minute! (No
long umms, errs or off topic randomness)
4. Swap and give the other person a go!
• Assumptions
• Comparisons with
other approaches
• Maslow
• Hierarchy of Needs
• Rogers and the selves
• Congruence

17. Carl Rogers (1951)
 Rogers believed that in order for personal growth and SA to occur, an
individual must have good self esteem.
 He suggested we had 2 ‘selves’ which need to integrate to achieve self-
actualisation.
The two selves are your self- concept and
your ideal self.

18. Carl Rogers (1951)
Focus on the Self
The 2 ‘Selves’
1. The Self-Concept (the self you feel you are- this is affected by our self
esteem. Our self-concept develops in childhood as a result of interactions
with parents., and later, peers. If you have a poor self concept you may
underestimate how capable you are).
2. The Ideal Self- (the self you wish to be. It is who you are aiming to become
e.g. “I wish I was more…/ I wish I was able to…” . It is not who you think
you are but who you wish to be.

19. Carl Rogers (1951)
Congruence
• Definition: “in agreement or harmony”.
• Rogers believed that in order to achieve self- actualisation a person needs to be
congruent.
• This means that their perceived self must be the same or very similar to their ideal
self.
• This is very difficult to achieve and most people suffer from some degree of
incongruence.
• To fix incongruence a person needs to develop a more healthy view of themselves
or have a more achievable and realistic ideal self.
• Rogers believed that people may use defence mechanisms in order to feel less
threatened by inconsistencies between who they would like to be and who they
really are. – Can you apply this to any of Freud’s defence mechanisms?

20. Carl Rogers (1951)
Conditions of Worth
• Conditions of worth are requirements that the individual feels they need to
meet in order to be loved. (These can be real or perceived)
• This is also called conditional positive regard (when people are only
accepted by others if they do or act as they want them to).
• It is the opposite of unconditional positive regard (being loved regardless
of who you are or what you do).
• An example: a child feeling they need to get high grades in school in order
for their parents to love and accept them. (This could be from directly being
told by the parents or witnessing the treatment of an older sibling).
• Can you think of any other examples?

21. A03- Evaluation
Research Support for Conditions of Worth
• Research has shown that individuals who receive conditional positive regard
are likely to display more ‘false self behaviour’ e.g. doing things to meet
others’ expectations, even when they do not want to.
• Harter et al (1996) found teenagers who have to do certain things to meet
parents approval often end up not liking themselves.
• Individuals who create a ‘false self’, pretending to be someone their parents
would love are more likely to develop depression.

22. Carl Rogers (1951)
The Influence of Counselling Psychology
• Rogers claimed that an individual’s psychological problems were a direct
result of their conditions of worth and the conditional positive regard they
received from others.
• He believed that counselling would enable people to solve their problems in
constructive ways; allowing the person to move towards self-actualisation.
• He believed that the client-therapist relationship was very important and that
it is key that therapists give unconditional positive regard- showing
acceptance and understanding.
• By doing this the therapist is providing an environment where a client can be
honest and therefore this will help dissolve their conditions of worth.
• This enables the client to act in a way true to themselves rather than as other
people want them to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m30jsZx_Ngs

23. Carl Rogers (1951)
The Influence of Counselling Psychology
Research by Elliott (2002) showed that in a meta-analysis of 86 studies,
humanistic therapies prompted a significant improvement in clients when
compared to people who were not receiving treatment.
This effectiveness helps to increase the influence of the therapy and
consequently lends support to the ideas of the humanistic approach.
A03

24. A03- Evaluation
Humanistic Research Methods
• Scientifically evaluating the Humanistic approach is hard as most of the
evidence fails to establish cause an effect between variables.
• For example some studies have shown personal growth as a result of
receiving humanistic counselling, however they do not show that therapy
caused the changes. This is a fundamental requirement of scientific
psychology.
• It is also very difficult to measure subjective concepts such as ‘self-worth’.

25. A01= 2 A02= 2