Podcast
Questions and Answers
Which statement best differentiates the humanistic approach from both psychoanalysis and behaviorism?
Which statement best differentiates the humanistic approach from both psychoanalysis and behaviorism?
- Humanistic psychology emphasizes the role of unconscious drives, similar to psychoanalysis, but uses empirical methods like behaviorism.
- Humanistic psychology focuses on observable behaviors, diverging from the internal mental processes studied by psychoanalysis.
- Humanistic psychology integrates the pessimistic outlook of psychoanalysis with the environmental determinism of behaviorism.
- Humanistic psychology posits that individuals possess inherent agency and responsibility in shaping their destinies, unlike the deterministic views of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. (correct)
How does the phenomenological perspective, as applied in humanistic psychology, influence therapeutic practices?
How does the phenomenological perspective, as applied in humanistic psychology, influence therapeutic practices?
- It directs therapists to prioritize their interpretations of clients' experiences to guide them toward objective reality.
- It leads therapists to disregard clients' personal narratives in favor of standardized diagnostic criteria for mental disorders.
- It encourages therapists to objectively analyze clients' behaviors to uncover universal patterns of maladjustment.
- It prompts therapists to validate clients' subjective experiences as valid and meaningful, thereby fostering understanding and empathy. (correct)
How does existential philosophy relate to the concept of 'existential angst' within the framework of humanistic psychology?
How does existential philosophy relate to the concept of 'existential angst' within the framework of humanistic psychology?
- It correlates existential angst with specific personality disorders characterized by avoidance of introspection and self-awareness.
- It suggests that existential angst is a product of societal constraints that limit individuals' choices and autonomy.
- It refutes the notion of existential angst by emphasizing the inherent meaning and purpose in human existence.
- It posits that existential angst arises from the confrontation with the inherent freedom and responsibility to define one's existence. (correct)
What does the concept of personal responsibility entail within the context of humanistic psychotherapy, and how might it challenge clients?
What does the concept of personal responsibility entail within the context of humanistic psychotherapy, and how might it challenge clients?
How do humanistic principles advise individuals to approach the balance between reflection on the past/future and engagement with the present moment?
How do humanistic principles advise individuals to approach the balance between reflection on the past/future and engagement with the present moment?
In what way does the concept of 'awe,' as a positive experience, contribute to the goals of humanistic therapy?
In what way does the concept of 'awe,' as a positive experience, contribute to the goals of humanistic therapy?
What distinguishes 'growth motives' from 'deficiency motives' in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and how do they impact an individual's pursuit of self-actualization?
What distinguishes 'growth motives' from 'deficiency motives' in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and how do they impact an individual's pursuit of self-actualization?
How might a person-centered therapist utilize the concept of 'congruence' to facilitate personal growth and self-acceptance in a client?
How might a person-centered therapist utilize the concept of 'congruence' to facilitate personal growth and self-acceptance in a client?
In Rogers' theory, how do 'conditional positive regard' and 'unconditional positive regard' influence the development of an individual's self-concept and psychological well-being?
In Rogers' theory, how do 'conditional positive regard' and 'unconditional positive regard' influence the development of an individual's self-concept and psychological well-being?
How does Rogers explain the experience of anxiety and the use of defense mechanisms, such as distortion and denial, in the context of incongruence between self-concept and reality?
How does Rogers explain the experience of anxiety and the use of defense mechanisms, such as distortion and denial, in the context of incongruence between self-concept and reality?
Flashcards
Phenomenology
Phenomenology
The study of the structures of consciousness from a first-person point of view, focusing on subjective experiences and interpretations.
Existential Psychotherapy
Existential Psychotherapy
Emphasizes the freedom to choose and develop a lifestyle that reduces feelings of emptiness, anxiety, and boredom.
Humanistic View of People
Humanistic View of People
Humanistic psychologists view people as active shapers of their own lives, with freedom to change, limited only by physical constraints.
The Here and Now (Humanistic Approach)
The Here and Now (Humanistic Approach)
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Mindfulness
Mindfulness
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Fully Functioning Person
Fully Functioning Person
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Conditional Positive Regard
Conditional Positive Regard
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Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR)
Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR)
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Deficiency Motives
Deficiency Motives
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Growth Motives
Growth Motives
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Study Notes
Humanistic Approach
- This approach is the least developed stream of psychology
- Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are key figures
- Positive psychology spun off from this approach
- Focuses on understanding the state of happiness in healthy people
- Aims to understand what it meant to be psychologically healthy
Roots of Humanistic Psychology
- Behaviourism and humanistic perspectives share similar views on human psychology's positioning
- Psychoanalysis is comparatively pessimistic
- Understanding the circumstances of its emergence clarifies this perspective
- In the mid-20th century, psychology had two main views of humanity:
- The Freudian concept: Pessimistic; individuals are victims of unconscious sexual and aggressive instincts
- Behaviourism: Individuals are conditioned animals responding to environmental stimuli they cannot control
Key Distinction
- Humanistic psychologists believe people are largely responsible for their actions unlike other theories of personality
- People can determine their destiny and decide their actions, implying free will
- People respond automatically and can be motivated by unconscious impulses
Phenomenology
- A philosophical movement studying consciousness from a first-person perspective
- Focuses on people's subjective experiences/interpretations to understand how others experience the world
- It is related to the free will debate, implying a motivated awareness
- Awareness is not an objective reality
- Subjective awareness directs motivation to see various things
- The duck-rabbit illusion indicates the limitation to view only one image from our perspective at a time
Existential Philosophy
- Explores the meaning of human existence
- Emphasizes the importance of choice and individual uniqueness
- Failure leads to "existential angst," or identity crisis
- "I am the only person who can reconcile with my life’s purpose"
Client-Centered Therapy (Rogers)
- Clients are the only ones who can solve their problems while the therapists can only guide them
Existential Philosophy & Humanistic Approach
- Existential philosophy addresses questions about life, free will, and individual uniqueness.
- Existential psychotherapy is based on dread/panic that follows when there is no meaning to one's life
- Therapy emphasizes freedom of choice and a lifestyle that reduces boredom, anxiety and emptiness
Key Elements of the Humanistic Approach - Personal Responsibility
- Individuals are personally responsible for constructing their own lives
- Key concept: "If you own the story, you get to write the ending"
- Fundamentally have the agency to chart their own course
Humanistic Psychologists vs Freudian/Behavioural
- Humanistic psychologists view people as active shapers of their lives, not at the mercy of forces they cannot control
- Clients are encouraged to accept that they can do or be whatever they choose
- Freedom of choice can be a double-edged sword
- Accepting that our fate is in our own hands can be frightening
- Taking responsibility removes the option of blaming others
- Things can only change if you make the change
The Here and Now
- Live in the moment, but not hedonistically
- "Today is the first day of the rest of your life"
- Motivated individuals create a motivated world
- Actively seize the moment to live life as it happens
Becoming Fully Functioning
- Cannot become fully functioning individuals until we live our lives as they happen
- Reflection is helpful but don't spend too much time thinking of events that might or might not happen
- A humanist view says you must not be a prisoner of the past
- Experiences shape who you are but shouldn't dictate what you CAN become
- The past has guided you to where you are today, but it’s not an anchor
Experience of the Individual
- Relates to how the individual experiences the world
- Conscious experience is obvious but mysterious
- Positive psychology focuses on unique human capacity and meaning of life
- Includes positive experiences like Mindfulness, Awe, Flow
Humanistic Therapists
- Try to understand what the clients are going through
- Provide a therapeutic atmosphere for clients to help themselves
- Throughout therapy clients understand themselves and dealing with their issue
Positive Experience: AWE
- Encounter an experience that is grand, powerful or sublime
- Results in an overwhelming sense of reverence, fear, or admiration
Positive Experience: Mindfulness
- Oxford definition: the quality or state of being conscious of something
- Focuses on a present moment and acknowledging bodily sensations, feeling and thoughts
- Used as a therapeutic technique
Positive Experience: Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
- Flow state and optimal performance.
- Attention and concentration are absorbed into the task at hand
- Activity has clear goals and is challenging and requires skill
- Clear feedback occurs in this state
- Concentration on current tasks
- A sense of personal control
- Loss of self-consciousness and sense of time
Personal Growth:
- Carl Rogers: Fully functioning person, maximizing potential
- Abraham Maslow: Self-actualization
- More to life than taking care of immediate needs, happiness requires positive growth
- Motivation to progress to a satisfying state of being
- Carl Rogers calls this “becoming a fully functioning individual
- Abraham Maslow calls this “self-actualization”
- Defined as becoming “more what one idiosyncratically is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.”
- Rogers describes this as continually unfolding
Carl Rogers
- Believed in every individual’s potential for happiness
- Fully Functioning Person strives to reach full potential
- A person who is independent and complete
Person-Centered Therapy
- Congruence in self-concept
- The space between ideal self and true self
- Rogers was an early advocate of group therapy
- Expanded his ideas from clients to general theory of personality
- Applied this approach in his later career to world peace, education, and social issues
The Fully Functioning Person
- Defined as individuals who naturally strive to reach an optimal sense of satisfaction
- Open to new experiences rather than family patterns
- Live each moment rather than exist in passing
- sensitive to others but not society’s standards
- Experience emotions (both positive and negative) intensely
Anxiety and Defense
- Rogers maintained that anxiety stems from the contradiction of how we think of ourselves and encountering info that is against this
- Someone may process threatening information at a level below consciousness (subception) or distortion to convince themselves of the false reality
- Distortion and denial occur when they encounter information against thinking they are undesirable
- At some point there is too much of a gap
- Causing people to experience disorganization
- The protective barrier falls and causes extreme anxiety
Conditional Positive Regard
- When affection occurs for children for as long as they do what they are supposed too
- Withholding acts as disapproval of bad behaviour
- In this case the esteem depends on someone other than the child
- This can continue into adulthood where only some characteristics become incorporated to win the approval of people in life
- Leads to denying unflattering characteristics leading to losing touch with the real self, and less fully functioning
Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR)
- Provides the antidote for the condition mentioned above
- Know you’ll be accepted regardless of personal actions
- Communicate that although they do not approve of your actions, they will love and accept you
- Feel that there is no need to deny thoughts and feelings for fear of parents withdrawing affection
- Better to experience life because they are able to incorporate failures
Application in Daily Life
- Adult relationships with friends and romantic partners can be based on UPR
- Creating an atmosphere of UPR
- A type of accepting environment helps with effective treatment
Abraham Maslow: Motivation and Hierarchy of Needs
- A way to study psychologically healthy people by observing what motives they possess
- Deficiency Motives- from a lack of needed objects that are satisfied when obtained
- Growth Motives- not satisfied by obtaining the object of need, but the pursuit.
- Self-Actualized Person: identifies with the true self/reaches full potential
Definition
- Self-aware/accepting
- Open/spontaneous
- Not paralyzed by “others” opinions
- “Secure” in who they are
- Enjoy work/see it as a mission to fulfill
Maslow:
- Focused on the conscious aspects of one’s personality and focuses on healthy, happy personality
- Deficiency motives = a lack of a needed object
- Basic needs: Ex. Hunger, thirst, etc. Once the object is obtained, the motives are satisfied and stop the behaviour
- Growth motives are not satisfied by simply finding the object
- these needs are satisfied through motives. Ex. Giving love to another, steps to unique potential Growth results in increase, not satisfaction when it comes to motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
- Maslow outlined deficiency and growth in basic categories
- arranged them in order from the most basic to the most advanced needs
- Physiological Needs- hunger, thirst, air, and sleep
- demanding in that they typically must be satisfied before moving up
- Safety Needs: security, stability, protection, structure, order, and freedom from fear/chaos
- need more prevalent when living in unstable political times
- people obsessed with saving money for an uncertain future
- Belongingness and Love Needs = but satisfaction of this level doesn’t guarantee happiness
- friendship and love make themselves known
- Divided the needs into two kinds of love
- D-love
- based on the deficiency in being satisfied
- selfish love to take
- necessary for development of second love
- B-love
- unselfish, nonpossessive on a growth need rather than a dependency
- not satisfied once established in a relationship, but experienced and grows
Esteem Needs
- satisfying belonging directly aims attention at these problems
- divided into 2 types
- perceive oneself as competent/achieving
- need for admiration and respect
- connected to understanding good feeling can help others admire you and you contribute to respect sense of personal esteem
- need for self- actualisation-
- surfaced when lower levels are complete and source of discontent is achieved. Direct attention to that
- satisfied when identification of true self occurs and reaching full potential arises
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Description
Explore the humanistic approach in psychology with key figures like Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Understand its roots in response to behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Discover the focus on happiness, psychological health, and individual responsibility.
