During the 1950s and 1960s
Explanation
The humanistic approach developed during the 1950s and 1960s in response to dissatisfaction with the dominant behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches. The 1920s and 1930s preceded the period identified for its emergence.
It views people as active agents with free will
Explanation
Humanistic psychology regards people as self-determining agents who can exercise free will. Deterministic approaches instead explain behaviour as shaped by forces outside a person’s control.
The individual’s subjective experience
Explanation
Humanistic psychologists focus on how each individual experiences and interprets life. Seeking general laws, observable conditioning, or unconscious forces reflects other psychological approaches.
Needs range from basic at the bottom to higher-order at the top
Explanation
Maslow’s hierarchy arranges human needs from basic needs at lower levels to higher-order needs at higher levels. It does not treat all needs as equivalent or place personal growth below survival.
Physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualisation
Explanation
The hierarchy progresses from physiological needs through safety, love and belonging, and esteem to self-actualisation. The other sequences change the order of the levels.
The first four are deficiency needs, while self-actualisation is a being need
Explanation
Maslow described the first four levels as deficiency needs and self-actualisation as a being need. The alternative classifications reverse or mislabel the categories.
A person develops their abilities and feels fulfilled through personal growth
Explanation
Self-actualisation involves fulfilling one’s potential through growth, development, change, and becoming fulfilled. Food, protection, and social approval correspond to lower-level needs in the hierarchy.
The way an individual sees themselves
Explanation
The self-concept is an individual’s view of themselves. The person someone hopes to become is the ideal self, while the remaining choices describe related but different ideas.
The person an individual wants to be
Explanation
The ideal self represents the person an individual wants to become. The current view of oneself is the self-concept, whereas social labels and learned behaviours are different concepts.
Their self-concept and ideal self are not broadly equivalent
Explanation
Incongruence occurs when the self-concept and ideal self are not broadly equivalent, which can prevent self-actualisation and personal growth. Close alignment instead describes congruence rather than incongruence.
Accepting and loving the child regardless of the child’s behavior
Explanation
Unconditional positive regard involves accepting and loving a person without making that acceptance depend on behavior or achievement. The other responses make approval contingent on meeting particular expectations, which reflects conditions of worth.
Limits placed on love when approval depends on particular behavior or achievement
Explanation
Conditions of worth arise when parental love or approval depends on behaving or achieving in a prescribed way. Stable acceptance regardless of conduct describes unconditional positive regard rather than conditions of worth.
Trusting personal judgment, staying open to experience, and living in the present
Explanation
A fully functioning person trusts personal judgment, remains open to experience, experiences positivity, and engages with the present. The other patterns describe restriction, avoidance, or dependence that are inconsistent with full functioning.
They show characteristics of a fully functioning person
Explanation
Openness to experience, self-trust, and present-focused living are central characteristics of a fully functioning person. Incongruence and psychological problems are associated with being restricted by low self-worth rather than with this pattern of functioning.
Reducing the gap between the client’s self-concept and ideal self
Explanation
Person-centred therapy focuses on reducing incongruence between the self-concept and the ideal self. Increasing or preserving that gap would maintain the difficulty the approach is intended to address.
By offering unconditional positive regard, narrowing the self–ideal-self gap, and supporting daily coping
Explanation
Person-centred therapists provide unconditional positive regard, help reduce the gap between self-concept and ideal self, and assist clients with everyday pressures. Making acceptance conditional or directing the client’s decisions conflicts with the approach’s emphasis on unconditional acceptance.
As changeable and subject to personal control
Explanation
The humanistic approach views people as capable of changing their behaviour and exercising personal control. The unconscious-conflict explanation belongs more closely to deterministic perspectives that emphasise forces outside conscious control.
People have an innate tendency to fulfil their potential
Explanation
Humanistic psychologists argue that each person has an inborn tendency and desire to achieve their full potential. The other choices describe externally driven or deterministic accounts rather than the humanistic emphasis on an internal drive toward growth.
Memorize the answers with 29 flashcards on Humanistic Approach in Psychology.
When did the humanistic approach emerge?
In the 1950s and 1960s.
How does the humanistic approach view human behaviour?
As self-determining active agents with free will.
How do deterministic approaches explain behaviour?
As shaped by forces outside the person’s control.
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