HUMANISTIC APPROACH TO LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT
1 like517 views
The humanistic approach emerged in reaction to more pessimistic theories and focuses on free will, personal growth, and fulfilling one's potential. Key figures Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow believed people are inherently good and strive for self-actualization. Rogers described the ideal self and congruence between real and ideal selves as important for growth. Maslow's hierarchy of needs proposes basic needs must be met before pursuing higher-level growth needs and self-actualization. However, the humanistic approach lacks empirical evidence and standardization, and its focus on subjectivity makes research difficult.
HUMANISTIC APPROACH TO LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT
- 1. 1 DEVELOPMENT TRANSITION & CHANGE MANAGEMENT CONTINUOUS INTERNAL ASSESSMENT - 1 Submitted by- Simran Mondal 1918107 HUMANISTIC APPROACH TO LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT NOVEMBER 2020 Masters in Science (Strategic Management) CBCS (Batch of 2019)
- 2. 2 INTRODUCTION Humanistic Approach to Lifespan Development Humanistic theory emerged in the mid 1960’s, it was developed in reaction to pessimistic Psychodynamic & Behaviouristic approaches to psychology (they were quite a negative approach as they thought that conflicts & fixations are inevitable & also failed to adequately address the real meaning of behaviour & nature of healthy growth) Humanistic theory is very different to that; it has a very optimistic outlook on human nature & personal development. It argues that what ultimately drives human behaviour is an individual choice. It focuses on free will & says that humans have natural capability to make decisions about their lives, control their behaviours & motivate themselves to reach more advanced levels of maturity, instead of relying on societal standards. It studies the whole person & the uniqueness of each individual, Humanistic Theory believes that people are inherently good with unique attributes & we are able to undergo our own development with healthier personalities. The main aim of this theory is to drive individuals towards self actualization, & to realise & enhance ones full potential by understanding the concepts & methods of learning, growing & development in an individual. Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow have been regarded as the founders of the Humanistic Approach. They regarded personal growth & fulfilment in life as a basic human motive. In their theories they speak about “Self actualizing person” by focusing on the full potential of a person or labelling them as full functioning person as they believe that humans strive for the frontiers of creativity for optimal wellbeing & to benefit others by reaching their highest level consciousness & wisdom as an outcome of healthy development. They also said that a person’s subjective perception & understanding of the world is most important. However they both describe in different ways how Self actualization can be achieved. Key words: Lifespan development, Self development theory, Growth Oriented, Fully functioning person, Individual development, highest potential, larger welfare, Self esteem & Society
- 3. 3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 1. (DeRobertis, 2019) “Lifespan Human Development and “The Humanistic Perspective”: A Contribution Toward Inclusion”, In this article they have emphasized on the gap in psychology literature due to the exclusion/underrepresentation of Humanistic approach in the study of lifespan development. It said that the humanistic psychologists preferred that the humanistic approach shouldn’t be taken as a separate field but used as a basis for psychology itself. It mainly focused on the existential humanistic self development theory that says that people have the capacity for self awareness & choices, & is capable of responding intelligently & flexibly in different situations. The approach leans towards growth & self actualization. This article aimed at providing humanistic approach as a stepping stone for psychologists in the study of Human Development. 2. (Bland A.M., 2019) “Humanistic Perspective”, Here they explain how Humanistic approach was an alternative to Psychodynamic & Behaviouristic approach to psychology. Humanistic approach was developed as a growth oriented conceptualization of personality to focus on the vast potential of human nature & understanding of surroundings. The Humanistic Approach to therapy focused on the relationship between the therapist & the client to promote transformative changes by looking at the client’s behaviour not only through the eyes of the observer but through the eyes of the doing. It conceptualized humans as continually evolving & unique rather than being fixated on a specific structure. It assumed that people are free to make their own choices & are consciously aware of their behaviours. They have also mentioned how Schneider et al has criticized humanistic approach as an undisciplined, impractical, and therefore worthy of obsolescence. As it is subjective in nature provides only impressionistic descriptions without precision and specificity and that at the clinical level it does not offer standardized, stepwise techniques/procedures. This article helps in understanding the journey & development of the humanistic perspective to psychology & how Humanistic approach acts as a guide to personality assessment.
- 4. 4 DISCUSSIONS Humanistic Theory: It is referred to the humanism & is known to focus on personal growth & fulfilment as a basic human motivation in life & as individuals it gives us more credit in controlling & determining the needs & characteristics without having any stigma attached. Carl Rogers Theory: Self Concept: Roger believed people can actually grow & blossom like flowers, for a person to grow they need an environment that provides them with acceptance & empathy. He said everybody is good & work towards becoming fully functioning & they only get destroyed due to external factors or really bad self concept. People are trust worthy; they have vast potential for understanding themselves & resolving their own problems without the need of outside interventions. The self concept is based on the subjective reality (phenomenal field). Roger speaks about 3 components: 1. Self worth: It directs towards what we think we are worthy of as people & what we deserve in life. It is our analysis on what we think we consist of & this concept is influenced by the treatment one is received as a child from his/her parents. 2. Self Image: It directs towards how we look at ourselves as human beings as a part of society. It includes how we think of ourselves as good or bad people as beautiful or ugly as kind or selfish. In simple words it is looking into mirror, how we see ourselves in our minds. 3. Ideal self: It directs towards person we would like to be in our minds. It consists of all our goals & ambitions. As we grow our goals changes & the ideal self also undergoes changes. He said as human beings move closer to their Ideal self they actually begin to self actualize. When there is a similarity between a person’s ideal self (what they want to be like) & their real self (what they think they are) there is Congruence. If there is a difference between the real self & the ideal self then they are in a state of Incongruence. The closer the self image & the ideal self are the greater the congruence they have, the greater the feelings of self worth, the more likely they are to reach Self actualization. Self Actualization means human beings reaching their full potential & becoming one with their ideal self. A fully functioning (we become a fully functioning person when we try to reach self actualization) person will have the following characteristics: • Aware of all experiences & Existential living
- 5. 5 • Freedom of choice • Creativity & spontaneity Assumptions: • Behaviours are goal oriented & worthwhile (every action is goal oriented) • Person who is innately good will always try to self actualize Abraham Maslow’s Theory: Hierarchy of needs: This theory is focused on the importance of personal growth & fulfilment of needs. The hierarchy of needs is represented in a pyramid. The pyramid consists of 8 needs starting from Basic need of physiology in the base of the pyramid followed by safety needs, belonging & love needs, esteem needs, cognitive needs, aesthetic needs, self actualization & the last Transcendence. In the above diagram the D needs represent the deficit needs, if these needs are not met they make us uncomfortable, & these are the motivating force to move towards the next group of needs that is the B needs in the diagram, it represents the Growth needs that constantly help us in our growth & development. We as humans never get enough of these needs. Each of these needs need to be met in order for a person to progress in the next level & all level needs to be fulfilled for a person to reach Self Actualization & Transcendence.
- 6. 6 Criticisms: Humanistic Approach - • It is criticised as it fails to account for human capacity for evil, also the individualism in humanism can lead to selfishness & lack of morals. • It rejects the notion that our behaviour is largely determined by unconscious processes, by learning from our environment, or by rational cognitive processing. • As humanistic theory emphasizes on subjectivity on the clinical level it doesn’t offer standardization. • There is no specificity & precision in the Humanistic approach as it focuses from the point of view of the individual. • It is assumed to be overly philosophical & doesn’t have scientific variability, which makes it difficult in the research level. • It is believed that Humanistic approach is helpful only for a short period of time as it addresses only the current problems. • Humanistic approach is more relevant to therapy rather than psychological research on lifespan development. Carl Rogers Self concept – • Rogers self concept is highly criticised in the European countries as they believe achievement of group is more important than as an individual • Lack of empirical evidence: Sensory observations are less • Focus on subjective experience is high. Hierarchy of needs – • It is too restrictive & suggests that if a person doesn’t have one of the needs met at a certain level, they cannot possibly advance up the hierarchy of needs. • Some people may actually demonstrate certain characteristics of self actualization like morality, creativity etc but not have lower needs met, hence there is no explanation for the excellence despite missing to fulfil lower level needs. • As we know that two people are not same, so not all of the needs of the particular hierarchy are going to work for everybody, so it seems to be knowingly restrictive in having those needs met lower & higher level but all of that is actually going to necessarily work for everybody in the world. • It applies to only a small amount of population, so only people that have access to resources or access to employment & getting their physiological needs met have any hope of actually getting self actualized.
- 7. 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY agency, P. b. (n.d.). Humanistic theory. Retrieved from developmental psychology : http://www.spiritlakeconsulting.com/SLC/sharedfiles/library/devpsych/humanist.htm Bland A.M., D. E. (2019). Humanistic Perspective. Zeigler-Hill V., Shackelford T. (eds): Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1484-2. cherry, k. (2020, july 21). What is humanism . Retrieved from verywell mind: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-humanistic-psychology-2795242 DeRobertis, E. M. (Jan 2019). Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. DeRobertis, E. M. (2019, May 9). The Humanistic Psychologist. Lifespan Human Development and “TheHumanistic Perspective”: A Contribution Toward Inclusion. . Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/hum0000141. Editors, S. (n.d.). Personality . Retrieved november 2020, from Spark notes: https://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/personality/section4/#:~:text=Humanistic %20psychologists%20try%20to%20see,to%20achieve%20their%20full%20potential. kelly, J. (2014, may). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from The peak performance centre: https://thepeakperformancecenter.com/educational-learning/learning/principles-of- learning/maslows-hierarchy- needs/#:~:text=The%20Eight%20Stage%20Maslow's%20Hierarchy%20of%20Needs&text=a chieve%20self%2Dactualization-,Physiological%20Needs%3A%20air%2C%20foo McLeod, S. A. (2015, december 14). humanistic approach. Retrieved from simply psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org/humanistic.html Mitchell, D. (2015). Humanistic theory. Retrieved from slideplayer: https://slideplayer.com/slide/8527069/ Psychology, B. (n.d.). Humanistic Perspectives on Personality. Retrieved from lumen learning: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/humanistic- perspectives-on-personality/ Redaktor. (2018, may 10). Motivation at work. Retrieved from barcelona ambassadors: https://barcelonaambassadors.com/motivation-at-work/ sandygautam. (2007, december 14). Maslow’s eight basic needs and the eight stage developmental model. Retrieved from The Mouse Trap: https://the-mouse- trap.com/2007/12/14/maslows-eight-basic-needs-and-the-eight-stage-devlopmental-model/