According to maslow, _______ is the need to find meaning and identity beyond the self.
The founders of humanistic psychology are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Humanistic psychology takes a holistic viewpoint, viewing a person as a 'whole'. It came about as an opposite stance to prevailing branches of the time, behaviourism and psychodynamic theory. Show
Behaviourism reduces people's behaviour as only being a conditioned response. Psychodynamic psychology views behaviour as mainly due to unconscious thoughts. In addition, these branches of psychology tend to only focus on the negatives of human behaviour. Humanistic psychology celebrates the positive. Let us now give an overview of the humanistic theory of self.
Free will We all have the power to make our own decisions, choose what we will do with our lives, and shape our future. Humanistic psychologists view a person as a whole, unique being, driven to achieve their full potential, freepik.com/pch.vector Humanistic theory of self – DefinitonThe humanistic theory of self focuses on the aspects of personality that come together to make who you are, with particular attention paid to the theories exploring the concept of the self. Let us now show what the humanistic theory of self consists of. Humanistic theory of self conceptThe humanistic theory of self-concept was developed by Carl Rogers and had three components. Self-concept The view we have of ourselves, such as 'I am a smart person', 'I'm popular and people like me.' Carl Rogers thought that self-concept was made up of three components: ideal self, self-concept, and self-esteem. The ideal self is who we would like to be, and our self-concept is how we view ourselves at the present moment. The relationship between our self-concept and ideal self affects our self-esteem. Our self-esteem will be high if our self-concept is close to our ideal self (who we would like to be). However, if our self-concept is drastically different from our ideal self, our self-esteem would be low, resulting in incongruence. Incongruence is where the ideal self and the self-concept do not match up, and Rogers believed this was one of the root causes of psychological problems people experience. Self-concept is the view we have of ourselves, www.freepik.com/vectors/perception, perception vector created by vectorjuice An important part of the idea of self-concept is unconditional positive regard. Unconditional positive regard When a person is loved and accepted no matter their actions or mistakes Unconditional positive regard is necessary for a positive self-concept. Rogers believed that for a person to develop healthily, they need to be shown unconditional positive regard. When a child is shown unconditional positive regard, they feel safe and open to explore who they really are as a person, even if they sometimes make mistakes, which is crucial to the healthy development of the self. People who are shown unconditional positive regard have a very close self-concept and ideal self. However, if a child is shown conditional positive regard (they only receive love and acceptance if they have behaved in a way their parents approve of) this can lead to incongruence between self-concept and ideal self. The child is not free to be who they wish to be and learns to only act in a way that pleases others. Their self-concept and ideal self are very far apart as they cannot be their ideal self, and their current self is shaped by approval from others. Humanistic theory – Maslow's hierarchy of needsAbraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs to explain human needs and motivation. The hierarchy starts with basic physiological needs such as food and shelter, and once we have these needs, we can move up the hierarchy until we reach the last stage of self-actualisation. According to Maslow, the five stages of needs are:
Let us take a closer look at each of these stages. Maslow's hierarchy of needs – Physiological needsThese are the basic needs required for survival, such as food, water, and shelter. Maslow's hierarchy of needs – Security and safety needsNeeds in this stage include things such as financial security and good health. Thus, some examples of things we do to satisfy this stage are finding a job and putting money away in savings. Maslow's hierarchy of needs – Social needsAt this stage, the needs become emotional and include love, acceptance, and belonging. Thus, we may form romantic relationships and friendships, develop close bonds with family, join community groups, etc. Acceptance and belonging are core concepts at this stage. Maslow's hierarchy of needs – Esteem needsAt this stage, people find it essential to be respected and appreciated by others. We want to accomplish goals and be recognised for our efforts. This stage also includes self-esteem and personal worth. We might achieve esteem needs by focusing on academic achievements, sports teams, and hobbies. Maslow's hierarchy of needs – Self-actualisation needsSelf-actualisation refers to reaching our fullest potential and being the best that we can be, seen through being creative, self-aware, fully accepting, and dealing with change and the unknown. Maslow said about self-actualisation: What a man can be, he must be.—A. Maslow (1954) Maslow's hierarchy of needs, commons.wikimedia.org, by Chiquo Alternative theory: Eysenck's trait theoryHumanistic psychology emphasises that humans have free will and are unique; however, Eysenck's trait theory suggests there are several stable traits that people's personalities can be classed into. Eysenck believed that genetics determine our personality. He proposed there are three overall traits that people's personalities fall under. These traits are on a scale, so our personality differs as to where we lie on the scale regarding the traits. The three traits are:
A strength of Eysenck's theory was that he tried to explain his findings scientifically. Such as he proposed that differences in extraversion were because of differences in cortical arousal; introverts get aroused much more easily than extroverts. Key study: van Houtte and Jarvis (1995)van Houtte and Jarvis (1995) conducted a study to investigate whether having a pet helps in the psychosocial development of children. The hypothesis was that owning a pet would lead to higher autonomy, self-concept, and self-esteem. ParticipantsThe participants were 130 American third to sixth graders. They were from various socioeconomic backgrounds and grouped into pet owners and non-pet owners. The children in the two groups were matched on parents' marital status, socioeconomic status, and number of siblings. ProcedureData was collected using questionnaires and interviews that measured autonomy, self-concept, self-esteem, and attachment to animals. ResultsThe study found that having a pet led to higher autonomy for children of all grades. Sixth-grade pet owners had a higher self-concept. Fifth and sixth-grade pet owners had higher self-esteem. ConclusionPets may have a great impact on children as they enter adolescence. Pets are a source of support and can help people suffering from low self-concept and self-esteem. This is because pets show unconditional positive regard towards their owners. Limitations of the studyLet's evaluate the study.
Application of the theory – counsellingCounselling is where a client shares with the therapist the difficulties and struggles they have gone through, and the therapist listens and helps the client on how they can solve and improve their situation. The type of counselling that Rogers developed is called client-centred therapy. This type of therapy assumes that each person is the expert in their own lives, and we have what is needed to grow and develop as a person. In client-centred therapy, the therapist shows unconditional positive regard to the client. Client-centred therapy for depressionThe therapist shows unconditional positive regard and empathy towards the client. The goal is for the client to work towards self-actualisation. The counsellor is genuine towards the client, so the client feels comfortable being who they really are. Criticisms of the theory of selfWhile some famous names in psychology have proposed the theory itself, the name alone does not mean the theories are true. We need to evaluate them to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
Humanistic Theory of Self - Key takeaways
When was Maslow's hierarchy of needs?Maslow's pyramid of human needs, proposed in 1943, has been one of the most cognitively contagious ideas in the behavioral sciences. Anticipating later evolutionary views of human motivation and cognition, Maslow viewed human motives as based in innate and universal predispositions.
What is Maslow's law?Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory by Abraham Maslow, which puts forward that people are motivated by five basic categories of needs: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization.
What is the main idea of drive theory?Drive theory is based on the principle that organisms are born with certain psychological needs and that a negative state of tension is created when these needs are not satisfied. When a need is satisfied, drive is reduced and the organism returns to a state of homeostasis and relaxation.
Which of the following is listed by Maslow as a characteristic of self actualized people?Maslow found that one of the common characteristics of "self-actualized" people is they experience more "peak experiences".
|