Explain/describe the Humanistic Approach.

The Humanistic Approach aims to the replace the Behaviourist and Psychodynamic approaches to human behaviour. It was championed by Abraham Maslow who wanted psychology to be less deterministic and more holistic. The approach is therefore concerned with human experiences, uniquness, meaning, freedom and choice. Maslow claimed that human beings are self-determining and have free-will so are not affected by external factors - they control their own development. Humans are motivated beyond the basic needs of survival and that our true desire is to grow as people an achieve self-actualisation (peak experiences and ultimate fulfilment). This can be achieved by working through a motivational hierarchy of needs that starts with basic physiological needs such as sleeping and eating, progresses through the needs of safety, love and belonging and esteem and is topped by self-actualisation. The process of working through the hierarchy is suggested to be aided if we have positive feelings about our self, have congruency between our real and perceived self and are not placed under any conditions of worth by others. The Humanistic approach thus illustrates how we can achieve ultimate psychological health and clearly shows the reasons one may be lacking it.