Compare and contrast the humanistic approach and behavioural approach in explaining abnormal behavior.

 Humanistic Approach : Humanistic view puts emphasis on the positive aspects of life, free choices and personal growth experiences. According to this approach abnormality results from refusal to accept personal responsibility for one’s own actions and thoughts. So human behaviour is caused by the choices we make voluntarily. The humanistic theorists assume that human nature is inherently good and abnormal/aggressive behavior is caused is by the society but not by the individual.

Carl Rogers, along with Abraham Maslow, rejected the deterministic nature of both psychoanalysis and behaviorism and maintained that we behave as we do because of the way we perceive our situation. As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves. Like Freud, Rogers developed his theory based on his work with emotionally troubled people but unlike Freud, Rogers claimed that we have a remarkable capacity for self healing and personal growth leading towards self-actualisation.

Freud emphasised the importance of psychological continuity and hence believed our past to be a strong determinant of the present, whereas Rogers placed emphasis on the person’s current perception and how we live in the here-and-now.

i) Self and Congruence: Central to Rogers’ theory is the notion of self or self-concept. This is defined as “the organised, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself”. It consists of all the ideas and values that characterise l’ and ‘me’ and includes perception and valuing of ‘what I am’ and ‘what I can do’.

Consequently, the self-concept is a central component of our total experience and influences both our perception of the world and perception of oneself. For instance, a woman who perceives herself as strong may well behave with confidence and come to see her actions as actions performed by someone who is confident.

The self-concept does not necessarily always fit with reality, and the way we see ourselves may differ greatly from how others see us. According to Rogers, we want to feel, experience and behave in ways which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we would like to be like, our ideal-self.

The closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth. A person is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the experience are unacceptable and are denied or distorted in the selfimage.

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