he table below illustrates the Approaches to Human Behaviour that are covered throughout the Approaches unit. As part of the specification (AQA) it is a requirement that students are able to offer a comparison of the approaches to human behaviour. This table outlines a comparison in relation to; determinism and free will, reductionism and holism, nature vs. nurture, extrapolation and whether the approach is idiographic or nomothetic.
Humanist Approach (to human behaviour)
The Humanistic Approach is quite different to the other approaches we’ve already studied, in that it claims that human beings are essentially self-determining and have free will. The approach still maintains that people are affected by internal (biological) and external (societal) influences but they are active agents who have the ability to determine their own development within the constraints imposed by the other forces. The humanistic approach rejects scientific models that attempt to establish general laws of behaviour and instead concerns itself with the study of subjective experience. Often referred to as a person-centred approach
