Humanistic Approach -

AQA A Level Psychology – Humanistic Approach AO1 Lesson

A complete, ready-to-use lesson introducing the Humanistic Approach for AQA A Level Psychology. The lesson focuses on key AO1 knowledge including Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualisation, free will, congruence, incongruence, self-concept, ideal self, conditions of worth and client-centred therapy.

The lesson includes a structured PowerPoint, retrieval tasks, clear teacher exposition, student-friendly readings, scenario application tasks and exam-style AO2 questions. Students are guided from basic knowledge recall through to applying humanistic concepts to realistic scenarios, helping them understand how conditions of worth can lead to incongruence and psychological distress.

Resources include:

• Full PowerPoint lesson on the Humanistic Approach AO1
• Do Now retrieval on free will and determinism
• Brain dump recap on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Clear explanation of self-concept, ideal self, congruence and incongruence
• Reading on the Humanistic Approach
• Conditions of Worth worksheet with applied examples
• AO2 scenario task on Maya
• Client-centred therapy reading and application questions
• Scenario table for practising congruence/incongruence
• Think–Pair–Share discussion comparing the Humanistic Approach to other approaches

Ideal for Year 12 AQA Psychology students studying approaches. The lesson is designed to build secure AO1 knowledge while preparing students for AO2 application and later comparison/evaluation work.

Suitable for a one-hour lesson, revision session, cover lesson or independent study task.