MASLOW’S THEORY:Basic Concepts of Humanistic Psychology, Problem Centering

<< MASLOW’S THEORY:Self-Actualizers Aren't Angels, Biographical Sketch

ROGERS PERSON CENTERED APPROACH:Humanistic, Actualizing tendency >>

Personality Psychology PSY 405

Lesson 20

MASLOW'S THEORY

Humanistic view puts the emphasis on the positive aspects of life, free choices and personal growth

experiences. Abnormality results from refusal to accept personal responsibility for one's own actions and

thoughts. So human behavior is caused by the choices we make voluntarily. The Humanistic assume that

human nature is inherently good and they blame abnormal / aggressive behavior caused by the society but

not by the individual.

Is Maslow a humanistic psychologist?

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) postulated a hierarchy of needs beginning with physiological needs at the

bottom and self actualization at the top. An individual must meet the basic needs before trying to meet the

higher needs.

Self Actualization

Self Esteem

Love and Belongingness

Safety Needs

Psychological Needs

Maslow's theory (Hierarchy of needs)

The triangle or pyramid has a broad base and narrow top, so majority of individuals are involved at

fulfilling basic needs and only few reach the top i.e. self actualization means that we can reach our highest

potential in all areas of functioning if we had freedom to grow. Majority of the people are involved in

fulfilling the needs at the lower level and it is very few who reach the top. Examples are Quaid-e-Azam, Dr

Abdul Salam, Javed Miandad.

Do you want to reach the top?

Certainly all of us involved in this process of self actualization, but it is very few who reach the top.

Basic Concepts of Humanistic Psychology

1-The Individual as an Integrated Whole

2-Irrelevance of Animal Research

3-Man's Inner Nature

4-Human Creative Potential

4-Maslow's Hierarchical Theory of Motivation

1-Physiological Needs

Personality Psychology PSY 405

2-Safety needs

3-Belongingness and Love Needs

4-Self-Esteem Needs

5-Self-Actualization Needs

Why Can't All People Achieve Self-Actualization?

(Differences between basic needs and meta-needs.)

6-EMPIRICAL VALIDATION OF HUMANISTIC THEORY CONCEPTS

7-What Are Self-Actualizers Like?

(Sixteen characteristics of self actualizers)

8-Self-Actualizers Aren't Angels

9-What is goal of psychotherapy?

10-Summary

11- Evaluation

Empirical Validation of HUMANISTIC THEORY CONCEPTS

To date, efforts aimed at verifying Maslow's humanistic conceptions of personality have focused primarily

on two areas: (1) the hierarchy of needs and (2) the concept of self-actualization. Empirical attention has

been given to only these two areas because they constitute the greater part of Maslow's contributions to

personology. Regrettably, other aspects of Maslow's theory have received virtually no empirical support. In

particular, there is no evidence to substantiate the notion that the various meta needs emerge or become

dominant once the basic needs have been gratified. At the same time, however, it should be emphasized

that Maslow's metamotivational theory has had a decided impact on the thinking of many investigators in a

variety of disciplines.

Maslow divided his subjects into three categories. Examples of the first category, "fairly sure cases,"

included Jefferson, Lincoln, Spinoza, Einstein, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Category two of "partial cases"

consisted of five contemporary individuals who fell short somewhat of self-actualization but still could be

used for study. Their names were not revealed. Finally, a "potential or possible cases" category included

people who appeared to be striving toward self-actualization but who never quite attained it, e.g., Franklin,

Whitman, G. W. Carver, Renoir, Pablo Casals, and Adlai Stevenson. Maslow regarded all these individuals

as rare specimens of psychological health who could be used as touchstones to explore the farther reaches

of human nature.

What Are Self-Actualizers Like?

All Self-Actualizing individuals posses the following characteristics

1. Efficient Perception of Reality

Perhaps the most universal characteristic of these superior people is their unusual ability to perceive other

people correctly and efficiently, to see reality as it is rather than as they wish it to be. They have a better

perception of reality and more comfortable relations with it. They are less emotional and more objective

about their perceptions; they do not allow their desires and hopes to distort their observations.

2. Acceptance of Self, Others, and Nature

The healthy person displays a sense of respect for self and others. Without feeling undue concern, he or she

accepts his or her own nature in a stoic style, with all its shortcomings, frailties, and weaknesses. There is

also freedom from overriding guilt, crippling shame, and debilitating anxiety.

3. Spontaneity, Simplicity, Naturalness

The behavior of self-actualizing people is marked by spontaneity and simplicity, by an absence of

artificiality or straining for effect. This does not imply consistently unconventional behavior. It is the

Personality Psychology PSY 405

person's inner life (thoughts, impulses, etc.) that is unconventional, natural, and spontaneous.

4. Problem Centering

Without exception, Maslow found his subjects to be committed to some task, duty, vocation, or beloved job

which they regarded as important. That is, they are not ego-centered but rather oriented toward problems

beyond their immediate needs, problems to which they are dedicated in the sense of "a mission in life.

5. Detachment: Need for Privacy

This kind of individual prefers solitude and privacy and even seeks it to a greater extent than the average

person. In social encounters he or she is often viewed by "normal" people as aloof, reserved, snobbish, and

cold. This is because self-actualizers do not need other people in the usual sense of friendship. They rely

completely upon their inner resources and remain unruffled by that which produces turmoil in others.

This quality of detachment encompasses other aspects of b,ehavior as well. For instance, since they are able

to concentrate more intensely than ordinary people,

They may become absentminded and oblivious to outer surroundings. They remain calm and serene during

periods of personal misfortune. Maslow explained that this' comes in part from the self-actualizer's

tendency to stand by his or her own interpretation of situations instead of relying upon what other people

think or feel about matters. .

6. Autonomy: Independence of Culture and Environment

As characteristics already discussed would suggest, self-actualizing people are not dependent for their main

satisfactions on the physical and social environment. Rather, they rely on their own potentialities and latent

resources for growth and development. For example, truly self-actualizing college students do not really

need the "right" academic atmosphere on campus to learn. They can learn anywhere because they have

themselves of course, some campus "atmospheres" may be better than others in this respect; the point here

is that the self-actualizer does not require a particular type of environment before he or she can learn, or, for

that matter, do almost anything else. In this sense, the self-actualizer is a self-contained unit.

Healthy people also have a high degree of self-direction and "free will." They regard themselves as self-

governed, active, responsible, and self-disciplined agents in determining their own destinies. They are

strong enough to be oblivious to others' opinions and affection; thus, they shun honors, status, prestige, and

popularity. Such extrinsic satisfactions are perceived as less significant than self-development and inner

growth. Of course, attaining this point of relative independence depends upon having been loved and

respected in the past, e.g., satisfying lower-level needs.

7. Continued Freshness of Appreciation.

Maslow discovered that healthy, mature adults exhibit a capacity to appreciate even the most ordinary

events in their lives with a sense of newness, awe, pleasure, and even ecstasy. They seldom become bored

with life experiences:

8. Peak or Mystic Experiences

Maslow observed that self-actualizing individuals commonly had what he called peak experiences (also

termed "oceanic feeling"). This term refers to moments of intense excitement and high tension as well as to

those of relaxation, peacefulness, blissfulness, and stillness. Representing the most ecstatic moments of life,

such occurrences usually come from love and sexual climax, bursts of creativity, insight, discovery, and

fusion with nature. These people can "turn on" without artificial stimulants. Just being alive turns them on.

9. Social Interest

Even though self-actualizers are sometimes troubled, saddened, and even enraged by the shortcomings of

the human race, they experience a deep feeling of kinship with humanity. Consequently, they have a

genuine desire to help improve the lot of their fellows. This nurturant attitude is evidenced by a feeling of

compassion, sympathy, and affection for all humanity.

10. Interpersonal Relations

Self-actualizing people tend to form deeper and closer personal relationships than those of the "average"

Personality Psychology PSY 405

adult. Similarly, those with whom they associate are likely to be healthier and closer to self-actualization

than the average person. That is, self-actualizers are more inclined to associate closely with others of

similar character, talent, and capacity ("birds of a feather").

11. Democratic Character Structure

Maslow described his subjects as being "democratic" in the deepest sense. Since they are free of prejudice,

they tend basically to respect all persons. Further, they are willing to learn from anybody who is able to

teach them, irrespective of class, education, age, race, or political beliefs.

12. Discrimination between Means and Ends.

In their day-to-day living, self-actualizing individuals show less confusion, inconsistency, and conflict than

the average person about what is right or wrong, good or bad. They have definite moral and ethical

standards, although very few of them are religious in the orthodox sense of the term.

13. Sense of Philosophical Humor.

Another characteristic common to Maslow's subjects was a distinct preference for philosophical or cosmic

humor. Whereas the average person may enjoy humor that pokes fun at another's inferiority, that hurts or

ridicules someone, or that is "off-color," the healthy person typically finds humor expressing the

foolishness of humanity in general most appealing. Lincoln's humor serves as a relevant example.

14. Creativeness

Not surprisingly, Maslow found that, without exception, creativity was more prominent in self-actualizers

than in others. However, the creativeness manifested by his subjects was different from unusual talent or

genius as reflected in poetry, art, music, or science. Maslow likened it to the natural creativeness found in

children.

15 Resistances to Enculturation

Finally, Maslow observed that his superior subjects are in harmony with their culture and yet maintain a

certain inner detachment from it. Essentially autonomous beings, they make their own decisions, even if

they are at odds with popular opinion. This resistance to enculturation does not mean that self-actualizers

are unconventional in all realms of behavior. For instance, they remain well within the limits of conformity

concerning choice of clothes, speech, food, and the manner of doing things, which are not really important

enough to prompt objection.

Self-Actualizers Aren't Angels

As imperfect human beings, self-actualizers are just as susceptible to silly, non-constructive, and wasteful

habits as the rest of humanity. They, too, can be obstinate, irritable, boring, petulant, selfish, or depressed,

and they are by no means immune from superficial vanity, undue pride, and partiality to their own friends,

family, and children. Temper outbursts are not unusual.

What is goal of psychotherapy?

Any means of any kind that can help to restore the person to path of self actualization and

development along the lines that his inner nature dictates.

Summary

Humanistic psychology, or the third force movement, has given rise to an image of humanity in psychology

radically different from that of either psychoanalysis or behaviorism. Heavily influenced by existential

philosophy, humanistic psychology has as its basic tenets the individual as an integrated whole, the

irrelevance of animal research, the perception of the person as a basically good, creative being, and an

emphasis on the study of psychological health.

One major statement of humanistic psychology, the theory of Abraham Maslow, depicts human motivation

in terms of a hierarchy of ascending priorities. Lower (more basic) needs in the hierarchy must be satisfied

before higher-level needs emerge as dominant energizing forces in the individual's behavior. In order of

potency, Maslow's hierarchy of human needs is: (1) physiological; (2) safety; (3) belongingness and love;

Personality Psychology PSY 405

(4) self-esteem; and (5) self-actualization. The humanistic nature of Maslow's theory is epitomized in the

self-actualization level, the highest fulfillment of self.

Maslow's basic assumptions concerning human nature are reasonably strong and generally explicit.

Maslow's humanistic theory reflects (1) a strong commitment to the assumptions of freedom, rationality,

holism, changeability, subjectivity, proactivity, heterostasis, and unknowability and (2) a slight

commitment to the constitutionalism assumption.

Empirical research generated by Maslow's theory has tended to fall into two main areas: (1) the hierarchy

of needs, and (2) the concept of self-actualization.

Evaluation

1- Humanistic Holistic approach in Personality.

2- A Meta-motivational theory of personality.

3- He has given sixteen characteristics of self actualizing persons.

4- He has focused on healthy persons instead of sick population.

Table of Contents: