Theories of Personality Maslow: Holistic-Dynamic Theory

Chapter 10

Outline

• Overview of Holistic-Dynamic Theory

• Biography of Maslow• Maslow’s View of Motivation• Self-Actualization• Philosophy of Science• Measuring Self-Actualization

Outline

• The Jonah Complex• Psychotherapy• Related Research • Critique of Maslow• Concept of Humanity

• Assumes Whole Person Is Motivated by

One Need or Another

• People Have Potential to Grow toward

Psychological Health/Self-Actualization

• Lower Level Needs Must Be Satisfied

Before Higher Level Needs Can Be Met

Overview of Holistic-Dynamic Theory

Biography of Maslow

• Born in New York City in 1908• Oldest of seven children of Russian-

Jewish immigrants• Harbors lifelong animosity toward

mother• Received a PhD in 1934 in psychology

from University of Wisconsin where he worked with Harry Harlow

Biography (cont’d)

• Returns to New York in 1935 and works with E. L. Thorndike at Columbia University

• Met and was influenced by Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, and Karen Horney

• In 1951, became chairperson of the psychology department at Brandeis University

• President of American Psychological Association 1967-1968

• Died in 1970 of a heart attack

Maslow’s View of Motivation

• Holistic Approach to Motivation• Motivation Is Complex• People Are Continually Motivated by

One Need or Another• All People Everywhere Are Motivated by

the Same Basic Needs• Needs Can Be Arranged on a Hierarchy

Hierarchy of Needs

• Conative or Basic Needs– Physiological – Safety– Love and belongingness– Esteem– Self-Actualization

• Aesthetic Needs– The need for order and beauty

• Cognitive Needs– The need for curiosity and knowledge

• Neurotic Needs– An unproductive relating to other people

General Discussion of Needs

• Reversed Order of Needs• Unmotivated Behavior

– Conditioned reflexes, maturation, drugs

• Expressive Behaviors– An end in itself, no purpose than to be– Person’s mode of expressions– Looking stupid, being relaxed

• Coping Behaviors– Effortful, learned and triggered by external environment– Coping with the environment

• Instinctoid Nature of Needs– Frustration of instinctoid need causes pathology

Self-Actualization

• Maslow’s Quest for the Self-Actualized Person• Criteria for Self-Actualization

• Free from psychopathology• Have progressed through hierarchy of needs• Embracing of the B-values• Full use of talents, capacities, and potentialities

• Values of Self-Actualizers• Motivated by Eternal Verities or B-Values• Metamotivation

Self-Actualization (cont’d)

• Characteristics of Self-Actualizing People– More efficient perception of reality– Acceptance of self, others, and nature– Spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness– Problem-centering– The need for privacy– Autonomy– Continued freshness of appreciation– The peak experience

Self-Actualization (cont’d)

• Characteristics of Self-Actualizing People (cont.)– Gemeinschaftsgefuhl

• social interest, community feeling, sense of oneness with all humanity

– Profound interpersonal relations– The democratic character structure– Discrimination between means and ends– Philosophical sense of humor– Creativeness– Resistance to enculturation

• Love, Sex, and Self-Actualization

Philosophy of Science

• Maslow argued for a humanistic, holistic approach that is not value free

• Psychological science should stress the importance of individual procedures

• Scientists should put values, emotion, and ritual back into their work and be creative in their pursuit of knowledge

Measuring Self-Actualization

• Personal Orientation Inventory (POI)• Comprehensive measure of the values and

behaviors of self-actualizing people

• Short Index of Self-Actualization• Brief Index of Self-Actualization

Four factors:1. Core self-actualization2. Autonomy3. Openness to experience4. Comfort with solitude

The Jonah Complex

• The Jonah complex is an abnormal syndrome defined as the fear of being or doing one’s best

• Probably all of us have some timidity about seeking perfection or greatness

• People allow false humility to stifle creativity, and therefore they prevent themselves from becoming self-actualizing

Psychotherapy

• The aim of therapy is for clients to embrace the being-values

• Clients must be freed from their dependence on others so that their natural impulse to grow can become active

• Psychotherapy must not be value free

Critique of Maslow

• Maslow’s Theory Is:– Very High on Organizing Knowledge– High on Guiding Action– Moderate on Generating Research,

Internal Consistency, and Parsimony– Low on Falsifiability

Concept of Humanity

• Free Choice over Determinism• Optimism over Pessimism• Teleology over Causality• Conscious over Unconscious• Equal Emphasis on Culture and Biology• Uniqueness over Similarity