Abraham Maslow Becoming Self-Actualized I. Biography Growin

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Abraham Maslow

• Becoming Self-Actualized

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I. Biography

• Growing up a Jewish boy in a predominantly
  non-Jewish neighborhood, Maslow sought solace in
  the library reading.
• Maslow, urged by his parents (Russian
  immigrants), enrolled in law school in CUNY.
  However, he found it dull dropped out during
  the 1st year.
• He attended Cornell then the University of
  Wisconsin to study psychology (finished doctorate
  at UW).
• Initially drawn to psychology due to behaviorism,
  his interest in that particular field of
  psychology diminished.

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Biography (contd.)

• Maslow worked with Harry Harlow at Wisconsin.
• After graduation Maslow went to Columbia U. to
  work with E. L. Thorndike.
• The birth of his daughter was a peak experience
  for Maslow, who decided behaviorism wasnt for
  him.
• Maslow taught at Brooklyn College for 14 yrs,
  where he came into contact with Neofreudians
  (Horney, Fromm, Adler) Max Wertheimer, a
  founder of Gestalt psychology.
• He moved to Brandeis U. until his death in 1970.

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II. Motivation Hierarchy of Needs

• Maslow was interested in what motivates us.
• He looked at the kinds of issues people worry
  about now (relationships with others, being happy
  in ones career life, living up to ones
  potential) in the 30s during the Great
  Depression when people were literally starving to
  death in the streets.
• It struck him that there are two types of motives
  that guide our behavior Deficiency motives
  growth needs.

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A. Deficiency motive (needs)

• This results from a lack of some needed object.
• Needs like hunger, thirst, the need for respect
  from others fall into this category.
• These are satisfied once the needed object is
  obtained.

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B. Growth needs

• Unlike deficiency needs, these needs are not
  satisfied once the target object has been found.
  
• Rather, the satisfaction comes from the growth
  that provides the expression of this motive.
• Examples of growth needs include the unselfish
  giving of love to others the development of
  potential as a human being. The process is as
  important if not more than the outcome.
• Motto Strive to be the best person you can
  be!!!

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III. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

• Maslow argued that human motives can be placed in
  a hierarchy of prominence.
• Some needs demand satisfaction before others can
  be met.
• Usually, we satisfy the needs at the lower levels
  before becoming concerned with the needs at the
  higher levels.
• (e.g., if you are hungry, your behavior will be
  focused on foraging. You will be less concerned
  with making friends with others when you are
  dying of hunger.)

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1. Physiological Needs-are biological needs

• They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water,
  a relatively constant body temperature.
• They are the strongest needs because if a person
  were deprived of all needs, the physiological
  ones would come first in the person's search for
  satisfaction.
• We need these for basic survival.

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2. Safety Needs

• When all physiological needs are satisfied no
  longer dominating our thoughts behaviors, we
  progress to safety needs.
• These include the need for security.
• We often have little awareness of these, except
  in times of emergency disorganization in social
  structure (war time, terrorist acts, domestic
  violence, natural disasters).

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3. Belongingness Love needs

• When safety physiological needs are met, we
  desire, to be loved by others to belong.
• Maslow states that people seek to overcome
  feelings of loneliness alienation.
• This involves both giving receiving love,
  affection the sense of belonging (family,
  friends, social groups).

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4. Esteem Needs

• After the first 3 classes of needs are met, the
  needs for esteem can become dominant.
• These involve needs for both self-esteem for
  the esteem a person gets from others.
• Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based,
  high level of self-respect, respect from
  others.
• When these needs are satisfied, the person feels
  self-confident valuable as a person in the
  world. When these needs are frustrated, the
  person feels inferior, weak, helpless
  worthless.

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5. Need for Self-Actualization

• When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied,
  then only then are the needs for
  self-actualization activated.
• Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's
  need to be do that which the person was "born
  to do." "A musician must make music, an artist
  must paint, a poet must write."
• These needs make themselves felt in signs of
  restlessness (person feels edgy, tense, lacking
  something, in short, restless. )
• The person must be true to his or her own nature,
  be what you are meant to be.

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On Self-Actualization

• Maslow believed that very few people reach the
  state of self-actualization.
• Although we all have the need to move toward the
  goal of reaching our full potential, other needs
  may get in the way.

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IV. Misconceptions about Maslows Hierarchy of
Needs

• 1. Maslow himself agreed that his 5-level need
  hierarchy oversimplifies the relationship between
  needs behavior.
• 2. The order of needs makes sense for most of
  us, though there may be some notable exceptions
  (e.g., some people need to satisfy their needs
  for self-esteem respect before they can enter a
  love relationship).
• 3. We may so desire fulfilling a need that we
  sacrifice others below it (e.g., The starving
  actor/artist).

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V. The study of psychologically healthy people

• Maslow was interested in studying people who are
  psychologically healthy.
• These were people who had become self-actualized.
  He interviewed these people to see how they were
  able to satisfy all of the needs on the
  hierarchy.
• He conducted what he called a holistic analysis
  in which he sought general impressions from his
  efforts to understand these people in depth.

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What are Self-Actualized People Like?

• 1. They tend to accept themselves for what they
  are. They freely admit their weaknesses, but do
  make attempts to improve.
• 2. They dont worry excessively over the
  mistakes they have made, but instead focus on
  improving.
• 3. They respect feel good about themselves.
  However, this self love is healthy not
  narcissistic.
• 4. They are less restricted by cultural norms
  than the average person. They feel free to
  express their desires, even if contrary to the
  popular view.

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5. These folks are creative

• 6. They are innovative creative at solving
  problems.
• 7. They have relatively few friends, but the
  friendships are deep rewarding.
• 8. They have a great sense of humor, poking fun
  at the human condition.
• 9. These people have frequent peak experiences,
  in which time place are transcended, anxieties
  are lost, a unity of self with the universe is
  obtained (birth of a child, marriage, deciding to
  go to school).