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Self-actualization
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Not to be confused with Self-realization.

Self-actualization, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is the highest level of psychological development,

where personal potential is fully realized after basic bodily and ego needs have been fulfilled.

Self-actualization was coined by the organismic theorist Kurt Goldstein for the motive to realize one's full
potential: "the tendency to actualize itself as fully as possible is the basic drive ... the drive of self-
actualization."[1] Carl Rogers similarly wrote of "the curative force in psychotherapy – man's tendency to
actualize himself, to become his potentialities ... to express and activate all the capacities of the
organism."[2]

Contents

Abraham Maslow's theory

Definition

History and development of the concept

Maslow's later-career ideas

Characteristics of self-actualizers

Discussion

Kurt Goldstein's concept

Concept

Discussion

Carl Rogers' concept

Criticism

See also

References

Further reading

Abraham Maslow's theory

Definition

Maslow defined self-actualization to be "self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual] to
become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more
and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."[3] He used the term to
describe a desire, not a driving force, that could lead to realizing one's capabilities. He did not feel that self-
actualization determined one's life; rather, he felt that it gave the individual a desire, or motivation to
achieve budding ambitions.[4] Maslow's idea of self-actualization has been commonly interpreted as "the
full realization of one's potential" and of one's "true self."[4]

A more explicit definition of self-actualization according to Maslow is "intrinsic growth of what is already in
the organism, or more accurately of what is the organism itself ... self-actualization is growth-motivated
rather than deficiency-motivated."[5]: 66 This explanation emphasizes the fact that self-actualization cannot
normally be reached until other lower order necessities of Maslow's hierarchy of needs are satisfied. While
Goldstein defined self-actualization as a driving force, Maslow uses the term to describe personal growth
that takes place once lower order needs have essentially been met, one corollary being that, in his opinion,
"self-actualisation ... rarely happens ... certainly in less than 1% of the adult population."[6] The fact that
"most of us function most of the time on a level lower than that of self-actualization" he called the
psychopathology of normality.[7]

Maslow's usage of the term is now popular in modern psychology when discussing personality from the
humanistic approach.

History and development of the concept

Main article: Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Maslow's work is considered to be part of humanistic psychology, which is one of several frameworks used
in psychology for studying, understanding, and evaluating personality. The humanistic approach was
developed because other approaches, such as the psychodynamic approach made famous by Sigmund
Freud, focused on unhealthy individuals that exhibited disturbed behavior;[4] whereas the humanistic
approach focuses on healthy, motivated people and tries to determine how they define the self while
maximizing their potential.[4] Humanistic psychology in general and self-actualisation in particular helped
change our view of human nature from a negative point of view – man is a conditioned or tension reducing
organism – to a more positive view in which man is motivated to realize his full potential. This is reflected in
Maslow's hierarchy of needs and in his theory of self-actualization.

Instead of focusing on what goes wrong with people, Maslow wanted to focus on human potential, and how
we fulfill that potential. Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that human motivation is based on people seeking
fulfillment and change through personal growth. Self-actualized people are those who are fulfilled and
doing all they are capable of. It refers to the person's desire for self-fulfillment, namely to the tendency for
him to become actualized in what he is potentially. "The specific form that these needs will take will of
course vary greatly from person to person. In one individual it may take the form of the desire to be an ideal
mother, in another it may be expressed athletically, and in still another it may be expressed in painting
pictures or in inventions."[8]

One of Abraham Maslow's earliest discussions of self-actualization was in his 1943 article "A Theory of
Human Motivation" in Psychological Review 50, pp. 370–396.

Here, the concept of self-actualization was first brought to prominence as part of Abraham Maslow's
hierarchy of needs theory as the final level of psychological development that can be achieved when all
basic and mental needs are essentially fulfilled and the "actualization" of the full personal potential takes
place.[3][5]

In this treatment, self-actualization is at the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and is described as
becoming "'fully human' ... maturity or self-actualization."[9]

According to Maslow, people have lower order needs that in general must be fulfilled before high order
needs can be satisfied: 'five sets of needs – physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and finally self-
actualization'.[10]

As Abraham Maslow noted, the basic needs of humans must be met (e.g. food, shelter, warmth, security,
sense of belonging) before a person can achieve self-actualization. Yet, Maslow argued that reaching a
state of true self-actualization in everyday society was fairly rare. Research shows that when people live
lives that are different from their true nature and capabilities, they are less likely to be happy than those
whose goals and lives match. For example, someone who has inherent potential to be a great artist or
teacher may never realize their talents if their energy is focused on attaining the basic needs of humans.[11]
As a person moves up Maslow's hierarchy of needs, they may eventually find themselves reaching the
summit — self-actualization.[4] Maslow's hierarchy of needs begins with the most basic necessities deemed
"the physiological needs" in which the individual will seek out items like food and water, and must be able to
perform basic functions such as breathing and sleeping.[12] Once these needs have been met, a person can
move on to fulfilling "the safety needs", where they will attempt to obtain a sense of security, physical
comfort and shelter, employment, and property.[12] The next level is "the belongingness and love needs",
where people will strive for social acceptance, affiliations, a sense of belongingness and being welcome,
sexual intimacy, and perhaps a family.[12] Next are "the esteem needs", where the individual will desire a
sense of competence, recognition of achievement by peers, and respect from others.[12]

Once these needs are met, an individual is primed to achieve self-actualization.

While the theory is generally portrayed as a fairly rigid hierarchy, Maslow noted that the order in which
these needs are fulfilled does not always follow this standard progression. For example, he notes that for
some individuals, the need for self-esteem is more important than the need for love. For others, the need
for creative fulfillment may supersede even the most basic needs.[13]

Maslow's later-career ideas

In his later work, Maslow suggested that there are two additional phases an individual must progress
through before achieving self-actualization. These are "the cognitive needs," where a person will desire
knowledge and an understanding of the world around them, and "the aesthetic needs," which include a
need for "symmetry, order, and beauty."[4]

Maslow also added a further step beyond self-actualization, which is self-transcendence. Self-
transcendence occurs at the "very highest and most inclusive or holistic levels of human
consciousness."[14]

Characteristics of self-actualizers

A self-actualizer is a person who is living creatively and fully using his or her potentials. It refers to the
desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for a person to become actualized in what they are
potentially. Maslow based his theory partially on his own assumptions or convictions about human potential
and partially on his case studies of historical figures whom he believed to be self-actualized, including
Albert Einstein and Henry David Thoreau. He considered self-actualizing people to possess "an unusual
ability to detect the spurious, the fake, and the dishonest in personality, and in general to judge people
correctly and efficiently."[15] Maslow examined the lives of each of these people in order to assess the
common qualities that led each to become self-actualized. In his studies, Maslow found that self-actualizers
really do share similarities. He also believed that each of these people had somehow managed to find their
core-nature that is unique to them, and is one of the true goals of life.[16] Whether famous or unknown,
educated or not, rich or poor, self-actualizers tend to fit the following profile.[17]

Maslow's self-actualizing characteristics are:[citation needed]

Efficient perceptions of reality. Self-actualizers are able to judge situations correctly and honestly. They
are very sensitive to the superficial and dishonest.

Comfortable acceptance of self, others and nature. Self-actualizers accept their own human nature with
all its flaws. The shortcomings of others and the contradictions of the human condition are accepted with
humor and tolerance.

Reliant on own experiences and judgement. Independent, not reliant on culture and environment to form
opinions and views.

Spontaneous and natural. True to oneself, rather than being how others want.

Task centering. Most of Maslow's subjects had a mission to fulfill in life or some task or problem 'beyond'
themselves (instead of outside themselves) to pursue. Humanitarians such as Albert Schweitzer are
considered to have possessed this quality.[citation needed]

Autonomy. Self-actualizers are free from reliance on external authorities or other people. They tend to be
resourceful and independent.[18]

Continued freshness of appreciation. The self-actualizer seems to constantly renew appreciation of life's
basic goods. A sunset or a flower will be experienced as intensely time after time as it was at first. There
is an "innocence of vision", like that of a child.

Profound interpersonal relationships. The interpersonal relationships of self-actualizers are marked by

deep loving bonds.[citation needed]

Comfort with solitude. Despite their satisfying relationships with others, self-actualizing people value
solitude and are comfortable being alone.[19]

Non-hostile sense of humor. This refers to the ability to laugh at oneself.

Peak experiences. All of Maslow's subjects reported the frequent occurrence of peak experiences
(temporary moments of self-actualization). These occasions were marked by feelings of ecstasy,
harmony, and deep meaning. Self-actualizers reported feeling at one with the universe, stronger and
calmer than ever before, filled with light, beauty, goodness, and so forth.

Socially compassionate. Possessing humanity.

Few friends. Few close intimate friends rather than many perfunctory relationships.

Gemeinschaftsgefühl. According to Maslow, the self-actualizers possess "Gemeinschaftsgefühl", which

refers to "social interest, community feeling, or a sense of oneness with all humanity."[20]

Discussion

Maslow's writings are used as inspirational resources. The key to Maslow's writings is understanding that
there are no quick routes to self-actualization: rather it is predicated on the individual having their lower
deficiency needs met. Once a person has moved through feeling and believing that they are deficient, they
naturally seek to grow into who they are, i.e. self-actualization. Elsewhere, however, Maslow (2011) and Carl
Rogers (1980)[21] both suggested necessary attitudes and/or attributes that need to be inside an individual
as a pre-requisite for self-actualization. Among these are a real wish to be themselves, to be fully human, to
fulfill themselves, and to be completely alive, as well as a willingness to risk being vulnerable and to uncover
more "painful" aspects in order to learn about/grow through and integrate these parts of themselves (this
has parallels with Jung's slightly similar concept of individuation).

Although their studies were initially biologically centered (or focused around the more ordinary,
psychological self-nature), there have been many similarities and cross-references between various
spiritual schools or groups (particularly Eastern spiritual ways) in the past 40 years.[22][21]

Maslow early noted his impression that "impulsivity, the unrestrained expression of any whim, the direct
seeking for 'kicks' and for non-social and purely private pleasures...is often mislabelled self-
actualization."[23] In this sense, "self-actualization" is little more than what Eric Berne described as the
game of '"Self-Expression"...based on the dogma "Feelings are Good"'.[24]

Broader criticism from within humanistic psychology of the concept of self-actualization includes the
danger that 'emphasis on the actualizing tendency...can lead to a highly positive view of the human being
but one which is strangely non-relational'.[25] According to Fritz Perls there is also the risk of confusing
"self-actualizing and self-image actualizing...the curse of the ideal."[26] By conflating "the virtue of self-
actualization and the reality of self-actualization,"[27] the latter becomes merely another measuring rod for
the "topdog" – the nagging conscience: "You tell me to do things. You tell me to be – real. You tell me to be
self-actualized...I don't have to be that good!"[28]

Barry Stevens remarks: "Abe Maslow was unhappy with what happened with many people when they read
what he wrote about 'self-actualizing people'. What they did with it was very strange. I have received a fair
number of letters saying 'I am a self-actualized person'. Maslow said that he must have left something out.
Fritz (Perls) put it in. He saw that most people actualized a self-concept. This is not self-actualizing."[29]

Kurt Goldstein's concept

The term "self-actualization" was first used by the German psychiatrist Kurt Goldstein. Maslow attributed
the term "self-actualization" to Goldstein in his original 1943 paper.

Concept

'Kurt Goldstein first introduced the concept of the organism as a whole,' which is built on the assumption
that "every individual, every plant, every animal has only one inborn goal – to actualize itself as it is."[30]

Kurt Goldstein's book, The Organism: A Holistic Approach to Biology Derived from Pathological Data in Man
(1939), presented self-actualization as "the tendency to actualize, as much as possible, [the organism's]
individual capacities" in the world.

The tendency toward self-actualization is "the only drive by which the life of an organism is determined."[31]
However, for Goldstein self-actualization cannot be understood as a kind of goal to be reached sometime in
the future. At any moment, the organism has the fundamental tendency to actualize all its capacities and its
whole potential, as it is present in that exact moment, under the given circumstances.[32]

Discussion

Goldstein's work was in the context of Classical Adlerian psychotherapy, which also promotes this level of
psychological development by utilizing the foundation of a 12-stage therapeutic model to realistically satisfy
the basic needs. This then leads to an advanced stage of "meta-therapy", creative living, and
self/other/task-actualization.[33] Goldstein's work is also seen in the context of Gestalt therapy.

The German term used by Goldstein, translated as "self-actualization", is "Selbstverwirklichung." "Self-

realization" may be a more adequate translation than the "self-actualization" used in the translation of "The
Organism".

Goldstein sets this notion of self-actualization in contrast to "self-preservation" (Selbsterhaltung). "Self-

actualization" for Goldstein means something that comes close to realization of one's "essence", one's
identity, one's felt sense of oneself; which may in consequence mean that a person is willing to risk his or
her life in order to maintain "self-actualization" (Selbsverwirklichung), the realization of his or her "essence"
of the person he or she feels that she/he IS.[citation needed]

Carl Rogers' concept

Main article: Actualizing tendency

Carl Rogers used the term "self-actualization" to describe something distinct from the concept developed
by Maslow: the actualization of the individual's sense of 'self.'[34] In Rogers' theory of person-centered
therapy, self-actualization is the ongoing process of maintaining and enhancing the individual's self-
concept through reflection, reinterpretation of experience, allowing the individual to recover, develop,
change, and grow. Self-actualization is a subset of the overall organismic actualizing tendency, and begins
with the infant learning to differentiate what is "self" and what is "other" within its "total perceptual field,"
as their full self-awareness gradually crystallizes.[2] Interactions with significant others are key to the
process of self-actualization:

As a result of interaction with the environment, and particularly as a result of evaluational

interaction with others, the structure of the self is formed – an organized, fluid but consistent
conceptual pattern of perceptions of characteristics and relationships of the 'I' or the 'me',
together with the values attached to these concepts.[34]

The process of self-actualization is continuous as the individual matures into a socially competent,
interdependent autonomy, and is ongoing throughout the life-cycle. When there is sufficient tension
between the individual's sense of self and their experience, a psychopathological state of incongruence can
arise, according to Rogers, "individuals are culturally conditioned, rewarded, reinforced, for behaviors which
are in fact perversions of the natural directions of the unitary actualizing tendency."[35] In Rogers' theory
self-actualization is not the end-point; it is the process that can, in conducive circumstances (in particular
the presence of positive self-regard and the empathic understanding of others), lead to the individual
becoming more "fully-functioning".

Criticism

See also: Actualizing tendency § Criticism

Maslow early noted his impression that "impulsivity, the unrestrained expression of any whim, the direct
seeking for 'kicks' and for non-social and purely private pleasures ... is often mislabelled self-
actualization."[23] In this sense, "self-actualization" is little more than what Eric Berne described as the
game of "'Self-Expression' ... based on the dogma 'Feelings are Good'".[24]

Broader criticism from within humanistic psychology of the concept of self-actualization includes the
danger that 'emphasis on the actualizing tendency ... can lead to a highly positive view of the human being
but one which is strangely non-relational.'[25] According to Fritz Perls there is also the risk of confusing
"self-actualizing and self-image actualizing ... the curse of the ideal."[26] For Perls, by conflating "the virtue
of self-actualization and the reality of self-actualization,"[27] the latter becomes merely another measuring
rod for the "topdog" – the nagging conscience: "You tell me to do things. You tell me to be – real. You tell
me to be self-actualized ... I don't have to be that good!"[28] Barry Stevens remarked:

Maslow was unhappy with what happened with many people when they read what he wrote
about 'self-actualizing people'. What they did with it was very strange. I have received a fair
number of letters saying 'I am a self-actualized person'. Maslow said that he must have left
something out. Fritz (Perls) put it in. He saw that most people actualized a self-concept. This
is not self-actualizing.[29]

According to Paul Vitz, this may be connected with the charge that "Rogers and Maslow both transform
self-actualization from a descriptive notion into a moral norm."[36] However, if it is indeed as good a reality
as they purport, then a certain eagerness in their communication is understandable.

In general, during the early twenty-first-century, "the usefulness of the concepts of self and self-
actualization continue to attract discussion and debate."[37] The concept has also been criticized in recent
years for its Western-centrism, as it is not indicative of the values of many cultures that do not value
individualism as highly.[38]

See also

Autodidacticism
Psychology portal
Enlightenment

Humanism

Ikigai

Individuation

Jonah complex

Outline of self

Perfectionism (philosophy)

Positive disintegration

Self

Self-awareness

Self-esteem

Self-fulfillment

Self-handicapping

Self-help

Self-knowledge (psychology)

Self-realization

Self-reflection

References

1. ^ Goldstein, quoted in Arnold H. Modell, The Private 20. ^ Feist, Gregory; Feist, Jess (2009). Theories of
Self (Harvard 1993) p. 44 personality (7th ed.). New York McGraw-Hill Higher
Education. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-07-338270-8.
2. ^ a b Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person (1961) p.
350-1 21. ^ a b Rogers, Carl R. A Way of Being. Boston:
Houghton-Mifflin, 1980.
3. ^ a b Maslow (1943) Psychological Review 50, pp.
370-396.A Theory of Human Motivation 22. ^ Koltko-Rivera, Mark. E. Rediscovering the Later
Version of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Self-
4. ^ a b c d e f Gleitman, Henry; Fridlund, Alan J. and
Transcendence and Opportunities for Theory,
Reisberg Daniel. Psychology. 6th ed. New York:
Research, and Unification, in: Review of General
Norton & Company, 2004.
Psychology, 2006, Vol. 10, No. 4, 302–317
5. ^ a b Abraham H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality.
23. ^ a b Maslow, in Michael Daniels, Shadow, Self, Spirit
2nd ed., Chapter 11 "Self-Actualizing People: A
(2005) p. 122
Study of Psychological Health"
24. ^ a b Eric Berne, Games People Play (Penguin) p. 137
6. ^ Abraham Maslow, Towards a Psychology of Being
(New York 1968) p. 204 25. ^ a b Brian Thorne, Carl Rogers (London 1992) p. 88

7. ^ Jane Loevinger, Ego Development (California 1976) 26. ^ a b Perls, Verbatim p. 20

p. 140
27. ^ a b Frederick S. Perls, In and Out the Garbage Pail
8. ^ Maslow, 1943, pp. 382–383 (London 1981) p. 7

9. ^ Frank G. Goble, The Third Force: The Psychology 28. ^ a b "Jane" in Perls, Verbatim p. 292-3
of Abraham Maslow (New York 1970) p. 25
29. ^ a b Stevens, B. (1975): Body Work, in: Stevens,
10. ^ Maslow, Motivation (1967) p. 27 J.O., (ed.): gestalt is. Moab, Utah, 1975 (Real People
Press), p. 183/184.
11. ^ Schacter, Daniel L., Gilbert, Daniel T., and Wegner,
Daniel M. "Human Needs and Self-Actualization". 30. ^ Frederick S. Perls, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim
Psychology; Second Edition. New York: Worth, (Bantam 1974) p. 6 and p. 33
Incorporated, 2011. 486-487. Print.
31. ^ Goldstein, Kurt. The Organism: A Holistic Approach
12. ^ a b c d Gleitman, Henry; Fridlund, Alan J. and to Biology Derived from Pathological Data in Man.
Reisberg Daniel. Psychology. 6th ed. New York: 1934. New York: Zone Books, 1995
Norton & Company, 2004 and Maslow, Abraham H.
32. ^ Goldstein, M.: (1971): Selected
The Psychology of Science. Gateway Edition 1.95 ed.
Papers/Ausgewählte Schriften, The Hague (Nijhoff),
Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1969.
p. 471
13. ^ Cherry, Kendra. "What Is Self-Actualization?" .
33. ^ "STAGES OF CLASSICAL ADLERIAN
About.com. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
PSYCHOTHERAPY -Alfred Adler Institute of
14. ^ "Summary of Maslow on Self-Transcendence" . Northwestern Washington" . www.adlerian.us.
ieet.org. Retrieved 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2019-04-30.

15. ^ Maslow, Motivation (1954) p. 203 34. ^ a b Rogers, C. R. (1951/2015) Client-centred

therapy. London: Robinson. p. 489.
16. ^ Reber, Arthur S. The Penguin Dictionary of
Psychology. 2nd ed. London: Penguin, 1995 35. ^ Rogers, C. R. (1963) The actualizing tendency in
relation to 'motive' and to consciousness. In M.
17. ^ Coon, Mitterer;"An Introduction to Psychology:
Jones (ed.) Nebraska Symposium on Motivation
Gateways to Mind and Behavior" 2007 p. 479
1963. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
18. ^ Bordages, John Walter (1989-06-01). "Self- pp.1-24
Actualization and Personal Autonomy" .
36. ^ Paul C. Vitz, Psychology as Religion (1994) p. 54
Psychological Reports. 64 (3_suppl): 1263–1266.
doi:10.2466/pr0.1989.64.3c.1263 . ISSN 0033- 37. ^ Barbara Engler, Personality Theories (2008) p. 369
2941 . S2CID 146406002 .
38. ^ Noltemeyer, Amity; James, Anthony G.; Bush,
19. ^ Sumerlin, J. R., & Bundrick, C. M. (1998). Revision Kevin; Bergen, Doris; Barrios, Veronica; Patton, Jon
of the brief index of self-actualization. Perceptual & (January 2021). "The Relationship between
Motor Skills, 87(1), 115. Deficiency Needs and Growth Needs: The Continuing
https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1998.87.1.115 Investigation of Maslow's Theory" . Child & Youth
Services. 42 (1): 24–42.
doi:10.1080/0145935X.2020.1818558 .

Further reading

Harrington, Anne: Reenchanted Science: Holism in German Culture from Wilhelm II to Hitler, Princeton
University Press, 1999. (Includes a comprehensive chapter on Kurt Goldstein and his work.)

Heylighen, Francis. (1992). A cognitive-systemic reconstruction of Maslow's theory of self-

actualization . Behavioral Science, 37(1), 39–58. doi:10.1002/bs.3830370105

Kress, Oliver (1993)."A new approach to cognitive development: ontogenesis and the process of
initiation" . Evolution and Cognition 2(4): 319–332.

David, R. W. (2011). Montessori, Maslow, and Self-actualization. Montessori Life, 23(4), 16–21. [1]

Last edited on 27 December 2023, at 11:44

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