Maslow and Self-Actualization

 

Abraham Harold Maslow

American psychologist Abraham Maslow was a member of the humanistic school of psychology. Maslow proposed a theory of motivation based on a categorization of needs, suggesting that an individual progresses from satisfying basic needs such as those for food and sex to satisfying the highest need for what he called self-actualization, or the fulfilment of one’s potential. Maslow believed that self-actualization could only be attained once basic needs had been met.

Hierarchy of Needs

In 1954 American psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed that all people are motivated to fulfill a hierarchical pyramid of needs. At the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid are needs essential to survival, such as the needs for food, water, and sleep. The need for safety follows these physiological needs. According to Maslow, higher-level needs become important to us only after our more basic needs are satisfied. These higher needs include the need for love and belongingness, the need for esteem, and the need for self-actualization (in Maslow’s theory, a state in which people realize their greatest potential).

 

BIO of Abraham Maslow

(1908-70), American psychologist and leading exponent of humanistic psychology. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the City College of New York and the University of Wisconsin, Maslow spent most of his teaching career at Brandeis University. Judging orthodox behaviorism and psychoanalysis to be too rigidly theoretical and concerned with illness, he developed a theory of motivation describing the process by which an individual progresses from basic needs such as food and sex to the highest needs of what he called self-actualization—the fulfillment of one’s greatest human potential. Humanistic psychotherapy, usually in the form of group therapy, seeks to help the individual progress through these stages. Maslow’s writings include Toward a Psychology of Being (1962) and Farther Reaches of Human Nature (1971).

 

Definitions
Phenomenological self	The self-image that represents the way we perceive ourselves as functioning human beings.
Unconditional positive regard	Total acceptance of individuals for who and what they are, even if one disagrees with their actions.
Conditions of worth	Conditions that make being considered a worthwhile human being contingent on behaving in certain ways.
Self-actualization	a humanistic view that people will pursue the highest and most idealistic aims unless their development is thwarted by a malevolent social environment

Further Perspectives on Personality

Chapter 9: p346

Focus Questions

In Skinner’s operant conditioning view, what does personality consist of?

The operant conditioning approach of B.F. Skinner rejects the idea of personality in favor of positive and negative reinforcement and punishment as predictors of behavior. Skinner viewed reinforcement history as a better way of looking at what others call personality.

In Bandura’s social cognitive view, what factors influence personality and behavior?

Along with observational learning, social learning theories now stress reciprocal interaction, a concept developed by Arthur Bandura.

Bandura’s social cognitive theory of human agency stresses the role we ourselves play in our development and successful functioning in the world around us. Central to his conceptualization of human agency are self-efficacy and perceived self-efficacy.

In the view of evolutionary psychologist, how has natural selection influenced human personality?

Evolutionary psychology looks at commonalities in people across cultures and views personality characteristics that humans share as adaptations to problems with survival or reproduction in our distant past.

Two proposals by evolutionary psychologist such as Buss are as follows:

1. Females are attracted to particular males more because of the males resources;
   Males are attracted to particular female more because of the females fertility.
   
2. Males are more inclined to become jealous over their partners sexual infidelity;
   Females are more inclined to become jealous over their partner’s emotional infidelity.
   

 

 

 

Bandura and Human Agency

Albert Bandura, a prominent social learning and social cognitive theorist, developed the concept of reciprocal interaction, in which human are regarded as highly active processors of information who are continually interacting with the social environment.

The environment affects us, but the opposite is true as well. For example, losing a game may cause your friend to behave in a hostile manner—and eventually lead you to respond the same way, causing friction in the friendship. But your friend would create a far different environment if she were a “good sport” and lost graciously.

What this implies is that we are not just passive responders—we can choose how we want to affect the world around us. We have a “uniquely human capacity” for self-direction (Bandura 1974).

After his early research on observational learning and its role in behavior and personality, Bandura turned to developing his theory of self-efficacy, which refers essentially to what you are actually capable of doing in specific contexts or, more generally, who may you become as a person.

This stands in contrast to perceived self-efficacy—that is, what you think you can do or become. To Bandura, your set of beliefs about what you can do and the extent to which you see yourself as having control over your life are by far the most central and persuasive aspects of personality.

Self-efficacy theory has generated considerable research over the years, and Bandura has extended his theory to many realms of human endeavor and consolidated it within the term Human Agency. In his words, “To be an agent is to intentionally make things happen by ones actions….the core features of agency enable people to play a part in their self development, adaptation, and self renewal with changing times” (Bandura 2001).

 

Definitions
Reinforcement History
Reciprocal Interaction	A concept suggesting that humans are highly active processors of information who are continually interacting with the environment.
Self-Efficacy	What a person is actually capable of doing in specific context or of becoming as a person.
Perceived Self-Efficacy	What a person thinks she or he can do or become.

Skinner and Operant Conditioning

Skinner maintained that we can understand behavior and what others call personality only by applying the operant conditioning principle to understanding what a person does.

Rejecting the belief that humans possess free will, Skinner argued that we learn to be a particular kind of person in the same way that we learn anything else in life—through positive or negative reinforcement and punishment or, in his terms, reinforcement history.

External circumstances and consequences, not some inner-self, ultimately define personality. In effect, we could predict a persons behavior if we knew which of this person’s actions had been rewarded by society and which ones had been punished.

B. F. Skinner

American psychologist B. F. Skinner became famous for his pioneering research on learning and behavior. During his 60-year career, Skinner discovered important principles of operant conditioning, a type of learning that involves reinforcement and punishment. A strict behaviorist, Skinner believed that operant conditioning could explain even the most complex of human behaviors

Summary of Freud and his successors who made major modifications to his theory

Pyschologist	approach	Theory
Sigmund Freud	Psychoanalytic Theory	Psychoanalytic Theory holds that the human mind has three parts, or forces: 1) the unconscious mind, which includes the id, with its pleasure principle; 2) the conscious ego, with its reality principle; And 3) the often unconscious superego, with its morality principle.
Freud’s successors	approach to Psychoanalytic theory	modifications to Psychoanalytic theory
Carl Jung	Analytical Psychology The term used for Jung’s approach to psychoanalytic theory	Jung with his analytical psychology, rejected Freud’s emphasis on sexuality, introduced the concept of the collective unconscious with its archetypes, and coined the terms introvert and extrovert
Alfred Adler	Individual Psychology The term used for Adler’s approach to psychodynamic theory	Adler, with his Individual psychology, rejected Freud’s emphasis on sexuality and instead emphasized striving for superiority and social interest.
Karen Horney	Social Psychoanalytic Theory. The term used for Horney’s approach to psychodynamic theory.	Horney, with her social psychoanalytic theory, rejected Freud’s emphasis on sexuality and his views on women and introduced the concept of basic anxiety
Erik Erickson	Psychosocial Development Erickson’s twofold process in which individuals’ psychological development proceeds hand in hand with the social interactions they experienced as they go through life.	Erickson put forth his theory of psychosocial development
Erich Fromm	Social Psychoanalytic Theory Suggest that personality problems are caused by conflicts between basic human needs and the demands of society.	Fromm emphasized social and cultural influences on personality

 

 

Chapter 9: Psychodynamic Views: DEFINITIONS
Psychodynamic theorists	Those theorists, including psychoanalytic theorist, who are concerned with understanding and analyzing the inner functioning and processes that yield personality and behavior.
libido	A basic energy source in all humans that is directed at maximizing pleasure and surviving.
Unconscious mind	the part mind composed mainly of repressed motives and thoughts
Id	A basic and primitive part of the mind that is the origin of survival motives and sexual desires, as well as motives for self-destruction and aggression. (Tharney) the oldest structure of the personality; innate and physiologically based; provides the psychic energy for all three parts of the system; knows only the inner world of subjective experiences; operates on the basis of the Pleasure Principle be means of reflex action and/or primary process
The Pleasure Principle	The demand of the unconscious id for gratification of desires.
Ego	The Conscious part of the mind that includes our knowledge, skills, beliefs, and conscious motives. (Tharney) the second structure of the personality to develop; represents rational thought, memory, etc,: attempts to conform to the Id’s mental images into objective reality; operates on the basis of the Reality Principle by means of secondary process
The Reality Principle	The principle by which the conscious ego operates as it tries to mediate and balance the demands of the unconscious id and the realities of the environment.
Super Ego	The often unconscious part of the mind that includes the conscience and the ego ideal. (Tharney) the third structure of the personality to develop; acquired by means of the process of learning; represents the internalization of society’s values, morals and standards; it’s Ego ideal rewards appropriate behaviors and it’s conscience punishes inappropriate or unacceptable behavior; operates on the basis of the Perfection (morality) Principle.
The morality Principle	the principle by which the superego tries to govern the ego in accord with the conscience and the ego ideal
Oedipus complex	The conflict between mingled love and hate for the same-sex parent experienced by boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 6.
Psychosexual development	Freud’s view that child development revolves around sexual desires in one form or another—particularly as in his oral, anal, and phallic stages.
Analytic psychology	The term for Jung’s approach to psychoanalytic theory.
Collective unconscious	A set of inherited mental structures that Jung thought were universal and the result of accumulated human experiences across time.
Archetypes	Jung’s term for the inherited mental elements in the collective unconscious.
Introverts	Individuals who prefer to love with their own thoughts and avoid social interactions.
Extroverts	Individuals who are highly interested in other people and the social world around them
Individual psychology	The term used for Adler’s approach to psychodynamic theory
Social Psychoanalytic Theory	The term used for Horney’s approach to psychodynamic theory.
Basic Anxiety	The feeling of being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile world.
Psychosocial Development	Erickson’s twofold process in which individuals’ psychological development proceeds hand in hand with the social interactions they experienced as they go through life

 

Fromm’s Social Psychoanalytic Theory

Fromm emphasized social and cultural influences on personality.

Erich Fromm

German-born psychoanalyst Erich Fromm believed that psychological problems often result when an individual feels isolated from society.

Erich Fromm (1900-1980), American psychoanalyst, best known for his application of psychoanalytic theory to social and cultural problems. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and educated at the universities of Heidelberg and Munich and at the Psychoanalytic Institute in Berlin. He immigrated to the United States in 1934 and subsequently became a citizen.

Fromm was recognized as an important leader of contemporary psychoanalytic thought (see Psychoanalysis). According to his views, specific personality types are related to specific socioeconomic patterns. He broke away from biologically oriented theories to see humans as products of their culture. He also felt that attempts should be made to create harmony between the drives of the individual and the society in which the individual lives. Fromm’s many publications include Escape from Freedom (1941), Man for Himself (1947), The Forgotten Language (1951), The Sane Society (1955), The Art of Loving (1956), Sigmund Freud’s Mission (1956), Beyond the Chains of Illusion (1962), The Heart of Man (1964), and The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973).

Fromm
Social Psychoanalytic Theory	The term for Jung’s approach to psychoanalytic theory.
Fromm’s Five Basic Needs
Relatedness	This need stems from the fact that human beings have lost the union with nature that other animals possess. It must be satisfied by human relationships based on productive love (which implies mutual care, responsibility, respect, and understanding)
Transcendence	The need to rise above one’s animal nature and to become creative.
Rootedness	The need for a feeling of belonging, best satisfied by feelings of affiliation with all humanity.
Identity	The need to have a sense of personal identity, to be unique. It can be satisfied through creativity or through identification with another person or group.
A frame of orientation	The need for a stable and consistent way of perceiving the world and understanding its events.

Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory

Erickson put forth his theory of psychosocial development.

Erik Erikson

German-born American psychoanalyst Erik Erikson proposed a theory of human development that stressed the interaction between psychological and social forces. Unlike Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, Erikson viewed development as lifelong.

Erik Erikson (1902-1994), American psychoanalyst, who made major contributions to the field of psychology with his work on child development and on the identity crisis.

Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany. He was an artist and teacher in the late 1920s when he met the Austrian psychoanalyst Anna Freud. With her encouragement, he began studying at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute, where he specialized in child psychoanalysis. In 1933 he immigrated to the United States, first joining the faculty of the Harvard Medical School and then moving to Yale University. During this period Erikson became interested in the influence of culture and society on child development. He studied groups of Native American children to help formulate his theories. These studies enabled him to correlate personality growth with parental and societal values. His first book, Childhood and Society (1950), became a classic in the field. As he continued his clinical work with young people, Erikson developed the concept of the “identity crisis,” an inevitable conflict that accompanies the growth of a sense of identity in late adolescence. Among his other books are Young Man Luther (1958); Insight and Responsibility (1964); Identity (1968); Gandhi’s Truth (1969), which won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award; and Vital Involvement in Old Age (1986).

Erikson
Psychosocial Theory	Erickson’s twofold process in which individuals’ psychological development proceeds hand in hand with the social interactions they experienced as they go through life. Erickson based his conclusions on observations of people he treated, some in childhood, and others at various stages of adulthood.

Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages

Erickson viewed the life cycle of development from cradle to grave as having eight stages. Each stage brings new social experiences and new crises—which, if surmounted successfully, lead to continuous, steadily enriched personality growth.

 

ERICKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES
Stages	Crisis	Favorable Outcome	Unfavorable Outcome
Childhood
1st year of life	Trust vs. Mistrust	Faith in the environment and future events	Suspicion, fear of future events
2nd year	Autonomy vs. Doubt	A sense of self-control and adequacy	Feelings of shame and self-doubt
3rd through 5th years	Initiative vs. Guilt	Ability to be a “self-starter,” to initiate one’s own activities.	A sense of guilt and inadequacy to be on one’s own
6th year to puberty	Industry vs. Inferiority	Ability to learn how things work, to understand and organize.	A sense of inferiority at understanding and organizing.
Transition years
Adolescence	Identity vs. confusion	Seeing oneself as a unique and integrated person.	Confusion over who and what one really is.
Adulthood
Early adulthood	Intimacy vs. isolation	Ability to make commitments to others, to love.	Inability to form affectionate relationship.
Middle age	Generativity vs. self-adsorption	Concern for family and society in general.	Concern only for self—one’s own well-being and prosperity.
Aging years	Integrity vs. despair	A sense of integrity and fulfillment; willingness to face death.	Dissatisfaction with life; despair over prospect of death.

 

 

 

Horney’s Social Psychoanalytic Theory

Horney, with her social psychoanalytic theory, rejected Freud’s emphasis on sexuality and his views on women and introduced the concept of basic anxiety.

Karen Horney

German-American psychiatrist Karen Horney helped establish the American Institute for Psychoanalysis before becoming a professor at New York Medical College in 1942. She developed the neo-Freudian approach to psychoanalysis, and believed that neuroses are caused not only by instinctual drives, but also by experiences in society.

Karen Horney (1885-1952), German American psychiatrist, born in Hamburg, and educated at the universities of Freiburg and Berlin. She was an instructor at the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Berlin from 1920 to 1932, when she immigrated to the United States. After serving as associate director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis for two years, she taught at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute from 1934 to 1941. She became dean of the American Institute for Psychoanalysis, which she helped to found, in 1941 and a professor at New York Medical College in 1942.

Horney founded a neo-Freudian school of psychoanalysis based on the conclusion that neuroses are the result of emotional conflicts arising from childhood experiences and later disturbances in interpersonal relationships. Horney believed that such disturbances are conditioned to a large extent by the society in which an individual lives rather than solely by the instinctual drives postulated by Freud. Among her writings are The Neurotic Personality of Our Time (1936), New Ways in Psychoanalysis (1939), Self-Analysis (1942), Our Inner Conflicts (1945), and Neurosis and Human Growth (1950).

Horney
Social Psychoanalytic Theory	The term used for Horney’s approach to psychodynamic theory. Horney broke with the Freudian tradition of emphasizing sexuality. Her view was, like Jung and Adler, was essentially optimistic. Horney believed humans to be capable of growth and self-realization. This trend can be blocked, however, if as a child an individual acquires a sense of basic anxiety.
Basic Anxiety	A feeling of being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile world.

 

Adler, Horney, and Erickson: Social Influences

Adler’s Individual psychology

Adler, with his Individual psychology, rejected Freud’s emphasis on sexuality and instead emphasized striving for superiority and social interest.

 

Alfred Adler

Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist Alfred Adler studied under Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, before developing his own theories about human behavior. Adler’s best-known theories stress that individuals are mainly motivated by feelings of inferiority, which he called an inferiority complex.

Alfred Adler (1870-1937), Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist, born in Vienna, and educated at Vienna University. After leaving the university he studied and was associated with Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. In 1911 Adler left the orthodox psychoanalytic school to found a neo-Freudian school of psychoanalysis. After 1926 he was a visiting professor at Columbia University, and in 1935 he and his family moved to the United States.

In his analysis of individual development, Adler stressed the sense of inferiority, rather than sexual drives, as the motivating force in human life. According to Adler, conscious or subconscious feelings of inferiority (to which he gave the name inferiority complex), combined with compensatory defense mechanisms, are the basic causes of psychopathological behavior. The function of the psychoanalyst, furthermore, is to discover and rationalize such feelings and break down the compensatory, neurotic will for power that they engender in the patient. Adler’s works include The Theory and Practice of Individual Psychology (1918) and The Pattern of Life (1930).

Adler

Individual psychology

The term used for Adler’s approach to psychodynamic theory. Rejected Freud’s focus on sexuality. Emphasized the innate tendency to be cooperative and psychologically tuned in to other people. Adler believed that individuals encounter problems in life because they developed inappropriate goals and patterns of living that block the realization of their social interest. Theory remains largely unsupported.

Jung verses Freud: Sexuality Isn’t Everything

Jung with his analytical psychology, rejected Freud’s emphasis on sexuality, introduced the concept of the collective unconscious with its archetypes, and coined the terms introvert and extrovert.

Carl Gustav Jung

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung began his studies of human motivation in the early 1900s and created the school of psychoanalysis known as analytical psychology. A contemporary of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, Jung at first collaborated closely with Freud but eventually moved on to pursue his own theories, including the exploration of personality types. According to Jung, there are two basic personality types, extroverted and introverted, which alternate equally in the completely normal individual. Jung also believed that the unconscious mind is formed by the personal unconscious (the repressed feelings and thoughts developed during an individual’s life) and the collective unconscious (those feelings, thoughts, and memories shared by all humanity).

 

Jung
Analytic psychology	The term for Jung’s approach to psychoanalytic theory.
Collective unconscious	A set of inherited mental structures that Jung thought were universal and the result of accumulated human experiences across time.
Archetypes	Jung’s term for the inherited mental elements in the collective unconscious.
Introverts	Individuals who prefer to love with their own thoughts and avoid social interactions.
Extroverts	Individuals who are highly interested in other people and the social world around them