A. Maslow in his concept of self-actualization offers the following interpretation of the nature of personality: a person is naturally good and capable of self-improvement, people are conscious and intelligent creatures, the very essence of a person constantly moves him in the direction of personal growth, creativity and self-sufficiency.
To study a person as a unique, holistic, open and self-developing system, A. Maslow used the concept of self - actualization (English). The development of a person in this theory is presented as climbing the ladder of needs, which has levels in which it “highlights”, on the one hand, social dependence of a person, and on the other hand, his cognitive nature associated with self-actualization. The author believed that "people are motivated to seek personal goals, and this makes their life meaningful and meaningful." Questions of motivation are central to the humanistic theory of personality and describe a person as a "desiring being", rarely achieving satisfaction.
A. Maslow considers all human needs as innate. The hierarchy of needs, according to A. Maslow, can be traced from the first level, which consists of physiological needs associated with maintaining the internal environment of the body. As these needs are saturated, next level needs arise. The second level is the need for security, stability, confidence, freedom from fear, security. These needs function similarly to physiological needs and, if regularly satisfied, cease to be motivators. The next, third level includes the need for love and affection, communication, social activity, the desire to have one's place in a group, family. This is followed by the fourth level, which is the need for respect, self-esteem, independence, independence, skill, competence, confidence in the world, the desire to have a certain reputation, prestige, fame, recognition, dignity. Dissatisfaction with the needs of this level leads a person to a feeling of inferiority, uselessness, leads to various conflicts, complexes and neuroses. And finally, the last, fifth level of needs is the need for self-actualization, self-realization and creativity.
A. Maslow identified two types of needs that underlie personality development:
"deficit", which stop after their satisfaction and "growth",
which, on the contrary, only intensify after their implementation. In total, according to Maslow,
There are five levels of motivation:
1) physiological (needs for food, sleep);
2) security needs (need for an apartment; work)
3) needs for belonging, reflecting the needs of one person in
another person, for example in creating a family;
4) the level of self-esteem (the need for self-actualization, competence,
dignity);
5) the need for self-actualization (metaneeds for creativity, beauty,
integrity, etc.).
Logotherapy is a method of psychotherapy and existential analysis created by W. Frankl (from the ancient Greek logos - meaning). Logotherapy is a complex system of philosophical, psychological and medical views on the nature and essence of a person, the mechanisms of personality development in normal and pathological conditions, and ways to correct anomalies in personality development.
Logotherapy deals with the meaning of human existence and the search for this meaning. According to logotherapy, the desire for a person to search for and realize the meaning of his life is an innate motivational tendency inherent in all people and is the main engine of behavior and personality development. Therefore, Frankl spoke of the "striving for meaning" as opposed to the pleasure principle (in other words, the "striving for pleasure"), on which psychoanalysis is concentrated. A person does not need a state of equilibrium, homeostasis, but rather a struggle for some goal worthy of him.
Logotherapy is not a treatment that competes with other methods, but it may well compete with them due to the additional factor that it includes. As one of the areas of modern psychotherapy, logotherapy occupies a special place in it, opposing, on the one hand, psychoanalysis, and, on the other, behavioral psychotherapy. It differs from all other systems of psychotherapy not at the level of neurosis, but when it goes beyond it, in the space of specific human manifestations. Specifically, we are talking about two fundamental anthropological characteristics of human existence: its self-transcendence and the ability to self-detachment.
There are specific and non-specific areas of application of logotherapy. Psychotherapy of various kinds of diseases is a non-specific area. A specific area is noogenic neuroses, generated by the loss of the meaning of life. In these cases, the Socratic dialogue technique is used, which makes it possible to push the patient to discover for himself an adequate meaning of life. An important role is played by the personality of the psychotherapist himself, although imposing one's own meanings on them is unacceptable.
The provision on the uniqueness of meaning does not prevent Frankl from giving a meaningful description of possible positive meanings. Values are semantic universals that are the result of a generalization of typical situations in the history of society. There are 3 groups of values: 1) values of creativity, 2) values of experience and 3) values of attitude.
Priority belongs to the values of creativity, the main way of realization of which is labor. Of the values of experience, Frankl dwells in detail on love, which has a rich semantic potential.
paradoxical intention. The method proposed by W. Frankl (in 1929, described by him only in 1939, and published under this name in 1947. As we noted above, logotherapy includes two specific human manifestations, as self-transcendence and the ability to self-detachment .
A person with a noogenic neurosis is constantly in search of meaning. Paradoxical intention is used in neurosis when the following pathogenic response patterns are present:
1. A symptom causes the patient to fear that it may recur; a phobia arises - the fear of expecting a recurrence of a symptom, which leads to the fact that the symptom actually appears again, and this only reinforces the patient's initial fears. Sometimes the fear itself can be what the patient is afraid of repeating, but more often they are afraid of fainting, heart attack, etc. Patients react to their fear by fleeing from reality (life), for example, they try not to leave the house.
2. The patient is under the yoke of obsessive ideas that have taken possession of him, he tries to suppress them, counteract them, but this only increases the initial tension. The circle closes, and the patient finds himself inside this vicious circle.
The paradoxical intention is based on the fact that the patient should want what he fears so much to come true. (With a phobia, others did it, with an obsession, so that he himself did what he was afraid of). At the same time, the paradoxical sentence should be formulated as far as possible in a humorous form.
Dereflection is a psychotherapeutic method that helps the patient to neutralize the compulsive tendency to introspection by focusing on the positive aspects of his existence. For example, one of W. Frankl's patients suffered from a compulsive desire to observe her act of swallowing: feeling insecure, she anxiously expected that the food "would go down the wrong way", or that she would choke. Anticipated anxiety and compulsive self-observation disturbed her eating to such an extent that she became completely thin. In therapy, she was taught to trust her body and its automatically regulated functioning. The patient was therapeutically de-reflexed by the formula: "I don't need to watch the swallow because I don't actually need to swallow because I don't actually swallow, but rather the unconscious does it." And thus the patient got rid of the neurotic fixation on the act of swallowing.
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Self-actualization is the absolute disclosure by an individual of personal potential, inclinations and inclinations. It is expressed in a personal desire for the most complete identification of personal capabilities and their further education. True self-actualization depends on the presence of favorable social and historical conditions, but it cannot be set by society or culture from the outside.
Self-actualization does not contain an external goal. It comes from within the individual, expressing his positive nature. Self-actualization is considered a key concept in the humanistic concept in psychology. Its main values are: personal freedom, striving for development, realization of the potential and desires of the subject.
The problem of self-actualization of personality was most clearly represented by two leading psychologists, the founders of the humanistic approach to psychological science - K. Rogers and A. Maslow. Therefore, the theory of self-actualization is rooted in the humanistic direction of psychology. It was first developed in the middle of the 20th century in the United States and became a core component of humanistic psychology, which declared itself the third germ of psychology along with behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Humanistic psychology got its name due to the recognition of the dominant aspect of personality as a single unique system, which is not something provided in advance, but an open opportunity for self-actualization. It is based on the belief that everyone is likely to flourish if they are given the opportunity to independently choose their own destiny and give it the right direction.
The emergence of the concept of self-actualization of the personality and the allocation of its main positions are associated with the name of A. Maslow. Its key point is the concept of personality formation, the doctrine of the need for ultimate creative self-realization, which leads to true mental health.
According to the study of self-actualization conducted by A. Maslow, different definitions are given, but all scientists agree on the main thing:
- in the need to reconcile the individual with the inner "I" as the "core" of the personality and its expression, in other words, "ideal functioning", the development by the subject of all personal and species characteristics;
- in minimizing diseases, neuroses, which reduce the fundamental personal and general inclinations of the individual.
Some researchers believe that it is self-actualization and the subject that are the strongest of the needs of the individual, which can overshadow even the need for food or sleep.
In accordance with the concept of K. Rogers, two directions can be distinguished in the psyche of the individual, provided from birth. The first is a self-actualizing direction, which includes inclinations, future personality traits. And the second direction is a mechanism of control over the formation of personality or an organismic tracking process. It is on these two tendencies that the formation of a unique personality is based, including the “I” real and ideal, between which a completely different relationship can be observed - from disharmony to maximum harmony.
In this concept, self-actualization and self-realization of the subject are closely related. Self-actualization of a person is presented as a process of discovering individual potential, which allows one to become a person who uses absolutely all possibilities. In the course of achieving the goals, the individual lives a fantastically rich, exciting life filled with self-improvement and amazing results. Such a person lives, enjoying every moment of existence “here and now”.
It is possible to single out the typical features of self-actualization of personality. An individual who is engaged in self-actualization and has achieved great success in it can be characterized as follows:
Such individuals are in complete harmony with themselves, as a result of which it can be said with conviction that personal growth contributes to a happier life.
Unfortunately today, the problem of self-actualization is considered one of the most undeveloped aspects in psychology.
Maslow is considered the founder of the humanistic approach to psychology. The American psychologist, unlike his comrades in scientific activity, studied mentally healthy individuals, creatively developed individuals, in other words, such subjects who have achieved self-actualization. And directly under the term self-actualization, he meant the full use of abilities, potential, inclinations by individuals.
Maslow's theory of self-actualization is an experience that is perfect, selfless, alive, with full concentration, absorption and absorption, in other words, an experience without the shyness inherent in adolescence. He also developed the characteristics of self-actualizing personalities:
- a more effective perception of reality and more favorable relations with it;
- acceptance of oneself, others, nature;
- spontaneity, artlessness, immediacy;
- focus on the goal;
- a non-hostile sense of humor;
- the need for isolation and solitude;
– independence from cultural and environment, autonomy;
– constant novelty of the assessment;
– experience of higher states;
- deeper and more perfect interpersonal relationships;
- separation of means and tasks, the concept of good from evil;
- a sense of belonging, union with others;
- self-actualizing creativity.
Maslow's theory of self-actualization is that in order to achieve the goal of avoiding disappointments in human nature, individuals must first give up illusions about it. Maslow proposed eight principles of self-actualization.
The first principle is based on total selfless living experience with absolute concentration and absorption. Often individuals are not aware of what is happening in themselves and around them.
The second principle lies in choosing a solution in the direction of growth in any situation. Choosing to grow means opening yourself up to new, unforeseen experiences that run the risk of being left in the unknown.
The third principle teaches individuals to actually exist, not potentially. This principle means that you need to decide on things that give pleasure and which do not, regardless of the opinions and positions of others.
The fourth principle covers taking responsibility and honesty, which are moments of self-actualization.
The fifth principle is trust in one's own instincts, views and following them, and not trusting what is accepted in society. Only in this case, the individual will be able to make the right choice of profession, diet, life partner, creativity, etc.
The sixth principle advocates the regular development of their inclinations, talents, inclinations, their use in order to do excellently what they want to do.
The seventh principle covers the transitional stage in self-actualization, which Maslow referred to as the "peak experience." In the moments of "peaks" people think, act and feel as clearly and clearly as possible. They love and accept others more, are freer from personal conflict and unrest, and can use their energy more constructively.
Principle eight symbolizes the next step of self-actualization, aimed at finding "protection" and destroying it. Maslow's concept of "protection" implies projection, rationalization, repression, identification, etc., in other words, everything that is used in psychoanalytic practices.
Maslow identified several levels of fundamental needs, presented below. At the lowest level, he placed physiological needs, such as the need for food or intimacy. They are followed by the need for security. It is in order to satisfy this need that the subject will purchase an apartment, clothes, observe a certain regime, etc. At the third level, there is a need for belonging and love, i.e. the individual acquires a family, friends. The next level covers the need for respect, i.e. the subject moves up the career ladder, is involved in politics, etc. The fifth level contains the need for self-actualization. It is the highest level in the presented hierarchy of needs model.
Maslow identified common features for higher needs. He argued that higher needs later manifest themselves. The specificity of higher needs lies in their uselessness for survival, i.e. the higher the level of the hierarchy the need is, the less it will be necessary for survival, the longer its satisfaction will be postponed.
Higher biological efficiency depends on the level of satisfaction of needs, i.e. the higher the level, the greater the efficiency, life expectancy, fewer diseases, etc. All higher needs are perceived by individuals as less relevant. After all, a person is not up to reading books when there is nothing to eat or nowhere to live. Satisfaction of higher needs often leads to personal development, a happier life and enrichment of the inner world.
Only after satisfying the need for self-actualization does the subject become actually complete.
One of the internal manifestations of the desire for personal development is the need for self-actualization.
According to the concept of K. Rogers, human nature contains a quality or phenomenon that encourages him to move in the direction of progress, to maturity, i.e. to greater adequacy of one's own self, potential and inclinations, to the integrity of the individual. Rogers was convinced that personal growth is inherent in every individual. He argued that even if the desire for self-actualization is tightly locked under layers of rusty psychological defenses, hidden behind sophisticated aspects that reject the very fact of its reality, it still exists in every individual and is only waiting for the moment when favorable conditions arise in order to manifest itself.
Rogers' theory of self-actualization is based on his belief in the innate desire to become a whole person, capable and competent as far as the potential allows.
According to Maslow, the need for self-actualization represents the need for self-development, the need for self-expression, the need for self-fulfillment, the desire for identity. He was convinced that the process of self-actualization is a full-fledged development of the personality, which corresponds to the biological predestination of the individual.
K. Goldstein argued that it is the abilities of the individual that determine his needs. In developing the doctrine of self-actualization, Maslow argued that the abilities of the individual stubbornly demand their use and stop putting forward their demands only on the condition that they are fully used.
In accordance with Maslow's theory, the main motivating force that predetermines the behavior of an individual is the strength of a person's feelings in his personal experience. The process of self-actualization is also reflected in hedonism - the enjoyment of the highest benefits inherent in human nature. It is embodied in a feeling of deep satisfaction with life, expressed in a sense of wholeness and enlightenment. Maslow called these experiences peak experiences.
The value and intensity of experiences that are associated with the satisfaction of lower needs, for example, in food or sleep, has a predisposition to decrease with each subsequent action to satisfy this need. Along with this, the peak experiences experienced by a person in the course of self-actualization are the most intense in strength, stable and have a greater value for the subject, in comparison with the experiences arising from the satisfaction of lower needs. This is the basis of Maslow's entire concept of the hierarchy of needs. The main postulate of his concept can be considered the assertion that the desire for self-actualization will always prevail in the ranking of motives.
Goldstein also argued that a healthy subject may temporarily delay the satisfaction of such needs as food, sex, for the sake of satisfying curiosity or other motives.
Maslow believed that in order to satisfy higher needs, the subject can endure hardships, hardships, and will make sacrifices. Often, for the sake of views and principles, an individual agrees to lead an ascetic lifestyle. At the same time, Maslow emphasized the fundamental difference between scarce and existential motivation. A subject who has not satisfied his basic needs, feels a shortage, for example, in security or food, will perceive the world as a hostile reality, which requires him to mobilize all efforts for survival. In such a world, he gets used to being defeated, as a result of which his entire moral and value system is subordinated only to lower needs. At the same time, the self-actualizing individual no longer cares about the problems of survival, he is striving for development and is controlled by internal potencies that were originally laid in him by nature and require their implementation and development.
According to Maslow, self-actualization of a person means moving upward from the need to eliminate the deficit. He emphasized that self-actualization of a person cannot be considered as a state of nirvana, in which there are no problems at all. On the contrary, in the process of self-actualization, a person faces real problems of being, which can bring disappointment and pain. Going beyond the boundaries of their own capabilities in the process of creative being, a self-actualizing individual has to fight with himself in order to force himself to make efforts for the next step in his own being.
Along with this, Maslow was convinced that self-actualization cannot be an end in itself. He said that the process of self-actualization is an intense and painstaking work leading to a gradual increase in achievements. Maslow also pointed out the possibility of "pseudo-development" due to evading an unmet need. This happens when a person convinces himself that the unsatisfied higher need for self-actualization is actually satisfied or does not exist at all. However, this need is necessarily present as an unconscious force that calls on the individual to develop his own potential, to fulfill his life destiny, becoming himself.
Self-actualization, as the goal of the personality, will simultaneously be an intermediate and final goal. Maslow was sure that self-actualization is not precisely the final state, it is directly the process of translating the potential inherent in the individual into reality.
Today, in an era of rapid social transformations that force a person to constantly transform their own established and established life relationships, rebuild themselves, the problem of using and developing personal potential is becoming more acute and qualitatively new. Therefore, the question of the importance of creating conditions for personal self-actualization, the need for incentives for personal growth and the development of the creative potential of those individuals whose professional and labor activities include training, education and assistance is of particular relevance.
For individuals whose profession is closely related to communicative interaction with people, a high degree of personal maturity, mental health and the degree of self-actualization are not only professionally significant characteristics, but also key factors that determine work efficiency.
Self-actualization is a mental neoplasm that is directly related to the formation of the highest possible abilities, the need to achieve success, overcome obstacles and strive for unknown peaks of growth, both personal and professional.
The development of self-actualization is an eternal value for any modern subject. Contributing to the process of mastering the external elements of a positive attitude towards the implementation of activities, as a result of which a positive attitude towards one's own personality is formed, the perception of oneself as a subject of such activity, self-actualization plays the role of a driving factor in the development of personality. It contributes to the maximum manifestation of personal potential, the disclosure of the most hidden possibilities of the individual, and leads to self-organization and personal. Also, self-actualization is a key factor in the formation of internal integrity, the inseparability of all aspects of the personality. So, for example, self-actualization determines the purposeful nature of the subject's activity, gives promises for further professional and personal growth, promotes interactive processes of personal formation at the same time, being such a moment organizing the personality that leads to the natural state of self-organization.
A necessary condition and foundation for the development of self-actualization will be the harmony of the psychological organization of the individual. The harmony of the psychological organization of personal self-actualization is determined by the formation of the spheres of the personality's life (behavioral, intellectual and emotionality), the balance of development of these spheres and their integration.
Speaker of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"
Characteristic of self-actualization
SELF-ACTUALIZATION - the process of deployment and maturation of the inclinations, potentialities, and possibilities initially laid down in the body and personality. In a number of theories developed in line with humanistic psychology, self-actualization is the main mechanism that explains mental and personal development.
Developing the idea of self-actualization for three decades, Maslow made it the cornerstone of not only the theory of personality, but also the whole philosophical and worldview system, which was the reason for the hundreds of thousands of copies of his books.
In the book " Motivation and personality"Maslow defines self-actualization as a person's desire for self-embodiment, for the actualization of the potentialities inherent in him, manifested in the desire for identity:" This term expresses the "full development of man" (based on biological nature), which is (empirically) normative for the whole species, regardless of time and place, that is, to a lesser extent culturally determined. It corresponds to the biological predetermination of a person, and not to historically arbitrary, local value models ... It also has an empirical content and practical meaning».
S. Maslow's theory began with an empirical generalization and identification of a special type of people - self-actualizing personalities, who make up about one percent of the population and are an example of psychologically healthy and maximally expressing the human essence of people. Maslow undertook a study of self-actualizing people and identified a number of traits inherent in them. " It gives the impression Maslow writes, as if humanity had a single ultimate goal, a distant goal towards which all people aspire. Different authors call it differently: self-actualization, self-realization, integration, mental health, individualization, autonomy, creativity, productivity - but they all agree that all these are synonyms for the realization of the individual's potentials, the formation of a person in the full sense of the word, the formation what he can become"
One of the weaknesses of Maslow's theory was that he argued that these needs are in a rigid hierarchy once and for all, and higher needs (for self-esteem or self-actualization) arise only after more elementary ones are satisfied. Not only critics, but also followers of Maslow showed that very often the need for self-actualization or self-respect was dominant and determined human behavior despite the fact that his physiological needs were not satisfied, and sometimes prevented the satisfaction of these needs. Subsequently, Maslow himself abandoned such a rigid hierarchy, combining all needs into two classes: the needs of need (deficiency) and the needs of development (self-actualization).
At the same time, most representatives of humanistic psychology accepted the term "self-actualization" introduced by Maslow, as well as his description of the "self-actualizing personality".
Rejecting his statements about a fixed sequence of satisfying needs in accordance with their position in Maslow's hierarchy, he defines development through various processes that ultimately lead a person to self-actualization, and substantiates a new point of view, namely that these processes take place throughout life. of a person and are conditioned by a specific "motivation for development", the possibilities of manifestation of which are no longer directly dependent on the degree of satisfaction of basic needs. Maslow recognizes that most people (perhaps all) have a desire for self-actualization and, moreover, that most people have the ability to self-actualize, at least in principle, and each individual's self-actualization is unique and unrepeatable. One of the forms of self-actualization available to everyone is the so-called peak experiences described by Maslow, moments of delight or ecstasy in love, communication with art, creativity, religious impulse or in other spheres of human existence that are significant for a person. In peak experiences, a person acquires many features characteristic of self-actualizing people, temporarily becomes self-actualizing. In Maslow's latest works, self-actualization no longer appears as a final, but as an intermediate stage of development, a transition from neurotic or infantile problems of the formation of a person to the true problems of his being as a mature, full-fledged personality "beyond" self-actualization.
Self-actualization is associated with the ability to understand oneself, one's inner nature and learn to "attune" in accordance with this nature, to build one's behavior based on it. This is not a one-time act, but a process that has no end, it is a way " living, working and relating to the world, not a single achievement".
Unlike psychoanalysts, who were mainly interested in deviant behavior, Maslow believed that it was necessary to investigate human nature, " studying its best representatives rather than cataloging the difficulties and mistakes of average or neurotic individuals". Only in this way can we understand the limits of human capabilities, the true nature of man, not fully and clearly represented in other, less gifted people. The group he chose for research consisted of eighteen people, while nine of them were his contemporaries, and nine were historical figures (A. Lincoln, A. Einstein, W. James, B. Spinoza, etc.).
Based on these findings, Maslow names the following characteristics of self-actualizing people:
1. a more effective perception of reality and a more comfortable relationship with it;
2. acceptance (of oneself, others, nature);
3. spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness;
4. task-centeredness (as opposed to self-centeredness);
5. some isolation and need for privacy;
6. autonomy, independence from culture and environment;
7. constant freshness of the assessment;
8. mysticism and experience of higher states;
9. feelings of belonging, unity with others;
10. deeper interpersonal relationships;
11. democratic character structure;
12. distinction between means and ends, good and evil;
13. philosophical, non-hostile sense of humor;
14. self-actualizing creativity;
15. resistance to acculturation, transcending any frequent culture.
The scientist believed that it was conscious aspirations and motives, and not unconscious instincts, that constituted the essence of the human personality. However, the desire for self-actualization, for the realization of one's abilities, encounters obstacles, misunderstandings of others and one's own weaknesses. Many people retreat before difficulties, which does not pass without a trace for the individual, stops its growth. Neurotics are people with an undeveloped or unconscious need for self-actualization. Society, by its very nature, cannot but impede a person's desire for self-actualization. After all, any society strives to make a person its stereotyped representative, alienates the personality from its essence, makes it conformal.
At the same time, alienation, preserving the "selfhood", the individuality of the individual, puts him in opposition to the environment and also deprives him of the opportunity to self-actualize. Therefore, a person needs to maintain a balance between these two mechanisms, which, like Scylla and Charybdis, guard him and seek to destroy him. Optimal, according to Maslow, are identification in the external plan, in communication with the outside world, and alienation in the internal plan, in terms of the development of self-consciousness. It is this approach that gives a person the opportunity to effectively communicate with others and at the same time remain himself. This position of Maslow made him popular among intellectuals, as it largely reflected the views of this social group on the relationship between the individual and society.
Continuing the study of self-actualizing personalities, whose life problems are qualitatively different from the neurotic pseudo-problems facing an immature personality, Maslow comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to create a new psychology - the psychology of Being a person as a full-fledged, developed personality, in contrast to the traditional psychology of becoming a person by a person. In the 60s. Maslow is developing such a psychology. In particular, he shows the fundamental differences between cognitive processes in cases where they are driven by need, and when they are based on the motivation of development and self-actualization. In the second case, we are dealing with cognition at the level of Being (B-cognition). A specific phenomenon of B-cognition is peak experiences (which were discussed above), characterized by a feeling of delight or ecstasy, enlightenment and depth of understanding. Brief episodes of peak experiences are given to all people; in them everyone for a moment becomes, as it were, self-actualizing. Religion, according to Maslow, originally arose as a figurative-symbolic system for describing peak experiences, which later acquired an independent meaning and began to be perceived as a reflection of some kind of supernatural reality. Plain motivation at the level of Being is replaced by the so-called metamotivation . Metamotives are the values of Being (B-values): truth, goodness, beauty, justice, perfection, etc., which belong both to objective reality and to the personality structure of self-actualizing people. These values, like basic needs, Maslow derives from human biology, declaring them universal; the sociocultural environment plays only the role of a factor influencing their actualization, and more often negatively than positively. In recent years, Maslow has gone even further, developing the problem transcendence of self-actualization and moving to even higher levels of development. Maslow stood at the origins of transpersonal psychology, was one of the leaders of this movement in the initial period of its formation. Maslow's ideas about the direction of human development led him to the ideal model of a "eupsychic" society that creates and maintains the possibilities for maximum self-actualization of its members.
Subsequently, Maslow admitted that there was a certain flaw in his theories of motivation. It does not seem to explain why, if man as a species is growth oriented, so many people are unable to develop their potential. Thus, refuting his earlier views, Maslow recognized that favorable conditions do not automatically guarantee personal development, and that self-actualization, happiness and salvation of the soul are impossible without a meaningful vocation in the world and a focus on higher values. The categories of vocation and responsibility of the individual became central to him.
Assessment of self-actualization according to A. Maslow.
The lack of an adequate assessment tool to measure self-actualization initially thwarted any attempt to validate Maslow's core claims. However, the development of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) has given researchers the ability to measure the values and behaviors associated with self-actualization. This is a self-report questionnaire designed to evaluate various characteristics of self-actualization in accordance with Maslow's concept. It consists of 150 statements of forced choice from each pair of statements, the respondent must choose the one that best characterizes him.
POI consists of two main scales and ten subscales.
The first, main scale measures the extent to which a person is directed at himself, and not directed at others in search of values and the meaning of life (characteristic: autonomy, independence, freedom - dependence, need for approval and acceptance)
The second main scale is called competence over time. It measures the extent to which a person lives in the present rather than focusing on the past or the future.
· 10 additional subscales are designed to measure important elements of self-actualization: self-actualization values, existentiality, emotional reactivity, spontaneity, self-interest, self-acceptance, acceptance of aggression, the ability to close relationships.
· POI also has a built-in lie detection scale.
The only major limitation to using the 150-point POI for research purposes is its length. Jones and Crandall (Jones and Crandall, 1986) developed a short self-actualization index. Scale consisting of 15 points:
1. I am not ashamed of any of my emotions.
2. I feel like doing what others want me to do (N)
3. I believe that people are essentially good and can be trusted.
4. I can be angry with those I love.
5. It is always necessary that others approve of what I do (N)
6. I don't accept my weaknesses (N)
7. I may like people I may not approve of.
8. I'm afraid of failure (N)
9. I try not to analyze or simplify complex areas (N)
10. Better to be yourself than popular
11. There is nothing in my life that I would especially devote myself to (N)
12. I can express my feelings, even if it leads to undesirable consequences.
13. I am not obliged to help others (N)
14. I'm tired of inadequacy (N)
15. They love me because I love.
Respondents respond to each statement using a 4-digit scale: 1- disagree, 2- somewhat disagree, 3- somewhat agree, 4- agree. The sign (N) following the statement means that when calculating the total values, the assessment for this item will be inverse (1=4.2=3.3=2.4=1). The higher the total value, the more self-actualized the respondent is considered .
In a study of several hundred college students, Jones and Crandall found that self-actualization index scores were positively correlated with all of the much longer POI scores (r = +0.67) and with measures of self-esteem and “rational behavior and beliefs.” The scale has a certain reliability and is not susceptible to the choice of “Social Desirability” responses. It was also shown that college students who participated in self-confidence training significantly increased the degree of self-actualization, as measured by the scale.
Characteristics of self-actualizing people:
1. More effective perception of reality;
2. Acceptance of oneself, others and nature (accept oneself as they are);
3. Immediacy, simplicity and naturalness;
4. Focus on the problem;
5. Independence: need for privacy;
6. Autonomy: independence from culture and environment;
7. Freshness of perception;
8. Summit, or mystical, experiences (moments of great excitement or high tension, as well as moments of relaxation, peace, bliss and tranquility);
9. Public interest;
10. Deep interpersonal relationships;
11. Democratic character (lack of prejudice);
12. Separation of means and ends;
13. Philosophical sense of humor (friendly humor);
14. Creativity (ability to be creative);
15. Resistance to cultivation (they are in harmony with their culture, while maintaining a certain internal independence from it).
Self-actualization - a process that includes the healthy development of people's abilities so that they can become what they can become.
Self-actualizing people - people who have satisfied their deficit needs and developed their potential to the point that they can be considered highly healthy people.
A. Maslow(1908-1970) was born in New York to Jewish immigrant parents. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin and, after receiving his doctorate, returned to New York, where he worked with psychotherapists from various schools - A. Adler, K. Horney, E. Fromm, M. Bortheimer, and others.
Maslow was ill for a long time, and during this time he was engaged in the affairs of the family business, and later became the theorist of the application of psychology in management. Maslow himself did not like restrictions. And when they said that he was the creator of humanistic psychology, he offered to remove the definition " humanistic". We need to talk about psychology.
“Don't think I'm an anti-behaviorist. I am an anti-doctriner... I am against anything that closes doors and cuts off opportunities.”
Unlike psychologists of the psychoanalytic direction, Maslow did not study sick people, but a mentally healthy and creatively developed person, one who had reached the highest degree of self-actualization. And by self-actualization, he understood "the full use of abilities, talents, opportunities, etc."
Maslow wrote:
It is clear that a being from Mars, having got into a colony of congenital cripples, dwarfs, hunchbacks, etc., will not be able to understand what they should be like. So let's study not the cripples, but the closest we can find, the approximation to a whole healthy person. We will find qualitative differences among them, a different system of motivation, emotions, values, thinking and perception. In a sense, only the saints are humanity." By studying the best people, you can explore the limits of human capabilities. It turns out that only one who has developed his abilities to the maximum extent can be called a person in the full sense of the word. And the process of learning is the process of humanization. After all, a child is something that can become a person. Will he become a man or not - that is the question.
Maslow had a group of only 18 people: nine contemporaries and nine historical figures (A. Lincoln, T. Jefferson, A. Einstein, E. Roosevelt, D. Adams, W. James, A. Schweitzer, O. Huxley, B. Spinoza and others). In general, a good company. I do not list others. They are little known to our reader. He gave signs of self-actualizing personalities. They are worth listing here:
1. A more effective perception of reality and a more comfortable relationship with it.
2. Acceptance of oneself, others, nature.
3. Spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness. I deduced a rule based on this feature. With a complex person it is easy, with a simple person it is difficult. If they tell me that this person is “difficult”, that it’s not so easy to approach him, then for me this means that he is psychologically primitive, since you have to adapt to him, but he himself cannot adapt to others. A complex self-actualized person in communication is simple, like Japanese technology. You just need to press the button.
4. Task-centered (as opposed to self-centered).
5. The need for seclusion and solitude.
The sign follows from the need for self-actualization. It can only come when I'm alone. After all, I prepare a lecture, cook food or write a book alone. I need society to recognize my merits.
6. Autonomy, independence from culture and environment.
The quality is essential. Otherwise, you will not do anything fundamentally new, i.e., you will not self-actualize.
7. Constant freshness of evaluation.
8. Mysticism and experience of higher states.
Archimedes, when he shouted "Eureka!" jumped out of the bath and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse, certainly experienced the experience of higher states.
9. Deeper interpersonal relationships.
10. Democratic character structure.
Otherwise, it cannot be. The property develops according to the mechanisms of identification. If I can do it, then someone else can do it too.
11. Feeling of belonging, unity with others.
12. Distinguishing means and ends, good and evil.
A very important feature! Studying it, I developed a rule that more than once saved me and my patients: it is better to have an unrighteous end than an unrighteous means. If the means is righteous, it will lead to the correction of an unrighteous end.
13. Philosophical non-hostile sense of humor.
Studying this problem, I came to the conclusion that it is better to be ironic at yourself, and not at others, and even developed a method of psycho-laughter therapy.
14. Self-actualizing creativity.
Each completed stage is a stepping stone to the next step.
15. Resistance to acculturation, transcendence of any part of culture.
Maslow wrote:
“There are no perfect people! And self-actualizing people<...>may feel annoyed, irritated, quarrelsome, self-centered, angry and depressed. To avoid being disappointed in human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it.”
Maslow describes eight moments of self-actualization.
1. Full living wholehearted experience with full concentration and full absorption. We usually have little awareness of what is going on in and around us. An example of this is the inconsistency of testimonies. But we have moments of heightened awareness and intense interest, and these moments can be called self-actualization.
2. With every choice, decide in favor of growth. To choose the safe is to stay with the known and the familiar, but risk becoming obsolete and ridiculous. To choose growth is to open oneself to new unexpected experiences, but to risk being left in the unknown.
3. To become real, to exist in fact, and not only in potentiality. Learning to tune into your own inner nature. It means deciding for yourself whether you like a particular food or movie, regardless of the opinions and points of view of others.
4. Honesty and taking responsibility for oneself are moments of self-actualization. Maslow recommends looking within yourself for answers, not trying to look good or satisfy others with your answers.
5. Learn to trust your instincts and judgments and act on them, rather than relying on what is accepted in society. Then a person will be able to make the right choice of profession, life partner, diet, art form, etc.
6. Constant development of our abilities, using them to do well what we want to do. Great talent is not the same as self-actualization. Many gifted people have not been able to realize their abilities, while others, even with average talent, have achieved a lot. Self-actualization is a process that has no end, it is a way of living, working and relating to the world, and not a single achievement.
7. Transitional moments in self-actualization - "peak experience". In such moments, we think, act and feel more clearly and accurately. We love and accept others more, are freer from internal conflict and anxiety, and are more able to use our energy constructively. "Peak of experience" is reminiscent of insight - the completion of a gestalt. This term is more used in psychoanalytic schools.
Life is often boring. " Peak experience are those moments when we become deeply involved, excited and connected to the world. According to Maslow, the highest peaks are characterized by "the feeling of limitless horizons opening, feeling both more powerful and more helpless than ever before, a feeling of ecstasy, elation, awe, loss of sense of space and time."
It's good when a person reaches " plateau of experience”, which is a fundamental change in attitude to the world, causing new points of view, assessments and increased awareness of the world.
8. The next step in self-actualization is the discovery of "protections" and the destruction of them. Here the term "protection" has the same content as in psychoanalytic schools (rationalization, projection, identification, repression, etc.)
Maslow lists the following fundamental needs:
1. Physiological needs. This is the need for food, sleep, sex, etc.
2. The need for security. To satisfy this need, a person observes a certain daily routine, acquires an apartment, clothes, etc.
3. The need for love and belonging. A person starts a family, friends.
4. The need for respect. A person makes a career, engages in science, participates in political and public life.
5. The need for self-actualization. This is the highest level in the hierarchy of needs. Man realizes his abilities.
Higher needs have the following characteristics:
1. Higher needs are later.
2. The higher the level of need, the less important it is for survival, the further its satisfaction can be pushed back and the easier it is to get rid of it for a while.
3. Living at a higher level of need means higher biological efficiency, longer duration, better sleep, better appetite, less disease, etc.
4. Higher needs are perceived as less urgent. “I have no time for high matters,” says the man, whose efforts do not even allow him to get food.
5. Satisfaction of higher needs often results in personal development, more often brings joy and happiness, enriches the inner world.
In fact, a full-fledged person becomes only when he has satisfied his needs for self-actualization. This is especially evident in the example of those people who satisfied the needs of the first four levels, but could not satisfy the fifth. Then it turns out that good food, a luxurious apartment, a prosperous family and a good position do not bring happiness. That's when neurosis develops. Someone said: " If an angel is not released, he becomes a devil". I know a doctor who should have been a poet. This is a good doctor, but the poetic gift is torn out, and he very often writes poetry on the topic of the day and to everyone who asks him. He did not become a poet, but this gift distracts him from medical studies, which hinders his qualification growth and does not allow him to take a higher position.
"The faculties insistently demand their use, and cease their demand when they are sufficiently and fully used." Growth is theoretically possible only because the taste of the "higher" is better than the taste of the "lower", and therefore sooner or later the satisfaction of the "lower" becomes boring. When needs are not met, people complain. And if people complain that they cannot satisfy their needs for self-improvement, justice, beauty, truth, then this is a high level of complaints, because it indicates that things are going well. It is worse when they complain that they cannot feed their families.
Maslow believes there will be no end to complaints; one can only hope for their level to rise. The level of complaints serves as an indicator of the development of the individual and the enlightenment of society.
