Humanism, Self-Actualization, and Self-Determination

What did Maslow describe as the “third force” of psychology?

Humanism

If humanism is the third force of psychology, what were the first two forces?

Psychoanalysis and Behaviorism

Self-Actualization

Full use of exploitations of talents, capabilities, potentialities.

Need for Positive Regard

Innate human need for love, affection, acceptance

Who was Maslow’s advisor?

Harry Harlow

What was Maslow’s view on health?

Health isn’t the absence of disease. Any theory of motivation must deal with highest capacities of the healthy and strong man as well as the defensive maneuvers of one.

Maslow’s examples of self actualized individuals (4)

• Harriet Tubman

• Thomas Jefferson

• Ben Franklin

• George Washington Carver

What is the most central characteristic of self-actualized individuals?

Creativity

Peak Experiences

Brief experiences, often involving self transcendence or a state of awe, where the individual is no longer concerned with deficiency needs but more concerned with things like intrinsic values or things that are true and good

(T/F) There are 15 central characteristics to self-actualization. A self-actualized individual must possess all of them.

False; one doesn’t need to have all 15 characteristics, but it’s important to keep in mind that creativity is the most central characteristic.

Understanding what it means to be self-actualized makes one (more/less) likely to become self-actualized.

More

What percent of individuals does Maslow believe to be self-actualized?

2%

15 Characteristics of Self-Actualized Individuals

1. Efficient Perception of Reality

2. Problem Centered

3. Acceptance of self and others

4. Spontaneous

5. Detached

6. Independence from environment

7. Resistance to enculturation

8. Freshness of appreciation

9. Creative

10. Unhostile sense of humor

11. Democratic

12. Gemeinschaftsgefuhl

13. Intimate interpersonal relationships

14. Discrimination of means from ends (Intrinsic Motivation)

15. Peak Experiences

Gemeinschaftsgefuhl

Taking care of and looking out for the wellbeing of others

Prepotency

When we need something, we are focused on it because it demands our attention

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Prepotency

We have different types of needs and they change in prepotency

5 levels of needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy (lowest to highest)

Physiological → Safety and Physical Security → Love and Belongingness → Self-Esteem → Self-Actualization

Deficiency Needs

When they are not met, they demand our attention. This includes all lower needs besides self-actualization

Growth Based Motives

Seeking growth, rather than being motivated out of deprivation of something. Self-Actualization is an example of this.

What state are peak experiences similar to?

William James’s Mystical State

William James’s Mystical State Features (4)

1. Ineffability

2. Noetic Quality

3. Transiency

4. Passivity

Ineffability

Can’t be put into words

Noetic Quality

Involves insight, revelation, or truth finding

Transiency

Is fleeting or brief

Passivity

Unwilled; it happens to you, it’s not a moment of self expression or exertion

Being Values (definition)

Occur when someone has a peak experience or is self actualized

Being Values (examples)

• Truth

• Goodness

• Beauty

• Aliveness

• Completion

• Meaningfulness

• Self-sufficiency

Actualizing Tendency

The natural tendency of an organism to maintain or enhance itself and move in the direction of self-actualization.

Who termed actualizing tendency, need for positive regard, and the therapeutic approach?

Carl Rogers

What happens if positive regard is unconditional?

Then one has the freedom to be themselves, leading to higher congruence and higher actualizing tendency

What happens if positive regard is conditional?

Then they have motivations to meet those conditions of worth, leading to lower congruence and lower actualizing tendency

What is congruence the basis of?

Congruence is the basis of moving towards actualizing tendency

Therapeutic Approach (3)

1. Be accepting

2. Be empathetic

3. Be genuine

Which aspect of the therapeutic approach best predicts the outcomes of therapy?

Being empathetic

Which two psychologists created Self-Determination Theory?

Ed Deci and Richard Ryan

What 4 mini-theories go into self-determination theory?

1. Cognitive Evaluation Theory

2. Organismic Integration Theory

3. Causality Orientations Theory

4. Basic Needs Theory

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

The likelihood of engaging in a behavior increases after a reward contingency system is in place, but when the reward is removed the likelihood of engaging in that behavior goes lower than the original baseline. This shows that intrinsic motivation decreases after a reward is introduced and then taken away because one misattributes the reason the did the action in the first place.

Intrinsic Motivation

Engaging in a task for its own sake (interest, enjoyment)

Extrinsic Motivation

Engaging in a task because of its consequences (reward that follows)

Can extrinsic motivation be healthy?

Yes (but not always)

Why do rewards often undermine intrinsic motivation?

Being controlled by others leads to a more external locus of causality

T/F: Rewards can increase or decrease intrinsic motivation.

True; if a reward makes you feel like you are being controlled, then it will likely increase your external locus of control and decrease your intrinsic motivation. However, if a reward increased your sense of autonomy, that may increase your intrinsic motivation by getting some positive confidence feedback.

Internal Locus of Causality

Person as “origin” of own behavior; free choice

External Locus of Causality

Person is “pawn”; rewards often make people feel this way

Organismic Integration Theory

External motivation can be healthy or unhealthy, depending on how it’s regulated.

Two types of motivation for extrinsic motivation

1. Controlled Motivation

2. Autonomous Motivation

4 types of Extrinsic Motivation

1. External Regulation

2. Introjected Regulation

3. Identified Regulation

4. Integrated Regulation

External Regulation

External; compliance, external rewards and punishers (most controlled motivation)

Introjected Regulation

Somewhat external; self control, ego-involvement, internal rewards and punishers, feeling pressured by yourself (more controlled then autonomous)

Identified Regulation

Somewhat internal; personal importance, conscious valuing

Integrated Regulation

Internal; congruence, self awareness, synthesis with self

Performance is better when you have which type of extrinsic motivation?

Internalized form of extrinsic motivation (integrated regulation)

What is necessary to carry out the natural tendency to internalize extrinsic motivation?

A supportive environment

Causality Orientations Theory

Concerns individual differences in motivation styles; there are three orientations that play a role in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Three Orientations of Causality Orientations Theory

1. Autonomy

2. Controlled

3. Impersonal

Autonomy (orientation)

Intrinsically motivation, internalized form of extrinsic motivation

Which type of orientation has people that are self-determined?

Autonomy

People who fall under the autonomy orientation have (better/worse) performance and well-being.

Better

Controlled

No intrinsic motivation, externalized form of extrinsic motivation

People who fall under the controlled orientation have (higher/lower) self-determination than people under the autonomy orientation.

Lower

Impersonal

Absence of motivation

Which orientation is related to anxiety?

Controlled

Which orientation is related to depression?

Impersonal

Basic Needs Theory

Human well being and growth are facilitated by satisfaction of three needs:

• Autonomy

• Competence

• Relatedness

Autonomy (need)

Feeling free to make your own choices

Competence

Feeling of capability of high self efficacy and effectance motivation

Relatedness

having close, caring, intimate relationships with others

Humanistic Psychology

Everyone has potential for growth, no one is inherently bad

Phenomenological

Emphasis of importance of one’s own experiences

Organismic Valuing Process

Automatically evaluating experiences to tell if they promote actualization. If they don’t, you have a nagging sense.

Fully Functioning Person

Someone who is self-actualized: they are open to experiencing their feelings and are not threatened by them.

Conditions of Worth

Conditions under which people are judged worthy of positive regard

Conditional Self-Regard

Behaving to fit conditions of worth you’re applying to yourself; this interferes with self-actualization

Contingent Self-Worth

Use performance n some area of life as condition for self-acceptance

Self-Determination

Controlling ones own life; necessary for life of growth

Self-Concordant

Consistent with core values; important aspect of goals

Stereotype Threat

When there is a negative stereotype about a group, people are scared of being identified with that threat and thus tend to misidentify with the stereotyped group.

Transcendent Self-Actualizers

Self-Actualization is most important aspect of their life.

Existential Psychology

Each person must take responsibility for their choices; emphasizes individual perception of reality

Daesin

Totality of person’s experience as autonomous, separate, and evolving entity; there is no existence apart from world, and the world has no meaning apart from the people in it.

Existential Guilt

Occurs from failing to completely fulfill your possibilities

Terror Management Theory

Death leads to existential angst, and people respond to this by trying to live lives of meaning and value. This leads to increased self esteem and pushes them towards affiliation.

Content Analysis

Evaluates and organizes interview information into groupings of peoples statements.

Q-Sort

Give people a set of items on cards, person sorts cards into piles based on how life them to how unlike them the cards are. Forced self-evaluation.