Chapter 10 Maslow – Holistic-Dynamic Theory (Vocabulary Review)

Overview of Maslow’s Holistic-Dynamic Theory

Also labeled “humanistic,” “needs,” “self-actualization,” the “third force” (vs. psychoanalysis & behaviorism) and even a “fourth force” in personality theory.
Core proposition: The whole person is continually motivated by one need or another and has an innate tendency to grow toward psychological health (self-actualization).
Lower-order (deficiency) needs must be at least relatively gratified before higher-order (growth) needs can operate.
Accepts selected insights from psychoanalysis (unconscious forces) & behaviorism (learning) but rejects their pessimistic or mechanistic view of humans.

Biography of Abraham H. Maslow (1908-1970)

Born in Brooklyn; eldest of seven to Russian-Jewish immigrants Samuel & Rose Maslow.
Childhood marked by shyness, feelings of inferiority, depression, anti-Semitic harassment, and intense hatred of his mother (dramatic “kitten” incident illustrates her cruelty).
Academic path: City College of New York ➔ Cornell (brief, disliked Titchener’s structuralism) ➔ back to CCNY ➔ Univ. of Wisconsin (B.A. Philosophy, Ph.D. Psychology under Harry Harlow; dissertation on primate dominance > sex).
Fortuitous first kiss & marriage to cousin Bertha Goodman catalyzed his own growth—example of how minimal events can unleash potential.
Early career: Columbia (assistant to E. L. Thorndike); Brooklyn College faculty; extensive contact with Fromm, Horney, Wertheimer, Goldstein, Adler, Benedict.
Health crises: Undiagnosed heart attacks (1946, 1967) eventually led to death (1970, age 62) in California.
Honors: 1967-68 APA presidency; influential across business, education, nursing, counseling, theology.

Basic Assumptions About Motivation

Holism: Motivation involves the whole organism, not isolated parts.
Complexity: Any act may reflect multiple motives (e.g., sexual behavior ↔ dominance, love, esteem).
Continual process: When one need is satisfied it loses motivational power; another emerges.
Universal: Same basic needs operate in all cultures; only modes of expression differ.
Hierarchy: Needs can be arranged from lower (prepotent) to higher (least urgent but most growth-producing).

Hierarchy of Conative (Striving) Needs

Physiological – food, water, air, temperature regulation, sex.
- Only needs that can be fully or over-satisfied & recur cyclically.
- "Man lives by bread alone—when there is no bread."
Safety – protection, stability, structure, freedom from fear/chaos.
- Cannot be completely satiated; unmet safety → basic anxiety.
- Highly salient for children or adults with lingering childhood fears.
Love & Belongingness – friendship, family, mate, group identity, need to give/receive love.
- Three patterns: (a) consistently loved ➔ resilient; (b) never loved ➔ devalue love; (c) inconsistently loved ➔ strongest hunger for love.
Esteem – (a) reputation️ (others’ regard) & (b) self-esteem️ (confidence, mastery).
- Authentic self-esteem rests on real competence, not status alone.
Self-Actualization – self-fulfillment, maximization of potential, creativeness.
- Requires acceptance of B-values (Being-values); otherwise growth is blocked even if esteem is met.

Lower needs are prepotent; but temporary reversals or simultaneous activation can occur (e.g., artist foregoing food for creativity).

Additional Categories of Needs

Aesthetic Needs – desire for beauty, order. Deprivation → displeasure & pathology.
Cognitive Needs – curiosity, knowledge, understanding. Blockage → skepticism, cynicism.
Neurotic Needs – learned, nonproductive patterns (e.g., hoarding power); satisfaction produces pathology.

Expressive vs. Coping Behavior

Coping behavior – motivated, learned, conscious, aimed at need gratification.
Expressive behavior – often unmoved by needs; spontaneous self-expression (smile, gait, play, art).

Deprivation & Pathology

Lack of basic need gratification leads to specific illnesses:
• Physiological → fatigue, obsession with food/sex.
• Safety → fear, insecurity.
• Love → defensiveness, aggression.
• Esteem → self-doubt.
• Self-actualization → metapathology (meaninglessness, alienation).

Instinctoid Nature of Needs

Instinctoid = innate yet malleable; frustration produces pathology.
Criteria: (1) pathology on frustration, (2) persistent & health-promoting, (3) species-specific, (4) weak vs. powerful cultural forces (culture must protect them).

Self-Actualization in Depth

Maslow’s Quest

Inspired by Ruth Benedict & Max Wertheimer – neither neurotic nor merely “well-adjusted,” but exemplary.
Initially searched living volunteers; most lacked the “flame.” Shifted to biographical study of Jefferson, Lincoln, Einstein, etc.

Criteria for Self-Actualization

Absence of psychopathology.
Satisfaction of lower needs (no chronic deprivation).
Acceptance & active use of B-values.
Full use of talents, capacities, potentialities.

Being-Values (Metaneeds)

Truth • Goodness • Beauty • Wholeness (transcending dichotomies) • Aliveness • Uniqueness • Perfection • Completion • Justice/Order • Simplicity • Richness/Totality • Effortlessness • Playfulness/Humor • Self-sufficiency/Autonomy.

Characteristics (15) of Self-Actualizers

Efficient reality perception – detect phoniness, tolerate ambiguity.
Acceptance – of self, others, nature.
Spontaneity & Naturalness – child-like simplicity.
Problem-centering – mission-oriented beyond self.
Need for privacy (solitude without loneliness).
Autonomy – self-determining, independent of culture & praise.
Freshness of appreciation – awe for everyday events.
Peak experiences – mystical, ego-transcending moments of ecstasy.
Gemeinschaftsgefühl – social interest, identification with humanity.
Profound interpersonal relations – deep ties with a few.
Democratic character structure – humility, openness to learn from anyone.
Discrimination between means & ends.
Philosophical (nonhostile) sense of humor.
Creativeness – originality in everyday life ("first-rate soup > second-rate poetry").
Resistance to enculturation – inner‐directed, ethically autonomous.

Love, Sex, & B-Love

B-love (Being-love) vs. D-love (deficiency-love).
B-love: unmotivated, non-needy, mutually enhancing, can render sex a mystical event yet also playful.

Peak Experience Details

Natural, unplanned, brief, non-striving, intensely positive; brings unity, timelessness, passivity + responsibility, loss of fear.
Often leaves lasting positive change.

Barriers to Growth – The Jonah Complex

Fear of one’s own greatness, running from destiny.
Reasons: (a) Potential ecstasy is overwhelming; (b) False humility (“Who am I to be great?”).

Philosophy of Science

Critique of value-free “desacralized” science; calls for resacralization – awe, joy, human relevance.
Advocates Taoistic attitude: non-interfering, holistic, subjective, idiographic.
Scientists should study whole persons, tolerate ambiguity, pursue important problems even if methods are imprecise.

Measuring Self-Actualization

Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) – 150 forced-choice items; two major scales (Time Competence, Inner Support) + 10 subscales; resistant to faking; Maslow’s own scores moderate.
Short Index of Self-Actualization (Jones & Crandall) – 15 Likert items, quicker & less irritating.
Brief Index of Self-Actualization (Sumerlin & Bundrick) – 32 Likert items; factors: Core SA, Autonomy, Openness, Comfort with Solitude.

Psychotherapy Implications

Goal: facilitate embrace of B-values & free clients’ growth‐oriented impulse.
Focus on the need level currently thwarted (typically love/belongingness).
Therapeutic relationship supplies acceptance ➔ boosts esteem ➔ frees drive to self-actualize (parallels Carl Rogers).

Related & Contemporary Research

Developmental trajectory of needs – Reiss & Havercamp (2006) found lower motives stronger in youth, higher motives stronger in older adults, consistent with hierarchy over lifespan.
Positive psychology & peak experience recall –
• Burton & King (2004): Writing 20 min × 3 days about “happiest/rapture” moments ➔ fewer doctor visits next 3 mo.
• Lyubomirsky, Sousa, & Dickerhoof (2006): Simply thinking about positive experiences 15 min × 3 days ➔ ↑ well-being 1 mo later.
Growth goals across adulthood – Bauer & McAdams (2004): Intrinsic/exploratory goals correlate with ego-development & well-being; older adults higher in both, supporting Maslow’s age ↔ growth link.

Critique of Maslow’s Theory

Generates Research – moderate (esp. on self-actualization, peak experiences).
Falsifiability – low; vague operational definitions, sampling method unclear.
Organizing Power – high; intuitive hierarchy organizes diverse facts.
Practical Guidance – high; applied in therapy, management, education.
Internal Consistency – terminology sometimes imprecise, yet overall logical.
Parsimony – moderate; five-level model simple, but full theory complex.

Maslow’s Concept of Humanity

Optimistic & growth-oriented; pathology arises from need thwarting, not inherent evil.
Humans are purposeful (teleological) – move naturally toward self-actualization unless blocked.
Emphasizes similarities (universal needs) yet values uniqueness once higher needs emerge.
Free choice ↔ determinism: Lower-need behavior more determined; self-actualizing behavior more freely chosen.
Conscious ↔ unconscious: Higher growth is conscious, yet motives can be partly unconscious.
Biological & social influences interact; culture must safeguard delicate instinctoid needs.

Condensed Key Terms & Formulas

Conative Needs – striving needs in hierarchy.
B-Values / Metaneeds – truth, beauty, etc.
Metamotivation – growth motivation of self-actualizers.
Metapathology – illness from B-value deprivation.
Instinctoid Needs – innate yet moldable; deprivation ⇒ pathology.
Jonah Complex – fear of one’s potential greatness.
Expressive vs. Coping Behavior – self-expression vs. need-directed acts.
POI – assessment tool for self-actualization.

“What a man can be, he must be.” – Abraham H. Maslow