MASLOW: HOLISTIC-DYNAMIC THEORY

PSYCH 303 – THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

ABRAHAM MASLOW: HOLISTIC-DYNAMIC THEORY o Maslow’s mother was also a very religious
woman who often threatened young Maslow
TOPIC OUTLINE with punishment from God
1 Overview of Holistic-Dynamic Theory o Maslow learned to hate and mistrust religion and
2 Biography of Abraham Maslow to become a committed atheist (because of his
3 Maslow’s View of Motivation mother).
4 Self-Actualization  Developed a close relationship with his cousin Will
5 Maslow’s Psychology and Philosophy of Science Maslow
6 Measuring Self-Actualization o Through this relationship, Abe himself developed
7 The Jonah Complex some social skills and was involved in several
8 Psychotherapy school activities
9 Critique of Maslow  University of Wisconsin
10 Concept of Humanity  BA in Philosophy
 As a graduate student, he worked closely with Harry
Harlow, who was just beginning his research his monkeys
OVERVIEW OF HOLISTIC-DYNAMIC THEORY  Married his cousin, Bertha Goodman
 Also known as HUMANISTIC THEORY,  1934 – received his doctorate
TRANSPERSONAL THEORY, the third force in  Went to medical school but like law school, he found it
psychology, the fourth force in personality, needs unemotional
theory, self-actualization theory. o He left medical school to join the faculty of
o Holistic Dynamic Theory – assumes that the Brooklyn College
whole person is constantly being motivated by  1930s to 1940s came into contact with many of the
one need or another and that people have the European Psychologists
potential to grow toward psychological health,  Ruth Benedict – encouraged Maslow to conduct
that is self-actualization anthropological studies among the Northern Blackfoot
o To attain self-actualization, people must satisfy Indians
lower level needs such as hunger, safety, love, o Taught him that differences among cultures
and esteem were superficial
 When the lower needs are relatively satisfied can they o This insight helped Maslow in later years to see
reach self-actualization that his famous hierarchy of needs applied
 Other theorists: Maslow, Gordon Allport, Carl Rogers, equally to everyone
Rollo May  1951 –Maslow took a position as chairman of the
 Maslow believed that humans have a higher nature psychology department
than either psychoanalysis or behaviorism would o Brandeis University, Massachusetts
suggest; and he spent the latter years of his life trying  Maslow received many honors during his lifetime,
to discover the nature of psychologically healthy including his election to the presidency of the American
individuals Psychological Association for the year 1967-68
 Died in 1970
BIOGRAPHY OF ABRAHAM MASLOW
 As a graduate student, he worked closely with Harry
MASLOW’S VIEW OF MOTIVATION
Harlow, who was just beginning his research with monkeys
 Maslow’s theory of personality rests on several basic
 Abraham Harold (Abe) Maslow
assumptions regarding motivation:
 Manhattan, New York; April 1, 1908
 (1) Holistic approach to motivation
 Spent an unhappy childhood in Brooklyn
 The whole person, not any single part or function, is
 Oldest of 7 children ; Samuel Maslow & Rose Schilosky
motivated
Maslow
 (2) Motivation is usually complex
 Maslow was not especially close to either parent, but he
 A person’s behavior may spring from several separate
tolerated his often-absent father, a Russian-Jewish
motives (Ex: desire for sex may also be motivated by need
immigrant who made a living preparing barrels
for dominance, love, companionship)
o Toward his mother, Maslow felt hatred and
deep-seated animosity
 (3) People are continually motivated by one need or  Differ from physiological needs in
another that they cannot be overly
 If one need is satisfied, it losses its motivational power and satisfied; we can never be
replaced by another needs completely protected from fires,
 (4) All people everywhere are motivated by the same floods, or the dangerous acts of
basic needs (same across all cultures) others
 (5) Needs can be arranged on a hierarchy  Other people spend more energy
than healthy people trying to
satisfy safety needs, and when
HEIRARCHY OF NEEDS they are not successful in their
 Assumes that lower level needs must be satisfied or at attempts, they suffer from basic
least relatively satisfied before higher level needs anxiety.
become motivators
 The 5 needs composing this hierarchy are conative Safety Needs  Include physical security,
needs, mean ing that they have a striving or dependency, protection, and
motivational character. freedom from threatening forces
 These needs, which Maslow often referred to as basic such as war, illness, fear, danger,
needs, can be arranged on a hierarchy chaos, and natural disasters
 Lower level needs have prepotency over higher level  Differ from physiological needs in
needs; that is, they must be satisfied or mostly satisfied that they cannot be overly
before higher level needs become activated satisfied; we can never be
completely protected from fires,
floods, or the dangerous acts of
others
 Other people spend more energy
than healthy people trying to
satisfy safety needs, and when
they are not successful in their
attempts, they suffer from basic
anxiety.
Physiological  The most prepotent of all
Love and  The desire for friendship; the wish
Needs  As long as this need remains Belongingness for a mate and children; the need
unsatisfied, their primary Needs to belong to a family, a club, a
motivation is to obtain something
neighborhood, or a nation
(from this level)
 Also include some aspects of sex
 In affluent societies, when people
and human contact as well as the
say “hungry” they speak about
need to both give and receive love
appetite. A truly hungry person
 1st Group: People who have had
will not be overly particular about
this needs adequately satisfied
taste, smell or texture of food
from early years do not panic
 Physiological needs differ from
when denied love. They have
other needs in at least 2 important
confidence that they are accepted
respects. 1st: the only needs that
by those who are important to
can be completely/overly
them, so when other people reject
satisfied. 2nd: their recurring
them, they do not feel devastated.
nature
 2nd Group: People who seldom or
 Include physical security,
never received “acts of love” (Ex:
dependency, protection, and
hugs, cuddles, verbal words) will
freedom from threatening forces
eventually learn to devalue love
such as war, illness, fear, danger,
and to take its absence for
chaos, and natural disasters
granted.
  3rd Group: People who have  Once people meet their esteem
received love and belongingness needs, they stand on the threshold
only in small doses, receive only a of self-actualization
taste of love and belongingness—
the will be strongly motivated to Self-Actualization  When lower level needs are
seek it; have stronger needs for Needs satisfied, people proceed more or
affection and acceptance than do less automatically to the next
people who have received either a level. However, once esteem
healthy amount of love or no love needs are met, they do not always
at all move to the level of self-
 Children need love in order to actualization
grow psychologically  Once esteem needs are satisfied,
(Straightforward, direct ways) we may or may not move on to
 Adults too (But sometimes self-actualization depending
cleverly disguised) whether or not we embrace the B-
 These adults often engage in self- Values
defeating behaviors, such as  Self-actualization needs include
pretending to be aloof or adopting self-fulfillment, the realization of
a cynical, cold, and calloused all one’s potential, and a desire to
manner in their interpersonal become creative in the full sense
relationships, but in reality they of the word
have a strong need to be accepted  Become fully human, satisfying
and loved by other people. needs that others merely glimpse
 Others whose love needs remain or never view at all
largely unsatisfied adopt more  They are natural in the same sense
obvious ways of trying to satisfy that animals and infants are
them, but they undermine their natural; that is, they express their
own success by striving too hard. basic human needs and do not
These leave others become allow them to be suppressed by
suspicious, unfriendly, and culture
impenetrable.  Maintain their feelings of self-
esteem even when scorned,
Esteem Needs  Include self-respect, confidence, rejected, and dismissed by other
competence, and the knowledge people
that others hold them in high
esteem
3 other categories of needs
2 levels of esteem needs:
 Reputation—is the perception of  Satisfaction of aesthetic and cognitive needs is
the prestige, recognition, or fame consistent with psychological health, whereas the
a person has achieved in the eyes deprivation of these two needs results in pathology.
of others Neurotic needs, however, lead to pathology whether or
 Self-Esteem—is based on more not they are satisfied.
than reputation or prestige; it
reflects a “desire for strength, for Aesthetic  Unlike conative needs, aesthetic needs
achievement, for adequacy, for Needs are not universal
mastery and competence, for  Some people have produced art for art’s
confidence in the face of the sake
world, and for independence and  People with strong aesthetic needs desire
freedom” beautiful and orderly surroundings, and
when these needs are not met, they may
become sick (physically and spiritually)
Cognitive  Most people have a desire to know, to
Needs solve mysteries, to understand, and to be Unmotivated  Even though all behaviors have a
curious Behavior cause, some behaviors are not
 When cognitive needs are blocked, all motivated
needs on Maslow’s hierarchy are  Some behavior is not caused by
threatened; that is, knowledge is needs but by other factors such as
necessary to satisfy each of the five conditioned reflexes, maturation, or
conative needs drugs
 Healthy people desire to know (to  Much of what Maslow called
theorized, etc.) more just for the “expressive behavior” is
satisfaction of knowing. unmotivated.
 People who have not satisfied their
cognitive needs, have had their curiosity Expressive and  Expressive behavior
stifled, or have been denied information, Coping  Serves no other purpose
become pathological, a pathology that Behavior  Often unconscious and usually takes
takes the form of skepticism, place naturally and with little effort
disillusionment, and cynicism  Usually unlearned, spontaneous, and
determined by forces within the
Neurotic  Satisfaction of other needs is basic to person rather than by the
Needs physical and psychological health; environment
frustration of them may lead to some level  Coping behavior
of illness. However, neurotic need lead  Ordinarily conscious, effortful,
only to stagnation and pathology learned, and determined by the
 Gratified or not, neurotic needs are external environment
nonproductive (Ex: A person who has a  It involves the individual’s attempts
neurotic need for power may gain so much to cope with the environment; to
power but it doesn’t lessen his need for it) secure food and shelter; to make
 Perpetuate an unhealthy style of life friends; and to receive acceptance,
 No value in the striving for self- appreciation, and prestige from
actualization others (it has an aim or goal)
 Usually reactive; that is, they serve as
compensation for unsatisfied basic needs Deprivation of  Deprivation of any of the basic needs
Needs leads to some kind of pathology:
 Deprivation of physiological needs
General Discussion of Needs results in malnutrition, fatigue, loss
of energy, obsession with sex, and so
 The more a lower level need is satisfied, the greater the on
emergence of the next level need  Threats to one’s safety lead to fear,
 Needs, emerge gradually, and a person may be insecurity, and dread
simultaneously motivated by needs from two or more  Unfulfilled love needs, a person
levels becomes defensive, overly
aggressive, or socially timid
Reversed  Ex: An enthusiastic artist may risk  Lack of esteem results in self-doubt,
Order of safety and health to complete an self-depreciation, and lack of
Needs important work confidence
 Reversals, however, are usually more  Deprivation of self-actualization
apparent than real. If we understood needs also leads to pathology, or
the unconscious motivation more accurately, metapathology
underlying the behavior, we would  Metapathology (the absence of
recognize that the needs are not values, the lack of fulfillment, and
reversed (Ex: Pursuit for creativity the loss of meaning in life)
just to be appreciated by others—not
S-A need, but a belonging need)
 Instinctoid  Instinctoid: the 5 conative needs  Maslow’s additional handicaps in the quest for the self-
Nature of (innately determined but can be actualized person
Needs modified by learning… Ex: expression o he was trying to find a personality syndrome that
of love varies) had never been clearly identified
 Noninstinctoid: Learned and not o many of the people he believed to be self-
innately determined (need to comb actualizing refused to participate in his search
one’s hair, speak one’s own dialect)  due to these handicaps, Maslow took a DIFFERENT
 Instinctoid in contrast to APPROACH – reading biographies of famous people
Noninstinctoid o identified a syndrome for psychological health
 First: Level of pathology upon - took a sample of potentially healthy
frustration individuals
Ex: physiological, safety, love, etc. - took a sample of potentially healthy
may lead to pathology individuals
Ex: Need to comb one’s hair doesn’t - refined his original definition and then
 Second: Satisfaction/Duration reselected potential self-actualizers
Instinctoid: Leads to psychological - repeated the entire procedure
health/Persistent
Noninstinctoid: Not a prerequisite
for health/Temporary CRITERIA FOR SELF-ACTUALIZATION
 Third: Species-Specific (only human has
esteem and S-A needs)  First, they were free from psychopathology
 Fourth: though difficult to change,  Neurotic and psychotic individuals have some things in
instinctoid needs can be molded, common with self-actualizing people: namely, such
inhibited, or altered by characteristics as a heightened sense of reality, mystical
environmental influences experiences, creativity, and detachment from other
people
Comparison of  Higher level needs are later on the  Second, these self-actualizing people had progressed
Higher and phylogenetic or evolutionary scale through the hierarchy of needs
Lower Needs (Ex: only humans—a recent specie—  Third, embracing of the B-values
have self-actualization needs)  Fourth, full use and exploitation of talents, capacities,
 Higher needs appear later during the potentialities, etc. In other words, his self-actualizing
course of individual development individuals fulfilled their needs to grow, to develop, and to
 Higher level needs produce more increasingly become what they were capable of becoming
happiness and more peak
experiences VALUES OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION
 The satisfaction of higher level needs
is more subjectively desirable to  Self-actualizing people are motivated by the “eternal
those people who have experienced verities,” what he called B-values
both higher and lower level needs.  These “Being” values are indicators of psychological
health and are opposed to deficiency needs
 B-values are not needs, they are “Metaneeds” or
ultimate level of needs
SELF-ACTUALIZATION  He distinguished between ordinary need motivation and
 Maslow’s ideas on self-actualization began soon after he the motives of self-actualizing people, which he called
received his PhD, when he became puzzled about why metamotivation.
two of his teachers in New York City—anthropologist  Metamotivation is characterized by expressive rather
Ruth Benedict and psychologist Max Wertheimer than coping behavior and is associated with the B-values
 Metamotivation was Maslow’s tentative answer to the
problem of why some people have their lower needs
Maslow’sQuestfortheSelf-ActualizingPerson satisfied, are capable of giving and receiving love, possess
 emotional security and good adjustment were not a great amount of confidence and self-esteem, and yet
dependable predictors of a Good Human Being fail to pass over the threshold to self-actualization
 The lives of these people are meaningless and lacking in  Do not expect perfection
B-values. Only people who live among the B-values are either in themselves or in
self-actualizing, and they alone are capable of others
metamotivation.
 When people’s metaneeds are not met, they experience Spontaneity,  They are unconventional but
illness, an existential illness. Simplicity, and not compulsively so
 All people have a holistic tendency to move toward Naturalness  Highly ethical but may appear
completeness or totality; and when this movement is unethical or nonconforming
thwarted, they suffer feelings of inadequacy,  The similarity between self-
disintegration, and un-fulfillment. actualizing people and
 Deprivation of any of the B-values results in children and animals is in
metapathology, or the lack of a meaningful philosophy of their spontaneous and natural
life behavior
 Unpretentious and not afraid
or ashamed to express joy,
awe, elation, sorrow, anger,
or other deeply felt emotions

Problem-Centering  Interest in problems outside

themselves (others are self-
centered, not like them)
 This interest allows self-
actualizers to develop a
mission in life, a purpose for
living that spreads beyond
self-aggrandizement
Characteristics of Self-Actualizing People
 Their realistic perception
More Efficient  They can discriminate
enables them to clearly
Perception of Reality between the genuine and the
distinguish between the
fake
important and the
 They are not fooled by
unimportant issues in life
facades and can see both
positive and negative
The Need for Privacy  Have a quality of detachment
underlying traits in others
that allows them to be alone
that are not readily apparent
without being lonely
to most people
 Have no desperate need to be
 Less prejudiced and less likely
surrounded by other people
to see the world as they wish
it to be  May be seen as aloof or
uninterested, but in fact, their
 Less afraid and more
disinterest is limited to minor
comfortable with the
matters
unknown
 They are self-movers, resisting
society’s attempts to make
Acceptance of Self,  Can accept themselves the
them adhere to convention.
Others, and Nature way they are, and accept
others
Autonomy  Are autonomous and depend
 Not overly critical of their own
on themselves for growth
shortcomings
even though at some time in
 Tolerate weaknesses in others
their past they had to have
and are not threatened by
received love and security
others’ strengths
from others
  Once that confidence is unified or all in one
attained, a person no longer piece, and they see
depends on others for self- clearly their place in
esteem. the universe

Continued Freshness  Have the wonderful capacity Gemeinschaftsgefühl  Sense of oneness with all
of Appreciation to appreciate again and again, humanity (same with Adler)
freshly and naively, the basic  Caring attitude toward other
goods of life, with awe, people
pleasure, wonder, and even  Genuine interest in helping
ecstasy others
 See with a fresh vision such Profound  Related to
everyday phenomena as Interpersonal Gemeinschaftsgefühl is a
flowers, food, and friends Relations special quality of
 They have an appreciation of interpersonal relations that
their possessions and do not involves
waste time complaining about  deep and profound feelings
a boring, uninteresting for individuals
existence.  Have a nurturant feeling
toward people in general, but
The Peak Experience  Many (self-actualized) people their close friendships are
had had experiences that limited to only a few
were mystical in nature and  No frantic needs to be friends
that somehow gave them a with everyone, but the few
feeling of transcendence important interpersonal
 “most people, or almost all relationships they do have are
people, have peak quite deep and intense
experiences or ecstacies”  Self-actualizers are often
 Not all peak experiences are misunderstood and
of equal intensity sometimes despised by
 In their MILD FORM, these others. On the other hand,
peak experiences probably many are greatly loved and
occur in everyone, although attract a large group of
they are seldom noticed admirers and even worshipers
 Sometimes, during periods of
intense pleasure or The Democratic  They could be friendly and
satisfaction, people will Character Structure considerate with other people
experience mystical or peak regardless of class, color, or
experiences age
 These experiences cannot be  Have a desire and an ability to
brought on by an act of the learn from anyone (even from
will often they occur at less healthy ones). They
unexpected, quite ordinary recognize how little they
moments know in relation to what they
could know
 Characteristics:  They are respectful and even
1. Peak experiences are humble before these people
quite NATURAL and (the less heathy people)
PART OF THE HUMAN
MAKE UP Discrimination  Have a clear sense of right
2. People having a peak between Means and and wrong conduct and have
experience see the Ends little conflict about basic
whole universe as values
  They set their sights on ends They are not all alike. In fact,
rather than means and have the term “self-actualization”
an unusual ability to means to become everything
distinguish between the two that one can become, to
 They enjoy doing something actualize or fulfill all of one’s
for its own sake and not just potentials. When people can
because it is a means to some accomplish this goal, they
other end become more unique, more
heterogeneous, and less
Philosophical Sense  Philosophical, non-hostile shaped by a given culture
of Humor sense of humor
 Healthy people see little
humor in put-down jokes
LOVE, SEX, AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION
 The humor of a self-
actualizing person is intrinsic
 Self-actualizing people are capable of both giving and
to the situation rather than
receiving love and are no longer motivated by the kind of
contrived; it is spontaneous
deficiency love (D-love). Self-actualizing people are
rather than planned.
capable of B-love—love for the essence or “Being” of the
other
Creativeness  All self-actualizing people
 D-lovers love because they expect something in return
studied by Maslow were
 B-lovers love in the name of love
creative in some sense of the
 B-love is mutually felt and shared and not motivated by a
word. In fact, Maslow
deficiency or incompleteness within the lover
suggested that creativity and
self-actualization may be one
and the same
MASLOW’S PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF
 Not all are talented but are
SCIENCE
creative in their own way
 Maslow’s philosophy of science and his research methods
are integral to an understanding of how he arrived at his
Resistance to  Have a sense of detachment
concept of self-actualization. Maslow believed that value-
Enculturation from their surroundings and
free science does not lead to the proper study of human
are able to transcend a
personality. Maslow argued for a different philosophy of
particular culture
science, a humanistic, holistic approach that is not value
 They are neither antisocial free and that has scientists who care about the people
nor consciously and topics they investigate.
nonconforming. Rather, they
are autonomous, following
 Maslow agreed with Allport that psychological science
their own standards of
should place more emphasis on the study of the
conduct and not blindly
individual and less on the study of large groups
obeying the rules of others
 Do not waste energy fighting
 When Maslow attended medical school, he was shocked
against insignificant customs
by the impersonal attitude of surgeons who nonchalantly
and regulations of society
tossed recently removed body parts onto a table
 However, on important
matters, they can become
 His observation of such a cold and calloused procedure
strongly aroused to seek
led Maslow to originate the concept of desacralization:
social change and to resist
that is, the type of science that lacks emotion, joy,
society’s attempts to
wonder, awe, and rapture
enculturate them.
 For this reason, these healthy
 Scientists must be willing to resacralize science or to
people are more
instill it with human values, emotion, and ritual
individualized and less
homogenized than others.
 Psychologists must not only study human personality;  RATIONALE behind why people run away from
they must do so with enjoyment, excitement, wonder, greatness and self-fulfillment
and affection 1. Human body is simply not strong enough to endure
the ecstasy of fulfillment for any length of time,
 Maslow argued for a Taoistic attitude for psychology, one just as peak experiences and sexual orgasms would
that would be noninterfering, passive, and receptive. This be overly taxing if they lasted too long
new psychology would abolish prediction and control as - The intense emotion that accompanies
the major goals of science and replace them with sheer perfection carries the feeling, “this is too
fascination and the desire to release people from controls much”
so that they can grow and become less predictable 2. Most people have a private ambition to be great,
however, when they compare themselves with
those who have accomplished greatness, they are
MEASURING SELF-ACTUALIZATION appalled by their own arrogance
 Personal Orientation Inventory - Everett L. Shostrom - As a defense against this grandiosity or “sinful
(1974) pride,” they lower their aspiration, feel stupid
 An attempt to measure the values and behaviors of self- and humble, and adopt the self-defeating
actualizing people approach of running away from the realization
 150 forced-choice items of their full potentials
 2 major scales  Although they Jonah complex stands out most sharply
 Time/competence – degree to which people are in neurotic people, nearly everyone has some timidity
present oriented toward seeking perfection and greatness
 Support scale – whether an individual’s mode of
reaction is characteristically “self” oriented or “other”
oriented
PSYCHOTHERAPY
 10 subscales
 Aim—for clients to embrace the Being-values or B-Values
o Self-actualization values
 To accomplish this aim, clients must be free from their
o Flexibility in applying values
dependency on others so that their natural impulse
o Sensitivity to one’s own needs and feelings
toward growth and self-actualization could become active
o Spontaneity in expressing feelings behaviorally
o Self-regard  Most people who seek therapy have these two lower
o Self-acceptance level needs relatively well satisfied but have some
o Positive view of humanity difficulty achieving love and belongingness needs
o Ability to see opposites of life as meaningfully  Psychotherapy is largely an interpersonal process
related  Through a warm, loving, interpersonal relationship with
o Acceptance of aggression, and to see the therapist, the client gains satisfaction of love and
opposites of life as meaningfully related belongingness needs and thereby acquires feelings of
o Capacity for intimate contact confidence and self-worth.
 A healthy interpersonal relationship between client and
therapist is therefore the best psychological medicine
THE JONAH COMPLEX  Nearly identical to that of Rogers’
 According to Maslow, everyone is born with a will
toward health, a tendency to grow toward self-
actualization, but few people reach it
o Growth toward normal, healthy personality can be
blocked at each of the steps in the hierarchy of
needs
 Jonah Complex – fear of being one’s best
o Attempts to run away from one’s destiny just as
the biblical Jonah tried to escape from his fate
o Found in nearly everyone, represents a fear of
success, a fear of being one’s best, and a feeling of
awesomeness in the presence of beauty and
perfection
 CRITIQUE OF MASLOW  Teleological and purposive
1. Generate research – Little above-average  Maslow’s view of humanity is difficult to classify on
such dimensions as determinism versus free choice,
 However, Maslow’s notions about
conscious versus unconscious, or biological versus
metamotivation, the hierarchy of
social determinants of personality.
needs, the Jonah complex, and
instinctoid needs have received  In general, the behavior of people motivated by
less research interest. physiological and safety needs is determined by
2. Falsifiability – Low outside forces, whereas the behavior of self-
3. Organize Knowledge – Excellent actualizing people is at least partially shaped by
free choice.
 is known about human
 Consciousness vs unconsciousness: Difficult to classify
 behavior—Hierarchy of needs:
 Biological vs social influences: Both
4. Guide to Action – High
5. Internally consistent – High
6. Parsimonious – Moderate

CONCEPT OF HUMANITY

 All of us can be self-actualizing; our human nature

carries with it a tremendous potential for being a
Good Human Being
 Hierarchy of basic needs must be regularly satisfied
before we become fully human.
 True human nature is seen only in self-actualized
people, and that “there seems no intrinsic reason
why everyone should not be this way.
 Every baby has all the possibilities for self-
actualization. Therefore, self-actualizing people are
not ordinary people with something added, but
rather as ordinary people with nothing taken
away!!!!!!!!!
 Generally optimistic and hopeful about humans, but
recognized that people are capable of evil and
destruction—stems from the frustration of basic
needs, not from the essential nature of people
 Society, as well as individuals, can be improved, but
growth for both is slow and painful
 Truth, love, beauty, and the like are instinctoid and
are just as basic to human nature as are hunger, sex,
and aggression
 Because Maslow held that basic needs are structured
the same for all people and that people satisfy these
needs at their own rate, his holistic-dynamic theory
of personality places moderate emphasis on:
 Both uniqueness and similarities
 Because people aim toward self-actualization,
Maslow’s view can be considered: