Abraham Moslow Essay Research Paper IntroductionThe theorist — страница 2

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which are instinct like needs. In overall development, we go through these levels kind of like stages. As newborns, our focal point is on the physiological. Quickly, we begin to recognize that we need to be safe. After that we crave attention and affection. Later, we look for self-esteem. Under worrying conditions, or when survival is threatened we can “regress” to a lower need level. These things can happen on a society-wide basis as well. When society unexpectedly struggles, people begin to look for a strong leader to make things right. Maslow suggested that we should ask people for their “philosophy of the future,” what would their ideal life be like and get significant information as to what needs they need to cover. Self-actualization, the last level is different

then the rest. Maslow used many terms to refer to this level. He has called it growth motivation being needs and self-actualization. These needs involve the continuous desire to fulfill potentials, to be the best that you can be. When lower needs are unmet, you can’t fully devote yourself to fulfilling your potential. Only a small percentage of the world’s population is predominantly, self-actualizing. By self-actualization Maslow means people he called self-actualizers. He picked out a group of people, some historical figures, and some people he knew, whom he felt clearly met the criteria of self-actualization. Some people that were in this group were people like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, William James, and others.

He then looked at their work, from these sources; he developed a list of traits that seemed typical of these people, opposite to everyone else. These people were reality-centered, which means they could tell the difference from what was fake and dishonest from what was real and genuine. They were problem-centered, meaning they treated life’s difficulties as problems demanding solutions. They had a different perception of means and ends. They felt that the ends don’t necessarily justify the means, the means could be ends themselves, and that the means, the journey was more important than the ends. The self-actualizers also relate different to others. They have a need for privacy, and are comfortable being alone. They are relatively independent of culture and environment,

relying instead on their own experiences and judgments. They resist enculturation, they are not susceptible to social pressure they are, nonconformists. According to Maslow they have democratic values, meaning that they were open to ethnic and individual variety even treasuring it. They have social interest, compassion, and humanity. They enjoy intimate personal relations with a few close friends and family members, rather than more shallow relationships with many people. These people have an un-hostile sense of humor they prefer to joke at their own expense, or at the human condition, and never direct their humor at others. They have a quality Maslow called acceptance of self and others, by which he meant that these people are more likely to take you as you are than, try to

change you into what they think you should be. This same acceptance applies to their attitudes towards themselves: If some quality of theirs wasn’t harmful, they let it be. Along with this comes spontaneity and simplicity: They prefer being themselves rather than being pretentious or false. Maslow found that they tend to be conventional on the surface, just where less self-actualizing nonconformists tend to be the most dramatic. These people have a certain freshness of appreciation, an ability to see things, even ordinary things, with wonder. Along with this comes their ability to be creative, inventive, and original. Finally, these people tend to have more peak experiences than the average person does. A peak experience is one that takes us out of ourselves that makes us feel

very small, or very large, to some extent one with life, nature or God. It gives us a feeling of being a part of the infinite and the eternal. These experiences tend to leave their mark on a person, change them for the better, and many people actively seek them out. They are also called mystical experiences, and are an important part of many religious and philosophical traditions. Maslow doesn’t think that self-actualizers are perfect, of course. There were several flaws he discovered along the way as well: First, they often suffered considerable anxiety and guilt, but realistic anxiety and guilt, rather than misplaced or neurotic versions. Some of them were absentminded and overly kind. Some of them had unexpected moments of ruthlessness, coldness, and loss of humor. Metaneeds