Humanistic - Maslow Flashcards
Theory of pers dev by Maslow -
- humanistic theory
- transpersonal theory
- 3rd force in psy
- 4th force in pers
- needs theory
- self-actualisation theory
Person is viewed as whole. Ppl have needs that need to be met. We have ability to direct ourselves to better psy health and well-being - self-actualisation, but first lower level needs must be satisfied.
Maslow did not wholly reject psychoanalysis and behaviourism but believed they had limitations and didn’t fully capture what makes one healthy.
Maslow’s view on motivation
- Maslow adopted a holistic approach to motivation as a whole person
- Motivation is complex - behaviour may spring from several motives ex: sexual desire may not only be motivated by a genital but may also by motivated by the need for dominance, love etc
- motivation may be unconscious or unknown - Ppl re motivated by one need or another. When 1 need is satisfied, it loses its motivational power and is then replaced by another need.
Ppl are all motivated by the same basic needs.
The final assumption is that needs can be positioned in a hierarchy.
Hierarchy of needs -
- lower level needs have to be met partially or fully before higher needs can be motivators. Lower level needs have prepotency over higher level needs, meaning they must be satisfied fully or partially before higher level needs become activated.
5 needs - conative needs (motivational character)
- physiological needs - breathing, food, water, sex, sleep etc
- safety - security in body, employment, of resources, of morality, of family, health and property
- love/belonging - friendship, family, sexual intimacy
- esteem - self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect etc
- self-actualisation - morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts etc.
In addition to these 5 needs, maslow identified 3 other categories - aesthetic, cognitive, neurotic.
Aesthetic needs
- not universal but some are motivated by the need for beauty and aesthetically pleasing experiences.
- ppl with strong aesthetic needs desire beautiful and orderly surroundings, and when these needs are not met they become sick the same as when their conative needs are not met.
Cognitive needs -
- thirst for knowledge, strive for knowledge and the satisfaction it brings with it
- when these needs are not met, ppl might become delusional, cynical, sceptic.
Neurotic needs
- contrary to aesthetic & cognitive
- causes illness and pathology
- due to lack of production
- a reaction to thwarted needs
- compensate for unsatisfied basic needs
- ex: hoarding may dev if safety needs are not met
Degrees (the average person has their needs satisfied to these levels, acc to maslow)
Physiological 85% Safety 70% Love & belongingness 50% Esteem 40% Self-actualisation 10%
A person may be simultaneously motivated by needs from 2 or more levels.
Reversed order of needs
- occasionally these needs are reversed
- ex: the drive for creativity may be more important to safety needs for someone
Unmotivated behaviour
- maslow - not all behaviour is motivated but there is always a cause underlying
- some behaviour caused by drugs, reflexes
Expressive behaviour
- unmotivated
- has no purpose, often unconscious, comes with minimal effort
- how a person expresses themselves ie: posture, relaxed, angry
- continuous even if not reinforced or rewarded
Coping behaviour
- motivated and aimed to satisfy a need
- conscious, intentional, learned
- based on external environment
- serves a goal
Deprivation of needs
- can lead to pathology
- metapathology - occurs when a person cannot satisfy their metaneeds (highest level of needs, come after lower needs are met), leading to frustration
Deprived physio - malnutrition, fatigue, obsession with sex
Deprived esteem - self-doubt, lack of confidence etc
Deprived safety - fear, insecurity
Instinctoid nature of needs
- maslow - some people are innately determined But can be altered by the process of learning - these are instinctoid needs
- instinctoid - persistent and lead to psychological health, if not met - pathology
- noninstinctoid - temporary and their satisfaction is not a prerequisite for health
- can be moulded or altered due to environmental influences
Higher vs lower needs
Lower - physiological & safety
Higher - love, esteem, self-actualisation
Higher - come later in dev, produce happiness and more peak experiences
Lower - infants and kids, may also bring on pleasure
Hedonistic (school of thought that states that pleasure and intrinsic goods are primary in life) is usually temporary
Satisfaction is more desired after a person has already experienced both higher and lower level needs, and they would have no motivation to return to a lower stage
Maslow’s quest for the self-actualising person
- he regarded Ruth Benedict and Max Wertheimer as the “good human being”
- he found it very hard to find people who were self-actualised
- those who he identified as self-actualised weren’t interested to participate, they valued their privacy too much to share it with the world. He then decided to take a different approach and started writing biographies of famous ppl - he then started asking why we are not all self-actualised
- after selecting potentially healthy people, he wanted to build a personality syndrome
