I.

Overview of Maslow's Holistic-Dynamic Theory

Abraham Maslow's holistic-dynamic theory holds that people are continually motivated by one or more
needs, and that, under the proper circumstances, they can reach a level of psychological health called selfactualization.
II. Biography of Abraham H. Maslow
Abraham H. Maslow was born in New York in 1908, the oldest of seven children of Russian Jewish
immigrants. After two or three mediocre years as a college student, his work improved at about the time he
was married. He received both a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin where he
worked with Harry Harlow conducting animal studies. Most of his professional career was spent at Brooklyn
College and at Brandeis University. Poor health forced him to move to California where he died in 1970 at
age 62.
III. Maslow's View of Motivation
Maslow's theory rests on five basic assumptions about motivation: (1) the whole organism is motivated at
any one time; (2) motivation is complex, and unconscious motives often underlie behavior; (3) people are
continually motivated by one need or another; (4) people in different cultures are all motivated by the same
basic needs; and (5) needs can be arranged on a hierarchy.
A. Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow held that lower level needs have prepotency over higher level needs; that is, they must be satisfied
before higher needs become motivators. Maslow's hierarchy includes (1) physiological needs, such as
oxygen, food, water, and so on; (2) safety needs, which include physical security, stability, dependency,
protection, and freedom from danger, and which result in basic anxiety if not satisfied; (3) love and
belongingness needs, including the desire for friendship, the wish for a mate and children, and the need to
belong; (4) esteem needs, which follow from the satisfaction of love needs and which include self-confidence
and the recognition that one has a positive reputation; and (5) self-actualization needs, which are satisfied
only by the psychologically healthiest people. Unlike other needs that automatically are activated when lower
needs are met, self-actualization needs do not inevitably follow the satisfaction of esteem needs. Only by
embracing such B-values as truth, beauty, oneness, and justice, can people achieve self-actualization. The
five needs on Maslow's hierarchy are conative needs. Other needs include aesthetic needs, cognitive needs,
and neurotic needs.
B. Aesthetic Needs
Aesthetic needs include a desire for beauty and order, and some people have much stronger aesthetic needs
than do others. When people fail to meet their aesthetic needs, they become sick.
C. Cognitive Needs
Cognitive needs include the desire to know, to understand, and to be curious. Knowledge is a prerequisite
for each of the five conative needs. Also, people who are denied knowledge and kept in ignorance become
sick, paranoid, and depressed.
D. Neurotic Needs
With each of the above three dimensions of needs, physical or psychological illness results when the needs
are not satisfied. Neurotic needs, however,
lead to pathology regardless of whether they are satisfied or not. Neurotic needs include such motives as a
desire to dominate, to inflict pain, or to subject oneself to the will of another person. Neurotic needs are
nonproductive and do not
foster health.
E. General Discussion of Needs
Maslow believed that most people satisfy lower level needs to a greater extent than they do higher levels
needs, and that the greater the satisfaction of one need, the more fully the next highest need is likely to
emerge. In certain rare cases, the order of needs might be reversed. For example, a starving mother may
be motivated by love needs to give up food in order to feed her starving children. However, if we understood
the unconscious motivation behind many apparent reversals, we would see that they are not genuine
reversals at all. Thus, Maslow insisted that much of our surface behavior is actually motivated by more basic
and often unconscious needs. Maslow also believed that some expressive behaviors are unmotivated, even
though all behaviors have a cause. Expressive behavior has no aim or goal but is merely a person's mode of

expression. In comparison, coping behaviors (which are motivated) deal with a person's attempt to cope
with the environment. The conative needs ordinarily call forth coping behaviors. Deprivation of any of the
needs leads to pathology of some sort. For example, people's inability to reach self-actualization results in
metapathology, defined as an absence of values, a lack of fulfillment, and a loss of meaning in life. Maslow
suggested that instinctoid needs are innately determined even though they can be modified by learning.
Maslow also believed that higher level needs (love, esteem, and self-actualization) are later on the
evolutionary scale than lower level needs and that they produce more genuine happiness and more peak
experiences.
IV. Self-Actualization
Maslow believed that a very small percentage of people reach an ultimate level of psychological health called
self-actualization.
A. Values of Self-Actualizers
Maslow held that self-actualizers are metamotivated by such B-values as truth, goodness, beauty, justice,
and simplicity.
B. Criteria for Self-Actualization
Four criteria must be met before a person achieves self-actualization: (1) absence of psychopathology, (2)
satisfaction of each of the four lower level needs,
(3) acceptance of the B-values, and (4) full realization of one's potentials
for growth.
C. Characteristics of Self-Actualizing People
Maslow listed 15 qualities that characterize self-actualizing people, although not all self-actualizers possess
each of the characteristics to the same extent. These characteristics are (1) more efficient perception of
reality, meaning that self-actualizers often have an almost uncanny ability to detect phoniness in others, and
they are not fooled by sham; (2) acceptance of self, others, and nature; (3) spontaneity, simplicity, and
naturalness, meaning that self-actualizers have no need to appear complex or sophisticated; (4) problemcentered which is the ability to view age-old problems from a solid philosophical position;
(5) the need for privacy, or a detachment that allows self-actualizing people to be alone without being
lonely; (6) autonomy, meaning that they no longer are dependent on other people for their self-esteem; (7)
continued freshness of appreciation and the ability to view everyday things with a fresh vision and
appreciation; (8) frequent reports of peak experiences, or those mystical experiences that give a person a
sense of transcendence and feelings of awe, wonder, ecstasy, reverence, and humility; (9)
Gemeinschaftsgefhl, that is, social interest or a deep feeling of oneness with all humanity; (10) profound
interpersonal relations, but with no desperate need to have a multitude of friends; (11) the democratic
character structure, or the ability to disregard superficial differences between people; (12) discrimination
between means and ends, meaning that self-actualizing people have a clear sense of right
and wrong, and they experience little conflict about basic values; (13) a philosophical sense of humor that is
spontaneous, unplanned, and intrinsic
to the situation; (14) creativeness, with a keen perception of truth, beauty,
and reality; (15) resistance to enculturation, or the ability to set personal standards and to resist the mold
set by culture.
D. Love, Sex, and Self-Actualization
Maslow compared D-love (deficiency love) to B-love (love for being or essence of another person). Selfactualizing people are capable of B-love because they can love without expecting something in return. Blove is mutually felt and shared and not based on deficiencies within the lovers.

V. Philosophy of Science
Maslow criticized traditional science as being value free, with a methodology that is sterile and
nonemotional. He argued for a Taoistic attitude for psychology in which psychologists are willing to
resacralize their science, or to instill it with human values and to view participants with awe, joy, wonder,
rapture, and ritual.

VI. Measuring Self-Actualization

Maslow's method for measuring self-actualization were consistent with his philosophy of science. He began
his study of self-actualizing people with little evidence that such a classification of people even existed. He
looked at healthy people, learned what they had in common, and then established a syndrome for
psychological health. Next, he refined the definition of self-actualization, studied other people, and changed
the syndrome. He continued this process until he was satisfied that he had a clear definition of selfactualization. Other researchers have developed personality inventories for measuring self actualization. The
most widely used of these is Everett Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a 150-item forcedchoice inventory that assesses a variety
of self-actualization facets.
VII. The Jonah Complex
Because humans are born with a natural tendency to move toward psychological health, any failure to reach
self-actualization can technically be called abnormal development. One such abnormal syndrome is the
Jonah complex, or fear of being or doing one's best, a condition that all of us have to some extent. Maslow
believed that many people allow false humility to stifle their creativity, which causes them to fall short of
self-actualization.
VIII. Psychotherapy
The hierarchy of needs concept has obvious ramifications for psychotherapy. Most people who seek
psychotherapy probably do so because they have not adequately satisfied their love and belongingness
needs. This suggests that much of therapy should involve a productive human relationship and that the job
of
a therapist is to help clients satisfy love and belongingness needs.

IX. Related Research

Researchers have investigated Maslow's concept of self-actualization in many divergence settings and for a
variety of purposes.
A. Self-Actualization and Intimate Interpersonal Relations
Michael Sheffield and his colleagues used the POI as a measure of self-actualization and found that high
scores on the POI were inversely related
to interpersonal relations. More specifically, people who approached self-actualization tended to be selfmotivated, accepted feelings of aggression, and were able to sustain intimacy.
B. Self-Actualization and Creativity
Mark Runco and his colleagues used the Short Index of Self-Actualization to assess self-actualization and
found a positive relationship between self-actualization scores and two measures of creativity. Although the
relationships were not strong, they suggest that, as Maslow's hypothesized, creativity is at least partly
related to self-actualization.
C. Self-Actualization and Self-Acceptance
Some researchers have tested Maslow's assumption that self-actualizing people accept themselves. One
study (Sumerlin & Bundrick, 2000) with African-American businessmen found that those who scored high on
self-actualization tended to have increased happiness and self-fulfillment. Another study by William Compton
and his colleagues found that self-actualization related to openness to experience and to seeking out new
and exciting experiences.
X. Critique of Maslow
Maslow's theory has been popular in psychology and other disciplines, such as management, nursing, and
education. The hierarchy of needs concept seems both elementary and logical, which gives Maslow's theory
the illusion of simplicity. However, the theory is somewhat complex, with four dimensions of needs and the
possibility of unconsciously motivated behavior. As a scientific theory, Maslow's model rates high in
generating research but low in falsifiability. On its ability to organize knowledge and guide action, the theory
rates quite high; on its simplicity and internal consistency, it rates only average.

XI. Concept of Humanity

Maslow believed that people are structured in such a way that their activated needs are exactly what they
want most. Hungry people desire food, frightened people look for safety, and so forth. Although he was
generally optimistic and hopeful, Maslow saw that people are capable of great evil and destruction. He
believed that as a species, humans are becoming more and more fully human and motivated by higher level
needs. In summary, Maslow's view of humanity rates high on free choice, optimism, teleology, and
uniqueness and about average on social influences.