SELF- ACTUALIZATION

Instead of focusing on psychology and what goes wrong with people. Maslow (1943) formulated a more positive account of human behaviour which focused on what goes right. He was interest in human potential, and how we fulfill that potential.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that human motivation is based on people seeking fulfillment and change through personal growth. Self-actualized people are those who were fulfilled and doing all they were capable of.

The growth of self-actualization (Maslow, 1962) refers to the need for personal growth and discovery that is present throughout a person’s life. For Maslow, a person is always “becoming” and never remains static in these terms. 

In self-actualization a person comes to find a meaning to life that is important to them.

As each individual is unique the motivation for self-actualization leads people in different directions (Kenrick et al; 2010). For some people, self-actualization can be achieved through creating works of art or literature, for others through sport, in the classroom or within a corporate setting. 

Maslow (1962) believed self-actualization could be measured through the concept of peak experiences. This occurs when a person experiences the world totally for what it is, and there are feelings of euphoria, joy and wonder. It is important to note that self-actualization is a continual process of becoming rather than a perfect state one reaches of “happy ever after” (Hoffman, 1988). 

Maslow offers the following description of self-actualization.

“It refers to the person’s desire for self-fulfillment, namely to the tending for him to become actualized in what he is potentially.

The specific form that these needs will take will of course vary greatly from person to person. In one individual it may take the form of desire to be an ideal mother, in another it may be expressed athletically and in still another it may be expressed in painting pictures or in inventions. (Maslow, 19443, 382-383).

 

Although we are all, theoretically, capable of self-actualizing most of us will not do so or only to a limited degree. Maslow (1970) estimate that only two percent of people would reach the state of self actualization. He was especially interested in the characteristics of people whom he considered to have achieved their potentials as individuals.

By studying 18 people he considered to be self-actualized (including Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein) Maslow (1970) identified 15 characteristics of a self-actualized person.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF ACTUALIZES:  

They perceive reality efficiently and can tolerate uncertainty;

1. Accept themselves and others for what they are
2. Spontaneous in thought and action
3. Problem centered (not self-centered)
4. Unusual sense of humor
5. Able to look at life objectively
6. Highly creative
7. Resistant to acculturation but not purposeful Unconventional
8. Concerned for the welfare of humanity
9. Capable of deep appreciation of basic life experience
10. Establish deep satisfying interpersonal relationships with a few people
11. Peak experiences
12.  Need for privacy
13. Attitudes
14. Strong moral/ethical standards.

BEHAVIOUR LEADING TO SELF-ACTUALIZATION:

1. Experiencing life like a child with full absorption and concentration.
2. Trying new things instead of sticking to safe paths
3. Listening to your own feelings in evaluating experiences instead of the voice of tradition, authority or the majority
4. Trying to identify your defenses and having the courage to give them up
5.  Being prepared to be unpopular if your views do not coincide with those of the majority
6. Avoid pretense and being honest
7. Taking responsibility and working hard.

The characteristics of self-actualizers and the behaviours leading to self-actualization are shown in the list above. Although people achieve self-actualization in their own way, they tend to share. 

Maslow did not equate self-actualization with perfection. Self-actualization merely involve achieving one’s potential. Thus someone can be silly, wasteful, vain and impolite and still be self-actualized.