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Personality Theories > Abraham Maslow > Flashcards

Abraham Maslow Flashcards

1
Q

The most important theme in Maslow’s work is his emphasis on…

A

human potential

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2
Q

To Maslow, great figures across history were…

A

self-actualizers

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3
Q

Because environment is NB ijn the fulfillment of basic needs, people need …..

A

good societies to realise their good potential

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4
Q

How did Maslow differ from psychologists before him?

A

Instead of focusing on pathology to learn more about the psyche, he focused on healthy functioning in successful people

He has a fundamentally positive view of people, seeing them as good and worthy - he was the founder of the “third force” or the humanistic movement in psych

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5
Q

Outline Maslow’s view of the person (5 points)

A
  • optimistic
  • motive beneath all behaviour is the tendency to SA
  • SA is within all people’s reach and requires no change in person’s nature
  • most behaviour explained by need gratification (relieves tension and is basis for growth)
  • view is holistic - person as one complete unit
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6
Q

Which needs on the hierarchy are most urgent?

A

The ones lower down

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7
Q

List the needs on the hierarchy

A
  • physiological
  • safety
  • love and belonging
  • esteem
  • self-actualisation
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8
Q

Explain how one moves from one need to the next?

A

Once a lower need is securely and consistently met, the need above it becomes dominant and driving

*occasionally, higher needs to motivate an individual when lower needs are not met (artists, martyrs etc), but generally the hierarchy applies

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9
Q

Outline the 2 types of motives that Maslow mentions

A
  1. Deficiency motives
    - first 4 levels, directly related to basic needs for survival.
  2. Growth motives
    - final stage, SA (need for truth, beauty and knowing)
  • when one is being motivated by deficiency motives, goal is merely survival and pain minimization - a negative use of cog abilities. This motivation can never lead to the realization of a person’s potential.
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10
Q

Speak into physiological needs (L1)
(3 points)

A
  • survival focused
  • homeostatic, gratification restores equilibrium
  • here, man lives by bread alone, poetry, beauty and meaning come second to food
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11
Q

Speak into safety needs (L2)
(5 points)

A
  • desire for stability, law, protection, freedom for fear
  • particularly strong in young children (need stability, structure)
  • measured freedom rather than unbounded freedom is desired
  • philosophies and institutions may also offer safety
  • unfulfilled: can lead to OCD type neurosis obsessed with control and security
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12
Q

Speak into the need for affiliation and love (3 points)

A
  • to belong somewhere, to receive and give love
  • much psychopath has roots in unfulfilled needs for love
  • physical space NB too, a constant home and environment contributes to a sense of belonging
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13
Q

Speak into the need for self-esteem (4 points)

A
  • the need to evaluate oneself positively
  • Two sub-categories:
    1. Person’s achievements: sense of achievement, capability, strength, independence
    2. The Esteem of others: social standing, respect, dignity, recognition
  • inferior/weak/helpless vs competent/strong/useful
  • solid self-esteem based on one’s actual worth, not others perceptions of you
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14
Q

Speak into the need for self-actualisation.

A
  • process of becoming all that one is capable of being
  • includes 17 growth motives/meta-needs/B-values
  • these needs are also innate and need fulfillment for maximal growth e.g., truth, order, aliveness, humor
  • B-values all different facets of one jewel
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15
Q

The greatest differences between individuals manifests itself in:

A

what self-actualisation looks like for them
(great works of music or art, or an ideal parent, or an engaged community member)

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16
Q

Outline Maslow’s understanding of the development of personality (4 points)

A
  • development proceeds in accordance with the needs hierarchy
  • the higher in the NH the level of motivation, the higher the level of development and the heathier the functioning
  • but, fulfillment is basic needs does not guarantee SA
  • individuals can temporarily (or permanently) fall back to lower levels of motivation and functioning if lower needs are no longer met
17
Q

What aspect of Maslow’s theory is most often criticised?

A
  • the ideal that those with unmet basic needs cannot be motivated by higher needs (a homeless man cannot enjoy the beauty of a park, or poor man cannot die a martyr)
  • though, Maslow acknowledges exceptions and other paths to higher motivations. BUT, claimed that those who reached SA despite unmet needs would have achieved EVEN MORE were their basic needs met

“higher needs may occasionally emerge, not after gratification, but rather after forced
or voluntary deprivation”

18
Q

What are the 5 reasons that SA is not always attained

A
  1. Lack of self-knowledge/insight (always depend on directions from others)
  2. Obstructions (e.g unmet safety needs therefore don’t take risks)
  3. Jonah complex (we feel inferior in the presence of great people), or we fear the moment of attainment might be too great for us)
  4. Scared we have a superiority complex (afraid of over-estimating ourselves)
  5. Lack of integration (especially with regards to seemingly opposing needs, e.g., man needing to be manly but also tender)
19
Q

Name the 15 characteristic of self-actualising people

A
  1. Accurate observation or reality. (see past own desire, fears etc. Open to ambiguity)
  2. Accepting of self, others and human nature. (childlike acceptance of nature, not fear of death or aging)
  3. Spontaneity & simplicity (not pretence, do not regard rules/codes they disagree with)
  4. Task involvement (involved in a calling of greater good, not worried over petty matters)
  5. Exclusiveness (enjoy isolation and privacy, less dependent on others, disengage from stormy situations and remain calm)
  6. Autonomy (indep of culture and environment)
  7. Consistent renewal of appreciation (do not tire of simple pleasures)
  8. Peak experience (intense excitement, connection, oneness, ecstasy)
  9. Social feeling (concerned for humankind in general, despite annoyances)
  10. Interpersonal relationship (deeper and more intense than others’, and a small circle of friends)
  11. Democratic character (open to all, non-discrim, willing to learn from anyone)
  12. Discrimination (between means and goals, good and evil: can recognise and enjoy the means as much as the goal, strong moral code and no uncertainties about wrong from right)
  13. Philosophical, benevolent sense of humor (rather provoke a smile than laughter, amused at the absurdities of people pride, the kind of humor that has a message, or at themselves)
  14. Creativity (naive, universal creativity of children - ability to look at life like a child, freshly, without inhibition - see deeply and accurately, act spontaneously and humanely)
  15. Resistance against enculturation (abide by own rules, but do not blatantly rebel against unimportant matters. Rather operate within the system to bring change)
20
Q

What is a common critique of Maslow’s method of finding common traits of self-actualizers?

A
  • he only used people who met his idea of SA (hyper successful leaders and thinkers generally)
21
Q

While SA’s are strong in many areas, they are not….

A

perfect, and can be as irritating, boring and prideful as anyone else as any time

21
Q

Instead of neurosis, Maslow refers to….

A

human limitation
* functioning is limited when an individual has not reached SA, this limitation manifests in various forms and degrees

22
Q

Compare the instincts of an animal with the SA tendency of a man

A
  • instincts of an animal are strong and overpowering, while the SA tendency of man is delicate, subtle, weak, easily disrupted by envirosocial influences and negative attitudes
23
Q

Outline Maslow’s view of need gratification and pathology

A
  • the meaning an indi gives to the fulfillment of a need has a bearing on malfunctioning (e.g., person who see unfulfillment of sexual needs as rejection may feel inferior, worthless and disrespected)
  • unfulfilled and over-filled basic needs can cause pathology (rejection or lack of appreciation for lower level needs if spoilt)
  • unfulfilled higher needs can cause meta-pathologies (lack of meaning, existential vacuum etc)
  • over-gratified meta-needs could cause boredom, lack of appreciation for life due to no experience of deprivation
24
Q

Three of the sectors of society that Maslow’s theories would impact are:

A
  • industry (work that enables fulfillment of not just basic but also higher needs)
  • education (teach appreciation of beauty, meaning. Help find and develop potential)
  • psychotherapy (provide basic needs of love/sec etc to discover true potential)
  • religion (truly deep spiritual experiences when one clings to either pole of organisation and dogma, or hyper mystical and charismatic) * for some, religious life so deeply and authentically experienced it is places on level of SA
25
Q

Outline Maslow’s probable understanding of aggression

A
  • people can use violence/agg to satisfy needs at any level (gain food, a sense of security, belonging, esteem)
  • violence signifies a lack of self-discipline (generally)
26
Q

What are some of the other weaknesses of Maslow’s theory

A
  • his theory seems to have out-grown itself (wonderful thoughts on values and creativity don’t easily fit within his hierarchy framework)
  • tends to underemphasize people’s negative aspects in view that people are good
  • that which is bad, he blames on the environment entirely
  • martyr problem (recognizes exceptions, but can’t explain them)
27
Q

Maslow later added 3 new levels, what were they?

A

Cognitive needs (knowledge, curiosity etc)

Aesthetic needs (beauty etc)

Transcendence needs (helping others achieve SA, spiritual and global concerns)

28
Q

What is a common critique of Maslow’s study of self-actualisers?

A

He study only those individuals that were self-actualised in his understanding of SA (highly successful leaders and thinkers etc)

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