Maslow’s philosophy of science and his research response to mystery, Maslow said, is not analysis but

methods are integral to an understanding of how he awe.

arrived at his concept of self-actualization. Maslow
argued for a different philosophy of science, a Maslow (1966) contended that there is no need to do
humanistic, holistic approach that is not value free well that which is not worth doing. Rather, it is better
and that has scientists who care about the people and to do poorly that which is important. Maslow insisted
topics they investigate. For example, Maslow was that psychologists must themselves be healthy
motivated to search for self-actualizing people people, able to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty.
because he idolized and greatly admired Max They must be intuitive, nonrational, insightful, and
Wertheimer and Ruth Benedict, his two original courageous enough to ask the right questions. They
models for self-actualization. But he also expressed must also be willing to flounder, to be imprecise, to
affection and admiration for Abraham Lincoln, question their own procedures, and to take on the
Eleanor Roosevelt, and other self-actualizing people important problems of psychology.
(Maslow, 1968).
Measuring Self-Actualization
Maslow agreed with Allport (see Chapter 13) that
Personal Orientation Inventory (POI)
psychological science
Everett L. Shostrom (1974) developed the Personal
should place more emphasis on the study of the
Orientation Inventory (POI) to measure the values
individual and less on the study of large groups.
and behaviors of self-actualizing people. This
reflexes, test scores, and hypothetical constructs from
inventory consists of 150 forced-choice items.
an external point of view. It has not been much
concerned with the whole person as seen from that The POI has 2 major scales and 10 subscales. The
person’s subjective view. first major scale—the Time Competence/Time
Incompetence scale—measures the degree to which
When Maslow attended medical school, he was
people are present oriented. The second major
shocked by the impersonal attitude of surgeons who
scale—the Support scale—is “designed to measure
casually tossed recently removed body parts onto a
whether an individual’s mode of reaction is
table. When he saw how cold and rough procedure, it
characteristically ‘self’ oriented or ‘other’ oriented”.
led Maslow to originate the concept of
The 10 subscales assess levels of (1) self-
desacralization; the type of science that lacks
actualization values, (2) flexibility in applying
emotion, joy, wonder, awe, and rapture. He called for
values, (3) sensitivity to one’s own needs and
scientists to put values, creativity, emotion, and ritual
feelings, (4) spontaneity in expressing feelings
back into their work. Scientists must be willing to
behaviorally, (5) self-regard, (6) self-acceptance, (7)
resacralize science or to instill it with human values,
positive view of humanity, (8) ability to see opposites
emotion, and ritual.
of life as meaningfully related, (9) acceptance of
Astronomers must not only study the stars; they must aggression, and (10) capacity for intimate contact.
be awestruck by them. Psychologists must not only High scores on the 2 major scales and the 10
study human personality; they must do so with subscales indicate some level of self-actualization;
enjoyment, excitement, wonder, and affection. low scores do not necessarily suggest pathology but
give clues concerning a person’s self-actualizing
Maslow (1966) argued for a Taoistic attitude for values and behaviors.
psychology, one that would be noninterfering,
passive, and receptive. This new psychology would
abolish prediction and control as the major goals of
science and replace them with pure fascination and
the desire to release people from controls so that they
can grow and become less predictable. The proper
In the POI manual, Shostrom (1974) cited several
studies in which the examinees were asked to “fake
good” or “make a favorable impression” in filling out
the inventory. When participants followed these
instructions, they generally scored lower (in the
direction away from self-actualization) than they did
when responding honestly to the statements.
This finding, indeed, is an interesting one. Why
should people lower their scores when trying to look
good? The answer lies in Maslow’s concept of self-
actualization. Statements that might be true for self-
actualizers are not necessarily socially desirable and
do not always conform to cultural standards.
Even though the POI has demonstrated reasonable
reliability and validity, some researchers (Weiss,
1991; Whitson & Olczak, 1991) have criticized the
inventory for failing to distinguish between known
self-actualizers and non-self actualizers.
The POI has two practical problems;
o first, it is long, taking most participants 30
to 45 minutes to complete;
o and second the two-item forced-choice
format can engender hostility in the participants, who
feel frustrated by the limitations of a forced-choice
option.
Short Index of Self-Actualization
To overcome these two practical limitations, Alvin
Jones and Rick Crandall (1986) created the Short
Index of Self-Actualization, which borrows 15 items
from the POI that are most strongly correlated with
the total self-actualization score. Items on the Short
Index are on a 6-point Likert scale. Researches says
the Short Index POI is useful for assessing self-
actualization.
Brief Index of Self-Actualization
A third measure of self-actualization is the Brief
Index of Self-Actualization, developed by John
Sumerlin and Charles Bundrick (1996, 1998). The
original Brief Index (Sumerlin & Bundrick, 1996)
comprised 40 items placed on a 6-point Likert scale
and thus yields scores from 40 to 240.
Factor analysis yielded four factors of self-
actualization, but because some items were placed in
more than one factor, the authors (Sumerlin &
Bundrick, 1998) revised the Brief Index of Self-
Actualization by eliminating eight items so that no
single item was found on more than one factor.
This inventory yields four factors: (I) Core Self-
Actualization, or the full use of one’s potentials;
(II) Autonomy; (III) Openness to Experience; and
(IV) Comfort with Solitude. The reliability, validity,
and usefulness of the Brief Index have not yet been
fully determined though.
Next is the JONAH COMPLEX!
“We have, all of us, an impulse to improve ourselves,
an impulse toward actualizing more of our
potentialities, toward self-actualization, or full
humanness or human fulfillment, or whatever term
you like. Granted this, then what holds us up? What
blocks us?”
This line is from Abraham Maslow’s The Farther
Reaches of Human Nature… Let someone read!!!
The Jonah Complex is the fear of success which
prevents self-actualization, or the realization of one’s
potential. It is the fear of one’s own greatness, the
evasion of one’s destiny, or the avoidance of
exercising one’s talents. It was named after Jonah, a
Biblical prophet who attempted to run away from his
“fate” and hide from God.
Everyone has a voice inside them that tells them they
can be something great. Many of us believe that, if
given the right opportunities and resources, we can be
as successful or as great as our predecessors. We all
have the chance to become something great. We all
feel something inside, and often hear a quiet “maybe”
that is silenced as quickly as it surfaced.
What if you could become the greatest version of
yourself? What if we all personally dared to follow
our own paths, without fearing the judgment of others
and the pangs of conformity urging us to return to the
norm? Maslow stated that we are actually afraid of
our own potential for greatness. Read powerpoint
We’d rather join the crowd, abide to social norms,
and lose our individualities than dare to become the
odd ones out. We become the “strangers” to the
crowd, because they have lost their abilities to chase
after their own dreams.
Maslow’s own life story demonstrated his Jonah
complex. Despite an IQ of 195, he was only an
average student, and, as a world-famous
psychologist, he frequently experienced panic attacks
whenever he is called on to deliver a talk.
So, WHY DO PEOPLE RUN AWAY FROM
GREATNESS AND SELF-FULFILLMENT?
According to Maslow, people run away from
greatness because of these two reasons:
First, the human body is simply not strong enough to
endure the ecstasy of fulfillment for any length of
time, just as peak experiences and sexual orgasms
would be overly taxing if they lasted too long.
Therefore, the intense emotion that accompanies
perfection and fulfillment carries with it a shattering
sensation such as “This is too much” or “I can’t stand
it anymore.”
And second, they compare themselves with those
who have accomplished greatness, they are appalled
by their own arrogance: “Who am I to think I could
do as well as this great person?” As a defense against
this grandiosity or “sinful pride,” they lower their
aspirations, feel stupid and humble, and adopt the
self-defeating approach of running away from the
realization of their full potentials.
Although the Jonah complex stands out most sharply
in neurotic people, nearly everyone has some timidity
toward seeking perfection and greatness. People
allow false humility to stifle creativity, and thus they
prevent themselves from becoming self-actualizing.
Psychotherapy
To Maslow (1970), the aim of therapy would be for
clients to embrace the Being values, that is, to value
truth, justice, goodness, simplicity, and so forth. To
accomplish this aim, clients must be free from their
dependency on others so that their natural impulse
toward growth and self-actualization could become
active. Psychotherapy cannot be value free but must
take into consideration the fact that everyone has an
inherent tendency to move toward a better, more
enriching condition, namely self-actualization.
The goals of psychology follow from the client’s
position on the hierarchy of needs. Because
physiological and safety needs are prepotent, people
operating on these levels will not ordinarily be
motivated to seek psychotherapy. Instead, they will
strive to obtain nourishment and protection.
Read slide!!
Most people who seek therapy have these two lower
level needs relatively well satisfied but have some
difficulty achieving love and belongingness needs.
Therefore, psychotherapy is largely an interpersonal
process.
Through a warm, loving, interpersonal relationship
with the therapist, the client gains satisfaction of love
and belongingness needs and thereby acquires
feelings of confidence and self-worth. A healthy
interpersonal relationship between client and
therapist is therefore the best psychological
medicine. This accepting relationship gives clients a
feeling of being worthy of love and facilitates their
ability to establish other healthy relationships outside
of therapy.
Related Research
As you just read, one of the most notable aspects of
Maslow’s theory of personality is the concept of a
hierarchy of needs. According to this theory the
lower order needs must be met early in life, whereas
the higher order needs such as self-actualization tend
to be fulfilled later in life.
Recently, researchers have tested this aspect of
Maslow’s theory by measuring need fulfillment in a
sample of 1,749 people of all age groups (Reiss &
Havercamp, 2006). In this study, participants
completed a questionnaire that asked about their
fulfillment of needs. These needs were divided into
two types of motivation: lower motivation (e.g.,
eating and physical exercise) and higher motivation
(e.g., honor, family, and idealism). The results
supported Maslow’s theory. The researchers found
that the lower motives were stronger in younger
people, whereas then higher motives were stronger in
older people. Therefore, as Maslow theorized and as
Reiss and Havercamp (2006) found, if people can
secure the most basic needs early in life, they have
more time and energy to focus on achieving the
highest reaches of human existence later in life.
Influenced by Maslow’s theory and what Maslow
referred to extremely positive experiences that
involve a sense of awe, wonder, and reverence as
peak experiences.
Positive Psychology a relatively new field of
psychology that combines an emphasis on hope,
optimism, and well-being with scientific research and
assessment.
Recently, researchers have investigated the potential
benefits that come from reexperiencing, through
writing or thinking, such positive experiences. In one
such study, participants were instructed to write about
a positive experience or experiences for 20 minutes
each day for 3 consecutive days (Burton & King,
2004). And indeed, Burton and King (2004) found
that those who wrote about positive experiences,
compared to those in a control condition who wrote
about non-emotional topics such as a description of
their bedroom, visited the doctor fewer times for
illness during the 3 months after writing.
Other researchers have followed up on the health
effects of writing about extremely positive
experiences. Sonja Lyubomirsky and colleagues
investigated whether just thinking about past positive
experiences would have benefits comparable to or
even greater than the benefits derived from writing
about such experiences. Although they did not find
physical health benefits for thinking about positive
experiences, they did find that those who were
instructed to simply think about these experiences for
15 minutes a day for 3 consecutive days reported
greater well-being 1 month later than those who
wrote about such experiences for the same time
period. This shows that casually recalling the
experience in your head and remembering how good
the positive experience made you feel is enough to
experience greater well-being.
The recent research in the area of positive psychology
reviewed in this section certainly supports this aspect
of Maslow’s theory.
Another related research is Personality
Development, Growth, and Goals
Jack Bauer and Dan McAdams (2004a) assumed the
existence of two kinds of approaches to growth and
development—extrinsic and intrinsic.
Extrinsic development is primarily cognitive and
revolves around one’s ability to think complexly
about one’s life goals, Whereas intrinsic
development is primarily emotional and revolves
around one’s ability to feel better about one’s life.
More specifically, extrinsic growth focuses on fame,
money, physical appearance, status, and power. By
contrast, intrinsic goals focus on satisfaction,
happiness, personal growth, and healthy interpersonal
relationships. Cognitive-extrinsic growth and
emotional-intrinsic growth seem to be unrelated to
one another; that is, one can be cognitively complex
about one’s life and not be happy or satisfied. READ
PPT!!!
Critique of Maslow
•Maslow’s Theory Is Very High on Organizing
Knowledge
•Highly Useful on Guiding Action
•Moderate on Generating Research, Internal
Consistency, and Parsimony
•Low on Falsifiability
Maslow believed that all of us can be self-actualizing;
our human nature carries with it a tremendous
potential for being a Good Human Being. If we have
not yet reached this high level of functioning, it is
because we are in some manner crippled or
pathological. We fail to satisfy our self-actualization
needs when our lower level needs become blocked:
that is, when we cannot satisfy our needs for food,
safety, love and belongingness, and esteem. This
insight led Maslow to postulate a hierarchy of basic
needs that must be regularly satisfied before we
become fully human.
All people have the potential to strive toward self-
actualization, just as they have the motivation to seek
food and protection. Because Maslow held that basic
needs are structured the same for all people and that
people satisfy these needs at their own rate, his
holistic dynamic theory of personality places
moderate emphasis on both uniqueness and
similarities.

Maslow’s view of humanity is difficult to classify on

such dimensions as determinism versus free choice,
conscious versus unconscious, or biological versus
social determinants of personality.

Concept of Humanity

•Determinism vs Free Choice

-The behavior of people motivated by

physiological and safety needs is determined by
outside forces, whereas the behavior of self-
actualizing people is at least partially shaped by free
choice.

•Conscious vs Unconscious

-Maslow held that self-actualizing people

are ordinarily more aware than others of what they
are doing and why.

•Biological vs Social Determinants

Maslow would have insisted that

thisdichotomy is a false one. Individuals are shaped
by both biology and society, and the two cannot be
separated. When people achieve self-actualization,
they experience a wonderful synergy among the
biological, social, and spiritual aspects of their lives.