Personal Construct Theory: George Kelly Kelly’s Theory  Believed we are capable of interpreting behaviors and events and of using this understanding to guide our behavior and to predict behavior of others  Differs substantially from every other approach  Each create a set of cognitive constructs about the environment  Based on pattern we make predictions about ourselves and other people and events—use this to formulate our responses and guide our actions Kelly’s Theory  To understand personality we must first understand our own patterns; the ways we organize or constructs in our world  Kelly disagreed with behaviorism and psychoanalysis  Believed people can be more than passive responders to unconscious Kelly  Believed people are forms in motion and propel selves  Nothing does it to us passively Experiential Based Theory  Derived from own experiences as a clinician  Saw people as scientists  Psychologists are not superior and no different than the people they study  Did not embrace the Cognitive Movement nor the Movement Kelly Life of Kelly  Born on farm in Kansas in 1905  Only child  Very religious family  Traveled by covered wagon to Colorado when he was 4 but returned to Kansas  Erratic early education  Age 13 attended high school in Wichita  Seldom lived at home after that  Earned Bachelor’s degree in physics and math from Park College in Parkville, MO Life of Kelly  Shifted interest from science to social problems  Taught at labor college in Minneapolis, MN  Attended Grad school at KU in Lawrence, KS  Taught at junior college in Iowa after  Did not like psychology or Freud  In 1929 was awarded a fellowship at University of Edinburgh, Scotland  There he developed an interest in psychology  Returned to US for doctoral studies Life of Kelly  Earned PhD from University of Iowa in 1931  Went to teach at Kansas State College in Ft. Hayes, KS  Taught clinical psychology  Developed a program for local public schools and students of the college  Created traveling clinics  Used traditional methods of assessment and treatment  Theory formed largely based on clients Life of Kelly  Impacted by WW II, joined US Navy  Taught at University of Maryland for 1 year after war ended  Replaced Carl Rogers at University of Ohio for 19 years  In 1965 accepted invitation from Maslow to Brandeis but died shortly after Personal Construct Theory  Observe the events of our life (facts/data/our own experiences) and interpret them in our own way  Construct is an intellectual hypothesis that we devise and sue to interpret or explain life events  Dichotomous – tall versus short; kind versus mean; honest versus dishonest  Examples? Construct Alternativism  We are free to revise or replace our constructs with alternatives as needed Corollary  Dichotomy—mutually exclusive; to describe someone as honest we must understand dishonest; can’t predict behavior with no concept of the opposite  All constructs are part of mutually exclusive alternatives  Freedom of choice—  Range—all constructs are appropriate for all situations; range of events that construct can be applied to Corollary  Experience—new experiences create new constructs; constructs that work at age 16 may be useless later in life  Modulation—constructs can be reversed and extended in light of new experiences  Fragmentation—constructs may be incompatible even though they coexist within overall pattern; people may accept each other as friends in one setting but be adversaries in another Questions About Human Nature  Believes we are not the victims of our destiny  Past events are not determinants of our present behavior  Did not posit an ultimate, end of life goal  Believed our goal is to establish a construct system that enables us to predict events Assessment in Kelly’s theory  Interview—take clients words at face value; respect  Self Characterization Sketches—designed to assess a person’s construct system; how a person perceives self in relationship to others  Role Construct Reparatory Test—Kelly devised; helped uncover constructs we apply to the important people in our lives; group important people and group by sets of most alike  Fixed role therapy—client acts out constructs for a fictitious person—shows how new constructs could be more effective Research on Kelly’s Theory  REP tests have been stable over time  Married subjects w/ similar REP’s report increased happiness  Correspondence shown between one’s personal characteristics and the ways of construing others  Used for vocational counseling, employee selection; evaluation on the job and training Cognitive Complexity/Simplicity  Outgrowth of Kelly’s work  complexity is a cognitive style or way of construing the environment by the ability to perceive differences among people.  Simplicity—characterized by a relative inability to perceive differences among people Critiques  Based heavily on college students  Focus on intellectual and rational aspects of human nature  Very popular in Europe and less popular in the US  Very little publication Gordon Allport: Motivation and Personality Allport’s Life  Career of over 40 years  Born in 1897  Montezuma, Indiana  First American born theorist we are studying  Youngest of four sons  Mother a teacher/father a salesman turned doctor  Very religious  Strict mother and household rules Allport’s life  Not as masculine as brothers  Did not really have friends  Isolated life  Allport believed healthy adults are unaffected by childhood events  Exceled due to feelings of inferiority  Ph.D. is psychology from Harvard  Second in high school class  Graduated in 1915 and went to Istanbul, Turkey  Upon return he met Freud Allport’s early career  Met Freud in Vienna  Freud immediately assessed Allport as having a compulsive personality  Street car example  Allport viewed the encounter in later years as traumatic  Wrote the book Personality: A Psychological Interpretation in 1937  Brought personality into the mainstream Differed from Freud  Allport believe the unconscious was not as Freud described it  He believed emotionally healthy people function rationally and consciously  He believed emotionally healthy people have control over their personality  He believed the unconscious was only important in the behavior of “neurotic or disturbed individuals”  We are not prisoners of childhood issues  Guided more by present and view of the future Allport’s Contributions  He opposed collecting data from abnormal personalities and said instead the field should be studying normal/healthy personality to determine theory.  Uniqueness of Person—very aligned with social work values and ethics   Saw each person as unique and not universal/specific Believed inferiority are feelings of isolation and rejection and all people deal with these to some degree Nature of Personality  Dynamic  Organized  Constantly changing and growing  Almost two personalities—one for child; one for adult  Psychosocial to him was personality composed of both mind and body together as one unit  All facets of personality activate and direct specific behaviors and thoughts  Believed people were rational in the decisions they made about behaviors (rather than just impulses or uncontrolled desires) Personality Traits  Traits are distinguishing characteristics that guide behavior; measured on a continuum and subject to social, environmental and cultural influences  1. Real and exist within each of us  2. Determine or cause behavior  3. Can be demonstrated  4. Interrelated—may overlap—aggressiveness and hostility  5. Vary with the situation—can be neat and orderly in one area but based on situation disorderly in another Traits  Individual—unique  Common—shared by many  Personal dispositions (changed to this)—peculiar to an individual  Cardinal trait—pervasive and influential  Central traits—everyone has 5-10 themes that best describe behavior  Secondary traits—least influential traits—may display inconsistently Motivation  Past does not explain current behavior  Plans an intentions play a vital role  Differed from Freud in this way also  We strive for what we want and that is key to understanding our behavior  Functional autonomy of motives—independent of childhood events  2 levels of functional autonomy—Perservative and Propriate Functional Autonomy  Idea that motivations in the normal, mature adult are independent of the childhood experience.  Tree example  Preservative functional autonomy—relates to low level and routine behaviors  Propriate functional autonomy—(proprium is allport’s term for the psyche or ego)  Relates to all of our values; self-image and lifestyle Propriate Functional Autonomy  Relates to our values, self-image and lifestyle  We retain motives that enhance our self esteem or self image  Direct relationship between our interests and abilities   Organizing the energy level  Mastery and competence  Propriate patterning Proprium—his term for the ego or self Organizing functioning   Organizing & energy level  Explains how we acquire new motives  Motives arise from necessity Mastery and competence  Refers to level at which we choose to satisfy motives   Master new skills Propriate Patterning  Striving for consistency and integration of personality Stages of development In Childhood  Unique Self  Infants have no awareness of self  Then Proprium emerges  3 stages of proprium development  1. Bodily Self (ages birth to 4) develops when infants begin to be aware of own fingers/grasping/own body.  2. Self Identity (birth to 4) children learn their own name and see selves as distinct from others  3. Self-esteem (birth to 4 years) can accomplish things on their own; become motivated to build, explore, manipulate objects Stages of Development In Childhood  Extension of Self (age 4-6 years) people are part of a larger world  Self-image—ages 4-6 years) how children see and would like to see themselves  Self as a rational coper (ages 6-12 years) reason and logic can be applied to solving every day problems  Propriate Striving (12-18 years) begins to formulate long range plans and goals for self  Adulthood (rest of life) autonomy; free of child hood motivations Allport  Placed great importance on the infant and mother bond Healthy Adult Personality  This grows and changes from infancy  6 criteria for adult personalities  1. Extended Sense of Self—people and activities beyond the self  2. Mature adults relate warmly to other people exhibiting intimacy  3. High degree of self-acceptance helps to achieve emotional security  4. Realistic perception of life—develop personal skills make a commitment to some type of work  5. Sense of humor and self objectification  6. Unifying philosophy of life-directs toward future goals Assessment  Used many techniques due to the complexity of personality  Personal-document technique—the study of a person’s written or spoken records  Jenny Study of Values  Allport developed a test called the study of values  Personal values are the basis of our unifying philosophy of life  1. Theoretical values-concerned with the discovery of truth  2. Economic values—concerned with the useful and practical  3. Aesthetic values—form harmony/grace  4. Social values—human relationships, activism, and philanthropy  5. Political values—power, influence, and prestige  6. Religious values—deal with the mystical Research on Allport  Did not believe in only experimental or correlational methods  Expressive behavior—spontaneous behavior  Coping Behavior—consciously planned behavior  Effects of Gender and age—women and children better at reading facial expressions than males  Cultural differences in facial expressions Criticisms  Can his theory be tested?  Functional autonomy—how is an original motive transformed into an autonomous one  Not generalizable—too focused on uniqueness of person Contributions  Influential  Impacted Maslow and Rogers  Readable theory Karen Horney: Theory, Research, and Practice Karen Horney Life  Born in 1885—Died in 1952  Hamburg, Germany  Second born child  Father was 50 at her birth, mother 17 years younger than father  Parents had opposite parenting styles  Father absent a great deal due to his work Karen Horney Life  Developed romantic crushes on male teachers as a teen  Decided to become a physician at the age of 12  Graduated med school in 1913  One of first females admitted to medical school  Had 3 children—a very cold parent  Married for 17 years  Multiple relationships after—often with other psychoanalysts  She believed a lack of love in childhood fosters anxiety and hostility Horney Key Differences  Took issue with Freud’s view of women  Proposed womb envy in response to the Oedipal complex  Believed people were not motivated by sex, hunger etc but rather by needs for security and love Self  Horney felt like a neglected second born, jealous of older sibling  Searched for love all her life  Underwent psychoanalysis by a Freudian trained person  Went on to do self-analysis and was influenced by Adler’s theory Childhood Need for security  Believed in importance of early years (agreed with Freud on this)  Believed in social forces more than biological forces  Safety Need—need for security and freedom of fear  Believed parents could impact or weaken security by displaying a lack of warmth and affection toward the child  Believed helplessness in infancy could lead to neurotic behavior Undermining Child’s Security  Child’s helplessness  Congruence of expressions and reality  Creating dependence  Less likely to rebel if afraid or love parents (will repress hostility) Origin of Neurosis Thinkstock “…people…are too wrapped up in their own neuroses to be able to love the child…the child does not develop a feeling of belonging… instead a profound insecurity and vague apprehensiveness … basic anxiety.” – Horney, 1950, p. 18 Horney: Basic anxiety      We are all alone in an unfriendly world/foundation of neurosis Relate to others out of “strategic necessity”, not the child’s real feelings How do I get by, cope with people, with minimal damage to myself?? Abandon the healthy drive for self-realization (primary goal) Replace it with… Ewen, 2010 Photo: http://www.psikologmalang.com/2013/01/teosi-kecemasan-dasar-basic-anxiety.html Protect from Basic Anxiety  1. Securing Affection  2. Being Submissive  3. Attaining Power  4. Withdrawing—all other ways have to do with interaction, this one does not Neurotic Needs (so permanent takes on characteristics of a drive)  1. Affection and approval  2. A dominant partner  3. Power  4. Exploitation  5. Prestige  6. Admiration  7. Achievement or Ambition  8. Self-sufficiency  9. Perfection  10. Narrow limits to life Neurotic “solutions” for basic anxiety/Neurotic Trends Move toward people Move against people • Reduce anxiety by being cared for, protected • Others must love me b/c I am weak/ helpless • Repressed: hostility, selfishness, healthy assertiveness • Reduce anxiety by gaining mastery, domination • “only the strong survive” • Ruthlessness = strength • Repressed: helplessness, healthy need for love Move away from people • Reduce anxiety by avoiding contact • I am self-sufficient • I don’t need help • Repressed: needs, emotions, desire to be dependent, healthy desire for affiliation and love Compliant Personality  Move toward other people  Need for affection/approval  An urge to be loved, wanted, protected  Manipulate to achieve needs  May be considerate, appreciative, responsive  Conciliatory  Regard others as superior  Repressed hostility leads to these behaviors Aggressive Personality  Move against other people  The world is hostile and only the most fit survive  No fear of rejection  Surpass others  Argue, criticize, demand, and do anything to retain superiority  May try to appear superior  But driven by fear, anxiety and hostility Detached Personality  Move away from others  Keep distance  Do not feel love, hate or cooperate with others  Seek self sufficiency  Desire privacy  Need to feel superior automatically not by striving for it Conflict  Believed one neurotic trend was dominant  Other two were present but to a lesser degree  When a repressed trend seeks to be expressed it results in conflict within the person  Conflict is basic incompatibility of three neurotic trends-core of neurosis  In non-neurotic person, all three trends can be expressed as circumstances warrant Idealized image  All develop an image of the self (healthy or unhealthy)  For neurotics: Impossible, unattainable  “a person builds up an idealized image of himself [sic] because he cannot tolerate himself as he actually is…having placed himself on a pedestal, he can tolerate his real self still less…he then wavers between selfadoration and self-contempt, between his idealized image and his despised image…” –Horney, 1945, p. 112 Self Image/Idealized Self  Normal people—a picture of oneself built on a flexible and realistic assessment of abilities.  Neurotic people—based on an inflexible and unrealistic self image Tyranny of the Shoulds  This is something neurotic individuals tell themselves  Expectation of perfection  Deny self to attain idealized self  Can be self loathing once they realize they can’t achieve self image Neurotic Self Image  Externalization—way to defend against conflict caused between idealized and real self-image by projecting onto outside world Vicious cycle produced by idealized image Pathogenic parent behaviors Increased anxiety, contempt for real self Basic anxiety Safety replaces self-realization Child tries to achieve safety (3 ways) Greater need for idealized self-image Failure Unattainable standards (“shoulds”) Ewen, 2010 Claims  Unrealistic demands or expectations imposed on other people by the neurotic person That girl I’ve never met should be asking me to dance… Ewen, 2010 http://www.theonion.com/tag/parties Feminine psychology  One of Horney’s more well-known contributions  Developed  First in 1922 woman to present on the issue  Strongly critical of Freud’s views on women Womb envy  Freud: women have penis envy (forever resentful)  Horney:  Men men have womb envy not capable of childbirth, small role  Overcompensate  Also by achievement in work demonstrated by belittling women, reinforce their inferior status Feminine Psychology  Horney did not deny that many women believe themselves to be inferior to men  Questions Freud’s assertion that this was biologically based  Explored role of culture and society Feminine Psychology  The Flight from Womanhood  In 1926, Horney proposed that as a result of feelings of inferiority, women may choose to deny their femininity and to wish, unconsciously, that they were men.  Eventually (1967), Horney concluded this is not inevitable but a product of a male-dominated culture and some family dynamics Feminine Psychology  Career  Horney suggested that women should seek their own identity by developing their abilities and pursuing careers rather than follow the traditional scheme that the woman’s role was to love, admire and serve her man. Assessment  Horney used free association—but focused on patients visible responses to her—visible emotional reactions  Dream analysis—could reveal a person’s true self; attempts to solve problems—did not offer a list of dream symbols  Self-report—Did not use psychological tests; some test were developed from her theory Research  Some research support for:  Neurotic  Tyranny trends of the shoulds Research Neurotic Trends  Researchers have studied Horney’s three proposed neurotic trends, redefining them as follows: moving against people (ill-tempered), moving away from people (shy), moving toward people (dependent). – Caspi, Elder, & Bem, 1988)  Found that there was persistence in the type over time, predictive value Research  Neurotic personality type and personality disorders Research on “shoulds” Research  Neurotic competitiveness—an indiscriminate need to win at all costs  2 types of competitiveness  Competing to win—dominate others  Competing to excel—surpass one’s goals  Excel tied to higher self esteem and lower depression  Competing to win more common among males  Win—greater loneliness and higher depression Treatment “to restore the individual to himself, to help him regain his spontaneity and find his center of gravity in himself” -Horney, 1939, p. 11  Psychotherapy  Underlying       goals Discover a patient’s deeply repressed inner conflicts Resolve these inner conflicts Allow patient the freedom to live up to innate potential Ewen, 2010 Lessen anxiety to stop relying on neurotic solutions Accept self as they are Strive for self-actualization Successful treatment  Patient chooses to relinquish the idealized image  Must choose instead to actualize ones real self Treatment procedures Free association Interpretation by therapist Dream Analysis Encourage self-analysis by patient Relationship is mutual, cooperative, and democratic http://plaza.ufl.edu/bjparis/ikhs/horney/fadiman/05_proce ss.html Progression of treatment • Recognize painful truths about oneself • Deal with anxiety • Overcome fear or hopelessness • Therapist helps patient believe problems can be resolved • Central inner conflict emerges • Therapist works to help patient mobilize forces toward self-actualization • Ongoing battle: desire to change -vs- fear of relinquishing strategies for survival in the harsh world • “Balance of power” can shift: • Striving for growth gets stronger than the pull of neurotic strategies http://plaza.ufl.edu/bjparis/ikhs/horney/fadiman/05_proce ss.html Karen Horney clinic “The Clinic's treatment programs reflect Karen Horney's Optimistic and humanistic philosophy that individuals have the capacity to grow and change throughout life…” Contributions  Not as well known as Jung, Adler, Freud—why?  Understandable  Modeled from Adler heavily  Took issue with Freud’s views of women  Impacted Erikson and Maslow Criticisms  Denial of biological instincts  Case study notes—did not take verbatim notes  Not as well developed as Freud’s  Should she just have started over?  Too influenced by middle class culture Analysis Practice: Horney-style 1. A professional athlete wins a world championship and immediately feels he has to win another to get respect. What might Horney say about his “idealized image”? 2. What might Horney encourage during therapy for someone who only focuses on college classes and activities that will look good on a resume or future job application? In the first therapy session they discovered that the patient learned during childhood to fear taking initiative. 3. A mother who demands that her grown children cater to her every whim and wish, be available to her all the time, always talk to her on the phone, no matter whether or not grandchildren are needing attention. If they don’t her reaction is to consider her children selfish, ungrateful. Her feelings: hurt, angry, depressed, anxious. Maslow: Needs Hierarchy Maslow ▪ Founder and spiritual leader of humanistic psychology ▪ Objected to behaviorism and psychoanalysis—esp. Freud ▪ Believed that when psychology only studies abnormal or emotionally disturbed it ignore all positive human qualities such as happiness, contentment, and peace of mind ▪ We underestimate human nature Life of Maslow ▪ Born in 1908 in Brooklyn, NY ▪ Immigrant parents, oldest of 7 children ▪ Extremely difficult life ▪ Dislike or even hatred of mother “horrible creature” ▪ Refused to attend her funeral ▪ Grew up solitary ▪ Father was aloof and left the house Life of Maslow ▪ Said his father liked whiskey, women and fighting ▪ Believed his mother was thrust of his life philosophy ▪ Driven by inferiority ▪ Married his first cousin Bertha ▪ Follower of Adler ▪ Died in 1970 of massive heart attack (while jogging around pool) New Style of Life ▪ Due to lack of social outlets he threw himself into Athletics ▪ When that didn’t work out, he turned to books and reading ▪ Grades were okay, but was accepted to City College of NY ▪ Began by studying law ▪ Moved on to Cornell and then University of Wisconsin ▪ University of Wisconsin became a positive experience for Maslow Behaviorism ▪ Studies under John Watson at Wisconsin ▪ Trained in experiemental psychology ▪ Studied dominant sexual behavior in primates ▪ Due to onset of WW I and birth of first child grew fascinated with Self-actualization ▪ Wanted to improve human personality (positive traits) ▪ Taught at Brooklyn College from 1935-1951 ▪ Had IQ of 195 Career ▪ Became famous for his theory between 1951-1969 ▪ Taught at Brandeis then moved to California ▪ Became president of American Psychological Association in 1967 Personality Development ▪ Arrangement of innate needs from strongest to weakest ▪ Needs activate behavior ▪ 5 needs ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ Instinctoid—heredity component Behaviors used are learned so vary from person to person Lower needs must be at least partially satisfied before higher needs Only 1 need will dominate our personality at any one point in time Characteristics of Need ▪ Lower the need, the greater the strength ▪ Higher needs appear later in life ▪ Lower needs were referred to by Maslow as deficit/deficiency needs ▪ Higher needs less necessary for actual survival so gratification can be delayed ▪ Higher needs contribute to personal growth ▪ Satisfaction of higher needs leads to improved health, happiness, contentment etc. ▪ Higher needs referred to as Growth needs Physiological needs http://www.loopa.co.uk/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs Physiological Needs ▪ Near drowning experience demonstrates physiological needs ▪ Starvation directs behavior but once the need is met it ceases to direct/control behavior Safety needs http://www.loopa.co.uk/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs Safety Needs ▪ For infants and neurotic adults ▪ Emotionally healthy adults have satisfied their safety needs ▪ Stability, security, and freedom from fear/anxiety ▪ Too much permissiveness leads to an absence of structure and order which produces insecurity and anxiety in children ▪ Neurotic and insecure adults also need structure and order ▪ Most adults prefer order to chaos http://www.loopa.co.uk/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs Love & belonging Belongingness/Love Needs ▪ Once physiological and safety needs have been reasonably well satisfied ▪ Can be friend, lover/partner, or other social relationship ▪ Did not equate to sex ▪ Failure to satisfy the needs for love is a fundamental cause of emotional mal adjustment http://www.loopa.co.uk/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs Esteem needs Esteem Needs ▪ Once we feel loved ▪ Require esteem and respect from ourselves in the form of self worth ▪ Require esteem and respect from others in form of status, recognition or social success ▪ Satisfaction of this leads to confidence, adequacy, strength of worth Self-actualization needs Self Actualization ▪ Highest need ▪ The fulfillment of our potential talents and abilities ▪ Though a person may satisfy all other needs in the hierarchy, if they do not self actualize they will be restless, frustrated, and discontent ▪ Can take many forms ▪ Not limited Conditions for Achieving Self Actualization ▪ Free of constraints imposed by society and ourselves ▪ Not distracted by lower order needs ▪ Secure in our self image and relationships with others; able to love and be loved in return ▪ Realistic knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses Achieving SA in non-traditional ways ▪ Ghandi ▪ Starvation diets ▪ Fasting ▪ Religious Leaders ▪ Risking physical harm for a cause Cognitive Needs ▪ Later proposed a second set of innate needs ▪ Cognitive needs ▪ To know and understand ▪ These exist outside of already existing hierarchy ▪ Evidence to support—animals explore for no reason other than curiosity ▪ People seek knowledge at risk of lives ▪ Emotionally healthy adults attracted to mysterious ▪ Boredom Cognitive needs affect personality ▪ Appears in late infancy/early childhood ▪ Parents and teachers can inhibit ▪ Failure to satisfy is harmful and hampers full development ▪ These overlap the original five needs ▪ Finding meaning in our environment Study of Self Actualizers ▪ Metamotivation—maximizing personal potential rather than striving for a particular goal ▪ Can be called Being or B motivation ▪ Motivation does not play a role instead the person motivates from within ▪ D-motivation refers to people who are not self actualizers and motivation comes from outside source Characteristics of SA ▪ Make up less than 1% of population ▪ Maslow believed they share certain characteristics ▪ Perceive the world clearly and objectively ▪ Acceptance of themselves/their own strengths and weaknesses ▪ Spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness ▪ Focus on problems outside of themselves ▪ Sense of detachment—can experience isolation w/o harmful effects Characteristics of SA ▪ Freshness of appreciation—ability to perceive world with awe ▪ Mystical or peak experiences—intense ecstasy, self is transcended ▪ Social interest—Adlerian; sympathy/empathy for others ▪ Profound interpersonal relationships—lasting friendships ▪ Creativeness—highly creative ▪ Resistance to enculturation—free to resist social and cultural pressures SA ▪ Concerned with fulfilling their potential and knowing/understanding the environment ▪ Metaneeds: states of growth or being toward which SA evolve ▪ Failure to satisfy is harmful and produces a meta pathology ▪ Prevents SA from expressing, using and fulfilling their potential ▪ Feel helpless and depressed Self-actualization, Maslow’s own words ▪ “the desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual] to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.” Self-actualization, Maslow’s own words ▪ “Self-actualization is idiosyncratic, since every person is different…The individual must do what he, individually is fitted for. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.” Some characteristics of “self-actualizers” Greater acceptance of self and others • See both good and bad in themselves and others Deeper, more loving relationships • Few intimate relationships, not many superficial. Autonomy in behavior and values • Less influenced by others. Nonconformists Creative • Not just books or music or art VS Failure to SA ▪ Highest need so very weak drive ▪ Can be easily inhibited by other lower needs ▪ Example: rejecting parents can make loving and being loved difficult ▪ Childhood is important in SA ▪ Can’t be overprotected or permissive ▪ Jonah complex—called to a task but terrified of it Maslow’s research methods ▪ Better to study healthy people than unhealthy ones. ▪ Was initially interested in people he admired ▪ Studied “best of the best” ▪ Einstein ▪ Lincoln ▪ Beethoven, etc. Maslow’s research ▪ Analyzed historical figures ▪ Used biographical data ▪ For living: interviews, free association, projective tests Self-actualizers? ▪ Think about someone you might consider self-actualized, per Maslow’s definition: to “become everything that one is capable of becoming”. He left room for individual differences (““Self-actualization is idiosyncratic, since every person is different”), but defined some common characteristics. Are there any characteristics you would add to his list? Anything you disagree with? Share something about the person you chose and why. ▪ Discuss your opinion of self-actualization as “the desire to become more and more what one is become everything that one is capable of becoming”. To what extent do you agree that people are motivated by this desire? What about you? Where do you see alignment between professional standards for social work practice and characteristics of self-actualizers, if at all? What do you think motivates social work practitioners to achieve high standards of practice? Psychopathology ▪ Need to satisfy fundamental needs ▪ Lower the level of need, worse pathology if not satisfied ▪ Maslow objected to formal diagnostic labels. ▪ Pathological needs do not reflect true desire and potential, e.g. power hungry “[These needs] must be satisfied, or else we get sick.” – Maslow, 1970 Let’s practice ▪ https://www.wisc-online.com/learn/socialscience/psychology/i2p401/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-exercise Critiques ▪ Overly optimistic view of human nature. ▪ Definition of self-actualizing humans = subjective ▪ Small sample/can’t be generalized ▪ Not easily empirically testable ideas ▪ Study of SA not rigorous or controlled Research on Maslow ▪ Has not generated a lot of empirical research ▪ One inventory: ▪ Personal Orientation Inventory (Shostrom, 1963) ▪ Measure the degree of self-actualization. ▪ http://www.edits.net/products/psychologicalassessments/poi.html ▪ Smartphone Basic Needs Scale Research on Maslow ▪ Did not use case study ▪ Did not use correlational data/methods or experimental methods ▪ Internet study of college students (belongingness) Treatment ▪ Goal of treatment: ▪ Help the patient get their needs satisfied/gratified ▪ Build interpersonal relationships: Why? Self Determination Theory ▪ Outgrowth of Maslow ▪ Innate tendency to express own interests ▪ Overcome challenges and develop capabilities and potentials ▪ Intrinsic motivation—engaging due to interest and challenge ▪ Extrinsic motivation—only for an external reward ▪ Includes 3 basic needs ▪ Competence ▪ Autonomy ▪ Relatedness Application to marketing ▪ Marketing to needs exercise ▪ Identify the level of need at which each product is likely marketed to. ▪ If more than one need, identify all levels. Maslow in marketing: Which level of need? Physiological Safety Love & Belonging Esteem Selfactualization Movie examples to illustrate the hierarchy ▪ Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfDS9r4Tz_g ▪ Ratatouille: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQ9vrvTAtk
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