PSY1610 Major Paradigms in Psychology Abraham Maslow PDF

11/12/2024 PSY1610 Major Paradigms in Psychology Abraham Maslow D r M a r t a S a n t R e s i d e n t A c a d e m i c i n C o u n s e l l i n g P s y c h o l o g y 1 Abraham Maslow: Holist...

11/12/2024 PSY1610 Major Paradigms in Psychology Abraham Maslow D r M a r t a S a n t R e s i d e n t A c a d e m i c i n C o u n s e l l i n g P s y c h o l o g y 1 Abraham Maslow: Holistic Dynamic Theory John is an average student but he does well academically Peter is a brilliant, clever student…but his grades are poor and he eventually drops out of university What could be happening here? Why is Peter struggling? Even brilliant people can struggle… 2 1  11/12/2024 Overview of Holistic Dynamic Theory The theory of personality developed by Maslow has been referred to as humanistic theory transpersonal theory third force in psychology fourth force in personality needs theory self-actualisation theory 3 Abraham Maslow: Holistic Dynamic Theory We all have the ability to move in the direction of psychological The person is viewed as a whole People have needs which they health and wellbeing [self- being in his or her entirety strive to meet actualisation…but more about this later] 4 2  11/12/2024 Third Force Psychology MASLOW - DID NOT WHOLLY REJECT PSYCHOANALYSIS AND BEHAVIOURISM BUT RECOGNISED THEIR LIMITAT IONS This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA 5 Our first baby changed me as a psychologist. It made the behaviorism I had been brought up in look so foolish that I could not stomach it any more. It was impossible. Having a second baby, and learning how profoundly different people are even before birth, made it impossible for me to think in terms of the kind of learning psychology in which one can teach anybody anything. Or the John B. Watson theory of, "Give me two babies and I will make one into this and one into the other." It is as if he never had any children. (Maslow, 1968, p.74) 6 3  11/12/2024 Abraham (Abe) Harold Maslow: A very brief biography Born in Manhattan, NY on the 1st of April 1908 Most of his childhood spent in Brooklyn Oldest of seven siblings Very shy, depressed and low-self-esteem Terrible relationship with his mother Identified as an atheist despite Jewish background 7 Abraham (Abe) Harold Maslow: A very brief biography In high school his grades Close cousin, Will Experienced anti- were only little above Maslow, taught him Semitism average social skills Was encouraged to apply Parents divorced and he to Cornell University but Enrolled in law school became a bit closer to went to a less but did not like it his father. prestigious university 8 4  11/12/2024 Abraham (Abe) Harold Maslow: A very brief biography Did well in courses he enjoyed but poorly in courses he did not like ○ Academic probation Eventually transferred to Cornell University Parents did not approve of marriage (he was 20 and she was 19) Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin and received a B.A. degree in psychology ○ Interested in behaviourism and applied for a PhD 9 Abraham (Abe) Harold Maslow: A very brief biography 1934 – awarded his doctorate but unable to find academic position as a result of anti-Semitism and the Great Depression Went to teach at Wisconsin and even applied for medical school Moved back to New York and was Thorndike’s research assistant ○ Researched sexuality and dominance Went to teach in Brooklyn This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY 10 5  11/12/2024 Abraham (Abe) Harold Maslow: A very brief biography Met psychologists who had fled Nazi rule (e.g. Erich Fromm and Karen Horney) 1938 conducted anthropological studies with northern Blackfoot Indians in Alberta, Canada 1946 - heart attack aged 38 1951 – Chairman of Psychology Department at Brandeis University in Massachusetts 1960s began finding fame Severe heart attack in 1967 Collapsed and died of a heart attack on June 8th, 1970 at the age of 62. 11 Maslow’s view of motivation Motivation can be Motivation is complicated conscious and and multidimensional unconscious Assumption is that people Needs can be positioned in are always motivated by a hierarchy one need of some sort 12 6  11/12/2024 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Lower level needs have to be met partially or fully before higher level needs can serve as motivators these are all needs which motivate you Conativeneeds - prepotency the most important needs 13 Physiological Needs 14 7  11/12/2024 Safety Needs 15 Love and Belongingness Needs 16 8  11/12/2024 Role of social belonging and self-esteem in acute The need to belong physical health and mood in 159 young adolescents and symptoms of (aged 11 to 14 years) Belongingness acute physical School health in early Home adolescence (Begen & Community Turner-Cobb, 2011) Participants presenting with greater perceived belongingness reported fewer physcila symptoms, lower levels of negative mood and higher levels of positive mood Chronic exposure to a perceived lack of belonging has implications for physical health on a number of levels 17 Esteem Needs Twolevels of esteem needs: ○ reputation ○ self-esteem 18 9  11/12/2024 Self-Actualisation Needs When esteem needs are met, this does not necessarily mean that one will move onto self-actualisation Whether people managed to satisfy this need depends on whether people appreciate B-values 19 Children’s dreams viewed through the prism of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Medcalf, Hoffman & Boatwright, 2013) Research question “does one’s environment impact the ability to imagine greater things or strive toward higher levels of achievement?” Obtained writing samples for four schools Children in affluent area – give money to the poor, helping others, enhancing the world and environment Children on military base – world peace and equality Children in low SES area wrote about food, shelter, and safety 20 10  11/12/2024 Deficiency and Growth Motives: Dualistic Theory of Motivation (Ewen, 2014) B being motives DEFICIENCY MOT IVES GROWTH MOT IVES needs that arise from a lack of something needs focused on personal growth and self- essential. improvement. Examples: Food, safety, love, esteem. Examples: Creativity, self-actualization, exploring 21 They motivate action to fix the deficiency new skills. (e.g., eating when hungry). They are not about fixing a lack but striving for Once satisfied, these needs stop being fulfillment. motivating. Unlike deficiency motives, these become stronger the more you pursue them. Aesthetic, cognitive and neurotic needs Apart from the previous conative needs, Maslow identified aesthetic needs, cognitive and neurotic needs If aesthetic and cognitive needs are not met, this can lead to pathology 22 11  11/12/2024 Aesthetic Needs 23 Cognitive Needs 24 12  11/12/2024 Neurotic Needs Form of compensation for Neurotic needs can only needs that are not met – cause ill being and they are a reaction to pathology thwarted needs 25 Mobile communication for human needs: A comparison of smartphone use between the US and Korea (Kang & Jung, 2014) Applied Maslow’s hierarchical needs to Smartphone use Satisfied needs of safety and self-actualisation strongly lead to Smartphone use Smartphone Basic Needs (SBN) Scale 26 13  11/12/2024 To what degree are our needs satisfied? Physiological 85% Safety 70% Love and belongingness 50% Esteem 40% Self-actualisation 10% Needs emerge slowly and people might be motivated by needs from 2 or more levels 27 Reversed order of needs Most needs tend to be satiated in the But not always hierarchical order 28 14  11/12/2024 Unmotivated behaviour Some behaviour is not caused by needs but for other reasons such as drugs, reflexes -this included what Maslow termed as expressive behaviour 29 Expressive and coping behaviour Expressive behaviour - unmotivated Coping behaviour – motivated Has no purpose, often unconscious, happens naturally with minimal effort, and aimed at satisfying a need Relates to a person’s way of expressing him Conscious, intentional, or herself. Includes posture, looking stupid, relaxed, demonstrating anger, expressing learned happiness Basedon external Continueseven if it is not reinforced or environment rewarded such as frowning, blushing Relates to voice, the way you walk, Serves a goal excitement, play, art, wonder, gratitude 30 15  11/12/2024 Deprivation of Needs If needs are not met, this can lead to pathology Metapathology 31 Instinctoid Needs Some needs are innate, though they can be altered via the process of learning. These are known as instinctoid needs If instinctoid needs are not met, this leads to pathology If noninstinctoid needs are not met, this does not lead to pathology If you do become ill if your need is frustrated, then an unmet need is actually a basic instinctoid need 32 16  11/12/2024 Comparing the Higher and Lower Needs 33 Self-Actualisation Maslow’sviews on self- actualisation began developing following his PhD, when he was impressed by two of his lecturers in NYC ○ Anthropologist Ruth Benedict ○ Psychologist Max Wertheimer 34 17  11/12/2024 Maslow’s search for the Self-Actualising Person “Good Human Being” Found older people who matched some of the features he was looking for Being psychologically adjusted and emotionally secure are not the main foundations to be “Good Human Being”, or the “Self-Actualising Person” 35 Free from psychopathology Criteria for Progression through the hierarchy of needs Self- Actualisation Embracing B-values Fulfilled their needs to grow, to develop and to increasingly become what they were capable of becoming 36 18  11/12/2024 Metamotivation 37 Conditions for achieving self-actualisation (Schultz & Schultz, 2017, p.254) We must be free of constraints imposed by society and by ourselves We must not be distracted by the lower-order needs We must be secure in our self-image and in our relationship with other people, and we must be able to love and be loved in return We must have a realistic knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses, virtues and vices 38 19  11/12/2024 Values of Self-Actualisers B-values refers to ‘being’-values According to Maslow, B-values are ‘metaneeds’ – the highest level of needs Metamotivation is mainly expressive 39 Truth, goodness, beauty, 14 interrelated B – transcendence of Values of values identified dichotomies, aliveness or spontaneity, Self- uniqueness etc According to Maslow, Actualisers Absence of B- values if metaneeds are not can be as harmful as met, then people can lack of food become ill 40 20  11/12/2024 An efficient perception of reality Characteristics of Self- An acceptance of themselves, others Actualisers (Schultz and nature & Schultz, 2017, p.256) A spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness 41 Characteristics of Self-Actualisers (Schultz & Schultz, 2017, p.256) A focus on problems outside themselves A sense of detachment and the need for privacy 42 21  11/12/2024 A freshness of appreciation Social interest Characteristic s of Self- Actualisers (Schultz & Schultz, 2017, p.256) “Profound interpersonal relations” 43 Characteristics of Self-Actualisers (Schultz & Schultz, 2017, p.256) Resistance to Creativeness enculturation 44 22  11/12/2024 Have a profound mystical/spiritual (not necessarily religious) experience Self-actualisers described peak experiences, experiences that were almost mystical in nature, linked Characteristics to transcendence of Self- Some peak experiences have different levels of intensity Actualising Cannot be forced, they are natural and spontaneous People Related to intense feelings of pleasure or fulfilment Sense of power and humility, awe, wonder, rapture, almost become disoriented and lack self-consciousness 45 Drugs and peak experiences?.....© Mr Anthony Gatt At first Maslow favoured seeing drug-induced highs as a peak experience (LSD, psychedelic sixties) But later he took a position against this saying “I would certainly be very wary about the possibilities of drug induced peak experiences. Peak experiences that really change the person come about where they are earned” (Hardeman, 1979, p.24) 46 23  11/12/2024 Failure to become self- actualising (Schultz & Schultz, 2017) Why are only 1% of individuals self- actualizers? The higher the need in the hierarchy, the weaker the need The importance of childhood in self- actualisation 47 Measuring Self-Actualisation (POI) Shostrom (1974) developed the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) to measure values and behaviours of self-actualising people. e.g. “I can feel comfortable with less than a perfect performance ” or “I feel uncomfortable with anything less than a perfect performance ” e.g. “Two people will get along best if each concentrates on pleasing the other” or “Two people can get along best if each person feels free to express himself” e.g. “My moral values are dictated by society” versus “My moral values-are self-determined” 48 24  11/12/2024 Measuring Self-Actualisation (POI) Ten subscales assess ○ 1. Self-actualisation values Two major scales and 10 subscales ○ 2. Flexibility in applying values ○ 3. Sensitivity to one’s own needs and feelings Firstmajor scale – time competence/time incompetence scale ○ 4. Spontaneity in expressing feelings behaviourally – this attends to how present-oriented ○ 5. Self-regard people are ○ 6. Self-acceptance ○ 7. Positive view of humanity Secondmajor scale, the support scale – where person is self or other oriented ○ 8. Ability to see opposites of life as meaningfully related ○ 9. Acceptance of aggression good time management - organized with time ○ 10. Capacity for intimate contact and whether you focus on yourself or others 49 Measuring Self-Actualisation (POI) “My basic responsibility is to be aware of others’ needs” ○A self-actualiser might actually agree with statements such as ‘I do not feel obligated when a stranger does a favour for me’ or ‘I do not always need to live by the rules and standards of society ’ – they do not need to be perceived or to project themselves as socially desirable Maslowhelped construct and develop the POI but his scores were not as high as some self actualizers Critiques of the POI ○ Long and time-consuming ○ Two-item forced format can be frustrating and limiting 50 25  11/12/2024 He argues that science has disregarded the human experience. Maslow suggests that science should care deeply about the impacts of their work on people's lives and societal issues. Science I have rejected thereby, the whole model of science and all its works that have been derived from the historical accident that science began with the study of nonpersonal, nonhuman things, which in fact had no ends (Maslow, 1968, p.75) 51 Science Scientists should genuinely care about Desacralization the issues and people they research process of removing the sacred meaning from something. Treating something that once had emotional or spiritual importance as if it’s just another object. 52 In religion a sacred place, like a temple, is desacralized when it’s treated merely as a building. Science has treated emotions as less important and looks at them as just data to study. 26  11/12/2024 The Jonah Complex FEAR OF BEING ONE’S BEST FEELING OVERWHELMED, TOO HUMILITY MANY INTENSE EMOTIONS 53 Psychopathology (Ewen, 2014) Main reasons for psychopathology is inability to have our needs met The lower level where the need is not met, the worse the pathology The more needs you meet, the less disturbed you are If someone meets all of the needs except self-actualization, they will still be healthy 54 27  11/12/2024 Psychotherapy Embracing B- Independence and Client’s location on values – truth, Unmet needs self-actualisation hierarchy of needs justice, goodness etc 55 Mindfulness and Self-Actualisation Mindfulness ○ Buddhist concept that is gaining significant popularity in Western therapy and science Research notes that self-actualisers view the world with a certain intensity, appreciation and acceptance and this is similar to mindfulness Mindfulness practice can lead to peak experiences Researchindicates that the more mindfulness people report themselves to be, the higher they score on self-actualisation Links of acceptance feature of mindfulness and self-actualisation Notsure which comes first – are self-actualisers more mindful or does practising mindfulness make people more self-actualising? 56 28  11/12/2024 Positive Psychology Many issues explored by positive psychologists are directly related to humanistic theories Positive psychologists critique traditional psychology because it does not really consider what makes life worth living and what makes people healthy 57 Some issues to consider… Self-actualisation is something that Problems with recognising self- remains researched and studied actualising people 58 29  11/12/2024 Some issues to consider… Maslow was optimistic about human beings but realised that we can also cause great harm to ourselves and others Evil was not something innate and inherent in us 59 30