Abraham Maslow humanistic theory of personality briefly. Abraham Maslow's Humanist Theory of Personality

Introduction …………………………………………………………..3

I. A. Maslow’s humanistic theory of personality…………........ 4

1. Physiological needs…………………………...7

2. Safety and security needs…………………….7

3. Needs of belonging and love………………….7

4. Needs of self-respect………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. The needs of self-actualization………………………….8

II. Assessment of self-actualization according to A. Maslow………………………..10

III. Characteristics of self-actualizing people……………….12

IV. The humanistic theory of K. Rogers…………………………….13

1. Field of experience……………………………………………………..14

2. Self. Ideal Self………………………………….14

3. Congruence and incongruence…………………………16

4. The tendency to self-actualization……………………………….18

5. Social relations………………………………………….19

Conclusion……………………………………………………………21

Literature…………………………………………………………….22

Introduction

From the point of view of humanistic psychology, people are highly conscious and intelligent creatures without dominant unconscious needs and conflicts. In this, the humanistic direction differs significantly from psychoanalysis, which presents a person as a creature with instinctive and intrapsychic conflicts, and behavioralists, who interpret people as practically obedient and passive victims of the forces of the environment.

Prominent theorists such as Frome, Allport, Kelly Rogers can be called supporters of humanistic views, considering people as active creators of their own lives, having the freedom to choose and develop a lifestyle that is limited only by physical or social influences, but it was Abraham Maslow who received universal recognition as an outstanding representative of the humanistic theory of personality. His theory of personality self-actualization, based on the study of healthy and mature people, clearly shows the main themes and provisions characteristic of the humanistic direction.

The central link of personality, according to K. Rogers, is self-esteem, a person's idea of himself, "I-concept", which is generated in interaction with other people. Thanks to K. Rogers, the phenomena of self-consciousness and self-esteem, their functions in the behavior and development of the subject became an important subject for further psychological research.

Humanistic theory of personality A. Maslow

Humanistic psychology is an alternative to the two most important currents in psychology - psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Rooted in existential philosophy, which rejects the proposition that a person is a product of either hereditary (genetic) factors or environmental influences (especially early influences), existentialists emphasize the idea that, in the end, each of us is responsible for who we are and what we are becoming.

Therefore, humanistic psychology takes as its main model a responsible person who freely makes a choice among the opportunities provided. The main concept of this direction is the concept formation. Man is never static, he is always in the process of becoming. This is evidenced by a clear example of the formation of a man from a boy. But this is not the emergence of biological needs, sexual or aggressive urges. A person who denies becoming, denies growth itself, denies that it contains all the possibilities of a full-fledged human existence.

But despite the importance of becoming, humanistic psychologists recognize that finding the true meaning of life is not easy.

Another view can be described as phenomenological or "here and now". This direction is based on subjective reality, or personal, but not objective, i.e. emphasizes the importance of subjective experience as the main phenomenon in the study and understanding of man. Theoretical constructs and outward behavior are secondary to direct experience and its unique meaning to the experiencer.

Maslow felt that for too long psychologists have focused on the detailed analysis of individual events, neglecting what they were trying to understand, namely the person as a whole. For Maslow human body always behaves as a whole, and what happens in some part affects the whole organism.

So, considering a person, he emphasized his special position, different from animals, saying that the study of animals is not applicable to understanding a person, since those characteristics that are inherent only to a person (humor, envy, guilt, etc.) are ignored. he believed that by nature every person has the potential for positive growth and improvement.

The main place in his concept is occupied by the question of motivation. Maslow said that people are motivated to find personal goals, and this makes their life meaningful and meaningful. He described man as a "desiring being" who rarely achieves a state of complete satisfaction. The complete absence of desires and needs, if it exists, is short-lived at best. If one need is satisfied, another one rises to the surface and directs the person's attention and effort.

Maslow suggested that all needs congenital and presented his concept of the hierarchy of needs in human motivation in order of their priority:

This scheme is based on the rule that the dominant needs located below must be more or less satisfied before a person is aware of the presence and be motivated by the needs located above, i.e. Satisfying the needs located at the bottom of the hierarchy makes it possible to recognize the needs located higher in the hierarchy and their participation in motivation. According to Maslow, this is the main principle underlying the organization of human motivation, and the higher a person can rise in this hierarchy, the more individuality, human qualities and mental health he will demonstrate.

key point Maslow's concept of hierarchy of needs is that needs are never satisfied on an all-or-nothing basis. Needs overlap, and a person can be motivated at two or more levels of needs at the same time. Maslow suggested that the average person satisfies his needs like this:

physiological - 85%,

safety and protection - 70%,

love and belonging - 50%,

self-esteem - 40%,

Self-actualization - 10%.

If the needs of a lower level are no longer satisfied, the person will return to this level and remain there until these needs are sufficiently satisfied.

Now let's look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs in more detail:

Physiological Needs

Physiological needs are directly related to the biological survival of a person and must be satisfied at some minimum level before any higher level needs become actual, i.e. a person who fails to satisfy these basic needs will not be interested in the needs that occupy the highest levels of the hierarchy for a long time, because it very quickly becomes so dominant that all other needs disappear or recede into the background.

The need for security and protection.

Needs included are needs for organization, stability, law and order, predictability of events, and freedom from threatening forces such as disease, fear, and chaos. Thus, these needs reflect an interest in long-term survival. The preference for a secure job with a stable high income, the creation of savings accounts, the purchase of insurance can be seen as actions partly motivated by the search for security.

Another manifestation of the need for security and protection can be seen when people face real emergencies such as war, flood, earthquake, insurrection, civil unrest, and so on.

The need for belonging and love.

At this level, people seek to establish attachment relationships with others in their family or group. The child wants to live in an atmosphere of love and care, in which all his needs are met and he receives a lot of affection. Adolescents seeking to find love in the form of respect and recognition of their independence and self-reliance, reach out to participate in religious, musical, sports and other close-knit groups. Young people experience a need for love in the form of sexual intimacy, that is, unusual experiences with a person of the opposite sex.

Maslow identified two types of love in adults: deficient or D-love, and existential or B-love. The first is based on a scarce need - love, which comes from the desire to get what we lack, say, self-respect, sex or the company of someone with whom we do not feel alone. It is selfish love that takes rather than gives. B-love, on the contrary, is based on the realization of the human value of the other, without any desire to change or use it. This love, according to Maslow, enables a person to grow.

Self-esteem needs.

When our need to love and be loved by others is sufficiently satisfied, the degree to which it influences behavior diminishes, making way for self-respect needs. Maslow divided them into two types: self-respect and respect for others. The first includes such concepts as competence, confidence, independence and freedom. A person needs to know that he is a worthy person, that he can cope with the tasks and demands that life makes. Respect by others includes concepts such as prestige, recognition, reputation, status, appreciation, and acceptance. Here a person needs to know that something he does is recognized and appreciated.

There are two main directions in the humanistic theory of personality. The first, "clinical" (focused mainly on the clinic), is presented in the views of the psychologist K. Rogers. The founder of the second "motivational" direction is the American researcher A. Maslow.

A. Maslow singled out two types of needs that underlie the development of a personality: "deficient", which cease after they are satisfied, and "growth", which, on the contrary, only intensify after their implementation. According to Maslow, there are five levels of motivation:

1) physiological (need for food, sleep);

2) security needs (need for an apartment);

3) needs for belonging, reflecting the needs of one person in another person, for example, in creating a family;

4) the level of self-esteem (the need for self-affirmation, competence, dignity);

5) the need for self-actualization (metaneeds for creativity, beauty, integrity, etc.)

The needs of the first two levels are deficient, the third level of needs is considered intermediate, and growth needs are at the fourth and fifth levels.

Maslow formulated the law of the progressive development of motivation, according to which a person's motivation develops progressively: movement to a higher level occurs if the needs of the lower level are (mostly) satisfied. In other words, if a person is hungry and has no roof over his head, then it will be difficult for him to start a family, and even more so to respect himself or be creative.

The most important for a person are the needs for self-actualization. Self-actualization is not the final state of human perfection. No man will become so self-actualized as to drop all motives. Every person always has talents for further development. A person who has reached the fifth level is called a "psychologically healthy person."

According to humanists, there is no decisive age period; personality is formed and develops throughout life. However, the early periods of life (childhood and adolescence) play a special role in the development of personality. The personality is dominated by rational processes, where unconsciously occurs only temporarily, when for one reason or another the process of self-actualization is blocked. Humanists believe that a person has complete free will. A person is aware of himself, is aware of his actions, makes plans, seeks the meaning of life. Man is the creator of his own personality, the creator of his own happiness.

The inner world of a person, his thoughts, feelings and emotions for humanists is not a direct reflection of reality. Each person interprets reality in accordance with their subjective perception. The inner world of a person is fully accessible only to himself. Human actions are based on subjective perception and subjective experiences. Only subjective experience is the key to understanding the behavior of a particular person.

In the humanistic model of personality, the main conceptual "units" are:

1) "real I" - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences "here and now;

2) "Ideal Self" - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences that a person would like to have in order to realize his personal potential.

3) the need for self-actualization - innate needs that determine the growth and development of the individual.

Although the "real self" and "ideal self" are rather vague concepts, nevertheless, there is a way to measure their congruence (coincidence).

A high indicator of congruence indicates a relatively high harmony between the "real self" and the "ideal self" (high self-esteem). At low values of congruence (low self-esteem), there is a high level of anxiety, a sign of depression.

Thus, within the framework of the humanistic approach, the personality is the inner world of the human "I" as a result of self-actualization, and the personality structure is the individual ratio of the "real I" and the "ideal I", as well as the individual level of development of needs for self-actualization.

Personality- a person who develops in society and interacts and communicates with other people using language.

Psychological structure of personality is a holistic model, a system of qualities and properties that fully characterizes psychological features personality (person, individual).

All mental processes are carried out in some personality, but not all act as its distinctive properties. Each of us is in some ways similar to all people, in some ways only to some, in some ways not like anyone else.

Humanistic theories of personality development - how do they differ from other psychological approaches? For behaviorists, the basis of the foundations is behavior, for Gestalt psychology, perception, for psychoanalysis, psychosexual development. The main idea that emerged in the middle of the twentieth century. humanism is the recognition of man as an initially positive being, endowed with spiritual qualities and striving for the best.

Humanists were convinced that the driving force that governs the behavior of the individual is the desire to realize their abilities. It has been called self-actualization. What are the main ideas of scientists-supporters of humanism? What methods do they offer to resolve personal conflicts? Consider the scientists who have made incredibly valuable contributions to understanding these questions. These are Viktor Frankl, Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Viktor Frankl - the greatest spiritual teacher and concentration camp prisoner

Viktor Frankl is a psychotherapist with whom humanists around the world sought meetings: from Jaspers and Heidegger to political leaders different countries. Frankl's 31 books have been translated into dozens of languages. Frankl is one of the greatest spiritual teachers who has helped millions of people find meaning in life. He managed to live a long life - from 1905 to 1997. And the years from 1942 to 1945 were the time that Frankl spent in the appalling conditions of the Nazi concentration camps. Even before the outbreak of war, the scientist began to develop a theory about the meaning of human life. These ideas have been rigorously tested and confirmed. The most likely to survive in unthinkable conditions was not for those who had good health, but for those who knew what to live for. main idea Frankl's psychotherapy was this: if a person lacks a life meaning, this causes many neuroses.

Frankl was convinced that people are capable of self-actualization even under limited and difficult life circumstances. The psychologist explained this possibility in two ways. First, a person can be transcendent to himself - that is, he can find the meaning of life outside of himself. Secondly, everyone is also able to step back from the situation, to look at themselves from the outside. Humanistic theories of personality development, each in its own way, consider the problem of the meaning of human life. But Frankl's theory expresses it especially vividly.

What was the meaning of life for Viktor Frankl himself? Once in the concentration camp, he took with him the manuscript of his theory. His task was to preserve and then restore this draft when it was lost. And also until the very exit from the concentration camp, Frankl did not give up hope to see his wife again. But she, like many millions, died.
When he was released in 1945, he learned that all his relatives had died. But even so, Frankl did not harden. For five years he published his books, in which he wrote about the meaning of life, about how to find and preserve it.

Man in a concentration camp

In addition to the nightmares that occurred in the Nazi camps, the scientist especially noted the mental anguish of the prisoners. In these places, the psychologist wrote, even suicide lost its meaning. None of the prisoners knew how long he would live - a week, a day or a month. However, everyone knew about the inevitability of his death. Some time after entering the concentration camp, Frankl writes, the prisoner did not even fear the possibility of being thrown into the gas chamber. After all, then he had no question of suicide. At that time, no one was interested in humanistic theories of personality development, or humanism in general, or the life of an individual person. It is surprising that Frankl himself managed to maintain his professional interests in inhuman conditions.

The one who entered the concentration camp experienced a severe shock. But after a while, a person entered a phase of relative indifference to everything that was going on around him. Mental anguish still boiled inside the prisoner - first of all, boundless longing for his relatives, whom, perhaps, he would no longer be destined to see. As time went on, Frankl writes, the prisoners' normal human responses increasingly faded. First, the concentration camper averts his gaze from his comrade, who is forced to do squats in the mud to the rhythm of the blows. But after a week or two, he looks at it calmly. Neither such scenes nor the corpses carried out of the barracks evoke reactions in the prisoner.

Those who fell ill in concentration camps could accurately calculate the time of their death or the death of a comrade. After all, this happened before their eyes several times a day. At first, the body completely depleted the available resources. Then the body began to devour its own muscles. The prisoners became like skin-covered skeletons.

Freedom of choice and meaning

Under these conditions, Frankl asks the question: is a person really determined only by external circumstances? Where then is his freedom, self-determination in relation to him? Are humans then nothing more than the result of their environment, the design of their physical bodies, and a host of other biological and social factors? Most of all, Frankl was interested in whether it was possible to justify the cruel deeds of those who, in the conditions of camp life, "could not have otherwise." Did they have a choice?

The scholar answers this question in the affirmative. The experience of his observations shows that everything can be taken away from a person - even his body. But one cannot take away the freedom to act one way or another, to treat circumstances according to one's choice. Of course, in camp conditions, only a few could maintain such spiritual integrity, the scientist notes.

For example, Frankl writes about a woman who knew she was going to die soon. But she was one of many who did not lose heart. “I am grateful to fate ... because in fact in my past life I was too spoiled, and my spiritual claims were not high,” Frankl recalls her words.

Further, the scientist describes her condition before death. "She was very focused," he writes. The woman looked at the chestnut tree, which could be seen through a small window. “This is my only friend. When alone, I often talk to him,” she said. “And what does he answer you?” Frankl asked, suspecting that the prisoner was hallucinating. "It says: I am here, I am with you, I am eternal life."

Of all the theories of personality development, Frankl's logotherapy has been the most severely tested by reality. Viktor Frankl chose Nietzsche's expression as his creed: "Only he who has a 'Why?' will be able to withstand any "how?". And the meaning of life, the scientist emphasizes, each new moment can be different. There is a specific meaning of a specific person at a certain point in time.

Carl Rogers - founder of client-centered therapy

Carl Ransome Rogers was born in the USA. Rogers' father was a deeply religious Protestant. Young Karl studied a lot, loved to educate himself. As a child, he had practically no friends. Religious parents decided to move away from the city so that its environment would not have a "bad effect" on their six children. In 1924, Rogers marries a girl named Helen Elliot. Contrary to the expectations of parents on both sides, Carl Rogers does not get a job, but makes a choice in favor of education. The newly minted Rogers family moves to New York. There, the future scientist enters graduate school to become a theologian.

But then he begins to have doubts about his choice. Rogers changes his original theology to psychology, enrolling in the College of Education. He was very surprised that a person, not being part of the church, can conduct psychological counseling and receive a lot of money for it. His first book, entitled "Counseling and Psychotherapy", published in 1942, was a huge success among the masses. But on his own faculty, Carl Rogers had practically no like-minded people. The idea that the client can control the process of psychotherapy seemed too seditious to them. In 1945, Rogers founded his own psychotherapeutic center, and was engaged in the study of personality until his death in 1987.

The main provisions of the concept of Rogers

Humanistic theories of personality development originated in the work of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Rogers is the recognized founder of this trend. The central concept of his theory is the "I-concept" - a mechanism that is formed during the interaction of a person and the social environment. The scientist also proposed the concept of client-centered psychotherapy. It means that not the psychotherapist, but the one seeking help is an expert for himself. Currently, client-centered therapy is one of the most popular methods of psychotherapy. It differs from some approaches in that it is applied not only when working with adults. Client-centered therapy is also used in cases where the development of a teenager's personality requires psychotherapeutic intervention.

By applying this method, the therapist only creates the conditions under which the client achieves positive change. Rogers believed that each person has enough internal resources for this. The scientist considered the following to be the main components of a successful psychotherapy process: unconditional acceptance of the client, empathy, and congruence. Unconditional acceptance means that the client is accepted without any evaluation by the therapist. Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings and actions of the client, even if the therapist himself had made a different choice. Congruence Rogers called empathy and expression of their feelings by the psychotherapist.

The concept of "client" was also first introduced by this scientist. This was not done for the sake of a beautiful word. After all, a "sick" person is a passive person who cannot change anything in his internal attitudes. The client, on the other hand, is someone who can solve their problems on their own, but prefers to enlist the support of a therapist. Rogers emphasizes that personal development is possible only with positive attention from other people and the client himself to himself.

Rogers considers the closest people to be the main figures in the formation of personality - first of all, parents. If parents give their child a sufficient amount of love and attention, then the development of the child's personality corresponds to all the possibilities available to him. If the love of parents is not enough, then the behavior of the future adult is determined by society.

Abraham Maslow - the founder of the theory of self-actualization

Another scientist, thanks to whom the humanistic theories of personality development have been applied today, is Abraham Maslow. Maslow is an American psychologist and founder of the theory of self-actualization of personality. He is also the author of the well-known "Pyramid of Needs".

The future scientist was born in New York in 1908. His family had Russian roots. Despite a good financial situation, Maslow's childhood cannot be called happy. Parents constantly clashed, father was absent from home for a long time. Young Abraham also began to experience serious complexes about his appearance. Interestingly, Maslow himself had a happy family life. Mutual love had such a strong influence on the scientist that it partially formed the basis of his theory.

For the first time the scientist formulated his own views in 1934. Trying to see the "human in man", Maslow begins to construct his own theory and criticize Freud's theory. But his views were subjected to serious criticism. Maslow's work was rejected for publication.

The main research of the scientist - the book "Motivation and Personality" - was published in 1954. The humanistic theories of personality development of other researchers have much in common with Maslow's theory. In his works, he studies a psychologically healthy person. The scientist notes: there are only 2-4% of the total population. The main concept put forward by Maslow was the study of man as a whole. His theory was opposed to behaviorism, where the subject of study was individual behavioral patterns. Maslow believed that motivation is the driving force that influences human behavior as a whole. And self-destructive behavior is the result of unmet needs.

Patterns and humanistic theories of personality development identified by scientists

As for Maslow's "pyramid of needs", the scientist found out the following patterns that needs and motives have:

Relative to each other, they are arranged hierarchically;
The higher the level a need occupies, the less physiologically necessary it is;
Until the lower order needs are satisfied, the higher order needs are of little importance.

A person at the stage of self-actualization has a number of qualities. For Maslow's theory of personality development, they are as follows:

Such a person fully and without distortion accepts the existing reality. Man does not "hide from life";
Accepts himself for who he / she is, and also accepts the characteristics of other people;
Independent of society, has its own views on things;
Passionate about his work, life is aimed at professional realization;
Constantly open to new experiences;
Well developed sense of humor;
Willingness to solve complex problems and challenges.

Maslow, like all humanists, sought not only to develop his theory, but also to provide answers to emerging practical matters. Why are there so few people who are at the stage of self-realization? The scientist believed that there could be several reasons for this. First, it is an unfavorable social environment in which the needs of the lower blocks of the "pyramid" are not satisfied. Secondly, a person's elementary ignorance of his capabilities - the psychological "Jonah complex" - can interfere. The third reason, Maslow believed, is a high level of anxiety, or an increased need for security. A person in whom this need is hypertrophied will be more afraid of mistakes and risks that accompany the process of self-actualization.

Conclusion

What is humanism for modern psychologists? It is one of the most important directions, which reveals new possibilities of the human psyche, considers the person himself from a different angle. The scientists who stood at the foundations of this trend have largely influenced modern psychotherapy. Psychologists-humanists look at the client not just from the side of the observer, but also try on “his skin”. For humanistic psychology, a person is by no means a hostage of circumstances or external instincts.

Introduction

Humanistic theory of personality A. Maslow

But despite the importance of becoming, humanistic psychologists recognize that finding the true meaning of life is not easy.

Maslow felt that for too long psychologists have focused on the detailed analysis of individual events, neglecting what they were trying to understand, namely the person as a whole. For Maslow, the human body always behaves as a whole, and what happens in some part affects the whole organism.

Maslow suggested that all needs congenital and presented his concept of the hierarchy of needs in human motivation in order of their priority:

The key point in Maslow's hierarchy of needs concept is that needs are never satisfied on an all-or-nothing basis. Needs overlap, and a person can be motivated at two or more levels of needs at the same time. Maslow suggested that the average person satisfies his needs like this:

physiological - 85%,

safety and protection - 70%,

love and belonging - 50%,

self-esteem - 40%,

Self-actualization - 10%.

If the needs of a lower level are no longer satisfied, the person will return to this level and remain there until these needs are sufficiently satisfied.

Now let's look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs in more detail:

Physiological Needs

The need for security and protection.

Another manifestation of the need for security and protection can be seen when people face real emergencies such as war, flood, earthquake, insurrection, civil unrest, and so on.

The need for belonging and love.

Self-esteem needs.

Satisfying the needs of self-esteem generates a sense of confidence, dignity and the realization that you are useful and necessary. Maslow suggested that the needs for respect reach a maximum level and stop growing in maturity, and then their intensity decreases.

Needs of self-actualization.

Maslow described self-actualization as the desire of a person to become what he can be. The person who has achieved top level, achieves the full use of his talents, abilities and potential of the individual, i.e. self-actualization means becoming the person we can be, reaching the peak of our potential. But, according to Maslow, self-actualization is very rare, because many people simply do not see their potential, or do not know about its existence, or do not understand the benefits of self-improvement. They tend to doubt and even be afraid of their abilities, thereby reducing the chances for self-actualization. Maslow called this phenomenon Iona complex. It is characterized by a fear of success that prevents a person from striving for greatness and self-improvement.

Socialization also has an inhibitory effect on the process of self-actualization. In other words, people need an “enabling” society in which they can develop their human potential to the fullest.

Another barrier to self-actualization mentioned by Maslow is the strong Negative influence provided by security needs. Children raised in a safe, friendly environment are more likely to develop a healthy understanding of the growth process.

In addition to his hierarchical concept of motivation, Maslow identified two global categories of human motives:

· scarce motives

· growth motives.

The former are aimed at satisfying deficient states, for example, hunger, cold, danger. They are persistent characteristics of behavior.

Unlike D-motives, growth motives (or meta-needs, or existential needs, or B-motives) have distant goals. Their function is to enrich and expand life experience. Meta-needs include: integrity, perfection, activity, beauty, kindness, uniqueness, truth, honor, reality, etc.

A. Maslow: humanistic theory of personality

Introduction

Short biography

Part one.

Part two

Conclusion

Literature

I. Introduction

Supporters of humanistic views, Considering people as active creators of their own lives, having the freedom to choose and develop a lifestyle that is limited only by physical or social influences, such prominent theorists as Frome, Allport, Kelly and Rogers can be called, but it was Abraham Maslow who received universal recognition as an outstanding representative of the humanistic theory of personality. His theory of personality self-actualization, based on the study of healthy and mature people, clearly shows the main themes and provisions characteristic of the humanistic direction.

II. short biography

Abraham Harold Maslow was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1908. He was the son of uneducated Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia. Parents really wanted him, the eldest of seven children, to get an education.

Initially, going to college, Maslow intended to study law to please his father. Two weeks spent at City College in New York convinced him that he would never become a lawyer. AT youth Maslow moved to the University of Wisconsin, where he completed an official academic course in psychology, earning a B.A. in 1930, an M.A. in 1031, and a Ph.D. in 1934. While studying in Wisconsin, he worked with Harry Harlow, a renowned psychologist who at the time was setting up a primate lab to study the behavior of rhesus monkeys. Maslow's doctoral dissertation was devoted to the study of sexual and dominant behavior in a colony of monkeys!

Not long before moving to Wisconsin, Maslow married Bertha Goodman. Marriage and university studies were very important events in Maslow's life, he said: "Life did not actually begin for me until I got married and went to Wisconsin."

After receiving his doctorate, he worked with a well-known theorist in the field of learning E.L. Thorndike at Columbia University in New York. He then moved to Brooklyn College where he worked for 14 years.

In 1951, Maslow was appointed chair of the psychology department at Brandeis University. He remained in this post until 1961, when he was professor of psychology there. In 1969, he left Brandeis to work for the W. P. Loughlin Charitable Trust in Menlo Park, California.

In 1970, at the age of 62, Maslow died of a heart attack.

His works:

"Religions, Values and Peak Experiences" (1964)

"Eupsyche: diary" (1965)

“Psychology of Science: Reconnaissance” (1966)

"Motivation and Personality" (1967)

“Towards a Psychology of Being” (1968)

"New Dimensions of Human Nature" (1971, collection of articles published earlier)

III. Part one.

Humanistic psychology is an alternative to the two most important currents in psychology - psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Rooted in existential philosophy, which rejects the proposition that a person is a product of either hereditary (genetic) factors or environmental influences (especially early influence), existentialists emphasize the idea that in the end each of us is responsible for who we are and what we are becoming.

Therefore, humanistic psychology takes as its main model the responsible person who freely makes a choice among the opportunities provided. The main concept of this direction is the concept formation. Man is never static, he is always in the process of becoming. This is evidenced by a clear example of the formation of a man from a boy. But this is not the emergence of biological needs, sexual or aggressive urges. A person who denies becoming, denies growth itself, denies that it contains all the possibilities of a full-fledged human existence.

But despite the fact that becoming is given a large role, humanistic psychologists recognize that the search for the true meaning of life is not easy.

Another view can be described as phenomenological or "here and now". This direction is based on subjective reality, or personal, but not objective, i.e. emphasizes the importance of subjective experience as the main phenomenon in the study and understanding of man. Theoretical constructions and outward behavior are secondary to direct experience and its unique meaning to the experiencer.

Maslow felt that for too long psychologists have focused on the detailed analysis of individual events, neglecting what they were trying to understand, namely the person as a whole. For Maslow, the human body always behaves as a whole, and what happens in some part affects the whole organism.

Maslow suggested that all needs congenital and presented his concept of the hierarchy of needs in human motivation in order of their priority:

physiological - 85%,

safety and protection - 70%,

love and belonging - 50%,

self-esteem - 40%,

self-actualization - 10%.

If the needs of a lower level are no longer satisfied, the person will return to this level and remain there until these needs are sufficiently satisfied.

Now let's look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs in more detail:

Physiological Needs

The need for security and protection.

Another manifestation of the need for security and protection can be seen when people face real emergencies such as war, flood, earthquake, insurrection, civil unrest, and so on.

The need for belonging and love.

Self-esteem needs.

When our need to love and be loved by others is sufficiently satisfied, its influence on behavior diminishes, making way for self-respect needs. Maslow divided them into two types: self-respect and respect for others. The first includes such concepts as competence, confidence, independence and freedom. A person needs to know that he is a worthy person, that he can cope with the tasks and demands that life makes. Respect by others includes concepts such as prestige, recognition, reputation, status, appreciation, and acceptance. Here a person needs to know that what he does is recognized and appreciated.

Needs of self-actualization.

Maslow described self-actualization as the desire of a person to become what he can be. A person who has reached this highest level achieves the full use of his talents, abilities and potential of the individual, i.e. self-actualization means becoming the person we can be, reaching the peak of our potential. But, according to Maslow, self-actualization is very rare, because many people simply do not see their potential, or do not know about its existence, or do not understand the benefits of self-improvement. They tend to doubt and even be afraid of their abilities, thereby reducing the chances for self-actualization. Maslow called this phenomenon Iona complex. It is characterized by a fear of success that prevents a person from striving for greatness and self-improvement.

Socialization also has an inhibitory effect on the process of self-actualization. In other words, people need an “enabling” society in which they can develop their human potential to the fullest.

Another obstacle to self-actualization mentioned by Maslow is the strong negative influence exerted by security needs. Children raised in a safe, friendly environment are more likely to develop a healthy understanding of the growth process.

In addition to his hierarchical concept of motivation, Maslow identified two global categories of human motives:

scarce motives

growth motives.

The former are aimed at satisfying deficient states, for example, hunger, cold, danger. They are persistent characteristics of behavior.

IV. Part two

Assessment of self-actualization.

The lack of an adequate assessment tool to measure self-actualization initially thwarted any attempt to validate Maslow's core claims. However, the development of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) has given researchers the ability to measure the values and behaviors associated with self-actualization. This is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess various characteristics of self-actualization in accordance with Maslow's concept. It consists of 150 forced choice statements. from each pair of statements, the respondent must choose the one that best characterizes him.

POI consists of two main scales and ten subscales.

The first, basic scale measures the extent to which a person is self-directed rather than others-directed in search of values and meaning in life. (characteristic: autonomy, independence, freedom - dependence, need for approval and acceptance)

The second main scale is called competence over time. It measures the extent to which a person lives in the present rather than focusing on the past or the future.

10 additional subscales are designed to measure important elements of self-actualization: self-actualization values, existentiality, emotional reactivity, spontaneity, self-interest, self-acceptance, acceptance of aggression, the ability to close relationships.

POI also has a built-in lie detection scale.

The only major limitation to using the 150-point POI for research purposes is its length. Jones and Crandall (Jones, Crandall, 1986) developed a short self-actualization index. Scale consisting of 15 points:

1. I am not ashamed of any of my emotions.

2. I feel like doing what others expect of me (N)

3. I believe that people are essentially good and can be trusted.

4. I can be angry with those I love.

5. It is always necessary that others approve of what I do (N)

6. I do not accept my weaknesses (N)

7. I may like people I may not approve of.

8. I'm afraid of failure (N)

9. I try not to analyze or simplify complex areas (N)

10. Better to be yourself than popular

11. There is nothing in my life that I would especially devote myself to (N)

12. I can express my feelings, even if it leads to undesirable consequences.

13. I am not obliged to help others (N)

14. I'm tired of inadequacy (N)

15. They love me because I love.

Respondents respond to each statement using a 4-digit scale: 1- disagree, 2- somewhat disagree, 3- somewhat agree, 4- agree. An (N ) following a statement indicates that the score for that item will be inverse when calculating the total values (1=4,2=3,3=2,4=1). The higher general meaning, the more self-actualized the respondent is considered.

In a study of several hundred college students, Jones and Crandall found that self-actualization index scores were positively correlated with all of the much longer POI scores (r = +0.67) and with measures of self-esteem and “rational behavior and beliefs.” The scale has a certain reliability and is not susceptible to the choice of “Social Desirability” responses. It was also shown that college students who participated in self-confidence training significantly increased the degree of self-actualization, as measured by the scale.

Characteristics of self-actualizing people:

1. More effective perception of reality;

Acceptance of self, others and nature. (accept yourself as they are);

Immediacy, simplicity and naturalness;

Problem-centered;

Independence: need for privacy;

Autonomy: independence from culture and environment;

Freshness of perception;

Summit, or mystical, experiences (moments of great excitement or high tension, as well as moments of relaxation, peace, bliss and tranquility);

public interest;

Deep interpersonal relationships;

Democratic character (lack of prejudice);

Separation of means and ends;

Philosophical sense of humor (friendly humor);

Creativity (ability to be creative);

Resistance to cultivation (they are in harmony with their culture, while maintaining a certain internal independence from it).

V. Conclusion

From the point of view of humanistic psychology, only the people themselves are responsible for the choices they make. This does not mean that if people are given the freedom to choose, they will necessarily act in their own interests. Freedom of choice does not guarantee the right choice. The main principle of this direction is the model of a responsible person who freely makes a choice among the opportunities provided.

Humanistic psychology is not a strictly organized theoretical system - it is better to consider it as a movement. Maslow called his approach Third Force Psychology. Although the views of the supporters of this movement constitute a fairly wide range, they still share certain fundamental concepts of human nature. Almost all of these concepts have deep roots in the history of Western philosophical thinking.

Self-actualization is a process that involves the healthy development of people's abilities so that they can become what they can become.

Self-actualizing people are people who have satisfied their deficit needs and developed their potential to the point that they can be considered highly healthy people.

VI. Literature

L. Kjell, D. Ziegler “Theories of Personality”;

Calvin S. Hall, Gardner Lindsay "Theories of Personality";

Psychological Dictionary, edited by V.P. Zinchenko, B.G. Meshcheryakova