The concept of «Self-actualization» is one of the key concepts in humanistic psychology and a constantly reproduced, very popular concept in modern Russian both theoretical and practical psychology. Today, there is practically no textbook on personality psychology that does not mention self-actualization, and it has become a commonplace that self-actualization is the pinnacle of personality development.
It must be said that such attention to «self-actualization» is well deserved, and Abraham Maslow, an American psychotherapist, the developer of this concept and ideas about the corresponding development of the personality, moved contemporary psychology far ahead.
For what should we be grateful to A. Maslow?
If before him psychoanalysis dug mostly in depth, dealing with the personality of a neurotic, then Maslow suggested focusing also on what awaits us above, at the heights of personal growth and development.
“It is clear that a being from Mars, having fallen into a colony of congenital cripples, dwarfs, hunchbacks, etc., will not be able to understand what they should be like. So let’s study not the cripples, but the closest we can find, the approximation to a whole, healthy person. We will find qualitative differences among them, a different system of motivation, emotions, values, thinking and perception. In a sense, only the saints are humanity» [12, p. 90].
Also: “I used the words “therapy”, “psychotherapy” and “patient”. I hate all these words and I hate the medical model they imply because the model assumes that the person who sees a consultant is a sick person seeking treatment. In fact, of course, we hope that the consultant will help the self-actualization of people, instead of trying to cure the disease.
So, the first gratitude is for turning the attention of psychologists from the study of neuroses to the study of health psychology, developmental psychology. For that time, it was an exceptionally bold step, it was a feat. With this step, he moved life.
The second gratitude is for constructive criticism of psychoanalysis, emphasizing the presence of worthy traits in human nature.
Maslow himself believed that psychoanalysis was the best system of analysis for psychopathology and the best possible psychotherapy (as he wrote in 1955). However, as a general theory of personality, psychoanalysis was no good. “A one-sided, distorted emphasis on human weaknesses and shortcomings is presented, and this claims to be a complete description of a person … Almost all activities that a person is proud of, that give meaning, value and richness to his life, are either omitted or pathologised by Freud” [19, p. 71].
The third gratitude is for promoting the possibility and necessity of personal growth and development. Actually, initially “self-actualization” for A. Maslow did not mean a result, not some kind of life or personal achievements, but rather a tense direction of life to the heights, the aspiration of the individual upward.
“Self-actualization is the continuous realization of potential capabilities, abilities and talents, as the fulfillment of one’s mission, or calling, destiny, etc., as a more complete knowledge and, therefore, acceptance of one’s own original nature, as a relentless desire for unity, integration , or internal synergy of the individual.
The fourth gratitude is for introducing into the minds of psychologists that people’s needs may not be reduced to taking care of themselves.
In studying self-actualizing people, I invariably find that, at least in our culture, they are people who have dedicated themselves to something, devoted to some business «outside themselves», some profession, favorite work, duty. Usually this is so strongly expressed that in order to somehow describe their passionate, selfless dedication, one has to resort to such old words as vocation, purpose, mission. Sometimes even the words “fate” or “fate” come up. Sometimes I would start talking about duty in the religious sense, about self-denial, devotion to some work in the outside world, something greater than the person himself, something that lies outside the personality.
It is a pity that until now this has not been heard by everyone, since the assertion is still very common among psychologists that everyone only cares about themselves, it is common to reduce any, the highest and most beautiful motives, to elementary self-satisfaction. The difference between Consumers and Creators used in Sinton is quite close to the views of A. Maslow that some people have outgrown the stage when caring only for themselves (well, maybe also about loved ones who are your continuation) seems to be the only option for life.
So, the work of A. Maslow and his concept of «self-actualization» is a huge contribution to the psychology of the twentieth century, a contribution to the development of both theory and practice.
The usual contingent of the psychotherapist and the people-stars of Abraham Maslow
However, we would like you to understand all these issues in more detail, and perhaps present a different vision of the situation. The first thing to start with is to understand where and how this idea was born from Abraham Maslow, the theory of self-actualization was born. See →