"The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short,” a quote from the great psychologist, Abraham Maslow, is proper and fitting to show how he viewed the way the people of the world lived their lives. He believed many individuals never wanted to be anything more than mediocre when there were a handful that had a desire to become self-actualizers. In being the founder of humanistic psychology, he was especially concerned with the way people thought and behaved, and decided to set forth his theory of “self-actualization” early on in the 1940’s. The forties proved to be a booming decade for psychological advancement though the root of happiness had been overlooked by many preceding psychologists before Maslow blossomed.
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Self-actualization is interpreted as the process of self-discovery and personal growth, or being the best that one can be. Defined by the creator himself, it is said to be the full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc. Either way, the theory can be stated simply as the journey of self-fulfillment to develop a deeper understanding of the self. Simple explanations are used to breakdown the Hierarchy of Needs, or conscious need, into four groups in order of precedence. Physiological needs, safety and security, love and belonging, and esteem needs are the four general areas that Maslow stated was required to reach self-actualization. Each of the groups, if going in order, slowly get everything in order in an individual’s life, and if followed correctly, sets them up to achieve this wonderful state of mind, self-actualization. If even one deficiency is met within one of the four categories, Maslow felt that it was time for that particular individual to begin the quest. As with any process, it is only proper and fitting that he would begin with very basic necessities and slowly move up into very specifics needs within one’s …show more content…
The need for love can be satisfied in a variety of ways. Friendships, significant others, children, and a simple sense of community all guarantee these feelings to emerge no matter what direction life may turn. In Maslow’s theory, he specifically touches on friendship, intimacy, and family, which are three relationship types that are solely emotion based. This proves to be a major step in the quest as the absence of said feelings can have truly devastating effects. Those that feel as if they do not belong and do not feel loved could develop social anxiety and loneliness, feelings that can even turn into clinical depression. Some individuals long for these two important feelings and have even been known to make those more important than life sustaining nutrients, necessary for survival. Luckily, more often than not, people are able to successfully fulfill the specific needs of this level of the pyramid of self-actualization and are able to move on to exploring the Esteem
Self-actualization is interpreted as the process of self-discovery and personal growth, or being the best that one can be. Defined by the creator himself, it is said to be the full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc. Either way, the theory can be stated simply as the journey of self-fulfillment to develop a deeper understanding of the self. Simple explanations are used to breakdown the Hierarchy of Needs, or conscious need, into four groups in order of precedence. Physiological needs, safety and security, love and belonging, and esteem needs are the four general areas that Maslow stated was required to reach self-actualization. Each of the groups, if going in order, slowly get everything in order in an individual’s life, and if followed correctly, sets them up to achieve this wonderful state of mind, self-actualization. If even one deficiency is met within one of the four categories, Maslow felt that it was time for that particular individual to begin the quest. As with any process, it is only proper and fitting that he would begin with very basic necessities and slowly move up into very specifics needs within one’s …show more content…
The need for love can be satisfied in a variety of ways. Friendships, significant others, children, and a simple sense of community all guarantee these feelings to emerge no matter what direction life may turn. In Maslow’s theory, he specifically touches on friendship, intimacy, and family, which are three relationship types that are solely emotion based. This proves to be a major step in the quest as the absence of said feelings can have truly devastating effects. Those that feel as if they do not belong and do not feel loved could develop social anxiety and loneliness, feelings that can even turn into clinical depression. Some individuals long for these two important feelings and have even been known to make those more important than life sustaining nutrients, necessary for survival. Luckily, more often than not, people are able to successfully fulfill the specific needs of this level of the pyramid of self-actualization and are able to move on to exploring the Esteem