Personality Theory & Research:
An International Perspective
Gordon L. Flett
Prepared by
Brenda Baird, University of Ottawa
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Chapter 7 Overview
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Common Theories of the Humanists
Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
Carl Rogers
The Assessment and Measurement of
Self-Actualization
The Contemporary Focus on Well-Being
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Common Themes of the Humanists
• Humanistic theories are also called
organistic theories with a focus on the entire
person
• A central theme in humanistic theories is the
drive toward self-actualization, to realize
one’s full potential
• Other themes include personal growth,
openness to experience, living in the
present, personal responsibility, and the
inherent goodness of people
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Common Themes of the Humanists
• For the humanists, the unit of analysis is
perceived reality
• In contrast to Freudian determinism,
humanists emphasize personal
responsibility and choice
• The humanists’ view that persons are
inherently good with unique attributes for
greatness has led to a movement called
positive psychology
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
Deficiency Motives and Growth Motives
• Maslow believed that neurosis was due to a
lack of personal growth, and neurotic needs
indicated a loss of capability (deficiency)
• For Maslow, conflict was a reflection of
mental health and indicated a desire for
personal growth
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
The General Characteristics of Needs
• Maslow is noted for his hierarchy of needs that
arranges five needs in order of relevance to
physical and psychological survival
• Lower needs (physical) are stronger and more
tangible than higher needs (psychological)
• Needs must be satisfied in hierarchical order
with lower needs satisfied before higher needs
(e.g., food, safety, love, esteem, and selfactualization)
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
The Hierarchy of Needs
• Lower needs reflect a deficiency state
whereas higher reflect personal growth and
occur later in development
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The five needs in hierarchical order include:
Physiological Needs (thirst, hunger, sex)
Safety Needs (physical and emotional)
Belonging and Love Needs (sustained intimacy)
Esteem Needs (personal competence)
Growth Needs (self-actualization- a process
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
The Hierarchy of Needs
• Maslow differentiated between a deficient,
selfish form of love that is focused on the self
(D-love) and an unselfish love that is focused
on another (B-love)
• B-love is associated with the process of selfactualization
• Persons who do not satisfy the need to belong
are at risk for emotional problems as outlined in
Durkheim’s (1963) theory of anomic suicide
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
The Psychological Characteristics of Healthy
Self-Actualized People
• Critics note Maslow subjectively examined
qualities of famous people to determine the
characteristics involved in self-actualization
• Maslow referred to peak experiences as
wondrous moments that transcend time, space,
and self
• Maslow believed self-actualization results when
desacralizing ceases (an immature defence
that ignores the sacred value of needs)
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
The B-Values
• Maslow outlined 15 meta-motivations (Bvalues)
that must be satisfied for self-actualization
• An unsatisfied B-value is associated with a
specific pathological outcome
• Unlike Maslow’s needs, B-values are
equivalent and have no hierarchical
relevance
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
Associated Research on the Nature of SelfActualization
• Researchers suggest that people who selfactualize are low in anxiety and high in selfacceptance
• Flett et al. (1991) showed that, ironically,
striving for perfection is related to low levels
of self-actualization
• Kasser and Ryan (1993,1996) showed a
negative relation between self-actualization
and the pursuit of extrinsic goals
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
Maslow’s Views on Personality
• Masow believed a fully functioning person is
an integration of several personality
syndromes
• Personality syndromes are behaviours that
are determined by specific social and
cultural situations
• Maslow emphasized the spiritual, not
material, aspects of environment in
personality development
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
Evaluation of Maslow’s Theory
• Statistical techniques such as the Guttman
scale analysis confirm the empirical nature
of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Critics have raised concerns over the exact
order of stages, a role for altruism, and the
abstract nature of self-actualization
• Self-actualization may be better conceived
as a unique process rather than as a
generalized end state
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Maslow’s Humanistic Theory
Maslow’s Views on Culture
• For Maslow, self-actualized persons transcend
cultural values
• Maslow supported Benedict’s (1970) notion of
synergy as reflected in cultural differences that
emphasis wealth (low synergy) or well-being
(high synergy)
• While critics note Maslow’s failure to address
gender differences in needs, Hyde (2005)
suggested that genders are equivalent and
found support for her gender similarities
hypothesis
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Carl Rogers
The Organism, the Self, and Personality
Structure
• Rogers viewed personality as an organism
shaped by experiences that form a
phenomenal field of perception
• For Rogers, the goal of therapy is to restore
a trust in our own perception of reality as
opposed to another’s reality
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Carl Rogers
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Rogers described two needs as essential
to well-being:
1. The need for self-regard: an unconditional
positive view of the self
2. The need for self-actualization: a need to
reach one’s full potential
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Carl Rogers
The Need for Self-Regard
• Rogers described conditions of worth as
instances in which one’s personal desires are
disregarded in favour of those deemed
desirable by another
• Conditions of worth restrict autonomy, threaten
self-regard, and distort the true self
• The gap between the true and the ideal self is
assessed by Rogers’ Q-sort technique
• The solution to conditions of worth is an
unconditional positive regard from significant
others who offer love without conditional terms
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Carl Rogers
The Need for Self-Actualization
• A key aspect of self-actualization is the
actualizing tendency that is determined by an
internal organismic valuing process
• This process reflects our innate tendency
toward self-enhancement and is described
as:
1. Organismic (innate)
2. Active (self-directed)
3. Directional (growth-oriented)
4. Selective (chooses some capabilities)
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Carl Rogers
The Fully Functioning Person
• Rogers maintained that to be fully functioning,
one must:
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be open to experience
live in the moment
live life to the fullest
trust own intuition
• For Rogers, defence mechanisms are
employed to combat anxiety during the
process of subception—an unconscious
awareness that feedback is not congruent with
the self-perception
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Carl Rogers
Contemporary Research Reflecting Rogers’
Theory
• Rogers’ notion of a discrepancy between
the actual and ideal self has led to research
such as Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein, and
Gray’s (1998) Perfectionism Cognitions
Inventory (PCI)
• Elevated scores on the PCI are associated
with perfectionism and anxiety
• Rogers believed the root of anxiety is in
conditions of worth
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Carl Rogers
Self-Worth Contingencies
• Conditions of worth exist across life domains
• Crocker, Luhtanen, Cooper, and Bouvrett
(2003) identified six factors related to selfworth contingencies
• Assor, Roth, and Deci (2004) suggested an
intergenerational transmission of conditions
of worth
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Carl Rogers
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Carl Rogers
Personality Change and Client-Centred
Therapy
• The Rogerian approach to therapy is clientcentred through a process of self-discovery
• The role of therapist is to create a condition
of trust and empathy
• Rogers (1961) outlined key challenges and
consequences of successful treatment
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Carl Rogers
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Carl Rogers
Evaluating the Contributions of Client Centred
Therapy
• Rogers is regarded as the founder of
psychotherapy research
• Research has identified a therapeutic
advantage of the Rogerian focus on
empathy in treating borderline personality
and sex offenders
• Rogers contributions extend to educational
settings
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Carl Rogers
The Evaluation of Rogers’ Theory
• Critics see Rogers’s positive stance as a
naïve view of all humans
• Rogers techniques may not generalize
across cultures, or to persons
unaccustomed to verbal self-expression
• Rogers’ universal need for self-regard has
been challenged due to cultural variants on
self-criticism and self-enhancement
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The Assessment and Measurement
of Self-Actualization
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Shostrom’s (1964) Personal Orientation
Inventory (POI) and Shostrom’s (1975)
Personal Orientation Dimensions (POD)
tap dimensions of self-actualization
Criticisms concerning the length of the
POI and POD led to the development of
Jones and Crandalls’ (1986) Short Index
of Self-Actualization (SI)
The SI has been criticized for factorial
validity
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The Assessment and Measurement
of Self-Actualization
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The Contemporary Focus on WellBeing
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Current research reflects Maslow’s influence,
and indicates a growing emphasis on
interpersonal and social conditions
Ryff (1989) identified six components of wellbeing:
Autonomy
Mastery
Personal growth
Positive relations with others
Purpose in life
Self-acceptance
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