Psychology 305: Theories of Personality
Lecture 16
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Scoring Your Questionnaire
1. Reverse score items 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 14.
41
32
23
14
2. Sum your responses to the 15 items.
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Announcement
• Please note that the grades for the second exam are
now posted on the course website. The mean score
on the exam was 66% (SD=17%, range=18%-93%).
• If you would like to review your exam, please see
David during his office hours or contact David to
schedule an appointment to meet.
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Lecture 16
Questions That Will Be Answered In Today’s Lecture
Phenomenological Perspective on Personality
1. What are the primary assumptions underlying the
phenomenological perspective on personality?
2. What needs did Maslow identify in his theory of selfactualization?
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Phenomenological Perspective on Personality, continued
3. What attributes characterize people who are selfactualized?
4. Is self-actualization universally achieved?
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What are the primary assumptions underlying the
phenomenological perspective on personality?
• The phenomenological perspective makes 3 primary
assumptions:
1. Humans have freedom of will and, thus, can
determine the course of events in their lives.
2. Conscious experience is the primary determinant of
behaviour and personality.
3. Humans are inherently good and innately strive for
growth and improvement.
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• In contrast to many of the perspectives that we have
considered, the phenomenological perspective
presents a relatively optimistic image of human nature.
• Maslow (1968) stated:
“Freud supplied to us the sick half of psychology and
we must now fill it out with the healthy half.”
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What needs did Maslow identify in his theory of
self-actualization?
• Maslow’s theory views needs as motivational forces that
determine behaviour.
• In his theory, Maslow described four categories of needs.
1. Conative Needs
 Maslow suggested that humans have 5 types of
conative or basic needs:
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(a) Physiological Needs
• Needs that pertain to the biological maintenance of
the individual.
• Examples: Needs for oxygen, water, food, sleep.
• The only needs that can be fully satisfied.
• If physiological needs are not satisfied, physical
ailments may arise. Survival may also be threatened.
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(b) Safety Needs
• Needs that pertain to the physical security of the
individual.
• Examples: Needs for shelter, protection, law, order,
predictability, stability.
• If safety needs are not satisfied, fear, insecurity, and
dread may arise. May result in the formation of basic
anxiety within the individual.
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(c) Belonging Needs
• Needs that pertain to affiliation with others.
• Examples: Needs for a supportive family, an
intimate relationship, friends, companions,
identification with a group.
• If belonging needs are not satisfied, 1 of 2 outcomes
may result:
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Among individuals who have never experienced
belonging, an incapacity for giving love may develop.
Among individuals who have only inconsistently
experienced belonging, an excessive desire for
acceptance and approval may develop.
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(d) Esteem Needs
• Needs that pertain to public recognition and to
self-esteem.
• Examples: Needs for status, prestige, dominance,
self-respect, self-worth, competency, mastery.
• If esteem needs are not satisfied, feelings of
inferiority, weakness, helplessness, and self-doubt
may arise.
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(e) Self-Actualization Needs
• Needs that pertain to self-fulfillment.
• Examples: Needs to fulfill one’s potential, pursue
one’s destiny, follow one’s intrinsic motivations.
• If self-actualization needs are not satisfied, feelings
of restlessness, frustration, and disintegration may
arise. The individual may experience a “loss of
meaning to life.”
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 Maslow organized the 5 conative needs into a hierarchy:
SelfActualization
Needs
Esteem Needs
Belonging Needs
Safety Needs
Physiological Needs
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2. Cognitive Needs
 Maslow suggested that humans have 2 types of
cognitive needs:
(a) Knowledge Needs
• Needs that pertain to the acquisition of
information.
(b) Understanding Needs
• Needs that pertain to the comprehension of
information.
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 If cognitive needs are not satisfied, skepticism,
disillusionment, paranoia, and depression may arise.
 Maslow believed that the cognitive needs must be
at least partially satisfied in order for the 5 conative
needs to be satisfied.
 However, Maslow also believed that the cognitive
needs can function independently of the conative needs
(i.e., they can produce feelings of satisfaction that are
unrelated to the fulfillment of any conative needs).
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 Maslow organized the 2 cognitive needs into a second
hierarchy:
Understanding
Needs
Knowledge Needs
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3. Aesthetic Needs
 Needs that pertain to beauty, balance, symmetry,
structure, and form.
 In contrast to conative needs and cognitive needs,
aesthetic needs are not universally experienced.
Rather, they are experienced by only a portion of
the population.
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 Aesthetic needs may overlap with conative needs
and cognitive needs.
E.g., The aesthetic needs for balance and
symmetry may overlap with the safety needs for
order and predictability.
 Maslow wrote relatively little about the psychological
impact of unfulfilled aesthetic needs. However, he did
believe that individuals who possess these needs
become “physically and spiritually ill” if they are not
satisfied.
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4. Neurotic Needs
 Needs that perpetuate a dysfunctional lifestyle,
foster stagnation, and contribute to pathology.
 Maslow believed that neurotic needs are reactive in
nature—they develop in an effort to compensate for
unsatisfied conative needs.
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 Neurotic needs are distinguishable from conative,
cognitive, and aesthetic needs in that their satisfaction
does not promote health or growth.
In relation to this point, Maslow (1970) wrote:
“Giving a neurotic power seeker all the power he wants
does not make him less neurotic, nor is it possible to
satiate his neurotic need for power. However much he is
fed he still remains hungry because he’s really looking
for something else. It makes little difference for ultimate
health whether a neurotic need … [is] gratified.”
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What attributes characterize people who are
self-actualized?
• Maslow had a keen interest in studying individuals who
had satisfied the first 4 conative needs and were now
primarily concerned with the satisfaction of their selfactualization needs. He referred to these individuals as
“self-actualizers.”
• Maslow screened thousands of individuals, ultimately
identifying 23 self-actualizers. These included Jane
Addams, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Eleanor Roosevelt. He
studied the biographies of these individuals in an attempt
to identify their common attributes.
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• Maslow identified 15 attributes that were common to
these self-actualizers. These attributes can be divided
into 4 groups, each of which reflects a distinct
dimension:
1. Awareness
Efficient and accurate perception of reality.
Strong ethical awareness.
Continued freshness of appreciation.
Periodic peak experiences.
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2. Honesty
Philosophical and nonhostile sense of humor.
Strong kinship with all of humanity.
Selective and deep friendships.
Adherence to democratic values.
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3. Freedom
Need for privacy.
Autonomy.
Creativity.
Spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness.
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4. Trust
Problem-focused rather than self-focused.
Acceptance of themselves, others, and nature.
Resistance to cultural conformity.
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• Maslow noted that self-actualizers also possess
negative characteristics. He (1954/1987) wrote:
“Our [self-actualized] subjects show many of the lesser
human failings. They too are equipped with … wasteful
or thoughtless habits. They can be boring, stubborn,
irritating. They are by no means free from a rather
superficial vanity, pride, partiality of their own
productions …. Temper outbursts are not rare. Our
subjects are … capable of an extraordinary and
unexpected ruthlessness. It must be remembered that
they are very strong people. This makes it possible for
them to display a surgical coldness when this is called
for, beyond the power of the average man.”
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Is self-actualization universally achieved?
• The questionnaire that you completed at the start of
class: The Short Index of Self-Actualization (SISA).
Alpha reliability coefficient: .65
Test-retest reliability coefficient (12-day interval): .69
Mean (university students) = 45.60 (SD = 5.57)
Mean (nominated as nonactualizing) = 44.00 (SD = 4.89)
Mean (nominated as actualizing) = 51.20 (SD = 4.37)
Note: Means may be negatively skewed because the
samples were comprised of university students.
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• Research has shown that people with high SISA
scores:
 are “time competent.”
 are “inner-directed.”
 are higher in extraversion and openness.
 have an internal locus of control.
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 report greater satisfaction with school.
 are higher in self-esteem and have fewer “neurotic
symptoms.”
• Maslow believed that a relatively small proportion of
North Americans—1%—achieve a self-actualized
state.
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Maslow (1971) wrote:
“We fear our highest possibilities …. We are generally
afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most
perfect moments, under the most perfect conditions,
under conditions of greatest courage. We enjoy and
even thrill to the godlike possibilities we see in ourselves
…. And yet we simultaneously shiver with weakness,
awe, and fear before these very same possibilities.”
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Questions That Were Answered In Today’s Lecture
Phenomenological Perspective on Personality
1. What are the primary assumptions underlying the
phenomenological perspective on personality?
2. What needs did Maslow identify in his theory of selfactualization?
Psychology 305
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Phenomenological Perspective on Personality, continued
3. What attributes characterize people who are selfactualized?
4. Is self-actualization universally achieved?
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