Question

What are the B-values?

What is self-actualization, and what are the criteria for self-actualization?

What 15 tentative qualities did Maslow find characterize self-actualizing people?

Describe the research methods and results from Reiss & Havercamp (2006) and from Lyubomirsky et al. (2011).

Rogers developed his personality theory largely based on what type of experiences?

Define the key aspects of Rogers’ therapeutic approach.

Answer 1

What are the B-values?

Maslow's B-values:

These are the driving values of the positiveness among us. They are listed below:

• WHOLENESS (unity; integration; tendency to one-ness; interconnectedness; simplicity; organization; structure; dichotomy-transcendence; order)
• PERFECTION (necessity; just-right-ness; just-so-ness; inevitability; suitability; justice; completeness; "oughtness")
• COMPLETION (ending; finality; justice; "it's finished"; fulfillment; finis and telos; destiny; fate)
• JUSTICE (fairness; orderliness; lawfulness; "oughtness")
• ALIVENESS (process; non-deadness; spontaneity; self-regulation; full-functioning)
• RICHNESS (differentiation, complexity; intricacy)
• SIMPLICITY (honesty; nakedness; essentiality; abstract, essential, skeletal structure)
• BEAUTY (rightness; form; aliveness; simplicity; richness; wholeness; perfection; completion; uniqueness; honesty)
• GOODNESS (rightness; desireability; oughtness; justice; benevolence; honesty)
• UNIQUENESS (idiosyncrasy; individuality; non-comparability; novelty)

• EFFORTLESSNESS (ease; lack of strain, striving or difficulty; grace; perfect, beautiful functioning)
• PLAYFULNESS (fun; joy; amusement; gaiety; humor; exuberance; effortlessness)
• TRUTH (honesty; reality; nakedness; simplicity; richness; oughtness; beauty; pure, clean and unadulterated; completeness; essentiality).
• SELF-SUFFICIENCY (autonomy; independence; not-needing-other-than-itself-in-order-to-be-itself; self-determining; environment-transcendence; separateness; living by its own laws).

What is self-actualization, and what are the criteria for self-actualization?

Definition:

Maslow explicitly defines self-actualization to be "the desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual] to become actualized in what he is potentially.

Criteria for self-actualization:

This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."

What tentative qualities did Maslow find characterize self-actualizing people?

Maslow describes the good life as one directed towards self-actualization, the pinnacle need. Self-actualization occurs when you maximize your potential, doing the best that you are capable of doing. Maslow studied individuals whom he believed to be self-actualized, including Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein, to derive the common characteristics of the self-actualized person. Here are a selection of the most important characteristics, from his book Motivation and Personality:

1) Self-actualized people embrace the unknown and the ambiguous.

They are not threatened or afraid of it; instead, they accept it, are comfortable with it and are often attracted by it. They do not cling to the familiar.

2) They accept themselves, together with all their flaws.

She perceives herself as she is, and not as she would prefer herself to be. With a high level of self-acceptance, she lacks defensiveness, pose or artificiality. Eventually, shortcomings come to be seen not as shortcomings at all, but simply as neutral personal characteristics.

Nonetheless, while self-actualized people are accepting of shortcomings that are immutable, they do feel ashamed or regretful about changeable deficits and bad habits.

3) They prioritize and enjoy the journey, not just the destination.

4) While they are inherently unconventional, they do not seek to shock or disturb.

Unlike the average rebel, the self-actualized person recognizes:

“... the world of people in which he lives could not understand or accept [his unconventionality], and since he has no wish to hurt them or to fight with them over every triviality, he will go through the ceremonies and rituals of convention with a good-humored shrug and with the best possible grace [... Self-actualized people would] usually behave in a conventional fashion simply because no great issues are involved or because they know people will be hurt or embarrassed by any other kind of behavior.”

5) They are motivated by growth, not by the satisfaction of needs.
While most people are still struggling in the lower rungs of the ‘Hierarchy of Needs,’ the self-actualized person is focused on personal growth.

6) Self-actualized people have purpose.

7) They are not troubled by the small things. Instead, they focus on the bigger picture.

8) Self-actualized people are grateful.
They do not take their blessings for granted, and by doing so, maintain a fresh sense of wonder towards the universe.

9) They share deep relationships with a few, but also feel identification and affection towards the entire human race.

10) Self-actualized people are humble.

11) Self-actualized people resist enculturation.
They do not allow themselves to be passively molded by culture — they deliberate and make their own decisions, selecting what they see as good, and rejecting what they see as bad. They neither accept all, like a sheep, nor reject all, like the average rebel. Self-actualized people:

Because of their self-decision, self-actualized people have codes of ethics that are individualized and autonomous rather than being dictated by society.

12) Despite all this, self-actualized people are not perfect.