Some thoughts about the humanistic theory of personality /part 5/

Self-actualization is the desire of man to become more and more of what he is potentially to become everything he is capable of. The striving to reach the top of one's own gifting. The highest level of utilization of creative abilities, the realization of human nature. This hierarchical system is at the heart of human development as a whole. Depending on whether or not the needs are met, the direction of character formation, the behavior, the typology of the personality are determined.

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Maslow introduces a specific notion of "functional autonomy," meaning that the higher basic needs could, after long satisfaction, become independent both from their prerequisites and from their own normal satisfaction. Maslow says, in fact, that only a society that has provided satisfaction to people's basic needs can self-update itself. He believed that such a type of society was American since the 1950s. Maslow says that social and institutional pressure always leads to therapeutic or pathogenic consequences. At any moment, one is motivated by one of the above mentioned needs. No need is 100% satisfied.The higher the hierarchy in updating a need, the fuller the manifestation of human nature. Maslow says that a mentally healthy person has his own nature, a skeleton of psychological structure.

He formulates several behaviors leading to self-actualization, and they are: - to realize himself / herself; - choice ; - responsibility; - courage; - the pursuit of perfection; - awareness of top experiences; - discovery of symbolic values; - Overcoming its own safeguards. According to Maslow, two kinds of human needs are distinguished: - D-need - deficit needs (all of Maslow's pyramid); - B-needs - living needs, development needs - push people to an ever higher level of internal integration and self-acceptance. Characteristics of self-updating: - more effective perception of reality; - immediacy, simplicity, spontaneity; - accepting oneself, others, nature; - centering on the problem; - need for privacy / loneliness /; - autonomy; - freshness of perceptions; - supreme / mystical / experiences; - public interest; - deep and total interpersonal relationships; - Democracy; - a distinction between means and objectives; - a philosophical sense of humor; - creativity ; - resistance against occultation / socialization /.

The way of satisfying needs also determines the peculiarities in the formation of character. Maslow believes that the formation of character influences the ingredients of the so- "Inner learning" - experiences, volitional changes, changes in attitudes, etc. This kind of learning shows that experience, not knowledge, is crucial. Characterism has the effect of satisfying basic needs in childhood.