Abraham Maslow and the psychology of self-actualization. Maslow's Self-Actualization: Why Getting to the Last Stage of the Pyramid Is Harder Than You Think Maslow's Self-Actualization Theory

Maslow connects all his psychological work with the problems of personal growth and development, considering psychology as one of the means that contribute to social and psychological well-being. He insists that an adequate and viable theory of personality must address not only the depths, but also the heights that each individual is capable of reaching. Maslow is one of the founders of humanistic psychology. He made a significant theoretical and practical contribution to the creation of an alternative to behaviorism and psychoanalysis, which sought to "explain before destruction" creativity, love, altruism and other great cultural, social and individual achievements of mankind.

Maslow was most interested in exploring new problems and areas. His work is in more collection of thoughts, points of view and hypotheses, rather than a developed theoretical system. His approach to psychology is well summed up in the opening phrase of one of his most influential books, Toward a Psychology of Being: "A new vision of human disease and human health looms on the horizon - a psychology that is so exciting and promises so many wonderful possibilities that I succumb to the temptation to imagine her publicly before it has been tested and confirmed, before it can be called thorough scientific knowledge" .

Personal history

Abraham Maslow was born in New York in 1908 to Jewish immigrant parents. He grew up in New York and studied at the University of Wisconsin. He received a bachelor's degree in 1930, a master of arts degree in 1931, and a doctorate in 1934. Maslow studied primate behavior under Harrie Harlow and behaviorism under Clark Hull, a well-known experimenter.

After receiving his doctorate, Maslow returned to New York, continued research at Columbia, then taught psychology at Brooklyn College. New York at this time was a very significant cultural center, hosting many German scientists who fled Nazi persecution. Maslow worked with various psychotherapists, including Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, and Karen Horney. He was strongly influenced by Max Wertheimer, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology, and Ruth Benedict, a brilliant cultural anthropologist.

Maslow's interest in the practical application of psychology dates back to the very beginning of his career. His dissertation concerns the relationship between dominance and sexual behavior in primates. After Wisconsin, Maslow began extensive research into human sexual behavior. His research in this direction was supported by psychoanalytic ideas about the importance of sex for human behavior. Maslow believed that a better understanding of sexual functioning would greatly improve human fitness. During World War II, when Maslow saw. how little psychology means in solving the world's major problems, his interests shifted from experimental psychology to social psychology and personality psychology. He wanted to devote himself to "finding a psychology for the affairs of the world."

During a long illness, Maslow became involved in the family business, and his experience with psychology eventually resulted in Eupsychic Management, a collection of thoughts and articles related to management and industrial psychology written during the summer Maslow worked as an observer at a small enterprise in California.

In 1951, Maslow moved to the newly founded Breidean University, accepting the post of chairman of the psychology department; there he remained almost until his death in 1970. In 1967-1968. he was president of the American Psychological Association from 1968-1970. - Member of the board of the Laughlin Charitable Foundation in California.

Although Maslow is considered one of the founders of humanistic psychology, he himself does not like limiting labels. "There's no need to talk about 'humanistic' psychology, no adjective. Don't think I'm an anti-behaviorist. I'm an anti-doctriner... I'm against anything that closes doors and cuts off opportunities."

Psychoanalytic theory significantly influenced Maslow's life and thinking. The analysis of himself had a strong effect on him, showing a huge difference between intellectual knowledge and actual experience "inside".

"Slightly oversimplifying, we can say that Freud presents us with a sick part of psychology, and we must now supplement it with a healthy part" .

Maslow believed that psychoanalysis best system analysis for psychopathology and the best possible psychotherapy (this was in 1955). At the same time, he considered the psychoanalytic system completely unsatisfactory as a general psychology as a theory of all human thought and behavior. "A one-sided, twisted emphasis on human weaknesses and shortcomings is presented, and this claims to be a complete description of a person ... Virtually all activities that a person is proud of, which give meaning, value and richness to his life, are either omitted or pathologised by Freud" .

social anthropology

While teaching in Wisconsin, Maslow took a serious interest in the work of social anthropologists such as Malinowski, Mead, Benedict, and Linton. In New York, he was able to work with leading figures in the field of culture and personality, concerned with the application of psychoanalytic theories to the analysis of behavior in other cultures. In addition, Maslow was greatly impressed by Sumner's Ways of the Nations, which analyzes how much of human behavior is determined by cultural patterns and precepts. The impression was so strong that Maslow decided to devote himself to this area of research.

Geshpalt psychology

Maslow also seriously studied Gestalt psychology. He sincerely admired Max Wertheimer, whose work on productive thinking is close to Maslow's own research on cognition and creativity. For Maslow, as a Gestalt psychologist, an essential element in creative thinking and in problem solving is the ability to perceive the whole and think in terms of the pattern of the whole rather than isolated parts.

But a less significant influence on Maslow's thinking was the work of Kurt Goldstein, a neuropsychologist who emphasized that the body is a single whole, and what happens in any part affects the whole body. Maslow's work on self-actualization was to some extent inspired by Goldstein, who was the first to use the term itself.

Maslow dedicated his book To the Psychology of Being to him. In the preface he wrote: "If I can express in one sentence what humanistic psychology means to me, then I would say that it is the integration of Goldstein (and Gestalt psychology) with Freud (and various psychodynamic psychologies), under the auspices of the scientific spirit of my teachers. at the University of Wisconsin."

Basic Views

Self-actualization

Maslow loosely defines self-actualization as "the full use of talents, abilities, opportunities, etc." . "I imagine a self-actualized person not as an ordinary person to whom something has been added, but as an ordinary person from whom nothing has been taken away. The average person is a complete human being, with muted and suppressed abilities and gifts."

Initially, Maslow's research on self-actualization was driven by his desire to more fully understand his two most inspiring teachers. Ruth Benedict and Max Wertheimer. Although they were very different people and engaged in research in different areas, Maslow felt that they had a level of personal accomplishment in both professional and personal lives that he rarely observed in others. Maslow saw in them not only brilliant and outstanding scientists, but also deeply accomplished, creative people. He began his personal research to try to discover what makes them so special; he kept a notebook to record all the data he could gather about their personal lives, values, etc. His comparison of Benedict and Wertheimer was the first step in his lifelong research into self-actualization.

Self-actualization research

Maslow began to explore self-actualization in a more formalized way, studying the lives, values, and attitudes of people who seemed to him the most mentally healthy and creative, those who seemed to be highly self-actualized, that is, who achieved a more optimal, efficient, and healthy level of functioning than average people.

Maslow argues that it is more reasonable to generalize about human nature by studying the best representatives of it that one can find, rather than cataloging the difficulties and errors of the average for neurotic individuals. “It is clear that a being from Mars, having fallen into a colony of congenital cripples, dwarfs, hunchbacks, etc., will not be able to understand what they should be like. We will find in them qualitative differences, a different system of motivation, emotions, values, thinking and perception. In a sense, only saints are humanity ".

By studying the best of people, one can explore the limits of human possibilities. So, to find out how fast people can run, you need to study the best athletes and runners, and it would be pointless to take an "average sample" from the population of any city. Equally, argues Maslow, in order to study psychological health and maturity, one must study the most mature, creative, integrated people.

Maslow selected samples for his first study based on two criteria. First, they were people relatively free from neurosis and other significant personality problems. Secondly, these were people who made the best possible use of their talents, abilities and other data. .

"Self-actualized people, without a single exception, are involved in a matter that goes beyond their selfish interests, in something outside themselves."

The group consisted of eighteen individuals: nine contemporaries and nine historical figures - Abraham Liacoln, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Adams, William James, Albert Schweitzer, Aldous Huxley and Baruch Spinoza.

Maslow names the following characteristics of self-actualizing people:

"a more effective perception of reality and a more comfortable relationship with it";
"acceptance (oneself, others, nature)";
"spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness";
"task-centeredness" (as opposed to self-centeredness);
"some isolation and need for privacy";
"autonomy, independence from culture and environment";
"constant freshness of evaluation";
"mysticism and experience of higher states";
"feelings of belonging, unity with others (gieinschaflugetuhl);
"deeper interpersonal relationships";
"democratic character structure";
"distinguishing means and ends, good and evil";
"philosophical, non-hostile sense of humor";
"self-actualizing creativity";
"resistance to acculturation, transcendence of any frequent culture."

"Self-actualization is not the absence of problems, but the movement from transient and unreal problems to real problems."

Maslow noted that the self-actualizing people he studied were not perfect and were not even free from major mistakes. A strong commitment to their chosen work and their values makes them sometimes ruthless in the pursuit of their goal; work can crowd out other feelings or needs. They can bring their independence to a degree that shocks their more conforming acquaintances. In addition, they may have many of the problems of average people: guilt, anxiety, sadness, internal conflicts, and so on.

"There are no perfect people! You can find good people, truly good people, you can find great people. Indeed, there are creators, seers, sages, saints, ascetics and initiators. This will give us the opportunity to look with hope at the future of our kind, even if such people have met rare, and were remarkable. And yet these same people can be annoyed, irritated, absurd, self-centered, angry, or depressed. To avoid disappointment in human nature, we must first give up illusions about it ".

Theory of self-actualization

IN last book Maslow's "Far Achievements of Human Nature" describes eight ways in which an individual can self-actualize, eight types of behavior leading to self-actualization. This is not a logically clear thought, but it is the culmination of Maslow's reflection on self-actualization.

1. "First of all, self-actualization means the experience is complete, alive, selfless, with full concentration and complete absorption" . Usually, we are relatively unaware of what is happening in and around us (for example, if we need to get evidence about a certain event, most versions diverge). However, we have moments of heightened awareness and intense interest, which Maslow calls self-actualizing moments.

2. If you think of life as a process of choices, then self-actualization means: in every choice, decide in favor of growth. We often have to choose between growth and security, between progress and regression. Each choice has its positive and negative aspects. Choosing the safe means staying with the canopy of the gnome and the familiar, but at the risk of becoming outdated and ridiculous. Choosing to grow means opening yourself up to new, unexpected experiences, but risking ending up in the unknown.

3. To become actualized means to become real, to exist in fact, and not only in potentiality. By the self, Maslow understands the core or essential nature of the individual, including temperament, unique tastes and values. Thus, self-actualization is learning to tune into one's own inner nature. This means, for example, deciding for yourself whether you yourself like a certain food or a movie, regardless of the opinions and points of view of others.

"You cannot choose life wisely if you do not dare to listen to yourself, to your own self, at every moment of life."

4. Honesty and acceptance of responsibility for one's actions are essential moments of self-actualization. Maslow recommends looking within for answers, rather than posing, trying to look good or satisfying others with your answers. Every time we seek answers within, we are in touch with our inner selves.

5. The first five steps help develop the ability to "better life choices." We learn to trust our judgments and instincts and act on them. Maslow believes this leads to the best elections what is constitutionally right for each individual. - choices in art, music, food, as well as in the serious problems of life, such as marriage or profession.

6. Self-actualization is also a constant process of developing one's potentialities. It means using your abilities and intelligence and "working to do well what you want to do". Great talent or intelligence is not the same as self-actualization. Many gifted people have not been able to fully utilize their abilities, while others, perhaps with average talent, have done incredibly much.

Self-actualization is not a "thing" to have or not to have. It is a process that has no end, similar to the Buddhist Path of Enlightenment. It is a way of living, working and relating to the world, not a single achievement.

7. "Peak experiences" - transitional moments of self-actualization ". We are more holistic, more integrated, more aware of ourselves and the world at peak moments. At such moments we think, act and feel most clearly and accurately. We love more and more degree accept others, more free from internal conflict and anxiety, more able to constructively used the bowl of energy.

8. The next step of self-actualization is the discovery of one's "protections" and the work of rejecting them. We need to be more aware of how we distort the image of ourselves and the external world through repression, projection, and other defense mechanisms.

Self-actualization, according to Goldstein

Since the concept of self-actualization is Maslow's most important contribution to psychology, it may be useful to look at how this concept was developed by its creator, Kurt Goldstein. His ideas differ significantly from Maslow's later formulations. As a neurophysiologist primarily concerned with brain-damaged patients, Goldstein viewed self-actualization as a fundamental process in every organism that can have both positive and negative consequences for the individual. Goldstein wrote that "the organism is governed by the tendency to actualize to the greatest extent possible its individual abilities, its nature in the world."

Goldstein argues that the relaxation of tension is a strong urge only in diseased organisms. For a healthy organism, the primary goal is "the formation of a certain level of tension, such as will make possible further ordered activity" . An attraction like hunger is a special case self-actualization, in which tension-resolution is sought in order to return the organism to an optimal state for further expression of its abilities. However, only in abnormal situations does this attraction become too urgent. Goldstein argues that the normal body can temporarily delay eating, sex, sleeping, etc. if other motives, such as curiosity or desire for play, cause it.

According to Goldstein, successful handling of the environment often involves a certain amount of uncertainty and shock. A healthy self-actualizing organism often causes such a shock by entering new situations in order to use its capabilities. For Goldstein (as for Maslow), self-actualization does not mean the end of problems and difficulties, on the contrary, growth can often bring a certain amount of pain and suffering. Goldstein wrote that the abilities of an organism determine its needs. Having a digestive system makes eating a necessity; the presence of muscles requires movement. The bird needs to fly, and the artist needs to create, even if the act of creation requires a painful struggle and considerable effort.

"Peak Experience"

"Peak-experiences" are especially joyful and exciting moments in the life of each individual. Maslow notes that "peak experiences" are often triggered by intense feelings of love, works of art, or the extreme beauty of nature.

"The faculties insistently demand their use and stop their demands only when they are sufficiently and fully used."

"Any "peak experience" can be fruitfully understood as the fullness of action or as the completion of a Gestalt in terms of Gestalt psychology, or a "full orgasm" in the Reichian paradigm, as a complete discharge, catharsis, climax, completion, ending, devastation" .

"The term "peak experience" is a generalization for the best moments of human existence, for the happiest moments of life, for the experience of ecstasy, rapture, bliss, the greatest joy."

Most of us have experienced quite a few "peak experiences," although we didn't call them that. A beautiful sunset or a particularly impressive piece of music are examples of a "peak experience." According to Maslow, "peak experiences" are triggered by intense, inspirational events. "It appears that any experience of real perfection... can trigger a 'peak experience'. Most people's lives are filled with long periods of relative inattention, under-engagement, even boredom. In contrast, 'peak experience' in the broadest sense of the word is those moments when we become deeply involved, excited and connected to the world.

The most significant "peak experiences" are comparatively rare. Poets have described them as moments of ecstasy, men of religion as profound mystical experiences. According to Maslow, the higher "Incas" are characterized by a "feeling of limitless horizons opening, a feeling of being both more powerful and more helpless than ever before, a feeling of ecstasy, delight and awe, a loss of sense of space and time" .

"Plateau Experience"

"Peak experiences" are peaks that can last a few minutes or a few hours, rarely longer. Maslow also describes more stable and lasting experiences, calling them "plateau experiences". They represent a new and deeper way of seeing and experiencing the world. This includes a fundamental change in attitude towards the world, changing one's point of view and creating new values and heightened awareness of the world. Maslow himself experienced this at the end of his life, after the first heart attack. His intensified consciousness of life and the imminent possibility of death revolutionized the way he perceives the world (for more details see the First Hand Theory section).

Transceiding self-actualization

Maslow found that some of the self-actualizing individuals tended to experience many "peak experiences" while others experienced them rarely, if at all. He came to distinguish between self-actualizing people, psychologically healthy, productive, but with little or no experience of transcendence, and people for whom transcendent experience is important or even central.

"At the highest levels of human development, knowledge correlates, rather positively than negatively, with a sense of the mysterious, awe, humility, ultimate ignorance, reverence and a sense of sacrifice" (19, p. 290).

Maslow wrote that people who transcend self-actualization are more likely to be aware of the mysticism of everything, the transcendent dimension of life in the midst of daily activities. "Peak" or mystical experiences are regarded by them as the most important aspect of their lives. They think more holistically than "only healthy" self-actualizing people, they are more able to transcend the categories of past, present and future, good and evil, to perceive the unity behind the apparent complexity and contradictions of life. They are more innovators and original thinkers than systematizers of the ideas of others. As knowledge develops, they develop a sense of humility and ignorance, they perceive the universe with magnifying awe.

Transcending people are more likely to see themselves as the bearers of their talents and abilities because they are less selfishly involved in their work. They may honestly say, "I'm the best candidate for this job, so I should be given it," or else admit, "You're the best candidate for this job, so it's best you take it from me."

Not everyone who has had mystical experiences is a transcending self-actualizer. Many people who have access to mystical experiences do not have the psychological health and productivity that Maslow considers essential to self-actualization. Maslow also points out that he met just as many transcending people among businessmen. managers, teachers and politicians, as among those who are socially considered closer to this - poets, musicians, priests, etc.

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow defines neurosis and psychological disability as "diseases of deprivation," that is, he believes that they are caused by the deprivation of the satisfaction of certain fundamental needs, just as the lack of certain vitamins causes physical illness. Examples of fundamental needs are physiological needs such as hunger, thirst, or the need to sleep. Failure to satisfy these needs definitely leads in the end to a disease that can only be cured by their satisfaction. Fundamental needs are inherent in all individuals. The extent and manner of satisfying them varies from society to society, but fundamental needs (such as hunger) can never be completely ignored.

To maintain health, certain psychological needs must also be met. Maslow lists the following fundamental needs: the need for security, security and stability; the need for love and a sense of belonging; the need for self-respect and respect for others. In addition, each individual has growth needs, that is, the need to develop their inclinations and abilities, and the need for self-actualization.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Fundamental Needs:

physiological needs (food, water, sleep, etc.)
need for security (stability, order)
need for love and belonging (family, friendship)
need for respect (self-respect, recognition)
needs of self-actualization (development of abilities)

According to Maslow, previously named needs dominate, that is, they must be satisfied before those called later. "A person can live by bread alone - if he does not have enough bread. But what happens to a person's desires when there is enough bread, when his stomach is constantly full? Other broader needs immediately appear and begin to dominate the body. When they are satisfied, new ones, even higher needs enter the stage, and so on."

"The emotion nature of man relies on his lower nature, needs it as a basis and fails without this basis. That is, for the majority of mankind, the higher nature of man is unattainable without satisfying the lower nature as its support."

metamotivation

Metamotivation concerns behavior driven by needs and values of growth. According to Maslow, this kind of motivation is most inherent in self-actualizing people, who, by definition, have lower needs satisfied. Metamotivation often takes the form of devoting oneself to certain ideals or goals, to something "outside oneself". Maslow points out that metaneeds are on a continuum with fundamental needs, so that the frustration of these needs causes "metapathologies". Metapathology can manifest itself in a lack of values, meaninglessness or aimlessness of life. Maslow argues that a sense of belonging, a worthy profession, and belonging to a value system are as essential to psychological well-being as security, love, and self-respect.

"Growth is theoretically possible only because the taste of the "higher" is better than the taste of the "lower", and because the satisfaction of the "lower" becomes boring.

Complaints and meta-complaints

Maslow believes that there are different levels of complaints corresponding to levels of frustrated needs. In a factory, for example, lower-level complaints may be about the lack of safety measures, the arbitrariness of superiors, the lack of guarantee of work the next day, and so on. These are complaints relating to the failure to meet the most fundamental needs of physical security and security. Higher-level complaints may relate to a lack of job-appropriate recognition, threats of loss of prestige, lack of group solidarity; these complaints relate to needs of belonging or respect.

"When representatives of the women's committees burst in and excitedly complain that the roses in the greenhouse are not well maintained, this in itself is wonderful, because it indicates the height of the standard of living that complains."

Meta-complaints are about the frustration of meta-needs, such as the needs for contemplation, justice, beauty, and truth. This level of complaints is a good indicator of that. that everything is going relatively well. When people complain about an unaesthetic environment, it means that with regard to more fundamental needs, they are more or less satisfied.

Maslow believes that there can be no end to complaints: one can only hope for an increase in their level. Complaints about the imperfection of the world. lack of perfect justice, etc. are healthy indications. that, despite a fairly high level of fundamental satisfaction, people strive for further improvement and growth. In fact, Maslow believes that the level of complaints can serve as an indicator of the enlightenment of the society.

Deficient and existential motivation

Maslow points out that most psychologists deal only with scarce motivation, i.e. behavior focused on the satisfaction of some need that is not satisfied or frustrated. Hunger, pain, fear are primary examples of deficient motivation.

However, a close look at the behavior of humans and animals reveals a different kind of motivation. When the body does not experience hunger, pain, or fear, new motivations appear, such as curiosity or the desire to play. Under such conditions, activity can bring satisfaction and joy as such, and not only as a means of satisfying some need lying outside of it. Existential motivation refers primarily to enjoyment and satisfaction in the present or to the desire to seek positive value goals (growth motivation or meta-motivation). Deficit motivation consists in the need to change a given state of affairs because it is felt to be unsatisfactory or frustrating.

"Peak experiences" generally refer to the world of being, and the psychology of being seems to be most applicable to self-actualizing people. Maslow distinguishes between B- and D- (existential and deficient) knowledge, B- and D-values, B- and D-love.

Deficient and existential cognition

In deficit cognition, objects are regarded solely as satisfying needs, as means to other ends. This is especially true when the needs are strong. Maslow points out that strong needs tend to channel thinking and perception so that the individual is aware of only those aspects of the environment that are relevant to satisfying the need. A hungry person sees only food, a beggar sees only money.

B-cognition is more accurate and effective because the perceiver distorts his perception to a lesser extent in accordance with needs and desires. B-cognition does not judge, evaluate or compare. The fundamental attitude here is the perception of what is and the ability to appreciate it. Stimuli cause full attention. Perception seems richer and more complete.

"A cancer preparation viewed under a microscope, if we can only forget that it is cancer, can look like a beautiful and intricate pattern that causes surprise."

The perceiver remains in some sense independent of the perceived. External objects are valued as such, in and of themselves, and not in their relation to personal concerns. In fact, in the state of B-cognition, the individual tends to remain immersed in contemplation or passive observation, active intervention seems out of place. One of the advantages of D-cognition is that a person can be motivated to act and to try to change the existing state.

Deficiency and existential values

Maslow does not explicitly refer to D-values, although he describes B-values in detail. He believes that there are certain values inherent in every individual: “The highest values exist in human nature itself and can be found there. This contradicts the older and more familiar views that the highest values come only from a supernatural God or some other source, external in relation to human nature itself.

Maslow lists the following B-values: truth, goodness, beauty, integrity, overcoming dichotomy, vitality, uniqueness, perfection, necessity, completeness, justice, order, simplicity, wealth, ease without effort, play, self-sufficiency.

Deficit and existential love

Deficient love is love for others because they satisfy some need. The greater the satisfaction, the more this kind of love grows. It is love out of a need for self-respect, or in sex, or out of fear of loneliness, and so on.

Existential love is love for the essence, for the "being" or "being" of the other. Such love does not seek possession and is more concerned with the good of the Other than with selfish satisfaction. Maslow often described B-love as revealing the Taoist attitude of hands-off, the ability to let things take their course and appreciate what they have without trying to "improve" anything. B-love for nature is expressed in the ability to appreciate flowers, to observe their growth, leaving them alone. D-love is rather expressed in picking flowers and arranging bouquets from them. B-love is the ideal of a parent's unconditional love for a child, which may even include love for the child's little imperfections.

Maslow claims that B-love is richer, more satisfying, and longer lasting than D-love. It remains alive and fresh, while D-love loses its freshness and sharpness over time. B-love can be the cause of "peak experiences" and is often described in the same exalted terms that describe religious experiences.

eupsychic

This term, which he himself created. Maslow called the ideal society, in contrast to the "utopia", the idea of which seemed to him visionary and impractical. He believed that an ideal society could be created as an association of psychologically healthy, self-actualizing individuals. All members of such a society strive both for personal development. and to the fulfillment of one's work and perfection in one's life.

"There's a sort of inverse relationship between 'good society' and 'good people'. They need each other."

However, even an ideal society cannot create self-actualizing individuals. "A teacher or culture does not create a person. They do not instill in him the ability to love or be curious, or philosophize, create symbols, create. Rather, they enable, favor, encourage, help what exists in the bud to become real and relevant" .

Maslow also described eupsychic or enlightened management as opposed to authoritarian business management. The authoritarian manager assumes that workers and management have fundamentally opposite, incompatible goals, that workers want to earn as much as possible with minimal effort, and therefore they must be carefully watched.

Enlightened management presupposes that workers want to be creative and productive, that they need support and approval, not the restriction and control of administration. Maslow, however, points out that the enlightened approach is best applied to resilient, mentally healthy workers. Hostile, suspicious people might work better in an authoritarian structure and use freedom unproductively. Eupsychic management applies only to those who can take responsibility and enjoy self-management. Therefore, Maslow believed that a eupsychic society should consist of self-actualizing people.

Synergy

The term "synergy" was originally used by Maslow's teacher, Ruth Benedict, to refer to the degree of interpersonal cooperation and harmony in society. Synergy means joint action or "cooperation". It also means a combined action in which the overall result is greater than all the elements would have if they acted separately.

As an anthropologist, Benedict was aware of the dangers of value judgments in comparing societies and evaluating other civilizations in terms of how they fit our cultural standards. However, in studying other civilizations, Benedict clearly saw that people in some societies are happier, healthier, and more efficient than others. Some groups have beliefs and practices that are harmonious and satisfy their members, while the practices of other groups create suspicion, fear, and anxiety.

In conditions of low social synergy, the success of one is a loss or failure for the other. For example, if each hunter shares his prey only with members of his narrow family, hunting becomes a very competitive business. Those who improve their hunting technique or find new places of game will try to hide their achievements from others. The greater the success of one hunter, the less game may be left for other hunters and their families.

In conditions of high social synergy, cooperation is maximized. An example is the same hunt, with one significant difference - the division of products for everyone. Under such conditions, each hunter benefits from the success of others. In conditions of high social synergy, the cultural belief system enhances cooperation and positive feelings between individuals, helping to minimize conflict and disagreement.

Maslow also wrote about synergy in individuals. Identification with others promotes high individual synergy. If the success of others is a source of genuine satisfaction for the individual, then help is offered freely and generously. Here, in a certain sense, "egoistic" and altruistic motives are combined. Helping another, the individual receives and himself satisfaction.

Synergy can also exist within the individual as a unity between thought and action. Forcing yourself to act indicates a certain conflict of motives. Ideally, a person does what he should do. The best medicine is the one that not only works but also tastes good.

Transpersonal psychology

Maslow proclaimed the development of a new field - transpersonal psychology - in the preface to the second edition of the book: "I must also say that I consider humanistic psychology, the psychology of the third force, transitional, preparatory to an even higher "high". The fourth psychology, transpersonal, transhuman, centered on cosmos, and not on human needs and interests that go beyond the human, self-determination, self-actualization, etc. ... We need something "greater than ourselves" that we could revere, that we could devote oneself in a new, naturalistic, empirical, non-ecclesiastical way, like perhaps Thoreau and Whitman, William James and John Dewey.

"Without transcendence to the transpersonal, we become sick or furious, nihilistic or hopeless or apathetic."

Many of the topics covered by transpersonal psychology are essential to Maslow's theories: peak experiences, existential values, meta-needs, and so on. Anthony Sutich, founder and first editor of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, defined it as the study of "the ultimate in human abilities and possibilities",. those abilities that have not found a place for themselves in the systematics of ordinary psychological concepts.

Transpersonal psychology includes the study of religion and religious experience. Historically, ideas about the ultimate human potential have been formulated primarily in religious terms, and most psychologists are unwilling to take these areas seriously because of the unscientific, dogmatic, or mystical ways in which they have been described. The popularity of Eastern religions in the West is partly due to their less theological and more psychological approach to human nature. These traditions also clearly describe techniques for psychological and spiritual development.

Maslow discovered the existence of a spiritual "dimension" in the self-actualizing people he constantly studied. "A few centuries earlier they would have been perceived as people walking in the Ways of God, God's people ... If you define religion in socio-behavioral terms, they can all be considered religious people, even atheists."

"The human being needs a value system of reference, a philosophy of life... in accordance with which one can live and understand life in the same sense in which it needs the sun, calcium and love" (17, p. 2061.

Transpersonal psychology empirically studies meditation, yogic breathing exercises and other spiritual disciplines (an excellent bibliography can be found in and), as well as parapsychology, the nature of consciousness and altered states of consciousness, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, etc. (see, for example,,,,.

Barriers to Growth

Maslow points out that growth motivation is relatively weak in relation to physiological needs and the needs of security, respect, etc. The process of self-actualization can be limited by 1) the negative influence of past experience and the resulting habits that lock us into unproductive behavior; 2) social influences and group pressures that often work against our tastes and judgments; 3) internal defenses that tear us away from ourselves.

Bad habits often hinder growth. According to Maslow, they include addiction to drugs and alcohol, unhealthy diet, and others that affect health and productivity. Maslow points out that a destructive environment and a rigid authoritarian formation easily lead to unproductive habit patterns based on a deficit orientation. In general, strong habits interfere with psychological growth, because they reduce the flexibility and openness necessary for the most productive and effective action in various situations.

"Two kinds of forces act on the individual, and not one. Some forces push him towards health, while others, the forces of fear and regression, push him back to illness and weakness."

Group pressure and social propaganda also limit the individual. They reduce the independence of judgment, so that the individual is forced to substitute external, social standards for his own tastes and judgments. Society may also impose distorted views of human nature, such as the Western view that most human instincts are essentially sinful and must be controlled and subdued. Maslow believes that this negative attitude frustrates growth, but the opposite is true: our instincts are essentially good, and growth impulses are the main source of human motivation.

Ego defenses are seen by Maslow as internal barriers to growth. The first step in working with ego defenses is to be aware of them and see how they work. The individual must then try to minimize the distortions created by these defenses. Maslow adds two more types of defenses to the traditional psychoanalytic list: desacralization and the Jonah complex.

Desacralization is the impoverishment of one's own life by refusing to take anything with deep seriousness and involvement. Today, few cultural and religious symbols evoke the respect and care that were once associated with them, and, accordingly, they have lost their inspiring, motivating, uplifting, and even simply motivating power. As an example of desacralization, Maslow often cites modern views on sex. A lighter attitude towards sex, really; reduces the possibility of frustration and trauma, but at the same time, sexual experience loses the significance that inspired artists, poets, and simply lovers.

"Although in principle self-actualization is easy, in practice it rarely occurs (by my criteria, certainly less than in 1% of the adult population)" .

The "Jonah Complex" is a renunciation of attempts to realize the fullness of one's abilities. Just as Jonah tried to avoid the responsibility of the prophecy, so most people are actually afraid of using their powers to the fullest extent. They prefer the security of averages that do not require much achievement, as opposed to goals that require the fullness of their own development. This is also found among students who are content to "pass" a course that requires some part of their talents and abilities. This can also be found among women who fear that successful professional work is incompatible with femininity or that intellectual achievements will make them less attractive (see, for example,).

Structure

Body

Maslow does not describe in detail the role of the body in the process of self-actualization. He believes that when physiological needs are satisfied, the individual is freed for needs higher in the hierarchy. However, he writes that it is necessary that the body be given its due. "Asceticism, self-denial, arbitrary denial of the requirements of the organism, at least in the West, creates stunting, cripples the organism; even in the East, this brings self-actualization to only a few exceptionally strong individuals."

Maslow notes the importance of intense stimulation of the physical senses in "peak experiences" that are often triggered by natural beauty, art, or sexual experiences. He points out that teaching dance, art, and other physical expressions is an important addition to traditional, cognitively oriented education, and that physical and sensory oriented academic subjects require the active involvement of students, which can be included in all forms of education.

social relations

According to Maslow, love and respect are fundamental needs that are essential for everyone and precede self-actualization in the hierarchy of needs. Maslow often notes with regret that most psychology textbooks don't even mention the word "love", as if psychologists consider love to be something unreal that should be reduced to other concepts like projection or sexual reinforcement.

"In fact, people are good if only their fundamental desires (attachment and security) are satisfied ... Give people attachment and security, and they in turn respond with attachment and security in their feelings" (Maslow in .

Will

Will is the vital ingredient in the long process of self-actualization. Maslow shows that self-actualizing individuals work long and hard to achieve their chosen goal.

"If you are intentionally going to be less than you can be, I warn you that you will be miserable for the rest of your life."

"Self-actualization means working to do well what a person wants to do. Becoming a second-rate doctor is not the way to self-actualize. A person wants to be first-class or as good a doctor as possible for him." Because of his belief in health and goodness in human nature, Maslow did not challenge the will to overcome unacceptable instincts and impulses. According to Maslow, a healthy individual is relatively free from internal conflict, except perhaps the need to overcome bad habits. The will is needed in order to develop abilities and achieve difficult, long-term goals.

Emotions

Maslow emphasizes the importance of positive emotions for self-actualization. He considers it necessary to explore such states as happiness, equanimity, joy, laughter, games, etc. He believes that negative emotions, tensions and conflicts drain energy and prevent effective functioning.

Intelligence

Maslow emphasizes the need for holistic thinking, which pays attention to relationships and the whole rather than individual parts. He found that "peak experiences" are often striking examples of thinking breaking through the dichotomy in which we normally perceive reality. In such cases, one often talks about experiencing the past, present and future in unity, seeing life and death as parts of a single process, realizing good and evil in unity.

Holistic thinking is also characteristic of creative thinkers who transcend the past and transcend conventional categories to explore possible new relationships. It requires freedom, openness and the ability to deal with the vague and ambiguous.

Such uncertainty, which may be intimidating to some, is to others the essence of the joy of creative problem solving.

Maslow writes that creative people are task-centered, not means-centered. Problem-centered activity is determined primarily by the requirements of the goal delivered. Means-oriented people, on the other hand, are busy with technology, methodology, so they often do very well thought out work with a trivial task. Focusing on the problem is also opposed to being centered on one's own ego, which often distorts the vision of things in the direction of the desired, as opposed to the real.

Self

Maslow defines the self as the inner nature or core of an individual—his own tastes, values, and goals. Understanding one's own inner nature and acting in accordance with it is essential for the actualization of the self.

"Self-actualizing people who have reached the highest level of maturity, health and accomplishment can teach us so much that sometimes it just seems that they are people of a different breed."

Maslow approaches the understanding of the self through the study of Czech individuals who live most in harmony with their own nature, who are best examples self-expression and self-actualization. However, Maslow does not specifically discuss the self as a specific structure in personality.

Therapist

According to Maslow, psychotherapy is effective primarily because it involves intimate and trusting relationships between people. Like Adler, Maslow considers a good therapist to be like an older brother or sister, helping others with care and love. Maslow proposes a model of "Taoist help" - help without interference. This is how a good coach works with an athlete, naturally developing and improving his individual style and not at all trying to form all students in a similar way.

“It has been said more than once that a therapist can repeat the same mistakes for 40 years and then call it “rich clinical experience” .

Maslow rarely touches on psychotherapy in his writings. Although he himself has been a psychoanalyst for several years and received an informal psychotherapeutic education, he is more interested in research and writing than in therapy.

Maslow sees psychotherapy as a way to meet the fundamental needs for love and respect that are frustrated in almost everyone who seeks psychological help. He argues that warm human relationships can provide much the same support as psychotherapy provides.

A good therapist must treat with love and care the essence of those with whom he works. In Maslow points out that those who seek to manipulatively change others find the absence of precisely these qualities. As an example, he points out that a person who really loves dogs will not cut off their ears or tails, and a person who really loves flowers will not cut them off for the sake of a "beautiful design".

Grade

Maslow's strength lies in his interest in areas of human life that have been ignored by most psychologists. He is one of the few psychologists who has seriously explored the positive dimensions of the human experience.

Maslow's experimental work is generally unfinished; it would be more correct to call them "reconnaissance" rather than actually experimental, and he himself fully admitted this: I want to do more, so I myself do only small "pilot" studies with a few subjects, which are not suitable for publication, but enough to make me convinced that they seem to be true and will be confirmed someday.

"I am a psychologist of a new kind, a theorist, like representatives of theoretical biology ... I consider myself a scientist, not an essayist or philosopher. I feel attached to facts and bound by facts, although I perceive them rather than create them."

This procedure has its drawbacks. For example, data from small and biased samples are not statistically significant. However, Maslow never sought to experimentally "prove" or verify his ideas. His research was rather aimed at clarifying and detailing his theorizing.

Nevertheless, Maslow sometimes resembles an armchair philosopher who remains alien to the possible contradiction with new facts and new experience. As a rule, he was quite sure of what he wanted to demonstrate in his research, and rarely did he discover new data that changed his previous ideas. For example, Maslow constantly emphasized the positive sources of "peak experiences": the experience of love, beauty, beautiful music, and so on. The occurrence of "peak experiences" due to negative experiences is generally ignored by them, although many report that their deepest "peak experiences" were preceded by negative emotions- fear or depression - which were overcome, turning into strong positive states (see, for example, W. James "Varieties of Religious Experience"). For some reason, Maslow's research rarely uncovered this kind of new information.

"I was soon forced to come to the conclusion that a great talent is not only more or less independent of goodness of character or health, but that we know little about him at all."

Be that as it may, this critique of Maslow is rather trivial. His significant accomplishments as a psychologist lie in emphasizing the positive dimensions of the human experience, the possibilities of achievement for people. Maslow was the inspiration for almost all humanistic psychologists. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology (2.197C.IV) called him "the greatest American psychologist since James." Although such an assessment may seem somewhat extravagant, hardly any humanistic psychologist would deny his central place as an original thinker and pioneer in the field of the psychology of human potentiality.

First hand theory

The following excerpts from a discussion between Maslow and some other psychologists are taken from the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology (1972. 4.pp.112-115).

"I have found that as I age, my peak experiences become less intense and also less frequent. In discussing this with other people approaching old age, I have learned that this happens to them. It seems to me that this is related to the process aging. This makes sense because I've found that to some extent, I'm kind of afraid of "peak experiences" because I'm not sure if my body can handle them. "Peak experiences" can make a big mess in the autonomous nervous system. Maybe easing "peak experiences" is the body's natural way of protecting itself..

As these sharp emotional discharges subsided over me, something very subtle began to arise in my mind, something like a sediment deposited from insights, insights and other life experiences that were important, including tragic ones. This is a kind of unified consciousness, and it has its advantages, as well as its disadvantages, in relation to "peak experiences". For myself, I define this one creation simply as the simultaneous perception of the sacred and the mundane, or the mysterious, something very constant and achieved without any effort.

I perceive from the point of view of eternity mythically, poetically or symbolically all ordinary things. It is like a zen experience. There is nothing excluded and nothing special, a person lives in a world of miracles all the time. There is a paradox in this, because it is wonderful, but does not create a breakthrough.

This type of consciousness has something in common with "peak experiences" - awe, mystery, amazement, aesthetic delight. But here the presence of these elements is rather permanent than culminating. If one wants to use as a paradigm or model for "peak experiences" a sexual orgasm that rises to a peak or climax and then subsides to a conclusion and ends, then this other type of experience needs to be imagined differently. I would use the image of the "high plateau" here. It means living at a consistently high level in the sense of enlightenment or awakening or Zen. in the lightness of the miraculous, but without anything special. It means taking quite inadvertently the sharpness and precision of the beauty of things, but not making a big deal out of it, because it happens every hour, you know, all the time.

Another aspect that I noted is that you can sit and look at something wonderful for hours and admire it every second. An orgasm can't last an hour! In this sense, the "plateau experience" is better, it has great advantages over the climax, or orgasm or peak. There is a descent down into the valley, and life on a high plateau does not imply this, it is more everyday.

Another aspect of this experience is that it has more to do with serenity than emotionality. We usually think of emotionality as something explosive. However, peace and serenity are also needed in psychology. We need serenity as much as we need sharp emotionality.

I think; that someday "plateau-experiences" will become accessible to instrumental observation. "Peak experiences" are associated with automatic discharge, which can be easily noted with the appropriate instrumentation. EEG, or biofeedback technique, may be suitable for this kind of measurement, detection and teaching of serenity, peace and peace. If we learn to work with this, it will mean that we can teach serenity to our children...

It is important that "plateau experiences" are essentially cognitive. Almost by definition, they are a witness to the world. "Plateau-experience" is evidence of reality. It means to see symbolically, mythically, poetically, transcendently, to see the miraculous, the unbelievable - all this I consider part of the real world, and not just the property of dreamers.

In the "plateau experience" there is a sense of certainty. It seems to be very, very good to be able to see the world as mysterious and not just concrete, not to reduce it to the behavioral, not to limit it to a simple here and now. You know, if you limit yourself to a simple "here and now" - this is a reduction.

It is easy to get sentimental about the beauty of the world, but in fact "plateau experiences" are well documented in a vast literature. This is not the standard description of mystical experiences proper, but rather what the world looks like when the mystical experience actually takes place. If a mystical experience changes your life, you handle your affairs like great mystics. For example, great saints could have mystical revelations, but at the same time they could manage the monastery. You can sell groceries and pay taxes, but keep this sense of witnessing the world, like great moments of mystical perception."

Exercises

An exercise in existential love

According to Maslow, existential love is unselfish, disinterested, it does not require anything in return. The very act of love, the perception of the essence and beauty of the object of love, is its own reward. In our daily experience we usually experience a mixture of existential and deficient love. We usually expect and receive something as a reward for our feeling of love.

This exercise is taken as a reward from an ancient Christian practice and is designed to develop a feeling of pure love. Sit in dark room in front of a lit candle. Relax and gradually feel your body, get in touch with the environment. Let your body find a slow rhythm, become calm and peaceful.

Look at the candle flame. Spread the feeling of love from the heart to the flame. Your feeling of love for the flame is not connected with any thought of the value of the flame as such. You love him for the sake of love itself. (It may seem strange to try to love an inanimate object, but that's exactly what it's all about - to experience the feeling of love in a situation where there will be no answer, no reward, except for the very feeling of love.) Spread your feeling of love all over the room, over everything, what is in it.

Analysis of the "peak experience"

Try to clearly remember any "peak experience" from your life - a moment of joy, happiness, delight that arises in your memory. Relive this experience.

What brought this experience? What else was unique about the situation in which it arose?
What did you feel? Was this feeling different from what you usually feel - emotionally, physically, intellectually?
Did you see yourself as different (different)? Did the world seem different?
How long did the experience last? What did you feel after it?
Did your experience have any aftereffect (in your vision of the environment or your relationships with others, for example)?
How does your own experience compare with Maslow's theories about "peak experiences" and human nature?

To better visualize your "peak experience," compare your experiences with those of others. Find both similarities and differences. Are the differences due to differences in situations or differences in personality types or cultural backgrounds? What do the similarities say about Maslow's ideas about human potential in general?

Annotated bibliography

Maslow, A. Achievements of human nature. In many ways, Maslow's best book. Collection of articles about psychological health, creativity, values, education, society, metamotivation and transcendence. Also a complete bibliography of Maslow's works.

Maslow, A. To the psychology of being. Maslow's most popular and widely known book. Includes material relating to the opposition of the existential and the deficient, the psychology of growth, creativity, values.

Maslow, A. Motivation and personality. – A psychology textbook giving a more technical treatment of Maslow's work. Chapters on the theory of motivation, hierarchy of needs, self-actualization.

Literature

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Goble, F. 1971 The third force: the psychology of Abraham Maslow. New York: Pocket Books.
Gotdstein, K. 1939. The organism. New York: American Book Co.
Gotdstein, K. 1940. Human nature in the light of psychopathology. New York: Schocken.
Huxfey, A. 1963. Island. New York: Bantam.
Hall, M. 1968. A conversation with Abraham Maslow. Psychology Today 2(2): 34-37, 54-57.
Harner, M. 1972. The motive to avoid success and changing aspirations of college women. In Readings on the psychology of women, edited by J. Bandwick, pp. 62-67. New York: Harper and Row.
International Study Project. 1972. Abraham H. Maslow: a miorial volume. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole.
James W. 1943. The varieties of religion experience. New York; Modern Library.
Journal of Transpereonal Psychology Editorial Staft. 1970. An appreciation. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology (2)2: iv.
Krippner S., ed. 1972. The plateu experience. A.H. Mallow and others. Journal of Transpereonal Psychology 4: 107-120.
Lewrey, R., ed. 1973 a. Dominance, self-estei, self-actualization: germinal papers of A.H. Mallow. Monterey. Calif.: Brooks/Cole.
Lowrey, R., ed. 1973b. A.H. Maslow: an intellectual portrait. Monterey. Calif.: Brooks/Cole.
Maslow, A. 1964. Religions, values and peak experiences. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
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Timmons, B., and Kanellakos, D. 1974. T he psychology and physiology of meditation and related phenomenon: bibliography II. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 6: 32-38.

One of the generic concepts of humanistic pedagogy is the concept of "self-actualization". Actual is important, essential for the present time, manifesting itself in reality. The concept of self-actualization originated in philosophy. Actualization (philosophical) is the realization, the transition from the state of possibility to the state of reality.

In psychology, actualization means an action that consists in extracting learned material from long-term or short-term memory for the purpose of its subsequent use in recognition, recall and reproduction.

In pedagogy, to actualize means to extract, to claim the moral values hidden, inherent in consciousness by nature, to make them significant for the individual. Each scientist and practitioner of humanistic pedagogy (Socrates, Jan Amos Comenius, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Adolf Diesterweg, John Dewey, Maria Montessori, Charlotte Buhler, etc.) used the philosophical, psychological and pedagogical aspects of this in their own way. phenomena. As a term, with the prefix "self-" the concept of actualization began to be used relatively recently.

It was first introduced by Kurt Goldshtein to denote the activity of a biological process that exists in any living organism. In psychology, the concept of self-actualization appears due to the work of Abraham Maslow (1908-1970, USA). He put many meanings into this concept, but the most significant for humanistic pedagogy, most likely, is the following: self-actualization - the desire for self-fulfillment, for the actualization of what is contained as potentialities. According to Maslow, self-actualization is the desire of a person to fulfill himself, namely, his desire to become what he can be. This is the full use by the person of talents, abilities, opportunities, etc.

Self-actualization of personality according to Maslow

Maslow imagined a self-actualized person not as an ordinary person, to whom something was added, but as an ordinary person, from whom nothing was taken away: “The average person is a complete human being, with muffled and suppressed abilities and talents.” A. Maslow in his concept of self-actualization offers the following interpretation of the nature of personality: a person is naturally good and capable of self-improvement, people are conscious and intelligent creatures, the very essence of a person constantly moves him in the direction of personal growth, creativity and self-sufficiency; To study a person as a unique, holistic, open and self-developing system, A. Maslow used the concept of self actualization (English).

Human development in this theory is presented as climbing the ladder of needs, which has levels, in which, on the one hand, the social dependence of a person is “highlighted”, and on the other hand, his cognitive nature associated with self-actualization. The author believed that "people are motivated to seek personal goals, and this makes their life significant and meaningful."

Questions of motivation are central to the humanistic theory of personality and describe a person as a "desiring being", rarely achieving satisfaction. A. Maslow considers all needs as innate. The hierarchy of needs, according to Maslow, can be traced from the first level, which is the physiological needs associated with maintaining the internal environment of the body.

As these needs are saturated, next level needs arise. The second level is the need for security, stability, confidence, freedom from fear, security. These needs function similarly to physiological needs and cease to be motivators if regularly satisfied. The next, third level includes the need for love and affection, communication, social activity, the desire to have one's place in a group, family. This is followed by the fourth level, which is the need for respect, independence, independence, skill, competence, confidence in the world, the desire to have a certain reputation, prestige, fame, recognition, dignity.

Dissatisfaction with the needs of this level leads a person to a feeling of inferiority, uselessness, leads to various conflicts, complexes and neuroses. And finally, the last, fifth level of needs is the need for self-actualization, self-realization and creativity. The hierarchy of needs, according to A. Maslow, is a pyramid from the lowest needs (needs) to the highest needs (growth needs). The need for self-actualization is a special type of needs: “This is the need for “growth”, in contrast to the needs for “deficiency”, which include the needs of the four lower levels.”

A. Maslow wrote that self-actualization means "the desire of a person to fulfill himself, namely, his desire to become what he can be." According to A. Maslow, the tendency to self-actualization is the essence, the core of the personality, i.e. the desire of a person to constantly embody, realize, objectify himself, his abilities, his essence. But a person can realize, embody himself only in activity. A person self-realizes in activity, and the content of the need for activity and the need for self-realization are the same for the individual.

The theory of self-actualization developed by A. Maslow still continues to cause discussions, disputes and even protests. Apparently, such an ambiguous attitude is due to the fact that A. Maslow considered as samples of self-actualizing people those who have a certain level of personal achievement both in their professional and personal lives. By studying the best, A. Maslow believed, one can explore the boundaries of human capabilities.

As criteria for the selection of self-actualized personalities, he established a relative freedom from neuroses and best use their talents, abilities, opportunities: "Self-actualized people, without a single exception, are involved in a matter that goes beyond their selfish interests, in something outside themselves." After analyzing the life achievements and characteristics of prominent people (A. Lincoln, A. Einstein, A. Schweitzer, B. Spinoza, P. Kropotkin, etc.), A. Maslow singled out the characteristics of self-actualization:

1. A more elective perception of reality and a more comfortable relationship with it.

2. Acceptance (of oneself, others, nature). Self-actualizing people accept themselves and their nature without complaint or embarrassment, understanding its shortcomings, its discrepancies from the ideal, but not experiencing real anxiety.

3. Spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness. Self-actualizing people lack artificiality and the desire to produce an effect.

4. Centering on the task (problem center - tion). They have a life mission, a task that requires fulfillment, an external goal in relation to themselves. They live in a world of broad, universal and enduring values.

5. Some-paradise isolation and the need for solitude. The desire for loneliness, non-involvement in what captures and absorbs others.

6. Autonomy, independence from culture and environment. People who are motivated to grow tend to be self-sufficient.

7. Constant freshness of evaluation. The ability to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. They draw strength from the main life experiences. Ordinary people learn the true value of the ordinary environment (nature, loved ones, work) only after they are deprived of them.

8. Mysticism and experience of higher states.

9. Feelings of belonging, unity with others. In relation to other people, self-actualizing individuals experience deep feelings of identification, sympathy, love, a genuine desire to help.

10. Deeper interpersonal relationships based on greater dedication, love, more complete going beyond the boundaries of one's "I". The circle of friends is small. They do not forgive betrayal, hypocrisy, narcissism.

11. Democratic structure of personality. They do not notice class, social, professional, racial, etc. differences. They consider it possible to learn from anyone, as long as he has something to teach.

12. Distinguishing means and ends, good and evil. Strong moral standards. They concentrate on goals, being able to subordinate means to them, and not vice versa, as is customary among the majority. But any activity is considered by them as a goal, turned into an exciting game, entertainment.

13. Philosophical, non-hostile sense of humor. They do not accept laughter at causing harm to others, laughter of superiority, protest against authority.

14. Self-actualizing creativity. Creativity, as an expression of the health of the individual, is projected onto the whole world and colors any activity. Everything is done with a certain attitude to the matter, with a mood. A person can even see creatively, as a child sees.

15. Resistance to acculturation (average "cultivation", familiarization with mass culture). They coexist with culture, but resist "cultivation", maintain an internal detachment from the culture in which they are immersed. But they fit into the framework of the conventions of clothing culture, although of great importance it has nothing for them: making life easier, things are not worth making a fuss about. Everything that is not essential is calmly accepted. But these conventions, if observance of them seems superfluous, can be discarded like boring clothes.

The culmination of A. Maslow's reflections on self-actualization, which do not always fit into the framework of generally accepted scientific and logical thinking, are eight types of behavior leading to self-actualization.

1. Self-actualization is a complete, living, concentrated experience of what is happening with a person and outside of him. Moments of heightened awareness and intense interest Maslow calls self-actualizing.

2. Life is a process of choices. Self-actualization involves deciding in favor of growth in every choice. Choosing growth means opening yourself up to new, unexpected experiences, but risking ending up in the unknown: “You can’t choose life wisely if you don’t dare to listen to yourself, to your own self, at every moment of life.”

3. To become actualized means to become real, to exist in fact, and not only in potentiality. Self-actualization - learning to tune into your own inner nature: decide for yourself whether you yourself like a certain food, film, book, regardless of opinions, etc. others.

4. Honesty and taking responsibility for your actions.

5. Trust your judgment and instincts.

6. Self-actualization is a constant process of developing one's potentialities.

7. "Peak experiences" - transitional moments of self-actualization. These are especially joyful and exciting moments in life. They are caused by a strong feeling of love, works of art, an experience of the exceptional beauty of nature.

8. Finding your "defenses" and working to abandon them. According to A. Maslow, personality is based on the motivational sphere, i.e. what moves a person, what makes him a person.

Self-actualization as a capacity may exist in most people, but only in a small minority is it to some extent accomplished. Such people fully embody the human essence. But there are very few self-actualized people, less than 1%, and teachers striving for self-actualization, according to the Psychological Institute Russian Academy education, only from 12 to 18%.

Many people do not see their potential, and the process of growth requires constant readiness take risks, make mistakes, abandon old habits. A. Maslow defined the life of a self-actualized person as “an effort or a jerk, when a person uses all his abilities to the fullest”. The author assumed that the actualization of human potential is possible "in a conducive society", which practically did not exist yet in human history.

It is hardly appropriate to argue that "refined" self-actualization must certainly become the goal and meaning of education. However, if we keep in mind that the need for the realization of physical and mental forces is most relevant in adolescence and youth, which is characterized by the growth of self-awareness, the transition from external determination of the activity of behavior to self-determination, then it is very important for older students to help adults in determining the direction and methods of self-realization. And this is already connected with the very real organization of pedagogical support for the processes of self-knowledge, self-understanding, and an adequate attitude towards oneself.

A. Maslow considered a person based on the position of his nature. It is probably these positions that it makes sense to take into account for a teacher who has risked creating conditions for self-actualization of his pupils.

1. A person is free and responsible for his decisions, what way of life to choose and how to strive to actualize his potential; the older the person, the higher he rose in the hierarchy of needs, the freer he is.

2. Human behavior is regulated by rational forces, acceptance rational decisions and the desire to rationally actualize their potential.

3. The person is considered as a whole. “It is John Smith who wants to eat, not the stomach of John Smith,” therefore a person is a holistic being, strives for self-actualization.

4. Moderate constitutionalism, expressed in the concept of meta-needs using such terms as "innate desire", "instinctive", "intrinsic to a person", means that the desire to actualize one's potential is an innate, not an acquired quality.

5. The constant desire for personal growth, when people have the ability to decide what they want to become, leads to the fact that the personality will inevitably change.

6. Each person is unique in expressing these needs, ie. a person seeks to actualize the unique self in accordance with his own assessment.

7. Despite the fact that needs are innate, a significant role is given to situational variables, i.e. the influence of motivation (innate needs) and the social and physical environment that influences human behavior.

9. People cannot be studied by traditional methods, which is why they are unknowable, the traditional study of a person in parts must be replaced by an approach that allows people to demonstrate their subjective experience in a holistic manner (as a hierarchy of wholes).

The desire for self-actualization is the desire for self-affirmation through the manifestation, specific inclusion of a whole set of personal structures of consciousness: reflection, conflict, motivation, meaning creation, creating one's own picture of the world, etc.

Characteristic of self-actualization

SELF-ACTUALIZATION - the process of deployment and maturation of the inclinations, potentialities, and possibilities initially laid down in the body and personality. In a number of theories developed in line with humanistic psychology, self-actualization is the main mechanism that explains mental and personal development.

Developing the idea of self-actualization for three decades, Maslow made it the cornerstone of not only the theory of personality, but also the whole philosophical and worldview system, which was the reason for the hundreds of thousands of copies of his books.

In the book " Motivation and personality"Maslow defines self-actualization as a person's desire for self-embodiment, for the actualization of the potentialities inherent in him, manifested in the desire for identity:" This term expresses the "full development of man" (based on biological nature), which is (empirically) normative for the whole species, regardless of time and place, that is, to a lesser extent culturally determined. It corresponds to the biological predetermination of a person, and not to historically arbitrary, local value models ... It also has an empirical content and practical meaning».

S. Maslow's theory began with an empirical generalization and identification of a special type of people - self-actualizing personalities, who make up about one percent of the population and are an example of psychologically healthy and maximally expressing the human essence of people. Maslow undertook a study of self-actualizing people and identified a number of traits inherent in them. " It gives the impression Maslow writes, as if humanity had a single ultimate goal, a distant goal towards which all people aspire. Different authors call it differently: self-actualization, self-realization, integration, mental health, individualization, autonomy, creativity, productivity - but they all agree that all these are synonymous with the realization of the individual's potentials, the formation of a person in the full sense of the word, the formation what he can become"

One of the weaknesses of Maslow's theory was that he argued that these needs are in a rigid hierarchy once and for all, and higher needs (for self-esteem or self-actualization) arise only after more elementary ones are satisfied. Not only critics, but also followers of Maslow showed that very often the need for self-actualization or self-respect was dominant and determined human behavior despite the fact that his physiological needs were not satisfied, and sometimes prevented the satisfaction of these needs. Subsequently, Maslow himself abandoned such a rigid hierarchy, combining all needs into two classes: the needs of need (deficiency) and the needs of development (self-actualization).

At the same time, most representatives of humanistic psychology accepted the term "self-actualization", introduced by Maslow, as well as his description of the "self-actualizing personality".

Rejecting his statements about a fixed sequence of satisfying needs in accordance with their position in Maslow's hierarchy, he defines development through various processes that ultimately lead a person to self-actualization, and substantiates a new point of view, namely that these processes take place throughout life of a person and are conditioned by a specific "motivation for development", the possibilities of manifestation of which are no longer directly dependent on the degree of satisfaction of basic needs. Maslow recognizes that most people (perhaps all) have a desire for self-actualization and, moreover, that most people have the ability to self-actualize, at least in principle, and each individual's self-actualization is unique and unrepeatable. One of the forms of self-actualization available to everyone is the so-called peak experiences described by Maslow, moments of delight or ecstasy in love, communication with art, creativity, religious impulse or in other spheres of human existence that are significant for a person. In peak experiences, a person acquires many features characteristic of self-actualizing people, temporarily becomes self-actualizing. In Maslow's latest works, self-actualization no longer appears as a final, but as an intermediate stage of development, a transition from neurotic or infantile problems of the formation of a person to the true problems of his being as a mature, full-fledged personality "beyond" self-actualization.

Self-actualization is associated with the ability to understand oneself, one's inner nature and learn to "attune" in accordance with this nature, to build one's behavior based on it. This is not a one-time act, but a process that has no end, it is a way " living, working and relating to the world, not a single achievement".

Unlike psychoanalysts, who were mainly interested in deviant behavior, Maslow believed that it was necessary to investigate human nature, " studying its best representatives rather than cataloging the difficulties and mistakes of average or neurotic individuals". Only in this way can we understand the limits of human capabilities, the true nature of man, not fully and clearly represented in other, less gifted people. The group he chose for research consisted of eighteen people, while nine of them were his contemporaries, and nine were historical figures(A. Lincoln, A. Einstein, W. James, B. Spinoza and others).

Based on these findings, Maslow names the following characteristics of self-actualizing people:

1. a more effective perception of reality and a more comfortable relationship with it;

2. acceptance (of oneself, others, nature);

3. spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness;

4. task-centeredness (as opposed to self-centeredness);

5. some isolation and need for privacy;

6. autonomy, independence from culture and environment;

7. constant freshness of the assessment;

8. mysticism and experience of higher states;

9. feelings of belonging, unity with others;

10. deeper interpersonal relationships;

11. democratic character structure;

12. distinction between means and ends, good and evil;

13. philosophical, non-hostile sense of humor;

14. self-actualizing creativity;

15. resistance to acculturation, transcending any frequent culture.

The scientist believed that it was conscious aspirations and motives, and not unconscious instincts, that constituted the essence of the human personality. However, the desire for self-actualization, for the realization of one's abilities, encounters obstacles, misunderstandings of others and one's own weaknesses. Many people retreat before difficulties, which does not pass without a trace for the individual, stops its growth. Neurotics are people with an undeveloped or unconscious need for self-actualization. Society, by its very nature, cannot but impede a person's desire for self-actualization. After all, any society strives to make a person its stereotyped representative, alienates the personality from its essence, makes it conformal.

At the same time, alienation, preserving the "selfhood", the individuality of the individual, puts him in opposition to the environment and also deprives him of the opportunity to self-actualize. Therefore, a person needs to maintain a balance between these two mechanisms, which, like Scylla and Charybdis, guard him and seek to destroy him. Optimal, according to Maslow, are identification in the external plan, in communication with the outside world, and alienation in the internal plan, in terms of the development of self-consciousness. It is this approach that gives a person the opportunity to effectively communicate with others and at the same time remain himself. This position of Maslow made him popular among intellectuals, as it largely reflected the views of this social group on the relationship between the individual and society.

Continuing the study of self-actualizing personalities, whose life problems are qualitatively different from the neurotic pseudo-problems facing an immature personality, Maslow comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to create a new psychology - the psychology of being a person as a full-fledged, developed personality, in contrast to the traditional psychology of becoming a person by a person. In the 60s. Maslow is developing such a psychology. In particular, he shows the fundamental differences between cognitive processes in cases where they are driven by need, and when they are based on the motivation of development and self-actualization. In the second case, we are dealing with cognition at the level of Being (B-cognition). A specific phenomenon of B-cognition is peak experiences (which were discussed above), characterized by a feeling of delight or ecstasy, enlightenment and depth of understanding. Brief episodes of peak experiences are given to all people; in them everyone for a moment becomes, as it were, self-actualizing. Religion, according to Maslow, originally arose as a figurative-symbolic system for describing peak experiences, which later acquired an independent meaning and began to be perceived as a reflection of some kind of supernatural reality. Plain motivation at the level of Being is replaced by the so-called metamotivation . Metamotives are the values of Being (B-values): truth, goodness, beauty, justice, perfection, etc., which belong both to objective reality and to the personality structure of self-actualizing people. These values, like basic needs, Maslow derives from human biology, declaring them universal; the sociocultural environment plays only the role of a factor influencing their actualization, and more often negatively than positively. In recent years, Maslow has gone even further, developing the problem transcendence of self-actualization and moving to even higher levels of development. Maslow stood at the origins of transpersonal psychology, was one of the leaders of this movement in the initial period of its formation. Maslow's ideas about the direction of human development led him to the ideal model of a "eupsychic" society that creates and maintains the possibilities for maximum self-actualization of its members.

Subsequently, Maslow admitted that there was a certain flaw in his theories of motivation. It does not seem to explain why, if man as a species is growth oriented, so many people are unable to develop their potential. Thus, refuting his earlier views, Maslow recognized that favorable conditions do not automatically guarantee personal development, and that self-actualization, happiness and salvation of the soul are impossible without a meaningful vocation in the world and a focus on higher values. The categories of vocation and responsibility of the individual became central to him.

Assessment of self-actualization according to A. Maslow.

The lack of an adequate assessment tool to measure self-actualization initially thwarted any attempt to validate Maslow's core claims. However, the development of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) has given researchers the ability to measure the values and behaviors associated with self-actualization. This is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess various characteristics self-actualization according to Maslow's concept. It consists of 150 statements of forced choice from each pair of statements, the respondent must choose the one that best characterizes him.

POI consists of two main scales and ten subscales.

The first, main scale measures the extent to which a person is directed at himself, and not directed at others in search of values and the meaning of life (characteristic: autonomy, independence, freedom - dependence, need for approval and acceptance)

The second main scale is called competence over time. It measures the extent to which a person lives in the present rather than focusing on the past or the future.

· 10 additional subscales are designed to measure important elements of self-actualization: self-actualization values, existentiality, emotional reactivity, spontaneity, self-interest, self-acceptance, acceptance of aggression, the ability to close relationships.

· POI also has a built-in lie detection scale.

The only major limitation to using the 150-point POI for research purposes is its length. Jones and Crandall (Jones and Crandall, 1986) developed a short self-actualization index. Scale consisting of 15 points:

1. I am not ashamed of any of my emotions.

2. I feel like doing what others want me to do (N)

3. I believe that people are essentially good and can be trusted.

4. I can be angry with those I love.

5. It is always necessary that others approve of what I do (N)

6. I don't accept my weaknesses (N)

7. I may like people I may not approve of.

8. I'm afraid of failure (N)

9. I try not to analyze or simplify complex areas (N)

10. Better to be yourself than popular

11. There is nothing in my life that I would especially devote myself to (N)

12. I can express my feelings, even if it leads to undesirable consequences.

13. I am not obliged to help others (N)

14. I'm tired of inadequacy (N)

15. They love me because I love.

Respondents respond to each statement using a 4-digit scale: 1- disagree, 2- somewhat disagree, 3- somewhat agree, 4- agree. An (N) following a statement indicates that the score for that item will be inverted when calculating totals (1=4.2=3.3=2.4=1). The higher general meaning, the more self-actualized the respondent is considered.

In a study of several hundred college students, Jones and Crandall found that self-actualization index scores were positively correlated with all of the much longer POI scores (r = +0.67) and with measures of self-esteem and “rational behavior and beliefs.” The scale has a certain reliability and is not susceptible to the choice of “Social Desirability” responses. It was also shown that college students who participated in self-confidence training significantly increased the degree of self-actualization, as measured by the scale.

Characteristics of self-actualizing people:

1. More effective perception of reality;

2. Acceptance of oneself, others and nature (accept oneself as they are);

3. Immediacy, simplicity and naturalness;

4. Focus on the problem;

5. Independence: need for privacy;

6. Autonomy: independence from culture and environment;

7. Freshness of perception;

8. Summit, or mystical, experiences (moments of great excitement or high tension, as well as moments of relaxation, peace, bliss and tranquility);

9. Public interest;

10. Deep interpersonal relationships;

11. Democratic character (lack of prejudice);

12. Separation of means and ends;

13. Philosophical sense of humor (friendly humor);

14. Creativity (ability to be creative);

15. Resistance to cultivation (they are in harmony with their culture, while maintaining a certain internal independence from it).

Self-actualization - a process that includes the healthy development of people's abilities so that they can become what they can become.

Self-actualizing people - people who have satisfied their deficit needs and have developed their potential to the point that they can be considered highly healthy people.

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In 1954, in Motivation and Personality, Abraham Maslow suggested that all human needs are innate and organized in a hierarchical system. This interesting theory, which shows that having satisfied one level of needs, a person is motivated to realize himself at the next. Despite the fact that the Maslow pyramid is often criticized as a broken and absurd model, we will try to prove in this article that for some people it can be of great importance.

About Maslow's pyramid

The pyramid of needs is the name of the hierarchical model of human needs, which is a simplified presentation of the ideas of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow. It reflects one of the most famous theories of motivation - the theory of the hierarchy of needs. Let's briefly go over the seven levels of the pyramid.

Physiological needs (lowest level): thirst, hunger, sexual needs, sleep.
Need for security: stability, comfort, security, confidence.
Social needs: communication, love, support, joint activities.
Need for respect and recognition: recognition, self-respect, success, approval.
Cognitive (creative) needs: creativity, creation, knowledge, discovery.
Aesthetic needs: order, harmony, beauty.
Need for self-actualization (highest level): personal growth, realization of one's goals and abilities, .

Criticism of the pyramid

Based on Maslow's theory, an ideally happy society is a society of well-fed people who have no reason for fear and anxiety. He argued that in this case, a person has higher needs. Is it really?

Psychologist Ed Diener researched living conditions, finance, security, nutrition, social support levels and emotions of people from 155 countries over five years. The scientist identified both some patterns and deviations. There are people who have moved up as if Maslow's pyramid was an internal constitution for them. However, he discovered what we already knew deep down - a person can demonstrate a high level of self-actualization and excellent social relationships even when his basic physiological needs, as well as the need for security, are not fully met.

Yes, and our life observations show that the majority of people, having satisfied the first two levels, simply begin to mark time. Such people consider themselves happy, but such happiness is small-town and sham. A society in which the majority of people are on the second step and do not strive higher can be called unconscious.

Now let's talk about Maslow's pyramid in more detail and draw some important conclusions from this theory.

Self-actualization in Maslow's pyramid

Self-actualization is a person's desire for the most complete identification and development of their personal capabilities. In pedagogy and psychology of the humanistic direction, it is argued that only with the help of self-actualization can a person realize himself, achieve success and find the meaning of his existence. Sounds pretty similar to Maslow's theory already, doesn't it?

Analyze your life according to Maslow's pyramid. Perhaps you have big problems with self-confidence, conflicts in the family, or you have not achieved success by the point in time you have planned. As a result, you look at the pyramid and it already reminds you more of a giant piece of cheese with holes inside. At this moment, you clearly realize that you did not fully realize yourself in life, did not achieve self-actualization, and did not think enough about your life using this method.

Some people reach the top of the pyramid very quickly. But as a rule, these are yogis, monks or hermits. Perhaps they achieved self-knowledge in the caves, but sacrificed everything else. For example, social needs. It's hard to tell if these people are happy. Therefore, more or less correct will be a gradual ascent to the top of the pyramid.

One of the main problems modern society in the fact that many people cannot find a use for themselves, do not reveal their talents and abilities. And if so, there can be no talk of any realization in life. They are forced to choose a job that does not require any special abilities at all and at the same time takes up almost all of their time. The time they need is just to develop their abilities. These people are in a vicious circle. The desire to develop and motivate oneself for realization in life disappears. They replace the highest values with ordinary comfort. And even if they have time after work, they fill it with completely unnecessary things. Their contribution to society is minimal and subconsciously they understand this. This leads to learned helplessness and victim syndrome. Sadly, there is no effective medicine that will help pull such a person out of the vicious circle. That is, of course there are ways (meditation,), but try to force a person to apply them and you will come across a complete misunderstanding.

If you are reading this article, then at least you want a little more out of life than satisfying physical needs. Let's think about success, shall we? What immediately came to your mind? Many people misunderstand the meaning of this word, hence the roots of many problems. Success is not about money or comfort. Even if you think so, you cannot be truly happy. Traveling to other countries, eating the most varied foods and wearing the best clothes is not a success. These are nice things that for many become an end in themselves.

So what is success? This is personal growth. Because if you imagine a situation in which everything was taken away from a person - food, clothes, money, a house - what will be left in the end? The personality remains. Of course, it can be taken away with the help of various psychological tricks and devices. For example, you may have read the book "1984" by George Orwell and understand perfectly well what is at stake. But you also probably know the name of Viktor Frankl. And this is not a literary character, but a real person. This is a man who cannot be broken. Read about it if possible. This is what personal growth is.

Why do many people not want to engage in personal growth? Because it's boring and difficult. In addition, it implies the rejection of instant satisfaction of their needs. It requires will and thought and a long period of time. The ability to give up short-term pleasures for the sake of long-term goals is what makes the difference between a mediocre and a successful person. A successful person is willing to temporarily sacrifice comfort and focus on higher goals. This even shows up in finance: the ability to avoid spending everything you earn in order to save money for something more important. No, not buying a car instead of a phone, but rather starting a business that you believe in and that can benefit society, no matter how grandiloquent it may sound. There are such people and their units. We consider them blessed and at the same time admire them. Sometimes the thought that we are also capable of this can slip through, but in the next second we drive it away.

Success is the absence of selfishness. Again, wanting to support yourself and your family is a wonderful pursuit, but if you don't want more, you can't achieve true success. We are social individuals and no matter how you treat people, they surround and influence us. It's good if you have friends, family and loved ones around you, you have a roof over your head and a decent income. However, you live in a society and every day you are confronted with the most different people. Perhaps not the most pleasant and smart. In fact, a successful person will see in this a piece of his own guilt. Being forms consciousness. And if you don't try to change society, it will certainly change you.

Your goal as a reasonable person is to fill these holes in a piece of cheese called Maslow's pyramid, and it doesn't matter in what order. This is a great strategy for self-actualization. To do this, answer two questions, just give yourself enough time to think.

What level of the pyramid are you stuck on? Perhaps your needs are partially met on many levels, note this for yourself.
What are you missing? For example, you lack self-respect. There are two options here. First: you achieve your goals, but still do not respect yourself enough - then this is a problem or partly far-fetched. Second: you don't achieve your goals and give up everything halfway through. In this case, you need to develop discipline and.

We wish you good luck in self-actualization!

Neporozhnaya V.V.

A self-actualizing personality strives for development, has a high motivation for development. She accepts her feelings, impulses, emotions and desires as they are.

People who are dominated by the motivation for personal development do not tend to "desire for peace." For such people, the satisfaction of a need strengthens, rather than weakens, motivation, pushing them to new achievements. They are highly motivated to achieve. They rise above themselves and instead of wanting less and less, they want more and more - knowledge, for example. A person, instead of finding peace, becomes more active. Satisfying the thirst for development kindles, not weakens it. Development, in itself, becomes a delightful and satisfying process.

In a self-actualized person, purposeful activity takes less than 10% of his time. An activity may be satisfying in itself, or it may be of value only because it achieves the desired satisfaction. In the latter case, it loses its value and is not enjoyable if it becomes ineffective or unsuccessful. In most cases, it does not give pleasure at all - it delivers only the achievement of the goal.

Self-actualizing people fulfill themselves, enjoying life itself in general and almost all its aspects, while the rest of the people, for the most part, enjoy only separate moments of triumph, achievement of a goal, or the highest peaks of experience.

Self-actualizing personalities, unlike others, are characterized by a dynamic desire for development, as well as constant tension "for the sake of a distant and often unattainable goal." Here, the exciting and exciting "development motive" is put in opposition to the "deficit liquidation motive", which pushes to relieve tension and achieve peace and balance.

A. Maslow undertook an extensive study of self-actualizing people in order to identify a characteristic complex of their psychological characteristics. As a result, 15 main features inherent in self-actualizing people were identified:

1. More adequate perception of reality, free from the influence of actual needs, stereotypes and prejudices, interest in the unknown. In self-actualization, a person who has achieved the satisfaction of basic needs is much less dependent and constrained, more autonomous and determines the direction of his movement himself.

2. Acceptance of yourself and others as they are, the absence of artificial, protective forms of behavior and the rejection of such behavior by others.

3. Spontaneity of manifestations, simplicity and naturalness. Such people observe established rituals, traditions and ceremonies, but treat them with due humor. This is not automatic, but conscious conformism only at the level of external behavior.

4.Business orientation. Such people are usually busy not with themselves, but with their life task or mission. They usually correlate their activity with universal values and tend to view it from the perspective of eternity, rather than the current moment. Therefore, they are all philosophers to some extent.

5. They are often prone to loneliness and are characterized by a position of detachment in relation to many events of their own lives. This helps them to endure troubles relatively calmly and be less susceptible to outside influences. Self-fulfilling people practically do not need other people, but they can become a hindrance. They have a predilection for thinking alone.

6. Autonomy and independence from the environment; stability under the influence of frustrating factors. Such people are much more independent and self-sufficient. They are primarily subject to internal rather than social or environmental determinants. These determinants are the laws of their own inner nature, their potentialities and abilities, their creative impulses, their need to know themselves and become more whole people, to better understand who they really are, what they really want, what is their vocation or what their destiny should be. Autonomy or relative independence from the environment also means resilience in the face of adverse external circumstances, such as bad luck, blows of fate, tragedies, stress and deprivation.

7. Great freshness of perception; each time finding something new in what is already known. Richness of emotional reactions.

8. Ultimate experiences, characterized by a feeling of the disappearance of one's own "I". More frequent breakthroughs to the peak of the experience. These experiences help change best opinion of a person about himself, make changes in his attitude towards other people and his communication with these people. They release creativity, spontaneity, expression, individuality. They are present in development motivation, as a person remembers the peak experience as a very significant and desirable event and longs for its repetition.

9. Feeling of community with humanity as a whole.

10. Friendship with other self-actualizing people: a narrow circle of people with very deep relationships. Absence of manifestations of hostility in interpersonal relationships. Since they are less dependent on other people, they are less afraid of them, they lie to them less, they are less hostile towards them, they need their praise and affection less. They are less concerned with honor, prestige and rewards.

11. Democracy in relationships. Willingness to learn from others. Respect for other people.

12.Sustainable internal moral standards. Self-actualizing people behave morally, they have a keen sense of good and evil; they are oriented towards ends, and means always subordinate to these ends. They have a heightened sense of justice, they subtly feel untruth and falsehood.

13. "Philosophical" sense of humor. They treat life in general and themselves with humor, but they never find it funny to see someone's inferiority or adversity.

14. Creativity (creativity, creativity), independent of what a person does, and manifested in all actions of a self-actualizing personality. Creativity involves an open, unrestrained and sincere expression and display of one's feelings and ideas. A self-actualized person is never afraid to get into an awkward position when he "creates" his ideas, actions, behavior, and will not be shy or look back at public disapproval when creating specific works of art, such as music, poetry, paintings, literary creativity, etc. . People of art may well be self-actualized personalities.

15. More pronounced autonomy and opposition to joining any culture. They do not unconditionally accept the culture to which they belong. They are not conformist, but they are not prone to mindless rebellion either. They are quite critical of their culture, choosing the good from it and rejecting the bad. They do not identify with the entire culture, feeling more like representatives of humanity as a whole than representatives of their country. Therefore, they often find themselves isolated in a cultural environment that they do not want to accept.

According to V. Frankl, a self-actualized personality has two main abilities:

The ability to self-transcend and

The ability to self-detachment.

The first ability is expressed in the direction of a person to something that exists outside of him, in the constant exit of a person beyond himself.

The second is in his ability to rise above himself and above the situation, to look at himself from the outside; according to M. M. Bakhtin - objectification.

Man acts in the world, first of all, as a subject. "With my actions, I constantly explode, change the situation in which I am, and at the same time I constantly go beyond myself." In the works of the 1920s, S. L. Rubinshtein connected the idea of the subject with self-determination, self-activity. In our time, the philosophical description of the category of the subject in the understanding of S.L. Rubinshtein is given as follows: "The subject in his cognition, and in his action, and in his relation to another subject destroys (each time in a specific way) the appearance, the outside of the object and another subject , overcomes his isolation, discovers (by cognition), transforms (by action), strengthens the essence of another person with his attitude towards him "(K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya. 1989, 10).

Self-actualization of the teacher's personality in pedagogical activity is determined by the psychological content of this activity. According to V.A. Slastenin and E.V. Andrienko, it can be carried out as a spontaneous process: the teacher realizes his abilities without thinking about it and not realizing this process itself. However, it is also a manageable process. Manageability is associated with the subject's awareness of his own individual properties and ways of their professional actualization. The need to move from spontaneity to manageability is generated by the contradiction that exists between the subjective and objective expediency of the teacher's actions. These contradictions are resolved through the rationalization of the mechanisms of regulation inherent in the structure of the individual characteristics of the individual in relation to specific types of pedagogical activity.

The authors consider self-actualization as a special specific activity of a teacher, aimed at realizing their own professionally significant personal characteristics, their adequate and active manifestation in pedagogical activity, taking into account the requirements that this activity imposes on a specialist. Self-actualization is studied in two aspects: from the side of its components - the goal (professional self-development), motives (optimal ways of activity for a given individual), the process of achieving the goal (training), the result (learning and acquiring individual experience of professional self-development), and from the side of results - personality states. Consideration of the teacher's self-actualization through the state of personality seems to us very fruitful.

In addition, it is very significant in the teacher's activity to determine the influence of self-actualization on the formation of an individual style of activity.

Considering the individual style of pedagogical activity of a teacher, one can find out how, on the basis of pedagogical interactions, in the movement from stage to stage, carried out under the influence of internally conscious contradictions and characterized precisely by qualitative leaps in skills and abilities, its structural and dynamic components are changing.

Now we need to more deeply and comprehensively consider the problem of the relationship between the individual and society, the individual and the universal in education: the teacher's choice of teaching and upbringing technologies should equally take into account the cultural requirements of society and the individual psychological standards of the individual.

It should be noted that there is a social model in society - the image of the teacher as a subject. If in technology there is a completely justified cult of the standard, in the science of nature there are also many general laws, then in the world of people a cult of an individual approach is needed: thinking patterns that lead to success in the field of natural sciences and technology are not always appropriate when applied to a person , which figuratively fights for the preservation of individual and group qualitative certainty, for the conditions of existence and development. All of the above allows us to state that there is no single strategy for teachers in developing their individual style of pedagogical activity: the strategies for self-regulating development of the style of activity of each teacher are unique.

The teacher's individual abilities and pretensions can either provoke him to overtake, be ahead of the norms accepted in the profession, or not to reckon with them and actively fight for his individual standards and criteria for the effectiveness of pedagogical activity.

This allows us to formulate the following statement: the task of external influence in this situation is to provide conditions for activating the mechanisms of self-regulating development of the teacher's individual style of pedagogical activity by concretizing his capabilities generated by changes in the external social environment. The intensity of learning and mastering new values is determined primarily by the teacher's professionally oriented attitudes, his motivation, and the degree of satisfaction. pedagogical activity. Recognition and acceptance of the changed psychological and pedagogical priorities stimulates the teacher's creative search, promotes the approval of promising approaches, technologies, systems of relations in the pedagogical process.