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Toward a Psychology of Being (An Insight Book) by Abraham Harold Maslow
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October 8, 2025
WHAT IS THE ‘SELF-ACTUALIZED PERSON’? WHAT ARE THEIR VALUES?
Abraham Harold Maslow (1908-1970) was an American psychologist. He wrote in the Preface to the 2nd edition (1968) of this 1962 book, “Much has happened to the world of Psychology since this book was first published. Humanistic Psychology … is now quite solidly established as a viable third alternative to … behavioristic … psychology and to orthodox Freudianism… I must confess that I have come to think of this humanist trend in psychology as a revolution in the truest, oldest sense of the word… i.e., new ways of perceiving and thinking, new images of man and of society, new conceptions of ethics and of values, new directions in which to move… These psychologies give promise of developing into the life-philosophy, the religion-surrogate, the value-system, the life-program that these people have been missing. Without the transcendent and the transpersonal, we get sick, violent, and nihilistic, or else hopeless and apathetic.”
In the Preface to the First Edition, he explains, “I have had a great deal of trouble choosing a title for this book… A much better term is ‘self-actualization’ as I have used it. It stresses ‘full-humanness,’ the development of the biologically based nature of man… It conforms to biological destiny, rather than to historically-arbitrary, culturally-local value-models as the terms ‘health’ and ‘illness’ often do. It often has empirical content and operational meaning. However… this term has proven to have the unforeseen shortcomings of appearing (a) to imply selfishness rather than altruism, (b) to neglect the ties to other people and to society… (c) To neglect the ties to other people and to society, (d) to neglect the demand-character of non-human reality, and its intrinsic fascination and interest, (e) to neglect egolessness and self-transcendence, (f) to stress, by implication, activity rather than passivity or receptivity. This has turned out … in spite of my careful efforts to describe the empirical FACT that self-actualizing people are altruistic, dedicate, self-transcending, social, etc.” (Pg. vi)
He states in the Introduction, “There is now emerging… a new conception of human sickness and of human health… The basic assumptions of this point of view are: 1. We have, each of us, an essential biologically based inner nature… 2. Each person’s inner nature is in part unique to himself and in part species-wide. 3. It is possible to study this inner nature scientifically… 4. This inner nature… seems not to be intrinsically or primarily or necessarily evil… 5. Since this inner nature is good or neutral rather than bad, it is best to bring it out and to encourage it rather than to suppress it. If it is permitted to guide our life, we grow healthy, fruitful, and happy. 6. If this essential core of the person is denied or suppressed , he gets sick sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in subtle ways… 7. This inner nature… is weak and delicate … and easily overcome by habit, cultural pressure, and wrong attitudes toward it. 8. … it rarely disappears in the normal person---perhaps not even in the sick person… 9. Somehow, these conclusions must be all be articulated with the necessity of discipline, deprivation, frustration, pain, and tragedy…” (Pg. 3-4)
He adds, “Observe that if these assumptions are proven true, they promise a scientific ethics, a natural value system, a court of ultimate appeal for the determination of good and bad, and of right and wrong… This point of view in no way denies the usual Freudian picture. But… it is as if Freud supplied to us the sick half of psychology and we must now fill it out with the healthy half.” (Pg. 4-5)
He asserts, “every serious description of the ‘authentic person’ extant implies that such a person… [must] assume a new relation to his society and indeed to society in general. He not only transcends himself in various ways, he also transcends his culture.” (Pg. 11) Later, he adds, “If we define growth as the various processes which bring the person toward self-actualization, then this conforms better with the observed fact that it is going on ALL the time in the life history… Growth is seen then in … specific growth motivations over and above these basic needs, e.g., talents, capacities, creative tendencies, constitutional potentialities.” (Pg. 26)
He notes that for the deficiency-motivated man, “The needs for safety, belongingness, love relations and for respect can be satisfied only by other people… A person in this dependent position … MUST be, to an extent, ‘other-directed,’ and … sensitive to other people’s approval… Because of this, the deficiency-motivated man must be more afraid of the environment, since there is always the possibility that it may fail or disappoint him… In contrast, the self-actualizing individual… is far less dependent, far less beholden, far more autonomous and self-directed. Far from needing other people, growth-motivated people may actually be hampered by them.” (Pg. 34)
He suggests, “growth takes place when the next step forward is subjectively more delightful, more joyous, more intrinsically satisfying… the new experience validates ITSELF rather than by any outside criterion. It is self-justifying, self-validating.” (Pg. 45)
He observes, “Self-actualizing people, those who have come to a high level of maturation, health, and self-fulfillment, have so much to teach us that sometimes they seem almost like a different breed of human beings. But, because it is so new, the exploration of the highest reaches of human nature and of its ultimate possibilities and aspirations is a difficult and torturous task. It has involved for me the continuous destruction of cherished axioms…” (Pg. 71-72)
He asserts, “The peak-experience is felt as a self-validating, self-justifying moment which carries its own intrinsic value with it… it is an end-in-itself… It is felt to be so valuable an experience, so great a revelation, that even to attempt to justify it takes away from its dignity and worth.” (Pg. 79)
He explains, “I could describe self-actualization as a development of personality which frees the person from the deficiency problems of youth, and from the neurotic… problems of life, so that he is able to face, endure, and grapple with, the ‘real’ problems of life… it is not an absence of problems but a moving from transitional or unreal problems to real problems.” (Pg. 115)
He summarizes, “Among the objectively describable and measurable characteristics of the healthy human specimen are---1. Clearer, more efficient perception of reality. 2. More openness to experience. 3. Increased integration, wholeness, and unity of the person. 4. Increased spontaneity, expressiveness; full functioning, aliveness. 5. A real self; a firm identity; autonomy, uniqueness. 6. Increased objectivity, detachment, transcendence of self. 7. Recovery of creativeness. 8. Ability to fuse concreteness and abstractness. 9. Democratic character structure. 10.Ability to love, etc.” (Pg. 157)
He states, “Man demonstrates in his own nature a pressure toward fuller and fuller Being, more and more perfect actualization of his humanness, in exactly the same naturalistic, scientific sense that an acorn may be said to be ‘pressing toward’ being an oak tree… Man is ultimately NOT molded or shaped into humanness, or taught to be human. The role of the environment is ultimately to permit him or help him to actualize HIS OWN potentialities, not ITS potentialities” (Pg. 160)
He argues, “My next main set of hypotheses is that the so-called higher values, the eternal values, etc. ... are approximately what we find as the free choices in the good situation, of those people whom we call relatively healthy (mature, evolved, self-fulfilled, individuated, etc.), when they are feeling at their best and strongest… such people … tend spontaneously to choose the true rather than the false, good rather than evil, beauty rather than ugliness, integration rather than dissociation, joy rather than sorrow, aliveness rather than deadness, uniqueness rather than stereotypy, and so on for what I have… described as the B-values. A subsidiary hypothesis is that tendencies to choose these same B-values can be seen weakly and dimly in all or most human beings, i.e., that these may be species-wide values which are seen most clearly and unmistakably, most strongly in healthy people, and that in these healthy people those higher values are least alloyed either by defensive (anxiety-instigated) values, or what I … refer to … as healthy-regressive, or ‘coasting’ values.” (Pg. 168-169)
He cautions, “If this essential core (inner nature) of the person is frustrated, denied or suppressed, sickness results, sometimes in obvious forms, sometimes in subtle and devious forms, sometimes immediately, sometimes later. These psychological illnesses include many more than those listed by the American Psychiatric Association.” (Pg. 193)
This book will be “must reading’ for anyone studying Humanistic Psychology.
Abraham Harold Maslow (1908-1970) was an American psychologist. He wrote in the Preface to the 2nd edition (1968) of this 1962 book, “Much has happened to the world of Psychology since this book was first published. Humanistic Psychology … is now quite solidly established as a viable third alternative to … behavioristic … psychology and to orthodox Freudianism… I must confess that I have come to think of this humanist trend in psychology as a revolution in the truest, oldest sense of the word… i.e., new ways of perceiving and thinking, new images of man and of society, new conceptions of ethics and of values, new directions in which to move… These psychologies give promise of developing into the life-philosophy, the religion-surrogate, the value-system, the life-program that these people have been missing. Without the transcendent and the transpersonal, we get sick, violent, and nihilistic, or else hopeless and apathetic.”
In the Preface to the First Edition, he explains, “I have had a great deal of trouble choosing a title for this book… A much better term is ‘self-actualization’ as I have used it. It stresses ‘full-humanness,’ the development of the biologically based nature of man… It conforms to biological destiny, rather than to historically-arbitrary, culturally-local value-models as the terms ‘health’ and ‘illness’ often do. It often has empirical content and operational meaning. However… this term has proven to have the unforeseen shortcomings of appearing (a) to imply selfishness rather than altruism, (b) to neglect the ties to other people and to society… (c) To neglect the ties to other people and to society, (d) to neglect the demand-character of non-human reality, and its intrinsic fascination and interest, (e) to neglect egolessness and self-transcendence, (f) to stress, by implication, activity rather than passivity or receptivity. This has turned out … in spite of my careful efforts to describe the empirical FACT that self-actualizing people are altruistic, dedicate, self-transcending, social, etc.” (Pg. vi)
He states in the Introduction, “There is now emerging… a new conception of human sickness and of human health… The basic assumptions of this point of view are: 1. We have, each of us, an essential biologically based inner nature… 2. Each person’s inner nature is in part unique to himself and in part species-wide. 3. It is possible to study this inner nature scientifically… 4. This inner nature… seems not to be intrinsically or primarily or necessarily evil… 5. Since this inner nature is good or neutral rather than bad, it is best to bring it out and to encourage it rather than to suppress it. If it is permitted to guide our life, we grow healthy, fruitful, and happy. 6. If this essential core of the person is denied or suppressed , he gets sick sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in subtle ways… 7. This inner nature… is weak and delicate … and easily overcome by habit, cultural pressure, and wrong attitudes toward it. 8. … it rarely disappears in the normal person---perhaps not even in the sick person… 9. Somehow, these conclusions must be all be articulated with the necessity of discipline, deprivation, frustration, pain, and tragedy…” (Pg. 3-4)
He adds, “Observe that if these assumptions are proven true, they promise a scientific ethics, a natural value system, a court of ultimate appeal for the determination of good and bad, and of right and wrong… This point of view in no way denies the usual Freudian picture. But… it is as if Freud supplied to us the sick half of psychology and we must now fill it out with the healthy half.” (Pg. 4-5)
He asserts, “every serious description of the ‘authentic person’ extant implies that such a person… [must] assume a new relation to his society and indeed to society in general. He not only transcends himself in various ways, he also transcends his culture.” (Pg. 11) Later, he adds, “If we define growth as the various processes which bring the person toward self-actualization, then this conforms better with the observed fact that it is going on ALL the time in the life history… Growth is seen then in … specific growth motivations over and above these basic needs, e.g., talents, capacities, creative tendencies, constitutional potentialities.” (Pg. 26)
He notes that for the deficiency-motivated man, “The needs for safety, belongingness, love relations and for respect can be satisfied only by other people… A person in this dependent position … MUST be, to an extent, ‘other-directed,’ and … sensitive to other people’s approval… Because of this, the deficiency-motivated man must be more afraid of the environment, since there is always the possibility that it may fail or disappoint him… In contrast, the self-actualizing individual… is far less dependent, far less beholden, far more autonomous and self-directed. Far from needing other people, growth-motivated people may actually be hampered by them.” (Pg. 34)
He suggests, “growth takes place when the next step forward is subjectively more delightful, more joyous, more intrinsically satisfying… the new experience validates ITSELF rather than by any outside criterion. It is self-justifying, self-validating.” (Pg. 45)
He observes, “Self-actualizing people, those who have come to a high level of maturation, health, and self-fulfillment, have so much to teach us that sometimes they seem almost like a different breed of human beings. But, because it is so new, the exploration of the highest reaches of human nature and of its ultimate possibilities and aspirations is a difficult and torturous task. It has involved for me the continuous destruction of cherished axioms…” (Pg. 71-72)
He asserts, “The peak-experience is felt as a self-validating, self-justifying moment which carries its own intrinsic value with it… it is an end-in-itself… It is felt to be so valuable an experience, so great a revelation, that even to attempt to justify it takes away from its dignity and worth.” (Pg. 79)
He explains, “I could describe self-actualization as a development of personality which frees the person from the deficiency problems of youth, and from the neurotic… problems of life, so that he is able to face, endure, and grapple with, the ‘real’ problems of life… it is not an absence of problems but a moving from transitional or unreal problems to real problems.” (Pg. 115)
He summarizes, “Among the objectively describable and measurable characteristics of the healthy human specimen are---1. Clearer, more efficient perception of reality. 2. More openness to experience. 3. Increased integration, wholeness, and unity of the person. 4. Increased spontaneity, expressiveness; full functioning, aliveness. 5. A real self; a firm identity; autonomy, uniqueness. 6. Increased objectivity, detachment, transcendence of self. 7. Recovery of creativeness. 8. Ability to fuse concreteness and abstractness. 9. Democratic character structure. 10.Ability to love, etc.” (Pg. 157)
He states, “Man demonstrates in his own nature a pressure toward fuller and fuller Being, more and more perfect actualization of his humanness, in exactly the same naturalistic, scientific sense that an acorn may be said to be ‘pressing toward’ being an oak tree… Man is ultimately NOT molded or shaped into humanness, or taught to be human. The role of the environment is ultimately to permit him or help him to actualize HIS OWN potentialities, not ITS potentialities” (Pg. 160)
He argues, “My next main set of hypotheses is that the so-called higher values, the eternal values, etc. ... are approximately what we find as the free choices in the good situation, of those people whom we call relatively healthy (mature, evolved, self-fulfilled, individuated, etc.), when they are feeling at their best and strongest… such people … tend spontaneously to choose the true rather than the false, good rather than evil, beauty rather than ugliness, integration rather than dissociation, joy rather than sorrow, aliveness rather than deadness, uniqueness rather than stereotypy, and so on for what I have… described as the B-values. A subsidiary hypothesis is that tendencies to choose these same B-values can be seen weakly and dimly in all or most human beings, i.e., that these may be species-wide values which are seen most clearly and unmistakably, most strongly in healthy people, and that in these healthy people those higher values are least alloyed either by defensive (anxiety-instigated) values, or what I … refer to … as healthy-regressive, or ‘coasting’ values.” (Pg. 168-169)
He cautions, “If this essential core (inner nature) of the person is frustrated, denied or suppressed, sickness results, sometimes in obvious forms, sometimes in subtle and devious forms, sometimes immediately, sometimes later. These psychological illnesses include many more than those listed by the American Psychiatric Association.” (Pg. 193)
This book will be “must reading’ for anyone studying Humanistic Psychology.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review