Individual Assignment: Biological and Humanistic Approaches to Personality

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper analyzing the biological and humanistic

approaches to personality. Your paper should cover the following areas:

 Use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to discuss the extent to which growth needs
influence personality formation.
 Describe biological factors that influence the formation of personality.
 Examine the relationship of biological factors to Maslow’s theory of
personality.
 Explain the basic aspects of humanistic theory that are incompatible with
biological explanations of personality.

Include an introduction and conclusion in your paper.

Format your paper according to APA standards.

Use at least two (2) appropriate academic resources from the University library
in preparing this assignment.

 Use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to discuss the extent to which growth needs
influence personality formation.

Hierarchy of Needs
The Five Levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
By Kendra Cherry, About.com Guide

See More About:

• abraham maslow
• hierarchy of needs
• humanistic psychology
• self actualization

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

J. Finkelstein

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Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A
Theory of Human Motivation"1 and his subsequent book, Motivation and Personality.2 This hierarchy
suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is most often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid
are made up of the most basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at the top of the
pyramid. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need for
food, water, sleep and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can move on to
the next level of needs, which are for safety and security.

As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social. Soon, the
need for love, friendship and intimacy become important. Further up the pyramid, the need for
personal esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority. Like Carl Rogers, Maslow emphasized
the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person to
achieve individual potential.

Types of Needs

Maslow believed that these needs are similar to instincts and play a major role in motivating behavior.
Physiological, security, social, and esteem needs are deficiency needs (also known as D-needs),
meaning that these needs arise due to deprivation. Satisfying these lower-level needs is important in
order to avoid unpleasant feelings or consequences.

Maslow termed the highest-level of the pyramid as growth needs (also known as being needs or B-
needs). Growth needs do not stem from a lack of something, but rather from a desire to grow as a
person.

Five Levels of the Hierarchy of Needs

There are five different levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:

1. Physiological Needs
These include the most basic needs that are vital to survival, such as the need for water, air, food
and sleep. Maslow believed that these needs are the most basic and instinctive needs in the
hierarchy because all needs become secondary until these physiological needs are met.

2. Security Needs
These include needs for safety and security. Security needs are important for survival, but they
are not as demanding as the physiological needs. Examples of security needs include a desire for
steady employment, health insurance, safe neighborhoods and shelter from the environment.

3. Social Needs
These include needs for belonging, love and affection. Maslow considered these needs to be less
basic than physiological and security needs. Relationships such as friendships, romantic
 attachments and families help fulfill this need for companionship and acceptance, as does
involvement in social, community or religious groups.

4. Esteem Needs
After the first three needs have been satisfied, esteem needs becomes increasingly important.
These include the need for things that reflect on self-esteem, personal worth, social recognition
and accomplishment.

5. Self-actualizing Needs
This is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware,
concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others and interested
fulfilling their potential.

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Hierarchy of Needs
Self-Actualization and the Hierarchy of Needs
By Kendra Cherry, About.com Guide

See More About:

• self actualization
• hierarchy of needs
• humanistic psychology
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(Continued from Page 1)

What Is Self-Actualization?
What exactly is self-actualization? Located at the peak of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy, he described
this high-level need in the following way:

"What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization…It refers to the desire for
self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This
tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become
everything that one is capable of becoming."1

While Maslow’s theory is generally portrayed as a fairly rigid hierarchy, Maslow noted that the order in
which these needs are fulfilled does not always follow this standard progression.1 For example, he
notes that for some individuals, the need for self-esteem is more important than the need for love.
For others, the need for creative fulfillment may supersede even the most basic needs.

Characteristics of Self-Actualized People

In addition to describing what is meant by self-actualization in his theory, Maslow also identified some
of the key characteristics of self-actualized people:

• Acceptance and Realism: Self-actualized people have realistic perceptions of themselves,

others and the world around them.

• Problem-centering: Self-actualized individuals are concerned with solving problems outside

of themselves, including helping others and finding solutions to problems in the external
world. These people are often motivated by a sense of personal responsibility and ethics.

• Spontaneity: Self-actualized people are spontaneous in their internal thoughts and outward
behavior. While they can conform to rules and social expectations, they also tend to be open
and unconventional.

• Autonomy and Solitude: Another characteristics of self-actualized people is the need for
independence and privacy. While they enjoy the company of others, these individuals need
time to focus on developing their own individual potential.

• Continued Freshness of Appreciation: Self-actualized people tend to view the world with a
continual sense of appreciation, wonder and awe. Even simple experiences continue to be a
source of inspiration and pleasure.

• Peak Experiences: Individuals who are self-actualized often have what Maslow termed peak
experiences, or moments of intense joy, wonder, awe and ecstasy. After these experiences,
people feel inspired, strengthened, renewed or transformed.3

Learn more in this article about the characteristics of self-actualized people.

Criticisms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

While some research showed some support for Maslow’s theories, most research has not been able to
substantiate the idea of a needs hierarchy. Wahba and Bridwell reported that there was little evidence
for Maslow’s ranking of these needs and even less evidence that these needs are in a hierarchical
order.4

Other criticisms of Maslow’s theory note that his definition of self-actualization is difficult to test
scientifically. His research on self-actualization was also based on a very limited sample of individuals,
including people he knew as well as biographies of famous individuals that Maslow believed to be self-
actualized, such as Albert Einstein and Eleanor Roosevelt. Regardless of these criticisms, Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs represents part of an important shift in psychology. Rather than focusing on
abnormal behavior and development, Maslow’s humanistic psychology was focused on the
development of healthy individuals.

References:

1
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50, 370-96.

2
Maslow, A.H. (1943). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper.

3
Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row.

4
Wahba, M.A. & Bridwell, L.G. (1976). Maslow reconsidered: A review of research on the need
hierarchy theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance , 15, 212–240.

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm

 Describe biological factors that influence the formation of personality.

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
 Examine the relationship of biological factors to Maslow’s theory of
personality.
 Explain the basic aspects of humanistic theory that are incompatible with
biological explanations of personality.