Matureness of human from the perspective of the humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow In the question of human maturity from the perspective of humanistic psychology of Abraham Maslow, the priority topic is the achievement of human wisdom during his life journey. In both spiritual and worldly teachings, there are clear and strong all-human and timeless references to the power of wisdom in people's lives. Sogyal Rinpoche characterizes today's time and man in it as follows (1996, p.26): "Modern industrial society is a fanatical religion. We subvert, poison, destroy all the life systems of our planet. I sign promissory notes that our children will not be able to pay... We act as if we were the last generation on this planet. Without a radical change in heart, mind and future outlook, the Earth will end up like Venus, burnt and dead."

During our scientific work on the innovative concept of Preventive social work (Machalová, 2013) and Educational social work (Machalová, 2014), we came to the opinion that the alpha and omega of social work is the level of self-knowledge of the client as well as the level of self-knowledge of the social worker. The effectiveness of social assistance depends on the level of maturity of the client's personality and the maturity and professionalism of the social worker. The passivity of the client on the one hand and the impersonality of the social worker on the other will only result in immediate and urgent social assistance. It is help Here and Now, only in the given situation and at the given moment. But what happens next with the client? And what job satisfaction does a social worker have? The social problem is not actually solved, it is only disguised and persists. Because the client only takes and the social worker provides, or gives The effectiveness of social assistance is thus immediate and only short-term and ineffective from the point of view of solving a social problem

In this post, we will approach the theory of human personality of the prominent representative and founder of humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow. Our reason is clear - it was Abraham Maslow who directed his attention to the development of self-knowledge and achieving psychological maturity of people. Humanistic personality theory of A. Maslow is timeless and still relevant. It applies to any professional work with people. It is even more relevant to work with social clients. A. Maslow's theory has practical applications for professionals (psychologists, psychotherapists, educators, andragogues, social workers, counselors, mediators and others). It guides professionals in understanding the services and methods of professional activity with clients as tools to support the spiritual, psychological and social development of clients.

2 Holistic analytical methodology

In this post, we present our own author's formulations and a brief interpretation of Abraham Maslow's personality theory. This scientist claimed that a psychologically and socially normal personality is characterized by integration, consistency and connectedness (ie, unification, articulation, connection). Being organized is a natural and normal human condition. On the contrary, the disorganization of the organism and psyche of a person is a pathological condition of a person.

We present our own treatment of A. Maslow's ideas (Machalová, 2010):

  1. The human organism and personality can theoretically be analyzed by separating its parts, but no part can be understood in isolation. A person is a whole and that is how he functions and manifests himself.
  2. A person's personality has an important need for self-realization (or self-actualization). People aim to realize their own individual potential of emotions, abilities, values ​​and capabilities according to their own characteristics and according to the possibilities of the environment in which they live.
  3. The individual potential of a person will be realized under the condition that a person lives in a stimulating environment. Potential is the decisive basis for the development of a human person and the development of a person's personality.

Holistic analytical methodology of personality research means the following: A thorough study of the characteristics of one person is of greater importance (than the averaged results of the study of a group of persons), because it provides knowledge about the integrity and authenticity of the personality. In contrast to quantitative and extensive research, the result of which is the knowledge of isolated investigated phenomena of several persons. Within the framework of A. Maslow's holistic analytical methodology, we recognize and examine a person as a system. Subsystems of the whole personality and their interconnection are studied. A mature human being realizes his individual potential to the highest possible extent within his living conditions.

Abraham Maslow focused on learning and researching personalities who achieved a high level of self-actualization. He applied:

  • method of individual interview and study of biographical statements of clients;
  • the method of repeated interviews, by which he verified and obtained additional information from the clients' autobiography - he mainly verified such information that was related to the clients' self-realization in various areas of their lives.

Abraham Maslow mostly studied socially and professionally important personalities. He justified this by the fact that people's excellent results in certain areas are sufficient proof of their self-realization, and these people can be considered as spiritually, psychologically and socially mature personalities. He considered it important to study the positive, healthy, creative aspects of a person's personality. He argued that human psychological needs, individual potential and tendencies in behavior and action are good or neutral, but not a priori bad. The healthy development of a person's personality means the actualization of good and neutral tendencies. He also claimed that the denial or frustration of what is good in a person results in psychopathology in people's experience, behavior, and actions. Basic deficit (deficiency) human needs according to Abraham Maslow are those needs that are related to an obvious lack. These are the following needs: physiological needs, the need for safety, the need for belonging, the need for love, the need for appreciation.

3 Maslow's Pyramid of Needs In this section we present our own author's text (Machalová, 2010)

Deficit needs:

  1. Existential needs (physiological needs) must be satisfied for the sake of human survival - hunger, thirst, sleep, clothing, housing. These are basic needs, the satisfaction of which is usually not associated with greater difficulties in economically developed countries. However, the opposite is true in economically dysfunctional economies.
  2. Security needs do not only concern physical security, but also economic and social security. They depend on the conditions of material and social security of people and on their social inclusion.
  3. The needs of belonging and love are satisfied through social and psychological relationships and interpersonal communication face to face with another person. The need for belonging and love is satisfied in a narrow social circle of people, i.e. in the family, school class, work team, etc. Disruption of close social relationships and communication results in psychological frustration and social isolation.
  4. Appreciation Needs

they consist in expectations of respect, good evaluation, respect, in demanding confirmation of the value of one's own person from other people.- Self-realization needs (or self-actualization) , are connected with the spiritual, psychological and social development of a person and his spiritual, psychological and social maturity. That is, with the realization of a person's individual potential.

Self-realization consists in satisfying metaneeds, which are an expression of high personality qualities. Through metaneeds, a person reaches life wisdom. The need for transcendence is an expression of a person's spiritual endowment and his inclination and direction towards the spiritual dimension of life.

If deficit needs are more or less satisfied, a person is motivated to satisfy self-realization needs, which form the basis of spiritual, psychological and social maturity. Metaneeds are related to the individual's readiness to accept life tasks and not cling to physiological (material) needs. It means achieving and exceeding life goals. The result is personal advancement and becoming a more psychologically mature person.

Abraham Maslow depicted human needs on a pyramid model. Needs are hierarchically arranged in such a way that basic physiological needs are placed at the base of the pyramid and self-actualization needs are placed at the top of the pyramid.

4 Self-realization of a person according to Abraham Maslow

Self-realization (self-actualization) of a person consists in 17 metaneeds, or values of human being, which Abraham Maslow named as follows: Need (Value of being) → Characteristics of need

  1. True
  • honesty, reality, simplicity, pure and unadulterated completeness.- Goodness - correctness, desirability, justice, benevolence.
  • Beauty
  • form of viability, simplicity, wholeness, perfection, uniqueness.- Wholeness
  • unity, integration, tendency to unification, interconnectedness, simplicity, organization, structure, order.- Dichotomy (bifurcation) / unconditionality
  • acceptance, integration, synergy.- Viability
  • process, spontaneity, self-regulation, full functioning, change while maintaining, expression of one's essence.- Uniqueness
  • individuality, uniqueness, equality, quality of being unrepeatable with anything in the world.- Perfection
  • "just the right thing", completeness, nothing superfluous, nothing missing.- Necessity
  • necessary requirement; the demand that something be exactly as it is.- Completeness
  • completion, fulfillment.- Justice
  • decency, necessity.- Order
  • regularity, correctness, perfection of arrangement.- Simplicity
  • honesty, a state where nothing is extra or extra.- Wealth
  • differentiation, complexity; a state in which nothing is missing or hidden and everything is equally important.- Effortlessness/effortlessness
  • lightness, grace, perfection and wonderful functioning.- Playfulness
  • joy, fun, gaiety, exuberance, humor, looseness.- Self-sufficiency
  • autonomy, independence, self-determination, living according to one's own laws, the need to be oneself. Metaneeds are not hierarchical, their meaning and importance are equal. They can replace each other. It is good to realize that they are innate to people just as their basic needs are innate. If metaneeds are not satisfied, a person can become a victim of his own selfishness, hatred, apathy, boredom, loss of courage, alienation from himself and others, despair, loss of sense of goodness, justice, beauty, humor.

5 Why do people avoid metaneeds?

The need for self-realization (self-actualization) is satisfied on average only 10%, because personal growth, in the words of Abraham Maslow, can bring fear, horror, a feeling of weakness and inadequacy ... And so here we find another kind of resistance - the denial of our best sides ... our creativity. In short, it is a struggle with our own greatness, the fear of being too confident. People must learn to integrate their humility and their pride. This integration is necessary for creative work (A. Maslow, 1970). It should be added that the integration of humility and pride is also necessary for a creative and meaningful life in general.

6 Limits of the Hierarchical Needs Model

Exceptions must be taken into account in the hierarchical model. Some people prefer the need for appreciation more than the need for love and affection. For others, the need for creativity is the most important of all needs. Abraham Maslow created a portal of his respondents - self-realizing living authorities and no longer living historical figures. However, he did not pay more attention to quantitative research data, even though personalities are generally considered important in research. However, he elaborated catalogs of personality characteristics of important self-realizing personalities in detail.

7 Peak Experiences - Mystical Experiences

Abraham Maslow, while studying self-actualizing personalities, found that these people often described their experiences, which, for example, William James (psychology classic, 1936) described it as mystical experiences. Abraham Maslow called them "peak experiences." He stated that the investigated persons who talked about their own peak - mystical experience usually claimed that after this experience they felt like:

  • more integrated persons united with the world;
  • that they manage their lives better;
  • that they are more spontaneous and relaxed;
  • that they feel they are an integral part of the environment and social environment in which they live; that they perceive the passage of time differently;
  • that they are more receptive and attentive;
  • that they feel themselves.

Abraham Maslow came to the conclusion that after the peak - mystical experience, the following changes were manifested in the studied self-realized persons:

  • Elimination of neurotic manifestations in experience and behavior.
  • Tendency to perceive one's person in a more favorable light and in a more psychologically mature and healthy way.
  • Changing opinions about other people and also changing the relationship with other people.
  • Change of worldview.
  • Unleashing one's own creativity, more spontaneous behavior and greater courage for self-expression.
  • The need to remember a mystical experience and the need for more such experiences.
  • Tendency to perceive, understand and experience your life more valuable than before.

8 Final comment

For the inspiration and encouragement of all professionals who work with people and who are in contact with "hopeless" clients, we will only remind you of the characteristics of self-realized people who, even though they have survived many crises in life, thanks to the crises, they became more aware of the value and uniqueness of their own personality. Abraham Maslow, based on a long-term and passionate search for the potential in each person, stated that self-actualizing people:

  • They were realists in life.
  • They accepted themselves and others, their surroundings and the world as it is.
  • They were spontaneous.
  • They focused more on solving the problem than on themselves.
  • They created an atmosphere of impartiality around them and liked their privacy.
  • They were independent and independent.
  • They evaluated people and things impartially and in a new way, not according to common stereotypes.
  • They had spiritual experiences, although not always or necessarily religious experiences.
  • They identified with the human race. They showed social interest, feeling for others, for the community.
  • They tended to have deep intimate relationships with a few close people, they were less attracted to superficial contacts with a wide range of people.
  • They had democratic values ​​and attitudes.

Author's note at the end of the post: We would like to encourage readers to keep quiet and think about life. Becoming a wise person requires the courage to live as you can, as well as as you can't.

Author: prof. PhDr. Mária Machalová, CSc. Bibliography

MACHALOVÁ, M. 2010. Biodromal psychology for the helping professions. Brno: Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies IMS, 2010. 222 p. ISBN 978-80-87182-10-9. MACHALOVÁ, M. 2013. Preventive social work - Educational paradigm in social work. Prešov: University of Prešov, 2013. 272 ​​p. ISBN 978-80-555-0932-7. MACHALOVÁ, M. 2014. Educational social work. Prešov: University of Prešov, 2014. 326 p. ISBN 978-80-555-1118-4. MASLOW, A.H. 1970. Motivation and personality. New York: Harper, 1970. RINPOČHE, S. 1996. The Tibetan Book of Life and Death. Prague: Pragma, 1996. 405 p. ISBN 80-7205-006-0.