Motivation and Personality

— the Humanistic Perspectives

A need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it toward a goal

Instincts Drives and incentives Drive-reduction theory homeostasis, incentive

Optimum arousal exploration—driven by curiosity

Hierarchy of Needs or Motives

Eating disorders

Anorexia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa

Binge-eating disorder

Body shapes and perception

Personality Theory: The Humanistic Perspective

Instead of driven by drives or instincts, we human being are pulled by a hierarchy of instinctoid needs or motives

Abraham Maslow

1908-1970

Backgrounds The “third force” Western culture, philosophy and

modern physics Focus on mental capabilities

that set human apart Focus on meaning instead of

objectivity Pay more attention on our value,

dignity, and the whole person—self actualization

The higher the motives, the later it appears in the progress of evolution

It is also true in the individual’s development (phylogeny-ontogeny)

Higher order needs have nothing to do with survival

Prerequisites are needed to satisfy the high order motives, but it can achieve happiness, peace, and colorful spiritual life

Deficiency orientation — the preoccupation with perceived needs for material things

Deficiency-oriented people come to see life as a meaningless exercise in disappointment and boredom, and they may begin to behave in problematic ways

Growth orientation — growth-oriented people do not focus on what is missing, but draw satisfaction from what they have, what they are, and what they can do……people feel joy, even ecstasy, in the mere fact of being alive, being human, and knowing that they are utilizing their fullest potential

Self-actualizing persons

They are people with exceptional healthy personalities, marked by continued personal growth

Characteristics of self-actualizing people

Clear, efficient perception of reality and comfortable relations with it

Comfortable acceptance of self, others, and the nature

Spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness

Problem or task centering (having something outside themselves they “must” do as a mission)

Detachment and need for privacy

Autonomy, independence of culture and environment

Continued freshness of appreciation

Feelings of kinship and identification with the human race (or fellowship with humanity)

Strong friendships, but limited in number

Mystical and peak experiences

Democratic character structure Ethical discrimination between

good and evil Philosophical, unhostile sense

of humor Balance between polarities in

personality Creativity

自我实现的定义 使命（神诏、命运）的达成 对个人自身固有本性的更充分的认识和承认

一种永无止境地趋向个人内心的统一、整合与和谐