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

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