Maslow. Humanistic personality theory A

There are two main directions in the humanistic theory of personality. The first, “clinical” (focused primarily on the clinic), is presented in the views of psychologist K. Rogers. The founder of the second “motivational” direction is the American researcher A. Maslow.

A. Maslow identified two types of needs that underlie personal development: “deficit” needs, which cease after their satisfaction, and “growth”, which, on the contrary, only intensify after their implementation. In total, according to Maslow, there are five levels of motivation:

1) physiological (need for food, sleep);

2) security needs (need for an apartment);

3) affiliation needs, reflecting the needs of one person for another person, for example, to create a family;

4) level of self-esteem (need for self-affirmation, competence, dignity);

5) the need for self-actualization (meta-needs for creativity, beauty, integrity, etc.)

The needs of the first two levels are considered scarce, the third level of needs is considered intermediate, and growth needs are at the fourth and fifth levels.

Maslow formulated the law of progressive development of motivation, according to which a person’s motivation develops progressively: movement to a higher level occurs if the needs of the lower level are satisfied (mostly). In other words, if a person is hungry and does not have a roof over his head, then it will be difficult for him to start a family, much less have self-respect or engage in creativity.

The most important needs for a person are self-actualization needs. Self-actualization is not the final state of human perfection. No person will become so self-actualized that he gives up all motives. Each person always has talents for further development. A person who has reached the fifth level is called a “psychologically healthy person.”

According to humanists, there is no decisive age period; personality is formed and develops throughout life. However, the early periods of life (childhood and adolescence) play a special role in personality development. Rational processes dominate in the personality, where unconsciousness arises only temporarily, when for one reason or another the process of self-actualization is blocked. Humanists believe that the individual has complete free will. A person is aware of himself, aware of his actions, makes plans, searches for the meaning of life. Man is the creator of his own personality, the creator of his own happiness.

For humanists, the inner world of a person, his thoughts, feelings and emotions is not a direct reflection of reality. Each person interprets reality in accordance with his subjective perception. The inner world of a person is fully accessible only to himself. The basis of human actions is subjective perception and subjective experiences. Only subjective experience is the key to understanding the behavior of a particular person.

In the humanistic model of personality, the main conceptual “units” are:

1) “real self” - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences “here and now;

2) “ideal self” - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences that a person would like to have in order to realize his personal potential.

3) the need for self-actualization - innate needs that determine the growth and development of the individual.

Although the “real self” and the “ideal self” are rather vague concepts, there is nevertheless a way to measure their congruence (coincidence).

A high congruence rate indicates a relatively high harmony of the “real self” and the “ideal self” (high self-esteem). With low values of congruence (low self-esteem), a high level of anxiety, a sign of depression, is noted.

Thus, within the framework of the humanistic approach, personality is the inner world of the human “I” as a result of self-actualization, and the structure of personality is the individual relationship between the “real Self” and the “ideal Self,” as well as the individual level of development of needs for self-actualization.

Personality- a person who develops in society and enters into interaction and communication with other people using language.

Psychological structure of personality- this is a holistic model, a system of qualities and properties that fully characterizes the psychological characteristics of a person (person, individual).

All mental processes are carried out in a person, but not all act as its distinctive properties. Each of us is in some ways similar to all people, in some ways only like some, and in some ways unlike anyone else.

Introduction
short biography
Part one.
Part two
Conclusion
Literature

I. Introduction

From the point of view of humanistic psychology, people are highly conscious and intelligent creatures without dominant unconscious needs and conflicts. In this, the humanistic direction differs significantly from psychoanalysis, which presents man as a being with instinctive and intrapsychic conflicts, and supporters of behaviorism, who treat people almost as obedient and passive victims of environmental forces.

Proponents of humanistic views, which view people as active creators of their own lives, with the freedom to choose and develop a lifestyle that is limited only by physical or social influences, include such prominent theorists as Frome, Allport, Kelly and Rogers, but it was Abraham Maslow who received universal recognition as an outstanding representative of the humanistic theory of personality. His theory of personal self-actualization, based on the study of healthy and mature people, clearly shows the main themes and provisions characteristic of the humanistic movement.

II. short biography

Abraham Harold Maslow was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1908. He was the son of uneducated Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia. His parents really wanted him, the eldest of seven children, to receive an education.

When Maslow initially went to college, he intended to study law to please his father. Two weeks spent at City College in New York convinced him that he would never become a lawyer. As a teenager, Maslow moved to the University of Wisconsin, where he completed a formal academic course in psychology, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1930, a master of arts in 1031, and a doctorate in 1934. While studying in Wisconsin, he worked with Harry Harlow, a renowned psychologist who was then setting up a primate laboratory to study the behavior of rhesus monkeys. Maslow's doctoral dissertation was devoted to the study of sexual and dominant behavior in a colony of monkeys!

Not long before moving to Wisconsin, Maslow married Bertha Goodman. Marriage and university studies were very important events in Maslow's life, he said: “Life didn't really begin for me until I got married and went to Wisconsin.”

After receiving his doctorate, he worked with renowned learning theorist E.L. Thorndike at Columbia University in New York. He then moved to Brooklyn College, where he worked for 14 years.

In 1951, Maslow was appointed chairman of the psychology department at Brandeis University. He remained in this post until 1961 and was then a professor of psychology there. In 1969, he left Brandeis to work for the W. P. Loughlin Charitable Foundation in Menlow Park, California.

In 1970, at the age of 62, Maslow died of a heart attack.

His works:

“Religions, Values and Summit Experiences” (1964)
“Eupsychea: Diary” (1965)
“Psychology of Science: Reconnaissance” (1966)
“Motivation and Personality” (1967)
“Towards the Psychology of Being” (1968)
“New Dimensions of Human Nature” (1971, collection of articles published earlier)
“In Memory of Abraham Maslow” (1972, published posthumously, with the participation of his wife)

III. Part one.

Humanistic psychology is an alternative to the two most important movements in psychology - psychoanalysis and behaviorism. It has its roots in existential philosophy, which rejects the position that a person is a product of either hereditary (genetic) factors or environmental influences (especially early influences), existentialists emphasize the idea that in the end each of us is responsible for who we are and what we are becoming.

Consequently, humanistic psychology takes as its basic model the responsible person who freely makes choices among the opportunities provided. The main concept of this direction is the concept formation. Man is never static, he is always in the process of becoming. This is evidenced by a clear example of the formation of a man from a boy. But this is not the development of biological needs, sexual or aggressive impulses. A person who denies becoming denies growth itself, denies that it contains all the possibilities of a full-fledged human existence.

But despite the fact that becoming plays a large role, humanistic psychologists recognize that the search for the true meaning of life is not easy.

Another view can be described as phenomenological or “here and now.” This direction is based on subjective or personal reality, but not objective, i.e. the importance of subjective experience is emphasized as the main phenomenon in the study and understanding of man. Theoretical constructs and external behavior are secondary to direct experience and its unique meaning for the one experiencing it.

Maslow felt that for too long psychologists had focused on the detailed analysis of individual events to the neglect of what they were trying to understand, namely the whole person. For Maslow, the human body always behaves as a whole, and what happens in one part affects the whole organism.

Thus, when considering man, he emphasized his special position, different from animals, saying that the study of animals is not applicable to understanding man, since it ignores those characteristics that are inherent only to man (humor, envy, guilt, etc.), he believed that every person inherently possesses the potential for positive growth and improvement.

The main place in his concept is occupied by the question of motivation. Maslow said that people are motivated to find personal goals, and this makes their lives significant and meaningful. He described man as a “desiring being” who rarely achieves a state of complete satisfaction. A complete absence of wants and needs, if it exists, is short-lived at best. If one need is satisfied, another one rises to the surface and directs the person's attention and effort.

Maslow suggested that all needs congenital and presented his concept of the hierarchy of human motivation needs in order of priority:

The basis of this scheme is the rule that the dominant needs located below must be more or less satisfied before a person becomes aware of the presence and is motivated by the needs located above, i.e. satisfaction of needs located at the bottom of the hierarchy makes it possible to recognize the needs located higher in the hierarchy and their participation in motivation. According to Maslow, this is the main principle underlying the organization of human motivation, and the higher a person can rise in this hierarchy, the greater individuality, human qualities and mental health he will demonstrate.

The key point in Maslow's hierarchy of needs is that needs are never satisfied on an all-or-nothing basis. Needs overlap, and a person can be motivated at two or more levels of needs simultaneously. Maslow suggested that the average person satisfies his needs something like this:

physiological - 85%,
safety and security - 70%,
love and belonging - 50%,
self-esteem - 40%,
self-actualization - 10%.

If the needs of a lower level are no longer satisfied, the person will return to this level and remain there until these needs are sufficiently satisfied.

Now let's look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs in more detail:

Physiological needs

Physiological needs are directly related to human biological survival and must be satisfied at some minimum level before any higher level needs become relevant, i.e. a person who fails to satisfy these basic needs will not be interested in the needs occupying the highest levels of the hierarchy for long enough, since it very quickly becomes so dominant that all other needs disappear or fade into the background.

Security and protection needs.

These include the following needs: the need for organization, stability, law and order, predictability of events and freedom from threatening forces such as disease, fear and chaos. Thus, these needs reflect an interest in long-term survival. Preferring a secure job with a stable, high income, creating savings accounts, and purchasing insurance can be seen as actions motivated in part by the search for security.

Another manifestation of the need for safety and protection can be seen when people are faced with real emergencies such as war, flood, earthquake, uprising, civil unrest, etc.

Needs for belonging and love.

At this level, people seek to establish attachment relationships with others in their family or group. The child wants to live in an atmosphere of love and care, in which all his needs are met and he receives a lot of affection. Teenagers seeking to find love in the form of respect and recognition of their independence and independence are drawn to participation in religious, musical, sports and other close-knit groups. Young people experience the need for love in the form of sexual intimacy, that is, unusual experiences with a person of the opposite sex.

Maslow identified two types of love in adults: deficient or D-love, and existential or B-love. The first is based on a deficit need - it is love that comes from the desire to get what we lack, say, self-esteem, sex or the company of someone with whom we do not feel lonely. This is selfish love that takes rather than gives. B-love, on the contrary, is based on the awareness of the human value of another, without any desire to change or use him. This love, according to Maslow, allows a person to grow.

Self-esteem needs.

When our need to love and be loved by others is sufficiently satisfied, its influence on behavior decreases, paving the way for self-esteem needs. Maslow divided them into two types: self-esteem and respect by others. The first includes concepts such as competence, confidence, independence and freedom. A person needs to know that he is a worthy person who can cope with the tasks and demands that life makes. Respect by others includes concepts such as prestige, recognition, reputation, status, appreciation and acceptance. Here a person needs to know that what he does is recognized and appreciated.

Satisfying your self-esteem needs creates a sense of confidence, dignity, and the knowledge that you are useful and needed. Maslow suggested that esteem needs reach a maximum level and stop growing in adulthood, and then their intensity decreases.

Self-actualization needs.

Maslow described self-actualization as a person's desire to become who he can be. A person who has reached this highest level achieves the full use of his talents, abilities and personal potential, i.e. to self-actualize is to become the person we can become, to reach the pinnacle of our potential. But, according to Maslow, self-actualization is very rare, because... many people simply do not see their potential, or do not know about its existence, or do not understand the benefits of self-improvement. They tend to doubt and even fear their abilities, thereby reducing the chances for self-actualization. Maslow called this phenomenon Jonah complex. It is characterized by a fear of success that prevents a person from striving for greatness and self-improvement.

Socialization also has an inhibitory effect on the process of self-actualization. In other words, people need a “enabling” society in which they can realize their human potential to the fullest.

Another obstacle to self-actualization mentioned by Maslow is the strong negative influence exerted by security needs. Children raised in a safe, friendly environment are more likely to develop a healthy understanding of the growth process.

In addition to his hierarchical concept of motivation, Maslow identified two global categories of human motives:

deficit motives

motives for growth.

The first are aimed at satisfying deficiency states, for example, hunger, cold, danger. They are persistent characteristics of behavior.

Unlike D-motives, growth motives (or meta-needs, or existential needs, or B-motives) have distant goals. Their function is to enrich and expand life experience. Meta-needs include: integrity, perfection, activity, beauty, kindness, uniqueness, truth, honor, reality, etc.

IV. Part two

Assessment of self-actualization.

The lack of an adequate assessment instrument to measure self-actualization initially thwarted any attempt to validate Maslow's basic claims. However, the development of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) has given researchers the opportunity to measure values and behaviors associated with self-actualization. It is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess various characteristics of self-actualization according to Maslow's concept. It consists of 150 forced choice statements. From each pair of statements, the respondent must choose the one that best characterizes him.

The POI consists of two main scales and ten subscales.

The first, basic scale measures the extent to which a person is self-directed rather than other-directed in the search for values and meaning in life. (characteristics: autonomy, independence, freedom - dependence, need for approval and acceptance)
the second main scale is called time competence. It measures the extent to which a person lives in the present rather than focusing on the past or future.
10 additional subscales are designed to measure important elements of self-actualization: self-actualization values, existentiality, emotional reactivity, spontaneity, concern for one's interests, self-acceptance, acceptance of aggression, capacity for close relationships.
POI also has a built-in lie detection scale.

The only major limitation to using the 150-item POI for research purposes is its length. Jones and Crandall (1986) developed a short self-actualization index. Scale consisting of 15 points:

I'm not ashamed of any of my emotions
I feel like doing what others expect of me (N)
I believe that people are essentially good and can be trusted.
I can be angry with those I love
It is always necessary for others to approve of what I do(N)
I don't accept my weaknesses (N)
I may like people I may not approve of.
I'm afraid of failure (N)
I try not to analyze or simplify complex areas (N)
It's better to be yourself than popular
There is nothing in my life that I would particularly devote myself to (N)
I can express my feelings even if it leads to undesirable consequences
I am not obligated to help others (N)
I'm tired of inadequacy (N)
They love me because I love.

Respondents answer each statement using a 4-point scale: 1-disagree, 2-disagree somewhat, 3-agree somewhat, 4-agree. The sign (N) following the statement means that when total values are calculated, the score for this item will be inverse (1=4.2=3.3=2.4=1). The higher the total value, the more self-actualized the respondent is considered .

In a study of several hundred college students, Jones and Crandall found that Self-Actualization Index scores were positively correlated with all scores on the much longer POI (r = +0.67) and with measures of self-esteem and “rational behavior and beliefs.” The scale has some reliability and is not susceptible to “Social Desirability” response selection. It was also shown that college students who took part in self-confidence training significantly increased their degree of self-actualization, as measured by the self-actualization scale.

Characteristics of self-actualizing people:

More effective perception of reality;
Acceptance of yourself, others and nature. (accept yourself as they are);
Spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness;
Problem-centered;
Independence: need for privacy;
Autonomy: independence from culture and environment;
Freshness of perception;
Summit, or mystical, experiences (moments of great excitement or high tension, as well as moments of relaxation, peace, bliss and tranquility);
Public Interest;
Deep interpersonal relationships;
Democratic character (lack of prejudice);
Distinguishing between means and ends;
Philosophical sense of humor (friendly humor);
Creativity (ability to create);
Resistance to acculturation (they are in harmony with their culture, maintaining a certain internal independence from it).

V. Conclusion

From the point of view of humanistic psychology, only people themselves are responsible for the choices they make. This does not mean that if people are given freedom of choice, they will necessarily act in their own interests. Freedom of choice does not guarantee the correctness of the choice. The main principle of this direction is the model of a responsible person who freely makes a choice among the opportunities provided.

Humanistic psychology is not a strictly organized theoretical system - it is better to think of it as a movement. Maslow called his approach third force psychology. Although the views of the supporters of this movement are quite broad, they still share certain fundamental concepts about human nature. Almost all of these concepts have deep roots in the history of Western philosophical thinking.

Self-actualization is a process that involves the healthy development of people's abilities so that they can become who they can become.

Self-actualizing people are people who have satisfied their deficiency needs and developed their potential to such an extent that they can be considered extremely healthy people.

VI. Literature

L. Kjell, D. Ziegler “Theories of Personality”;
Calvin S. Hall, Gardner Lindsay “Theories of Personality”;
Psychological Dictionary edited by V.P. Zinchenko, B.G. Meshcheryakova

Introduction

humanistic psychology of congruence self-actualization

Humanistic psychology emerged in the United States in the late 1950s. It was formed as a union of scientists who share some common views on man and on the methodology of psychological research, and the basis for this union was largely a protest against two approaches - psychoanalysis and behaviorism. In these approaches, it is precisely the highest essential manifestations specific to a person that remain outside of consideration. It was they who were placed at the center of their interests by the emerging humanistic psychology.

The founders of humanistic psychology set the task of building a new methodology for human cognition, fundamentally different from the natural sciences. But the discord within the movement itself gave rise to difficulties on the path of consolidation, therefore, according to D.A. Leontiev, “opposition to behaviorism and psychoanalysis remains to this day the only cementing basis of the movement.” Humanistic psychologists themselves point to differences in the views of the founders of humanistic psychology. So in the late 1980s. J. Rowan in his article “Two Humanistic Psychologies or One?” drew attention to the fact that within humanistic psychology at least two directions can be distinguished, differing in their views on the image of a person.

This is existential psychology and is conventionally designated “person-centered.” But today we can already say that existential psychology has separated from humanistic psychology and has become independent from it.

“Humanistic psychology is a direction in Western psychology that recognizes as its main subject the personality as a unique integral system, which is not something given in advance, but an open possibility of self-actualization, inherent only in man.”

Purpose of the work: to study the theoretical principles of humanistic psychology.

.Expand the question of the emergence of the humanistic paradigm within the framework of humanistic psychology.

2.Highlight the basic principles of humanistic psychology.

.Study G. Allport's theory of personality traits.

.Consider the essence of A. Maslow’s theory of self-actualization.

.Determine the essence of the concept of personality congruence in the theory of K. Rogers.

1. The concept of humanistic psychology

.1 The emergence of the humanistic paradigm within humanistic psychology

The humanistic line in psychology as a cultural phenomenon arose in response to the “militarization” of American society that invaded and replaced culture. “Two world wars, which occurred in a relatively short time, posed a number of questions to human science for which it was not prepared. The collapse of the optimistic view of human progress, the unprecedented scale of cruelty, aggression and destructiveness forced us to think again about the nature of man, about the impulses that drive him and about the relationship between the individual and social structures.”

The first works of humanistic psychologists date back to the 50s of the 20th century, but this direction flourished in the late 60s and early 70s. As noted by D.A. Leontiev, “The American Association of Humanistic Psychology in the first years of its existence put forward the following, rather vague definition: “Humanistic psychology can be defined as the third main branch of psychological research (the other two branches are psychoanalytic and behavioristic), which deals primarily with those human abilities and potentialities that have not found their place either in positivist or behaviorist theory or in classical psychoanalytic theory, for example, creativity, love, self, development, organism, satisfaction of basic needs, self-actualization, higher values, being, becoming, spontaneity, play, humor, affection, naturalness, warmth, ego transcendence, objectivity, autonomy, responsibility, psychological health and related concepts. This approach can also be represented by the works of K. Goldstein, E. Fromm, K. Horney, K. Rogers, A. Maslow, G. Allport, A. Engyal, S. Bueller, K. Moustakas, etc., as well as some aspects of the works of K. Jung, A. Adler, ego-psychologists of the psychoanalytic direction, existential and phenomenological psychologists.

This slightly lengthy quotation, however, outlines the problematic field in which humanistic psychology developed, as well as those theorists and practitioners who participated in the development of these ideas. Humanistic psychology is a direction in Western psychology that recognizes as its main subject the personality as a unique integral system, which is not something given in advance, but an open possibility of self-actualization, inherent only in man.”

Basic provisions: Rogers K., Maslow A. say that a person is inherent in a certain internal strength - a tendency towards self-actualization, directing his development towards the most complete disclosure, unfolding of the possibilities, strengths and abilities inherent in him. In this approach, a person is assigned certain given potentials, a certain given nature, positive in its essence, which is actualized in the process of development. Development is the unfolding of what is already inherent in a person.

K. Rogers attributed the determination of the direction of development to the biological nature of man, which contains a certain set of capabilities. What a person acquires during socialization cannot improve, but can only distort the true nature. Maslow A. talks about the importance of cultural influences, but the tendency towards self-actualization is also, in his opinion, inherent in the beginning.

Humanistic psychologists proceed from the fact that a person interacts with the world already being endowed with a certain set of qualities. Accordingly, the unit of analysis is an individual personality with its inherent potentials. And if earlier it was believed that social influences hinder rather than promote actualization, then recently the opinion has been expressed that other people are an indispensable condition for the development of an individual, and that culture can have not only a restrictive, but also a positive influence on self-actualization. However, external factors are considered as conditions, prerequisites for development.

When looking at human nature, humanistic psychologists share the following opinion: human nature is inherent in primordial good, and the source of evil lies outside human nature, somewhere in external reality.

The center of this trend was the United States, and the leading figures were K. Rogers, R. May, A. Maslow, G. Allport. American psychology, Allport noted, has few original theories of its own. But it has done a great service in helping to disseminate and refine the scientific contributions made by Pavlov, Wiene, Freud, Rorschach, and others. Now, Allport wrote, we can do a similar service with Heidegger, Jaspers, and Binswanger. The influence of existentialist philosophy on a new direction in psychology does not mean that the latter was only its psychological duplicate. As a specific scientific discipline, psychology solves its own theoretical and practical problems, in the context of which the circumstances of the emergence of a new psychological school should be considered.

Each new direction in science defines its program through opposition to the attitudes of already established schools. In this case, humanistic psychology saw the inferiority of other psychological trends in the fact that they avoided confrontation with reality as a person experiences it, and ignored such constitutive features of personality as its integrity, unity, and uniqueness. As a result, the picture of personality appears fragmented and is constructed either as a “system of reactions” (Skinner), or as a set of “dimensions” (Guilford), agents such as the Ego, It and Superego (Freud), and role stereotypes. In addition, the personality is deprived of its most important characteristic - free will - and appears only as something determined from the outside: by stimuli, “field” forces, unconscious aspirations, role prescriptions.

Her own aspirations come down to attempts to defuse (reduce) internal tension, to achieve balance with the environment; her consciousness and self-awareness are either completely ignored or seen as a disguise for the “rumblings of the unconscious.” Humanistic psychology made a call to understand human existence in all its immediacy at a level that lies below the gulf between subject and object that was created by the philosophy and science of modern times. As a result, humanistic psychologists argue, on one side of this abyss there was a subject reduced to “rationality”, to the ability to operate with abstract concepts, on the other - an object given in these concepts. Man disappeared in all the fullness of his existence, and the world as it was given in man’s experiences also disappeared. Psychological “technology” also correlates with the views of the “behavioral” sciences on personality as an object that does not differ either in nature or in cognition from other objects in the world of things, animals, mechanisms: various kinds of manipulations related to learning and eliminating anomalies in behavior.

1.2 Basic principles of humanistic psychology

Humanistic psychology is a special direction that differs from other schools in a number of fundamentally important provisions for understanding human nature. It traditionally includes such concepts as G. Allport’s theory of personality traits, A. Maslow’s theory of self-actualization, K. Rogers’ theory and instructive psychotherapy, S. Buhler’s ideas about the life path of an individual, R. May’s ideas.

Each of these theories uses its own conceptual apparatus, creates original ideas about the inner world of a person and its development in the process of life, verifies and substantiates data obtained in the course of empirical research and in the process of psychotherapeutic work with clients. The differences that exist between theories, however, are not an obstacle that would not allow us to consider them from the perspective of general methodological principles.

These principles are:

-The principle of development, which means that a person constantly strives for new goals, self-improvement due to the presence of innate needs - the desire for self-realization, the need for self-actualization, the desire to carry out continuous progressive development.

-The principle of integrity, which allows us to consider a person as a complex open system aimed at realizing all its potentials.

-The principle of humanity, which means that a person by nature is kind and free, and only circumstances that prevent the revelation of his true essence make him aggressive and alienated.

-The principle of goal determinism, which suggests studying personality characteristics in the aspect of a person’s orientation to the future, i.e. in terms of his expectations, goals and values, while rejecting the idea of causal determinism.

-The principle of activity, which allows you to accept the subject as an independently thinking and acting being, in whose life another person (for example, a psychotherapist) can play the role of a supportive, unconditionally accepting partner, creating favorable conditions for his development of a partner. The psychotherapist changes the client’s attitudes, helps him take responsibility, but does not teach or instruct.

-The principle of non-experimental research of personality, which is based on the idea of integrity, and accordingly the impossibility of adequately studying personality in separate fragments, since the system (and that is the personality) most often has properties that are not inherent in its individual parts.

-The principle of representativeness, which means that the goal and object of research in humanistic psychology coincide, because the task of studying a normally and fully functioning person is realized through the selection of healthy, self-actualizing individuals.

2. Humanistic theories of G. Allport, A. Maslow, K. Rogers

.1 G. Allport's theory of personality traits

The theory of Gordon Allport (1897-1967) is often classified as a dispositional theory, according to which: 1) people have a wide range of predispositions to react in typical ways to various situations; 2) each individual person is unique, different in his mental makeup (system of traits) from other people.

In his personological concept, G. Allport considers a person as a complex “open” system, in the hierarchical organization of which he identifies the following integrative levels of interaction of the individual with the world - conditioned reflexes, skills, personality traits, systems of traits, varying in different cases and forming multiple selves - personality.

A special place in this complexly organized system is occupied by the motivational-need sphere. It distinguishes two levels of functioning: the level of motives of need and the level of higher motives, or development motives.

The principle of so-called homeostasis - the desire to eliminate tension - is applicable only to the lowest level of the motivational system (need motives). Forms of truly personal existence (striving for new goals, setting creative tasks, actualizing a sense of initiative and responsibility, etc.) do not fit into the formula of homeostasis. The search for constant tension and resistance to balance are characteristic features of development motives.

Systems of higher motives enter into the central core of personality - the Self - and are transformed into human value systems. The desire for self-actualization and self-realization are among the motives of development and are inherent needs in a person. Motives for development give rise to a future-oriented system of goals, the implementation of which ensures the formation of new human capabilities. Man, according to Allport, is turned to his future.

“In order to understand a personality, it is always necessary to refer to what it may turn out to be in the future, for every state of personality is oriented towards future possibilities.”

Personality development according to Allport is associated with the dynamics of the motivational system. To explain the peculiarities of the formation and development of personality, he formulates the principle of functional autonomy of motives, according to which, in the process of human development, connections between old and new motives are preserved, while the nature of these connections is of a historical, but not functional nature. Functionally they are not identical.

The principle of functional autonomy of motives allows us to consider new motives as independent units of the human psyche, relatively independent of earlier forms (instincts and reflexes).

By introducing this principle, Allport contrasts his view of the motivational structure of personality with the behavioristic point of view, according to which new motives (drives) arise as a result of the combination of a particular stimulus with the satisfaction of innate needs, i.e. from the point of view of behavioral psychology, the highest, spiritual needs of a person are derivatives of his organic states. Thus, according to neobehaviorists N. Miller and D. Dollard, secondary drives “serve as a façade behind which the functions of the underlying innate drives are hidden.”

Allport explains the formation of new motives by the transformation of the means of activity into its goals and motives. In other words, objects and actions that once acted for a person only as a means to achieve certain goals begin to arouse interest in themselves and acquire their own motivational power.

The development of the motivational sphere in unity with the formation of generalized behavioral skills leads, according to Allport, to the formation of basic personality properties, which he calls traits. A trait is a predisposition to behave in a similar way in a wide range of situations. These are psychological characteristics that transform many stimuli and determine many equivalent responses. For example, an aggressive person tends to interpret neutral stimuli as threatening, while a timid person sees every person as a potential critic, a bearer of morality.

Traits are considered by Allport as units of personality analysis. In the process of development, some features become secondary and subordinate, while others acquire the character of cardinal and central features. Both of them together constitute the focus of the personality.

Cardinal traits are traits that predominate in human behavior in almost all situations; central ones are typical for a person, but do not appear in all situations. According to Allport, there are no more than 5-10 central features.

Allport considers the main goal of personality psychology to be the study of the uniqueness of each person. He argued that the characteristic property of a person is his uniqueness. “Individuality is the main characteristic of human nature.”

The uniqueness of each individual is expressed by him through the introduction of the concept of personal disposition as the fusion of several traits into a unique gestalt. In this sense, personality can only be studied using idiographic research methods. However, such a one-sided approach to man was not characteristic of Allport. On the contrary, he proposes to study personality using idiographic techniques, obtaining unique knowledge about the individual, and nomothetic methods, asserting universal laws and patterns.

Allport characterizes his theory as "concretely applicable to the infinitely varied forms of personal existence and at the same time abstract enough to serve as a unifying principle for a new branch of science."

By highlighting the general principles of personality development (for example, the principle of functional autonomy of motives, general personality qualities - traits, attitudes, self), we inevitably use the nomothetic method of analyzing scientific data. But in a qualitative analysis of personality, we are faced with a unique organization of its properties and qualities, a unique style of behavior, and the structure of the self. Studying personality from this perspective requires the use of an idiographic method that uses the concepts of “special,” “single,” and “individual.” Not only a special combination of unique personality traits can be individual, but also the path and direction of its development, while the very principle of transition from stage to stage remains general.

· Allport compares the process of personality development with the replacement of one form of unity, the integrity of the individual, by another. He identifies three stages in the development of personality unity:

ochildhood stage;

o stage of relative differentiation;

o stage of integrated unity.

At the first stage, the child functions as a dynamic unity, responding as a whole in almost all situations, according to the “all or nothing” principle. At the second stage, this dynamic unity is disrupted and differentiation and dismemberment of individual motivational components arise (in adolescence, goals, motives, and attitudes may turn out to be unstructured). At the third stage, in the process of communication and activity, on the basis of differentiation and subordination of individual personality traits, the formation of an integrated unity with a separate center in the form of the structure of the Self occurs.

“As differentiation and integration develop, an important core of self-awareness gradually develops.” Self-awareness is necessary for an individual to strive for goals. This characteristic is inherent in the “I”. ““I” is the subjective regulator of the unity that a person may have.”

Allport believed that the criterion for the manifestation of the unity of personality is the constancy of a person’s behavior in different situations, and precisely in those situations where the involvement of the Self is maximum. He tested this assumption in an experiment. In the first series, the subjects solved problems in a neutral situation, without the involvement of the ego. In the second series, when the same problems were presented, the conditions changed: the subjects were told that the results of solving the problems would affect their reputation in college. The constancy of general personality traits was revealed precisely in the second series, where the involvement of the I was maximum.

The problem of personality development is central to the entire humanistic movement, and a person’s movement towards self-realization and self-actualization is associated not so much with the need to reduce tension, establish balance and the desire for peace, but rather with its disruption, with the planning of increasingly difficult tasks. Other humanistic psychologists, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, also adhered to the same positions.

2.2 Self-actualization theory by A. Maslow

Abraham Maslow's (1908-1970) personality theory is based on a study of mentally mature, progressive, creative people who form the so-called “growing elite” of society.

The scientific environment that influenced Maslow's theory is significant and varied. Living in New York, he met and studied with such outstanding scientists as A. Adler, E. Erikson, E. Fromm, K. Goldstein, K. Horney, M. Mead, M. Wertheimer.

Maslow's scientific aspirations were multifaceted. He dealt with issues of primate behavior from the perspective of behaviorism, issues of female sexuality, and anthropological studies of Indians; led training groups.

A. Maslow was critical of the psychology of that time, which studied the human psyche mainly on pathological material. He intended to deal only with healthy people. Like many other humanistic psychologists, Maslow believes that the mental must be considered as a whole, avoiding “unit-by-unit analysis.”

One of the central places in Maslow's theory is the problem of motivation. Refusing the psychoanalytic interpretation of needs and motives, he formulates the position according to which sociality lies in the very nature of man and acts as his biologically determined property. The aggressive actions and behavior of people observed in society, the traits of cruelty, are caused not by nature, but by the inhumane conditions of the upbringing and life of the individual, and by some traditions inherent in society.

Motivation as the driving force of personality development was considered by him as a tendency that disrupts the mental balance of the individual. It is precisely this violation of homeostasis that leads to growth, development, and self-actualization of the individual, i.e. to desire, which Maslow defined as a person’s desire to be who he can be. The concept of self-actualization occupies a leading place in his concept.

Despite the fact that a person’s need to be who he can be is innate, it remains potential until special conditions arise for its actualization. This condition is the satisfaction of all other (basic) needs of the individual: physiological needs, needs for safety and protection, love and respect. “If all needs are unsatisfied, and physiological needs dominate in the body, then all others may simply become non-existent or be relegated to the background.” Failure to satisfy basal desires leads to neuroses and psychoses.

In later works, the position on the sequence of needs satisfaction was revised and supplemented with the following thesis: if in the past an individual’s needs for security, love and respect were fully satisfied, he gains the ability to endure hardships in this area and actualize himself despite unfavorable conditions. The main components of a person’s mental health are: 1) the desire to be everything that a person can be, 2) the desire for humanistic values.

There are positive and negative sides of self-actualization, where the latter leads to extreme individualism and autonomy. With the positive side of self-actualization, some relative independence from others, inherent in a healthy personality, of course, does not indicate a lack of interaction with them; it only means that in this kind of contact the goals of the individual and his own nature are the main determinants.

In general, he describes a healthy personality as autonomous, inclined to accept others, spontaneous, sensitive to beauty, to humor, and prone to creativity. Comparing a healthy person and a sick person, he wrote that a self-actualizing person is unusual not because something has been added to him, but rather because he has not lost anything in the process of his individual life.

In addition to personal qualities, he highlights the cognitive and perceptual characteristics of a self-actualizing personality - a clear and clear perception of the surrounding reality, its unconventional nature, the rare use of defense mechanisms, and high predictive ability. Such people feel most comfortable in a new, unknown, unstructured situation and are successful in scientific activities. They adequately assess themselves and their abilities.

Special socio-psychological and communicative characteristics of a self-actualizing personality are also highlighted - the manifestation of positive emotions in communication with other people, democracy.

The need for self-actualization according to Maslow is an innate need. He considers detachment, detachment from the social environment, an important condition for the functioning of healthy people, when the assessment of one’s behavior is carried out on the basis of self-approval, which does not need external rewards and punishments.

Theoretical conclusions extend to understanding the role of psychotherapy. In his opinion, psychotherapeutic activity has unlimited possibilities, but can only be useful from the point of view of correction; it is not capable of returning what has been lost by a person for many years. He attributes great psychotherapeutic importance to self-actualization, extreme experiences, education and cultural factors. In the psychotherapeutic process itself, serious attention is paid to conscious aspects: education and voluntary regulation of one’s potential. Ideally, he saw the change in society as a process that occurs under the influence of specially organized psychotherapeutic education of the individual. He notes that if psychotherapists dealt with millions of people a year, society would undoubtedly change. In his latest works, his attitude towards the psychotherapeutic reconstruction of society changes. It becomes more skeptical. “I long ago gave up the opportunity to improve the world or the entire human race through individual psychotherapy. This is impossible. In fact, this is not quantitatively possible. Later, in order to achieve my utopian goals, I turned to education, which should be extended to the entire human race."

Abraham Maslow's concept influenced the development of psychological science, as well as criminology, management, psychotherapy and education. This influence was strengthened by the fact that his theory was perceived not just as a scientific concept, but as an ideology that advances humanity along the path of discovering its potential. Maslow's interest in self-actualization grew in the process of communicating with his teachers R. Benedict and M. Wertheimer. He realized that their personalities could be interpreted not just as individuals, but as a certain type of self-actualizing person.

.3 The concept of personality congruence in the theory of C. Rogers

One of the important provisions of the theory of K. Rogers (1902-1987) is the judgment that the individual exists in a constantly changing world, the center of which is himself. This individual space was called the phenomenal world. It is not a world of objects and items, but includes everything that a person (organism) feels, regardless of whether this feeling is conscious or unconscious. He called the awareness of a particular feeling the symbolization of an object. In the personal world of an individual, only a small part of it is experienced consciously, while some contents of experience are easily formed into images, while others remain inarticulate foundations of new experience. The true meaning of individual experience is known only to the individual himself. Full and direct knowledge and penetration into the world of experience is only possible potentially.

The body reacts to the environment as it is given to it in experience and perception. It is this sphere - the perception of events - that is real. In other words, a person reacts not to some absolute reality, but to his perception of this reality. This position is one of the foundations of the phenomenological direction, of which Rogers was a representative.

It is revealed through the following three principles:

) human behavior can be understood not from the position of an objective observer, but from the position of the individual himself, his subjective perception and knowledge of reality;

) a person determines his own destiny, is free to choose and make decisions;

) people are kind by nature and strive for excellence.

In a psychological sense, reality is the personal world of human perceptions. In psychotherapy, a change in the sphere of perception, mental reality leads to a change in human reactions. For example, as long as the parent is perceived as dominant, the child's responses will remain appropriate.

The organism reacts to a certain phenomenal field as an organized whole. This position of Rogers is opposed to functionalism, which decomposes personality and cognitive processes into separate components, which in themselves do not represent this integrity.

The personality has one main tendency and desire - to actualize, preserve and strengthen the body as the center of experience, to develop in the direction of maturity. The body is moving towards greater independence and responsibility, towards self-government, self-regulation and autonomy. This need for self-actualization is inherent in every person from birth, but upbringing and norms established by society force him to forget about his own feelings and needs and accept the values imposed by others. This deviation is the source of behavioral anomalies. The more manifestations of experience are available to consciousness, the more opportunities a person has to reflect the overall picture of his phenomenal world in behavior; The fewer defensive ideas that distort the content of experience, the more adequately they are expressed in communication.

Over time, part of a person’s personal world, his perceptions begin to be realized and formed into a separate structure - the Self-concept. The self is a symbolized part of experience, resulting from the fact that certain feelings about oneself have been designated and isolated into a separate entity. “The self-concept is the individual’s perceived “I” or what a person means when he says “I” or “me.” At the initial stage, the Self-concept is usually formed largely on the basis of personal experience, events occurring in the phenomenal sphere and identified by the individual as “I” or “himself”, at least at the pre-verbal level... Individuals also develop the Self-concept during interaction with others who matter to them and treat them as separate selves."

The structure of the Self includes different values: 1) directly experienced by the body (“I perceive my parents as people dissatisfied with my behavior”) and 2) introjected from others, but in their distortion perceived as their own, immediate (“I perceive my behavior as unsatisfactory "). A healthy personality structure develops in a child who is not forced by his parents to distort his experiences.

Every experience and experience in the life of an individual is subject to various evaluations: some of them are adequately symbolized in relation to the self, some are ignored, not realized, having no relation to the satisfaction of needs, some are distorted in symbolization as incompatible with the structure of the self, others are denied, having a direct relation to satisfying the need.

· The self-concept is characterized by:

o content area, i.e. those areas that are reflected in the self-concept (physical, social, sexual, feelings and emotions, tastes and preferences, professional interests, recreation, values and moral traits);

o the structure or type of connections between individual parts of the self-concept and the nature of relations with the environment;

o congruence-incongruence, i.e. the presence of correspondence / inconsistency of the self-concept with the real experiences of people;

o protection, or force, which protects against assessments that do not correspond to the self-concept;

o tension, i.e. the state that arises as a result of a fixed defensive position;

o level of self-esteem, or the ability to accept oneself in all the diversity of one’s characteristics;

o reality, or the ability to evaluate oneself based on current information.

The basis of neurosis is the mismatch, incongruence of the true content of the individual (experience) and his “I-concept”, self. Overcoming this mismatch occurs through integration, when all sensory and internal experiences can be recognized through clear symbolization and organized into a single system internally compatible with and related to the structure of the self.

In the process of psychotherapeutic work, the therapist strives to help a person open up and realize himself as much as possible. The psychotherapeutic techniques used by K. Rogers are called instructive psychotherapy, or “client-centered” psychotherapy. Later, the term “client-centered psychotherapy” was replaced by the more appropriate concept of “person-centered therapy.” “Rogers believed that the new name would be better suited to describe the human values and mutual dependence that underlay his approach, and that the name could be applied to other areas of knowledge besides counseling and psychotherapy.”

“It is this emphasis on the subjective, perceptual view of customers that led to the adoption of the term. Perception is seen as their version of reality."

The main conditions of a person-centered approach are empathy, congruence and unconditional positive acceptance of the client.

Unconditional positive regard (unselfish warmth, care, appreciation, acceptance, respect) includes the consultant’s willingness to reflect the client’s various feelings - love, joy, anger, indignation, etc. The essence of this position is that the client’s likelihood of moving forward increases, if he is praised for his humanity and they experience feelings of security and freedom.

Empathy is the feeling of the client’s inner world as one’s own, but while maintaining the “as if” quality. Empathy is a person’s ability to respond emotionally to the experiences of other people. Usually, two types of empathy are considered: 1) empathy - the experience of the same feelings, 2) sympathy - the subject’s experience of feelings that are different from those of another person. “Counselors must be sensitive to the flow of experiences that arise both in clients and in themselves at any given moment. They must also be able to sense nuances that clients cannot sense. By being tactful, sensitive, and demonstrating understanding of clients' problems, counselors should convey to them their perceptions of their inner world and personal meanings. Counselors should also communicate to clients their desire to understand their inner world, frequently checking the accuracy of their understanding and showing a willingness to take into account comments and make corrections.” .

True empathy does not have an evaluative and diagnostic quality and does not mean a direct reflection of the client’s words. “Rogers understood empathy as a special position, a specific form of companionship, a gentle way of communicating with clients ... [which] does not imply the fulfillment of good intentions, nor mechanical reflection.”

K. Rogers strove to ensure that in the process of psychotherapeutic work he helped a person to open up and realize himself to the maximum. His psychotherapy emphasizes supportive empathy. In this way, it differs from the usual psychotherapeutic attitude, which consists in the fact that the therapist supposedly knows the true causes of the client’s problems, and also knows what the client needs to become better.

This is why most therapists try to get the client to see things the way the therapist sees them, i.e. resort to directive guidance, manipulate thoughts, feelings, and actions in order to lead the client to how he should think, feel, and act.

Rogers believed that with unconditional positive acceptance and understanding of the client, people would pursue personal growth in a direction that was uniquely appropriate and appropriate for them. When a person becomes himself, then, paradoxically, he begins to change, because the relationships become authentic, and authentic relationships are beautiful because they are full of life and meaning.

Specifically in the practice of counseling, the consultant, in dialogue with the client, seeks to understand the crisis situation by the client himself, which in the course of subsequent conversations can be replaced by a rethinking of this situation and finding possible ways out of it.

In the process of psychotherapy, the main task is the consistency of the real Self (“What I am in my ideas and actions”) and objective experience. The greater the agreement between the description of oneself and its objective reflection, the less perceptual protection and the more adequate the behavior. Otherwise, a person experiences neurotic reactions. Opening to your experience allows you to align the structure of the Self with the experience of the individual.

The theory of therapy and personal change involves the removal of feelings of anxiety and uncertainty through the therapist's unconditional positive attitude towards him. The person himself begins to open up to his experience and begins to accept what was previously rejected by him. A reorganization of the Self occurs, the differences between the real Self and the ideal Self are removed.

If the individual experiences unconditional positive regard for himself, if there is complete mutual understanding between the client and the therapist, then the individual will be a fully functioning person, will be open to his experience, which can thereby be accessible to awareness, the structure of the Self will be congruent with experience, will be a gestalt, flexibly changing in the process of assimilation of new types of experience.

A large place in psychotherapy is given not to cognitive structures, but to emotions and affects.

· Basic principles of person-centered psychotherapy:

o Only relevant information about the client is used, past experience (unlike psychoanalysis) is not given special significance;

o the necessary attributes of psychoanalysis (for example, a couch) are rejected, because they interfere with rapprochement and the establishment of empathy. Interaction is carried out “face to face”;

o there are no interpretations, assessments and advice;

o in addition to an unconditional positive attitude towards the client, negative emotions are also later allowed;

o independence, autonomy of the client from the therapist;

o the result should be an expansion of consciousness due to the reintegration (restoration) of those aspects of the Self that were disconnected;

o emphasizes the importance of values and ideals in psychotherapy.

The main goal of person-centered psychotherapy is for a person to achieve a state of fully functioning personality, which is expressed through the development of such qualities as openness to experiences, rationality and lack of desire for self-defense, involvement in the existential process of life, taking responsibility, a creative attitude to life, acceptance of other people as unique individuals, high self-esteem, open and free response based on direct experience of events.

Conclusion

There are two main directions in the humanistic theory of personality. The first, “clinical” (focused primarily on the clinic), is presented in the views of the American psychologist C. Rogers. The founder of the second, “motivational” direction is the American researcher A. Maslow. Despite some differences between these two areas, they have much in common.

Representatives of humanistic psychology consider innate tendencies towards self-actualization to be the main source of personality development. Personal development is the development of these innate tendencies.

According to humanists, there is no decisive age period; personality is formed and develops throughout life. However, the early periods of life (childhood and adolescence) play a special role in personality development. Rational processes dominate in the personality, where the unconscious arises only temporarily, when for one reason or another the process of self-actualization is blocked. Humanists believe that the individual has complete free will. A person is aware of himself, aware of his actions, makes plans, searches for the meaning of life. Man is the creator of his own personality, the creator of his own happiness. The inner world of a person is fully accessible only to himself. The basis of human actions is subjective perception and subjective experiences. Only subjective experience is the key to understanding the behavior of a particular person.

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In 1943, Abraham Maslow's article "A Theory of Individual Motivation" was published in Psychological Review. His views differed from the popular concepts of psychoanalysis and behaviorism at that time, which were based on the behavior of animals and were speculative. Maslow's theory was based on experiments with people conducted in hospital settings.

In addition, Maslow's research allowed for the first time to formulate a positive view of human nature. Traditional psychology studied people with mental disorders, while Abraham Maslow studied the behavior of healthy and fulfilled individuals. He paid special attention to such manifestations of personality as altruism, love, and creativity.

Maslow's pyramid

Images of Maslow's pyramid of needs are very common. This diagram simplifies the theory of motivation. It should be noted that Abraham Maslow is not the author of the drawing. It first appears in German-language literature from the 1970s.

Typically, Maslow's theory of motivation includes five types of needs.

The two lower levels of the hierarchy, including organic needs and the need for safety, are collectively called physiological or basic. They form a behavioral dominant. These needs are inevitable, they ensure human survival, so they are satisfied first. Only by realizing basic needs will a person be able to think about higher-order goals. It is obvious that people realize their desires gradually, as if rising from one step to another, therefore another name for the theory of motivation is Maslow’s ladder.

The short list of needs consists of five points, but there is also a more detailed breakdown of Maslow’s pyramid.

In a detailed classification, the spiritual and moral needs of the individual are divided into three groups (cognitive, aesthetic and needs for self-actualization).

Self-actualization

Abraham Maslow identified the characteristics of people who are close to self-actualization:

According to Maslow, not everyone succeeds in achieving self-actualization. People often don't see their potential, they are afraid of their talents and possible success. Sometimes the environment hinders the development of abilities. Development requires a safe and friendly environment.

Flexibility of Maslow's theory

Initially, the theory of motivation stated that further advancement is impossible until basic needs are satisfied. It was believed that, first of all, a person uses all opportunities to provide himself and his family with food, clean water, safe housing, and so on.

Abraham Maslow later said that the process of realizing an individual’s needs is not always progressive, and the usual order may be disrupted. Often the satisfaction of higher desires begins when the lower ones have not yet been realized. Moreover, Maslow said that some needs may arise simultaneously. For example, a person may need security, love, and self-esteem. Not everyone’s basic needs are fully satisfied, but this does not prevent people from having a desire to be useful to society or to love. It is not necessary to satisfy the needs of the lower level completely in order to move to a higher level of Maslow's pyramid.

Application of Maslow's theory

Motivation theories are often used by managers who seek to improve the performance of their employees. Works of Abraham Maslow were of great importance in the creation of modern theories of motivation.

Leaders must understand that personal motivation determined by many needs. To motivate an employee, the manager needs to give him the opportunity to satisfy existing needs.

Social: team spirit in the workplace, periodic meetings, stimulation of social activity of employees.
The need for respect: interesting and meaningful work, encouragement of achieved results, career advancement, professional training and retraining.
Self-expression needs: to allow subordinates to use their full potential and develop their abilities.

Economic incentives alone are not enough for many people. Increasing earnings helps to satisfy only basic needs. It is believed that only the poorest and most powerless sections of the population are guided by the needs of the lower levels.

Disadvantages of Maslow's theory

Maslow's concepts have attracted both supporters and critics. The latter believed that the study samples were too small and no generalizations could be made from them. Composing list of personality traits moving along the path of self-actualization, Abraham Maslow chose active and healthy people such as Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein. Such people, in his opinion, were successful. Some great people, such as Richard Wagner, were not included in the study because they did not possess the personality traits that Maslow valued.

The main problem with the theory of the hierarchy of personal needs is that there is no way to quantify the extent to which human needs are satisfied. Maslow's theory is not universal; it does not take into account individual characteristics of personality development. For some people, the order of the hierarchy of needs changes.

Due to the fact that the theory of motivation is built in accordance with a certain hierarchy, it is often associated with a pyramid of power. The more material values for a person, the more his needs are satisfied and the more power he has. This theory is especially popular among people with hierarchical thinking. They are convinced that individual success is based on competition. Closer to the top of the pyramid and, accordingly, happier is the one who actively and successfully competes with others.

Such an outlook on life leads to the fact that people strive to get as many generally accepted things as possible, such as a prestigious job, expensive housing, social status. Many people believe that a large number of achievements leads to happiness.

In modern theories of human and social development, competition is viewed as an unproductive path. Community development It can be more effective if you give up competition and put the uniqueness of the individual and her ability to demonstrate her talents in the foreground.

In order to help a person with his psychological problems, for starters we need to understand how they arise.

Moreover, different areas of science have different views on this: in accordance with the theories of personality that underlie them.

One of them is humanistic, the ideologists of which were Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. We'll talk about Maslow's personality theory next.

Brief background

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, all psychology consisted of locking patients in certain institutions and calling priests (optionally exorcists). Then Grandfather Freud appeared.

He stated that somewhere inside a person sits It is unconscious, and you can help with mental problems by pulling out this unconscious, experiencing it and comprehending it.

Where it came from was not specified, so psychologists actively used the method of psychoanalysis, but could not substantiate it. But science prefers clear explanations.

In addition, in Freud, most of the disorders are explained by repressed sexual experiences, and people really did not want to be those who are guided only by sexual instinct.

Appearing soon - behavioral psychology - went far. Her followers believed that the human psyche is a set of reactions to stimuli (fortunately, not only sexual ones). An explanation was required that would make a person a little more humane.

It became the humanistic theory. Carl Rogers stated that a person has a unique experience - a “phenomenal field”, which distinguishes him from others.

Problems begin when this field does not coincide with reality. Maslow developed these ideas.

Personality structure

According to Maslow, a person cannot be divided into some kind of I, Super-I and Id. He is who he makes himself, his task is find your own meaning in the world around you.

Reality for a person is not objective, but subjective - it is the way he feels and perceives it.

This existential approach, which places the existence of the individual at the forefront. Moreover, the scientist went further than his predecessors, who studied people with disabilities. He preferred to consider the experience of outstanding personalities.

Maslow identified several levels of needs:

(sleep, food, roof over your head),
need for reliability (safety, lack of fear of failure),
- the need for belonging and love (to belong to a social group, to be accepted and loved by it),
need for respect (competence, respect, recognition, approval),
need for development (cognitive, aesthetic needs and their peak - self-actualization).

Step by step, step by step, the personality moves towards the highest need: self-development.

However, only 2 to 5 percent of people reach this stage.

In fact, this is what he is best known for: Maslow’s pyramid of needs can be found in any textbook on psychology, marketing or personnel management, as it has become basis of the theory of motivation.

Although he himself never presented his theory in the form of a pyramid: the first time this was done was five years after his death.

The views of the scientist himself are somewhat broader and have undergone changes in the process of development. However, now we will focus on the understanding that is most common in modern society.

Maslow's theories

Motivations

Abraham argued that all the needs of the individual are located in strictly hierarchical order. When lower-order needs are satisfied, higher-order needs arise.

And the motivation system, so widely used in personnel management, is based on the desire to satisfy them.

Even the most modest salary satisfies physiological needs person: no one has the right to pay less than the living wage.

Since this minimum will be paid anywhere, you cannot keep an employee with money alone: you will have to satisfy his higher needs, and this is stability and security.

For this you need a salary give regularly, without delay to be. But most employers also do this, so we rise to a higher level - social needs.

The key is that it doesn't cost much money to satisfy lower levels of needs, so why pay more when the job can be incentivized to satisfy higher levels?

This is communication: relationships within the team, relationships with clients, and so on.

This need for respect: praise and recognition of merit (chocolate medal, photograph on the honor board or in the corporate newspaper, on the company website, etc., conversations with the boss who convinces him of his indispensability).

This works even better than a salary increase.

Finally, the highest level - need for development. Promise of career growth, expansion of responsibilities, etc.

Have you noticed what most job advertisements look like?

They affect all levels of the pyramid: “Stable salary, friendly team, career growth.”

Highlights motivation theories:

All motives are hierarchical.
Higher motives are insignificant until the lower ones are satisfied.
The higher the level of the motive, the longer you can postpone their implementation.
The higher the level of need, the greater the effort a person is willing to make to satisfy it.

Pyramid of needs actively used in advertising. Any video focuses on satisfying some need.

For example, coffee is advertised not as a drink for energy, but as a means of communication, showing stories of how people meet over a cup of coffee, etc. Thus, the emphasis is on satisfying social needs, and those who lack communication will run for that coffee.

Based on the above, the cheaper the product, the lower levels of needs you can bet on; the more expensive, the higher.

Humanistic

As we have already said, in the views of Maslow himself, everything is somewhat more complicated.

His hierarchy of needs quickly came under criticism.

It does not explain at all the existence of ascetics who go to the mountains and meditate until enlightenment: these individuals thus place the need for development above that of safety.

In the mountains, a wild animal can attack. Or extreme living conditions when even the need for food is not satisfied.

In besieged Leningrad, some people kept their beloved pet parrots, although they should have immediately let them go for soup - there was no food. Others, by the way, did just that.

Thus, the hierarchy of needs does not explain the entire spectrum of behavior - there is something else. The scientist suggested that needs develop with age, but this theory was not confirmed either.

As a result, Maslow settled on dividing all needs into 2 groups: deficit and existential.

The task of the first make up for some deficit- in sleep, food, sex, communication, that is, to ensure survival. But the latter are associated with development, with activities that are aimed at moral satisfaction, at finding high goals and achieving them.

Self-actualization

According to Abraham's theory, the individual strives for highest level of the hierarchical pyramid- development, self-actualization, that is, the deepest concept, acceptance and use of one’s own capabilities.

This is the same search for the meaning of life, having found which, a person becomes happy, that state in which he does what he wants, and not what others expect from him.

These are:

She knows and understands life, and does not hide from it behind psychological defense mechanisms.
She accepts both herself and others, allowing them to have their own point of view and not trying to convince others.
He is passionate about what he loves and is problem solving oriented.
Independent of the social environment.
She can understand others, is attentive to them and is friendly.
Open to new experiences.
Distinguishes between good and evil, does not believe that the end justifies the means.
Behaves naturally and spontaneously.
Shows ability and creativity in work.
Ready to solve problems, aware of difficulties.

However, as we have already said, only 2-5% of people are like this.

This is explained unfavorable social conditions, doubts about one’s own abilities, so inherent in many individuals, the excessive influence of the need for security, which forces one to avoid the slightest risks, even if they satisfy higher needs (addictive, from which it is so difficult to get out).

Exists several ways of self-actualization:

Maslow's theory was a big step forward in psychology, because it recognized the inner world of man, making him something more than an animal driven by the desire for sex.

However, her fate is indicative: in the modern world, the humanistic theory, which allows you to live in harmony with yourself and the world, began to be used to increase the productivity of staff and “sell” completely unnecessary things.

Personality development in the theory of Abraham Maslow: