Chapter 9 Maslow: Holistic-Dynamic Theory 289Key Terms and Concepts
∙ (^) Maslow assumed that motivation affects the whole person; it is
complete, often unconscious, continual, and applicable to all people.
∙ (^) People are motivated by four dimensions of needs: conative (willful
striving), aesthetic (the need for order and beauty), cognitive (the need
for curiosity and knowledge), and neurotic (an unproductive pattern of
relating to other people).
∙ (^) The conative needs can be arranged on a hierarchy, meaning that one
need must be relatively satisfied before the next need can become active.
∙ (^) The five conative needs are physiological, safety, love and
belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization.
∙ (^) Occasionally, needs on the hierarchy can be reversed, and they are
frequently unconscious.
∙ (^) Coping behavior is motivated and is directed toward the satisfaction of
basic needs.
∙ (^) Expressive behavior has a cause but is not motivated; it is simply one’s
way of expressing oneself.
∙ (^) Conative needs, including self-actualization, are instinctoid; that is, their
deprivation leads to pathology.
∙ (^) The frustration of self-actualization needs results in metapathology and a
rejection of the B-values.
∙ (^) Acceptance of the B-values (truth, beauty, humor, etc.) is the criterion
that separates self-actualizing people from those who are merely healthy
but mired at the level of esteem.
∙ (^) The characteristics of self-actualizers include (1) a more efficient
perception of reality; (2) acceptance of self, others, and nature; (3)
spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness; (4) a problem-centered approach to
life; (5) the need for privacy; (6) autonomy; (7) freshness of appreciation;
(8) peak experiences; (9) social interest; (10) profound interpersonal
relations; (11) a democratic attitude; (12) the ability to discriminate means
from ends; (13) a philosophical sense of humor; (14) creativeness; and
(15) resistance to enculturation.
∙ (^) In his philosophy of science, Maslow argued for a Taoistic attitude, one
that is noninterfering, passive, receptive, and subjective.
∙ (^) The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) is a standardized test designed
to measure self-actualizing values and behavior.
∙ (^) The Jonah complex is the fear of being or doing one’s best.
∙ Psychotherapy should be directed at the need level currently being
thwarted, in most cases love and belongingness needs.
spiritual aspects of their lives. Self-actualizers receive more physical enjoy-
ment from the sensuous pleasures; they experience deeper and richer inter-
personal relationships; and they receive pleasure from spiritual qualities such
as beauty, truth, goodness, justice, and perfection.