Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- Maslow: Holistic
Dynamic Theory
(^296) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
Metamotivation is characterized by expressive rather than coping behavior and
is associated with the B-values. It differentiates self-actualizing people from those
who are not. In other words, metamotivation was Maslow’s tentative answer to the
problem of why some people have their lower needs satisfied, are capable of giving
and receiving love, possess a great amount of confidence and self-esteem, and yet
fail to pass over the threshold to self-actualization. The lives of these people are
meaningless and lacking in B-values. Only people who live among the B-values are
self-actualizing, and they alone are capable of metamotivation.
Maslow (1964, 1970) identified 14 B-values, but the exact number is not im-
portant because ultimately all become one, or at least all are highly correlated. The
values of self-actualizing people include truth, goodness, beauty, wholenessor the
transcendence of dichotomies, alivenessor spontaneity, uniqueness, perfection, com-
pletion, justice and order, simplicity, richnessor totality, effortlessness, playfulness
or humor,and self-sufficiencyor autonomy(see Figure 10.2).
These values distinguish self-actualizing people from those whose psycholog-
ical growth is stunted after they reach esteem needs. Maslow (1970) hypothesized
that when people’s metaneeds are not met, they experience illness, an existential ill-
ness. All people have a holistic tendency to move toward completeness or totality;
and when this movement is thwarted, they suffer feelings of inadequacy, disintegra-
tion, and unfulfillment. Absence of the B-values leads to pathology just as surely as
lack of food results in malnutrition. When denied the truth, people suffer from para-
noia; when they live in ugly surroundings, they become physically ill; without jus-
tice and order, they experience fear and anxiety; without playfulness and humor, they
become stale, rigid, and somber. Deprivation of any of the B-values results in meta-
pathology,or the lack of a meaningful philosophy of life.
290 Part III Humanistic/Existential Theories
FIGURE 10.2 Maslow’s B-values: A Single Jewel with Many Facets.
Wholeness
Aliveness
Uni
qu
eness
Per
fect
ion
Co
m
ple
tio
n
Jus
tice
Simpl
icity
To tality
Effor
tlessness
Hu
mo
r
Beauty
Goo
Truth dness
Auto
no
my
B-values