Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- Maslow: Holistic
Dynamic Theory
(^288) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
nation. Love and belongingness also include some aspects of sex and human contact
as well as the need to both give and receive love (Maslow, 1970).
People who have had their love and belongingness needs adequately satisfied
from early years do not panic when denied love. These people have confidence that
they are accepted by those who are important to them, so when other people reject
them, they do not feel devastated.
A second group of people consists of those who have never experienced love
and belongingness, and, therefore, they are incapable of giving love. They have sel-
dom or never been hugged, or cuddled nor experienced any form of verbal love.
Maslow believed that these people will eventually learn to devalue love and to take
its absence for granted.
A third category includes those people who have received love and belonging-
ness only in small doses. Because they receive only a taste of love and belonging-
ness, they will be strongly motivated to seek it. In other words, people who have re-
ceived only a little amount of love have stronger needs for affection and acceptance
than do people who have received either a healthy amount of love or no love at all
(Maslow, 1970).
Children need love in order to grow psychologically, and their attempts to sat-
isfy this need are usually straightforward and direct. Adults, too, need love, but their
attempts to attain it are sometimes cleverly disguised. These adults often engage in
self-defeating behaviors, such as pretending to be aloof from other people or adopt-
ing a cynical, cold, and calloused manner in their interpersonal relationships. They
may give the appearance of self-sufficiency and independence, but in reality they
have a strong need to be accepted and loved by other people. Other adults whose love
needs remain largely unsatisfied adopt more obvious ways of trying to satisfy them,
but they undermine their own success by striving too hard. Their constant supplica-
tions for acceptance and affection leave others suspicious, unfriendly, and impene-
trable.
282 Part III Humanistic/Existential Theories
In addition to physiological and safety needs, children have love and belongingness needs.