Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- Maslow: Holistic
Dynamic Theory
(^292) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
Unmotivated Behavior
Maslow believed that even though all behaviors have a cause, some behaviors are not
motivated. In other words, not all determinants are motives. Some behavior is not
caused by needs but by other factors such as conditioned reflexes, maturation, or
drugs. Motivation is limited to the striving for the satisfaction of some need. Much
of what Maslow (1970) called “expressive behavior” is unmotivated.
Expressive and Coping Behavior
Maslow (1970) distinguished between expressive behavior (which is often unmoti-
vated) and coping behavior (which is always motivated and aimed at satisfying a
need).
Expressive behavioris often an end in itself and serves no other purpose than
to be. It is frequently unconscious and usually takes place naturally and with little ef-
fort. It has no goals or aim but is merely the person’s mode of expression. Expres-
sive behavior includes such actions as slouching, looking stupid, being relaxed,
showing anger, and expressing joy. Expressive behavior can continue even in the ab-
sence of reinforcement or reward. For example, a frown, a blush, or a twinkle of the
eye is not ordinarily specifically reinforced.
Expressive behaviors also include one’s gait, gestures, voice, and smile (even
when alone). A person, for example, may express a methodical, compulsive person-
ality simply because she is what she is and not because of any need to do so. Other
examples of expression include art, play, enjoyment, appreciation, wonder, awe, and
excitement. Expressive behavior is usually unlearned, spontaneous, and determined
by forces within the person rather than by the environment.
On the other hand, coping behavioris ordinarily conscious, effortful, learned,
and determined by the external environment. It involves the individual’s attempts to
cope with the environment; to secure food and shelter; to make friends; and to re-
ceive acceptance, appreciation, and prestige from others. Coping behavior serves
some aim or goal (although not always conscious or known to the person), and it is
always motivated by some deficit need (Maslow, 1970).
Deprivation of Needs
Lack of satisfaction of any of the basic needs leads to some kind of pathology. De-
privation of physiological needs results in malnutrition, fatigue, loss of energy, ob-
session with sex, and so on. Threats to one’s safety lead to fear, insecurity, and dread.
When love needs go unfulfilled, a person becomes defensive, overly aggressive, or
socially timid. Lack of esteem results in the illnesses of self-doubt, self-depreciation,
and lack of confidence. Deprivation of self-actualization needs also leads to pathol-
ogy, or more accurately, metapathology.Maslow (1967) defined metapathology as
the absence of values, the lack of fulfillment, and the loss of meaning in life.
Instinctoid Nature of Needs
Maslow (1970) hypothesizes that some human needs are innately determined even
though they can be modified by learning. He called these needs instinctoid needs.
Sex, for example, is a basic physiological need, but the manner in which it is ex-
pressed depends on learning. For most people, then, sex is an instinctoid need.
286 Part III Humanistic/Existential Theories