Analysis of Self-Actualization as Related to Happiness - Essay Example

Self-Actualization and Needs Fulfillment: An Analysis of Self-Actualization as Related to Happiness Self-actualization can be described asparaphrasing the concept of self-fulfillment. Self-actualization is the human need to seek fulfillment of their potential; the concept is examined and expanded on in the literature review. Various author cited below have examined self-actualization as it pertains to different aspects of human identity, including religious beliefs, sexual identity, and marriage. It is found that self-actualized or self-efficacizing people have higher incidences of sexual pleasure and marital happiness than to non-self-actualizing people, and that their incidences of happiness are higher as well, according to Max-Neef's Matrix of Needs. Self-actualization is a psychological concept accredited to Kurt Goldstein, defined as an instinctive human need to make the most of their abilities and to strive for fulfillment of their potential. In Maslow's expansion of Goldstein's concept, an individual reaches self-actualization when they feel assured of their physiological security, affiliations and affections, and their respect. In Maslow's terms, "What a man can be, he must be (Maslow, 1943)." Self-actualization can be described in layspeech as self-fulfillment. Though the term carries various implications and nuances depending upon the academic, its essence is of happiness and fulfillment. Paxton and Turner paraphrase Shostrom: Overall, Shostrom's theory of self-actualization is one that emphasizes positive mental health and psychological adjustmentActualizing persons are viewed by Shostrom as individuals who are willing to take the risk of being themselves and to respond according to how they feel in the present, rather than adhering to rigid patterns of the past or to inflexible goals of the future. Two concepts that are central to Shostrom's theory of actualizing are inner-direction and time competence. Shostrom describes actualizing persons as being inner-directed, meaning that the motivation for their behavior comes from within, not from external influences. The importance of the concept of inner-direction to Shostrom's theory is illustrated by the fact that he describes inner-direction as a goal of self-actualizing and a central tenet Time competence, another characteristic of actualizing individuals, refers to the ability to live in the here-and-now rather than predominantly living in the past and/or in the future (66). Self-actualization is intimately related to identity-the concept of fulfillment grows from one's perception of self. "The reflected self is composed of three elements: The self-concept (SC)-a person's perception of himself or herself; the Perceived Self-Concept (PSC)-a person's perception of others' evaluations of him or her; and the Social Self-Concept (SSC)-others' actual evaluations of a person (Schafer et al, 168)." The well-known Chilean sociologist Max-Neef has inextricably nine components of fulfillment and actualization in his matrix of needs-satisfactions. According to Max-Neef, people and communities reach fulfillment when they have access to the following: Basic subsistence (food, shelter, work), Protection (rights, family, security), Affect (friends, family, partners or spouses), Understanding (education, policy, and communications which orient one in their social context), Participation (rights, responsibilities, and obligations), Recreation (games, shows, parties, leisure), Creation (abilities, talents, methods, and skills), Identity (symbols, language, customs, sexuality, values, and roles), and Freedom (civil rights and equality) (Max-Neef, 1986). Fundamental Human Needs Being (qualities) Having (things) Doing (actions) Interacting (settings) subsistence physical and mental health food, shelter work feed, clothe, rest, work living environment, social setting protection care, adaptability autonomy social security, health systems, work co-operate, plan, take care of, help social environment, dwelling affection respect, sense of humour, generosity, sensuality friendships, family, relationships with nature share, take care of, make love, express emotions privacy, intimate spaces of togetherness understanding critical capacity, curiosity, intuition literature, teachers, policies educational analyse, study,meditate investigate, schools, families universities, communities, participation receptiveness, dedication, sense of humour responsibilities, duties, work, rights cooperate, dissent, express opinions associations, parties, churches, neighbourhoods leisure imagination, tranquillity spontaneity games, parties, peace of mind day-dream, remember, relax, have fun landscapes, intimate spaces, places to be alone creation imagination, boldness, inventiveness, curiosity abilities, skills, work, techniques invent, build, design, work, compose, interpret spaces for expression, workshops, audiences identity sense of belonging, self- esteem, consistency language, religions, work, customs, values, norms get to know oneself, grow, commit oneself places one belongs to, everyday settings freedom autonomy, passion, self-esteem, open-mindedness equal rights dissent, choose, run risks, develop awareness anywhere Max-Neef et al, 1987 Schafer et al take Max-Neef's definitions further, to expand upon the concept of self-identity as it relates to self-actualization. They write: "A stable self-identity provides a sense of confidence in one's ability to function in the interactions and activities of everyday social lifeWhen this self-concept is by the actions of others, it bolsters the individual's feelings of confidence. Activities that disconfirm a person's self-concept create distress. Furthermore, individuals seek self-verification to assist in interaction so that others will honor the identity of that individual (Schafer et al, 167)." It may be concluded from this description that self-actualization is responsible, in large part, for the grace or lack thereof with which individuals move throughout their days, and that the concept of self-identity is critical in achieving self-actualization. Self-actualization is related to many different variables in the United States, of which a major element is religion. Tamney and Johnson write in their paper Fundamentalism and Self-Actualization, "Modern persons are able to select beliefs and values from different ideologies, even seemingly conflicting ones (276)." The paper discusses the authors' proposal that religious fundamentalists do not reach self-actualization as defined by the sociological community, however, their data proves otherwise. During the second half of the twentieth century, the US underwent a 'cultural revolution' which enabled its population to see the goal of self-actualization as socially acceptable (Yankelovitch, 1981), indeed, as socially desirable. As Tamney and Johnson continue, "it is expected that there will be a negative relation between Fundamentalism and Self- Actualization, first, because the kinds of people likely to accept one ideology are not likely to accept the other, and second, because the two ideologies are logically incompatible Fundamentalism is an old ideology, and Self-Actualization a new one. Theories suggest that different kinds of people are attracted to old and new ideas (276)." Religious fundamentalism is notably more popular among those with less formal education. Wilson proposes that being part of the lower class is responsible for social inferiorities and insecurities which, in turn, generate fears of the unknown and a profound suspicion of innovation. He calls this phenomenon the "conservative attitude syndrome" (261), and I offer this as a possible explanation of the phenomenon of popular fundamentalism among the undereducated. Tamney and Johnson continue, "more concretely, such acceptance has been found to be more common among young, educated, and cosmopolitan people [] thus, old and new ideologies should appeal to different types of people (277)." However, the authors found less correlation than they expected regarding this; additionally, they found variations in the kind of fundamentalist that sought self-actualization. "White Protestant respondents were divided into Fundamentalistsand non-FundamentalistsSelf-actualizers tended to be young and to have few local relativesbut cultural localism was unrelated to Self-ActualizationIt was found that among white Protestant Fundamentalists, those accepting Self-Actualization statements tended to be young and to have low scores on Christian Rightism (282)." The variables of youth and local connection seemed to have a stronger effect on whether or not someone achieved self-actualization than the essence of their religious fundamentalism. Paxton and Turner analyze self-actualization from the perspective of female sexuality. They write, One criticism of research and writing on female sexuality is that too often it has been viewed in a pathological contextThus, the consideration of a relationship between self- actualization and aspects of female sexuality provides a non-pathological context in which female sexuality may be viewed. By extending Shostrom's view of self-actualization to the area of female sexuality it is possible to hypothesize that certain types of sexual attitudes and behaviors may be characteristic of self-actualizing females. For instance, because inner-direction is a characteristic of self-actualizers, the self- actualizing female would be less likely to restrict the expression of her sexuality for fear of what others might say or for fear of meeting with disapproval from others. Furthermore, because self-actualizers have been described as spontaneous, uninhibited, and time competent, one could also hypothesize that self-actualizing females would be more likely to respond spontaneously and without inhibitions to their sexual feelings than females possessing relatively low levels of self-actualizing tendencies. These authors found negative correlations between religious convictions and permissiveness, and a positive correlation between religiousness and prudishness. Interestingly, they did not find any correlations between religiousness and sexual satisfaction (71). They write, "it was found that, when the effects of the covariates religiosity, demographic variables, and order of test presentation are controlled, there is a positive relationship between self-actualizing tendencies in female undergraduates and reported sexual permissiveness and sexual satisfaction. A negative relationship between self-actualization and sexual prudishness was obtained (76)". Schafer et al expand on these sexual-romantic findings with their research in self-efficacy as related to marital happiness. They write, "marriage partners who felt less self-efficacious tended to have more depressive symptoms. This findingdemonstrates that a belief in one's self-efficacy has a profound effect on an individual's mood, thinking, and performanceSelf-efficacy is important to mental healthfurthermore, research on self-efficacy and depression has demonstrated that self-efficacy serves as a mediator or buffer between stress and depression (175)." Analysis and Conclusions: If we examine Max-Neef's matrix, it becomes obvious that self-actualization is related to a number of different aspects of life; the literature examined above accentuates this conclusion, noting that self-actualization has strong correlations to a number of different attitudes and experiences. Based on the research above, that self-actualized people maintain characteristics that inspire similar behavior in different fields throughout their actualized lives. Self-actualized people are less likely to worry about what others think and less likely to restrict their own expressions of self, in matters sexual, religious, and romantic. Self-actualization can be an acronym for fulfillment, in turn, an acronym for happiness. Shostrom's evaluation of Time Competence has been paraphrased by communities and cultures for generations, and the ability to "live in the present" holds an important place in both modern conversation and in psychology. Paxton and Turner's paper shows that self-actualizing females have higher rates of sexual satisfaction and libido, which, in turn fulfills one of Max-Neef's central needs in the matrix of fulfillment and happiness. Of those cited in the matrix, self-actualization is related to: protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity, and freedom, eight of the nine qualifying basic human needs. Obviously, barriers exist to the achievement of self-actualization. Though the concept itself is comparatively modern in name and technical definition, the same barriers to happiness that have always existed continue to show their faces: poverty, depression, violence, any element that impedes the obtaining of Max-Neef's nine central needs. However, what is obvious in both the literature and in life experience is that self-efficacy and self-actualization are necessary elements for fulfilled people and a fulfilled society. Works Cited Schafer, Robert B, Wickrama, K.A.S., and Keith, Patricia M. Concept Disconfirmation, Psychological Distress, and Marital Happiness. Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 58, No. 1, (1996), pp. 167-177 Maslov, A.H. A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50 (1943), pp. 370-396. Max-Neef, Mandfred. Human Scale Development. 1987 Wilson, Glenn D., Editor. The Psychology of Conservatism. Academic Press, New York, 1973. Yankelovitch, Daniel. New Rules in American Life: Searching for Self-Fulfillment in a World Turned Upside Down. Psychology Today (1981) pp. 35-91 Read More