Who Was Abraham Maslow?
Abraham Maslow and others began to question Freud's ideas on personality. Maslow studied healthy, creative people to support his theories. Maslow used notable and famous people to help strengthen his ideas. Maslow's studies developed a third-force perspective of personality that emphasized human potential.
Self-Actualization
Maslow believed that after the basic needs of survival are met a person begins to develop motivation to develop other needs and desires. Maslow believes that people achieve self-esteem after gaining basic survival needs, but people eventually need to fulfill their potential. Maslow believed that people who reached self-actualization were secure in themselves, and not affected by others opinion's. Maslow believed that a person gained their full potential by focusing on one project, which they often considered their sole purpose in life. Maslow promoted the belief that a person attempts to fulfill their potential in life after other needs have been satisfied.
Self-Actualization- Humanistic Perspective and Personality Development
Self-Actualization is related to the Humanistic Perspective because both study "healthy" and "successful" subjects. Maslow used people who had reached their full potential to help prove his idea of self-actualization. Both the humanistic perspective and self-actualization focus on the importance of personal happiness and satisfaction. Personality development is closely related to self-actualization because both focus on how a person measures their self-worth and the gains they have made. Personality can change depending on a person's success and happiness. Maslow believed a person's happiness increased as their self-esteem and potential was fulfilled. This causes a person's personality to change as they become satisfied with their successes in life.