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Research article
First published Winter 1991

Maslow's Study of Self-Actualization: A Reinterpretation

Willard Mittelman
Volume 31, Issue 1
https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167891311010

Abstract

The focal point of this article is Abraham Maslow's famous study of self-actualizing people. Maslow was profoundly correct in perceiving that there was something special and admirable about the individuals whom he selected for study. In calling his subjects self-actualizing, however, Maslow failed to capture just what was special about them. I propose that the individuals whom Maslow studied were not distinguished from others by the fact that they were self-actualizing, but rather by the fact that they were very open. I will explain both what I mean by openness and why we should speak of openness rather than self-actualization. I will also use the idea of openness, along with Maslow's description of his "self-actualizing" people, to delineate an ideal of human character.

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1. Adams and Haaken (1987) commit a similar error when they conclude that because Maslow viewed the values and motivations of self-actualizing people as internal, he must therefore have held that "culture and social structure play a very small role" in promoting self-actualization (p. 505). On the contrary, Maslow maintained that the attainment of self-actualization depends crucially on environment, culture and social circumstances (1970, pp. 85, 99 [no. 9]; 1976, p. 135 [no. 14]; 1968, pp. 190- 191 [nos. 1-3]).
2. This statement shows the falsity of Leonard Geller's charge that for Maslow "evil is rooted in the self," so that "there is a deep and ineradicable conflict in human nature" (Geller, 1982, p. 65). Far from regarding evil as an ineradicable part of human nature, Maslow viewed it as (a) "largely (though not altogether) human weakness or ignorance, forgivable, understandable and also curable" (1968, p. 165), and (b) "most probably a secondary, reactive consequence of thwarting of or threat to the basic human needs" (1970, p. 125; cf. p. 126).
3. I owe this idea to Alfred C. Ebert.
4. All of these passages clearly refute Aron's claim that 'Maslow develops his own ideal of the good life from the antidemocratic branch of his thought" (Aron, 1977, p. 15).
5. Another view of openness is offered by Viktor Frankl, who describes openness as a directedness toward something outside of ourselves (1969, pp. 25-26,31; 1966, p. 97). Also, Charles Morris defines openness as growth toward "widening satisfaction" (Morris, 1948, pp. 114-116). For Frankl and Morris, openness is simply a reaching-out for values, meanings and satisfaction, whereas I hold that openness is itself an important source of values and meanings, at least for very open people-see the discussion of the B-values in Part II.

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Volume 31, Issue 1
Pages: 114 - 135
Article first published: Winter 1991
Issue published: Winter 1991

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Issue published: Winter 1991
Published online: September 15, 2016

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Willard Mittelman
1478A Willow Lake Dr., Atlanta, GA 30329.
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