Maslow's Ideas
As a leader of humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow approached the study of psychology by focusing on subjective experiences and free will. He was mainly concerned with an individual’s innate drive toward self-actualization- a state of fulfillment in which a person is achieving at their highest level of capability. He developed a framework called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a way to describe the development of personality through the life span under the Humanistic perspective. This framework showcased how a person moves from his/her basic, physiological needs to higher-level self-actualization and transcendence needs. He believed that successful movement through every stage was vital in the development of personality. Those individuals who finally achieved self-actualization were said to represent optimal psychological health and functioning. Maslow stretched the field of psychological study to include fully-functional individuals instead of only those with psychoses, and he shed a more positive light on personality psychology.
Maslow defined self-actualization as one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved. The motivation to fulfill one's potential is the firewood beneath the people who achieve this stage of personality in their lifetime. Maslow studied healthy, creative people to base his description of self-actualization on. He believed that self-actualizers (people who had reached self-actualization) shared specific charcetrsistics: They were self-aware and self-accepting, open and spontaneous, loving and caring, and not paralyzed by others' opinions. Their interests were problem-centered rather than self-centered, and they focused their energy on one main task that many described as their mission in life. He believed that many self-actualizers had also been moved by spiritual or personal peak experiences that surpassed ordinary consciousness.