Books › Motivation and personality
Motivation and personality
First published 1954 · 411 pages
An uplifting, foundational journey through the architecture of human desire, culminating in a profound vision of what it means to truly thrive.
What it feels like
Reading this foundational text feels like climbing a psychological mountain, starting at the bedrock of basic human survival and ascending toward the sunlit peaks of self-actualization. The pace is steady and deliberate, anchored by scholarly rigor but warmed by an unmistakable, earnest optimism about human nature. Unlike clinical texts that dwell on pathology, the atmosphere here is expansive and deeply uplifting, inviting you to contemplate the highest reaches of human potential. The prose is structured and authoritative, yet accessible enough to resonate with anyone seeking to understand their own drives. It is a deeply rewarding experience for the intellectually curious reader who wants to look beyond mere existence and explore the profound mechanics of a life fully lived.
- Mood
- intellectual
- contemplative
- uplifting
- expansive
- Tone
- academic
- optimistic
- earnest
- authoritative
- humanistic
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- human potential · self-actualization · psychological growth · intrinsic motivation · the pursuit of fulfillment
- The writing
- Structured and scholarly, yet deeply infused with a philosophical warmth and an accessible clarity.
- The arc
- Begins with a grounded look at basic human survival and steadily ascends toward an inspiring, expansive vision of ultimate human flourishing.
- Who it's for
- Readers fascinated by the mechanics of human thriving, self-improvement, and the philosophical underpinnings of positive psychology.
Content notes
- discussions of psychological distress
About the book
This is an article written by David Sze that I've found on The Huffington Post
Abraham Maslow is the leading figure in the tradition of humanistic psychology and the modern Positive Psychology movement owes a huge debt to his theories. His ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ remains widely recognized and used.
Nonetheless, the layperson knows surprisingly little about the pinnacle Maslow wants us to aspire to- Self-Actualization. Who is this Self-Actualized person, and what characteristics does s/he have? Maslow’s portrait is detailed and complex.
Maslow describes the good life as one directed towards self-actualization, the pinnacle need. Self-actualization occurs when you maximize your potential, doing the best that you are capable of doing. Maslow studied individuals whom he believed to be self-actualized, including Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein, to derive the common characteristics of the self-actualized person. Here are a selection of the most important characteristics, from his book Motivation and Personality:
1) Self-actualized people embrace the unknown and the ambiguous.
They are not threatened or afraid of it; instead, they accept it, are comfortable with it and are often attracted by it. They do not cling to the familiar. Maslow quotes Einstein:
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.”
2) They accept themselves, together with all their flaws.
She perceives herself as she is, and not as she would prefer herself to be. With a high level of self-acceptance, she lacks defensiveness, pose or artificiality. Eventually, shortcomings come to be seen not as shortcomings at all, but simply as neutral personal characteristics.
“They can accept their own human nature in the stoic style, with all its shortcomings, with all its discrepancies from the ideal image without feeling real concern [...] One does not complain about water because it is wet, or about rocks because they are hard [...] simply noting and observing what is the case, without either arguing the matter or demanding that it be otherwise.”
Description from Open Library.
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