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Part III    Humanistic/Existential Theories306
 versus social determinants of personality. In general, the behavior of people 
motivated by physiological and safety needs is determined by outside forces,  
whereas the behavior of self-actualizing people is at least partially shaped 
by free choice.
On the dimension of consciousness versus unconsciousness,  Maslow 
held that self-actualizing people are ordinarily more aware than others of 
what they are doing and why. However, motivation is so complex that people 
may be driven by several needs at the same time, and even healthy people 
are not always fully aware of all the reasons underlying their behavior.
As for biological versus social influences,  Maslow would have insisted 
that this dichotomy is a false one. Individuals are shaped by both biology and 
society, and the two cannot be separated. Inadequate genetic endowment 
does not condemn a person to an unfulfilled life, just as a poor social envi -
ronment does not preclude growth. When people achieve self-actualization, 
they experience a wonderful synergy among the biological, social, and 
spiritual aspects of their lives. Self-actualizers receive more physical enjoy -
ment from the sensuous pleasures; they experience deeper and richer inter -
personal relationships; and they receive pleasure from spiritual qualities such 
as beauty, truth, goodness, justice, and perfection.
Key Terms and Concepts
•Maslow assumed thatmotivation affects thewhole person; itiscomplete, 
often unconscious, continual, andapplicable toallpeople.
•People aremotivated byfourdimensions ofneeds: conative (willful striving), 
aesthetic (theneedfororder andbeauty), cognitive (theneedforcuriosity and
knowledge), andneurotic (anunproductive pattern ofrelating toother people).
•Theconative needs canbearranged onahierarchy, meaning thatoneneed 
must berelatively satisfied before thenextneed canbecome active.
•Thefiveconative needs arephysiological, safety, love and belongingness, 
esteem, andself-actualization.
•Occasionally, needs onthehierarchy canbereversed, andtheyare
frequently unconscious.
•Coping behavior ismotivated andisdirected toward thesatisfaction ofbasic 
needs.
•Expressive behavior hasacause butisnotmotivated; itissimply one’s wayof
expressing oneself.
•Conative needs, including self-actualization, areinstinctoid; thatis,their
deprivation leads topathology.
•Thefrustration ofself-actualization needs results inmetapathology anda
rejection oftheB-values.
•Acceptance oftheB-values (truth, beauty, humor, etc.)isthecriterion that
separates self-actualizing people from those whoaremerely healthy but
mired atthelevelofesteem.Final PDF to printer