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Part III    Humanistic/Existential Theories302
art”)hasafunctional andreproductive meaning ofmating andcaring foroffspring or
relatives. Inother words, contrary toMaslow, self-actualization isnotdivorced from 
biological andfunctional needs ofmate selection andreproductive success. 
Ifthere isrelatively weak andinconsistent support forthehierarchy ofneeds, then
whydoesitflourish inpsychology books andthebusiness world? Bridgeman andcol-
leagues (2019) argue thatagood partofitspopularity comes fromtheintuitive appeal 
ofthepyramid, which again, Maslow himself never developed. Itiseasytounderstand, 
logical, andsupports people’s intuitive sense ofhowmotives andneeds operate. 
Positive Psychology
Positive psychology isarelatively newfieldofpsychology thatcombines anemphasis 
onhope, optimism, andwell-being withscientific research andassessment. Many of
thequestions examined bypositive psychologists stemdirectly from humanistic theo-
ristssuchasAbraham Maslow andCarlRogers (seeChapter 10).LikeMaslow and
Rogers, positive psychologists arecritical oftraditional psychology, which hasresulted 
inamodel ofthehuman being aslacking thepositive features thatmake lifeworth liv-
ing.Hope, wisdom, creativity, future mindedness, courage, spirituality, responsibility, 
andpositive experiences areignored (Seligman &Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
Oneareaofpositive psychology where Maslow’s ideas havebeen particularly 
influential isintheroleofpositive experiences inpeople’s lives. Maslow referred to
extremely positive experiences thatinvolve asense ofawe,wonder, andreverence as
peak experiences. While suchexperiences aremore common among self-actualizers, 
theycanbeexperienced tovarious degrees byother people aswell.Recently, research -
ershaveinvestigated thepotential benefits thatcome from reexperiencing, through 
writing orthinking, suchpositive experiences. Inonesuchstudy, participants were 
instructed towrite about apositive experience orexperiences for20minutes each
dayfor3consecutive days(Burton &King, 2004). Instructions given topartici -
pants before starting were derived directly from Maslow’s writings onpeak experi -
ences, andtheyasked participants towrite about their “happiest moments, ecstatic 
moments, moments ofrapture, perhaps from being inlove, from listening tomusic 
orsuddenly ‘being hit’byabook orpainting orfrom some great creative moment” 
(p.155). Experiencing suchpositive awe-inspiring events willundoubtedly enhance 
positive emotion, and,asthisstudy tested, perhaps simply recalling suchevents from 
thepastbywriting about them canalsoenhance positive emotion. Theexperience of
positive emotion isgenerally agood thing andhasbeen associated withenhanced 
coping resources, better health, creativity, andprosocial behaviors (Lyubomirsky, 
King, &Diener, 2005). Therefore, Burton andKing predicted thatwriting about these 
peakorintensely positive experiences would beassociated withbetter physical health 
inthemonths following thewriting exercise. Indeed, Burton andKing (2004) found 
thatthose whowrote about positive experiences, compared tothose inacontrol con-
dition whowrote about nonemotional topics suchasadescription oftheirbedroom, 
visited thedoctor fewer times forillness during the3months afterwriting.
Positive psychology focuses onhowpositive experiences affect one’s personal -
ityandone’s life.Moreover, animportant quality ofself-actualizing people istheir
capacity tohave“peak experiences”—feeling unified withtheuniverse andmore 
humble andpowerful atthesame time. Maslow alsomentioned aweaspartoftheFinal PDF to printer