fei75766_ch09_271-308.indd 294  02/06/20 12:09 PM
Part III    Humanistic/Existential Theories294
usually cannot berepeated. Forthose wholookforexamples ofaphilosophical sense 
ofhumor, disappointment isinevitable. Aretelling oftheincident almost invariably 
loses itsoriginal quality ofamusement. Onemust “bethere” toappreciate it.
Creativeness
Allself-actualizing people studied byMaslow werecreative insome sense oftheword. 
Infact,Maslow suggested thatcreativity andself-actualization maybeoneandthe
same. Notallself-actualizers aretalented orcreative inthearts,butallarecreative in
theirownway.They haveakeenperception oftruth, beauty, andreality—ingredients 
thatform thefoundation oftruecreativity.
Self-actualizing people need notbepoets orartists tobecreative. Inspeaking of
hismother-in-law (who wasalsohisaunt), Maslow (1968a) vividly pointed outthat
creativity cancome from almost anywhere. Hesaidthatalthough hisself-actualizing 
mother-in-law hadnospecial talents asawriter orartist, shewastrulycreative in
preparing homemade soup. Maslow remarked thatfirst-rate soup wasmore creative 
thansecond-rate poetry!
Resistance to Enculturation
Afinalcharacteristic identified byMaslow wasresistance toenculturation. Self-
actualizing people haveasense ofdetachment from theirsurroundings andareable
totranscend aparticular culture. They areneither antisocial norconsciously noncon -
forming. Rather, theyareautonomous, following theirownstandards ofconduct and
notblindly obeying therules ofothers.
Self-actualizing people donotwaste energy fighting against insignificant cus-
toms andregulations ofsociety. Such folkways asdress, hairstyle, andtraffic laws
arerelatively arbitrary, andself-actualizing people donotmake aconspicuous show 
ofdefying these conventions. Because theyaccept conventional styleanddress, they
arenottoodifferent inappearance from anyone else.However, onimportant mat-
ters,theycanbecome strongly aroused toseeksocial change andtoresist society’s 
attempts toenculturate them. Self-actualizing people donotmerely havedifferent 
social mores, but,Maslow (1970) hypothesized, theyare“lessenculturated, lessflat-
tened out,lessmolded” (p.174). 
Forthisreason, these healthy people aremore individualized andlesshomog -
enized thanothers. They arenotallalike. Infact,theterm“self-actualization” means 
tobecome everything thatonecanbecome, toactualize orfulfill allofone’s poten -
tials.When people canaccomplish thisgoal, theybecome more unique, more hetero -
geneous, andlessshaped byagiven culture (Maslow, 1970).
Love, Sex, and Self-Actualization
Before people canbecome self-actualizing, theymust satisfy theirloveandbelonging -
nessneeds. Itfollows thenthatself-actualizing people arecapable ofbothgiving and
receiving loveandarenolonger motivated bythekindofdeficiency love(D-love )
common toother people. Self-actualizing people arecapable ofB-love, thatis,lovefor
theessence or“Being” oftheother. B-love ismutually feltandshared andnotmoti-
vated byadeficiency orincompleteness within thelover. Infact,itisunmotivated, Final PDF to printer