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Chapter 9    Maslow: Holistic-Dynamic Theory293
feeling toward people ingeneral, buttheirclose friendships arelimited toonlyafew.
They havenofrantic need tobefriends witheveryone, butthefewimportant inter-
personal relationships theydohavearequite deep andintense. They tendtochoose 
healthy people asfriends andavoid intimate interpersonal relationships withdepen -
dentorinfantile people, although theirsocial interest allows them tohaveaspecial 
feeling ofempathy forthese lesshealthy persons.
Self-actualizers areoften misunderstood andsometimes despised byothers. On
theother hand, many aregreatly loved andattract alarge group ofadmirers andeven
worshipers, especially iftheyhavemade anotable contribution totheirbusiness or
professional field. Those healthy people studied byMaslow feltuneasy andembar -
rassed bythisveneration, preferring instead relationships thatweremutual rather 
thanone-sided.
The Democratic Character Structure
Maslow found thatallhisself-actualizers possessed democratic values. They could be
friendly andconsiderate withother people regardless ofclass, color, age,orgender, 
andinfact,theyseemed tobequite unaware ofsuperficial differences among people. 
Beyond thisdemocratic attitude, self-actualizers haveadesire andanability to
learn from anyone. Inalearning situation, theyrecognize howlittletheyknow inrela-
tiontowhat theycould know. They realize thatlesshealthy individuals havemuch to
offer them, andtheyarerespectful andevenhumble before these people. However, 
theydonotpassively accept evilbehavior inothers; rather, theyfightagainst evil
people andevilbehavior.
Discrimination Between Means and Ends
Self-actualizing people haveaclear sense ofrightandwrong conduct sandhavelittle
conflict about basic values. They settheirsights onendsrather thanmeans andhave
anunusual ability todistinguish between thetwo.What other people consider tobea
means (e.g., eating orexercising), self-actualizing people often seeasanendinitself. 
They enjoy doing something foritsownsakeandnotjustbecause itisameans to
some other end.Maslow (1970) described hisself-actualizing people bysaying that
“they canoften enjoy foritsownsakethegetting tosome place aswellasthearriving. 
Itisoccasionally possible forthem tomake outofthemost trivial androutine activity 
anintrinsically enjoyable game” (p.169).
Philosophical Sense of Humor
Another distinguishing characteristic ofself-actualizing people istheirphilosophi -
cal,nonhostile sense ofhumor. Most ofwhat passes forhumor orcomedy isbasi-
callyhostile, sexual, orscatological. Thelaugh isusually atsomeone else’s expense. 
Healthy people seelittlehumor input-down jokes. They maypoke funatthemselves, 
butnotmasochistically so.They make fewer triesathumor thanothers, buttheir
attempts serve apurpose beyond making people laugh. They amuse, inform, point out
ambiguities, provoke asmile rather thanaguffaw.
Thehumor ofaself-actualizing person isintrinsic tothesituation rather than
contrived; itisspontaneous rather thanplanned. Because itissituation-dependent, itFinal PDF to printer