"[1] Carl Rogers similarly wrote of "the curative force in psychotherapy – man's tendency to actualize himself, to become his potentialities ... to express and activate all the capacities of the organism.
He did not feel that self-actualization determined one's life; rather, he felt that it gave the individual a desire, or motivation to achieve budding ambitions.
"[5]: 66 This explanation emphasizes the fact that self-actualization cannot normally be reached until other lower order necessities of Maslow's hierarchy of needs are satisfied.
While Goldstein defined self-actualization as a driving force, Maslow uses the term to describe personal growth that takes place once lower order needs have essentially been met, one corollary being that, in his opinion, "self-actualisation ... rarely happens ... certainly in less than 1% of the adult population.
Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that human motivation is based on people seeking fulfillment and change through personal growth.
"[8] One of Abraham Maslow's earliest discussions of self-actualization was in his 1943 article "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review 50, pp. 370–396.
[10] As Abraham Maslow noted, the basic needs of humans must be met (e.g. food, shelter, warmth, security, sense of belonging) before a person can achieve self-actualization.
For example, someone who has inherent potential to be a great artist or teacher may never realize their talents if their energy is focused on attaining the basic needs of humans.
While the theory is generally portrayed as a fairly rigid hierarchy, Maslow noted that the order in which these needs are fulfilled does not always follow this standard progression.
The key to Maslow's writings is understanding that there are no quick routes to self-actualization: rather it is predicated on the individual having their lower deficiency needs met.
Elsewhere, however, Maslow (2011) and Carl Rogers (1980)[22] both suggested necessary attitudes and/or attributes that need to be inside an individual as a pre-requisite for self-actualization.
Among these are a real wish to be themselves, to be fully human, to fulfill themselves, and to be completely alive, as well as a willingness to risk being vulnerable and to uncover more "painful" aspects in order to learn about/grow through and integrate these parts of themselves (this has parallels with Jung's slightly similar concept of individuation).
[23][22] Maslow early noted his impression that "impulsivity, the unrestrained expression of any whim, the direct seeking for 'kicks' and for non-social and purely private pleasures...is often mislabelled self-actualization.
"[24] In this sense, "self-actualization" is little more than what Eric Berne described as the game of '"Self-Expression"...based on the dogma "Feelings are Good"'.
[25] Broader criticism from within humanistic psychology of the concept of self-actualization includes the danger that 'emphasis on the actualizing tendency...can lead to a highly positive view of the human being but one which is strangely non-relational'.
'Kurt Goldstein first introduced the concept of the organism as a whole,' which is built on the assumption that "every individual, every plant, every animal has only one inborn goal – to actualize itself as it is.
[33] Goldstein's work was in the context of Classical Adlerian psychotherapy, which also promotes this level of psychological development by utilizing the foundation of a 12-stage therapeutic model to realistically satisfy the basic needs.
[citation needed] Carl Rogers used the term "self-actualization" to describe something distinct from the concept developed by Maslow: the actualization of the individual's sense of 'self.
Self-actualization is a subset of the overall organismic actualizing tendency, and begins with the infant learning to differentiate what is "self" and what is "other" within its "total perceptual field," as their full self-awareness gradually crystallizes.
"[36] In Rogers' theory self-actualization is not the end-point; it is the process that can, in conducive circumstances (in particular the presence of positive self-regard and the empathic understanding of others), lead to the individual becoming more "fully-functioning".
Maslow early noted his impression that "impulsivity, the unrestrained expression of any whim, the direct seeking for 'kicks' and for non-social and purely private pleasures ... is often mislabelled self-actualization.
Broader criticism from within humanistic psychology of the concept of self-actualization includes the danger that 'emphasis on the actualizing tendency ... can lead to a highly positive view of the human being but one which is strangely non-relational.
[30]According to Paul Vitz, this may be connected with the charge that "Rogers and Maslow both transform self-actualization from a descriptive notion into a moral norm.