Characteristics of Self-Actualizing People

• 15 tentative qualities that characterize self-actualizing people to at least some degree.
• More Efficient Perception of Reality Self-actualizing people can more easily detect phoniness in others. They can discrimi nate between the genuine and the fake not only in people but also in literature, art, and music. They are not fooled by facades and can see both positive and negative underlying traits in others that are not readily apparent to most people.
• Acceptance of Self, Others, and Nature Self-actualizing people can accept themselves the way they are.
• Spontaneity, Simplicity, and Naturalness Self-actualizing people are spontaneous, simple, and natural. They are unconven tional but not compulsively so; they are highly ethical but may appear unethical or nonconforming. They usually behave conventionally, either because the issue is not of great importance or out of deference to others. But when the situation warrants it, they can be unconventional and uncompromising even at the price of ostracism and censure.
• Problem-Centering self-actualizing people are task-oriented and concerned with problems outside themselves
• The Need for Privacy Self-actualizing people have a quality of detachment that allows them to be alone without being lonely.
• Autonomy Self-actualizing people are autonomous and depend on themselves for growth even though at some time in their past they had to have received love and security from others. No one is born autonomous, and therefore no one is completely independent of people. Autonomy can be achieved only through satisfactory relations with others
• Peak Experience As Maslow’s study of self-actualizers continued, he made the unexpected discovery that many of his people had had experiences that were mystical in nature and that somehow gave them a feeling of transcendence.
• peak experiences are quite natural and are part of human makeup. Second, people having a peak experience see the whole universe as unified or all in one piece, and they see clearly their place in that universe.
• Gemeinschaftsgefühl, Adler’s term for social interest, community feeling, or a sense of oneness with all humanity. Maslow found that his self-actualizers had a kind of caring attitude toward other people
• Profound Interpersonal Relations Related to Gemeinschaftsgefühl is a special quality of interpersonal relations that involves deep and profound feelings for individuals. Self-actualizers have a nurturant feeling toward people in general, but their close friendships are limited to only a few. They have no frantic need to be friends with everyone,