Listed below are a series of 16 characteristics of a self-actualizing
individual as described by Abraham Maslow. Self-actualizing here is defined as a
person who is in the process of fulfilling their potential. After slowly and
thoroughly reading each characteristic, rate yourself on the scale listed below
that characteristic from 1 to 10. Your results will give you both a linear and
intuitive representation of your strength and weaknesses in moving towards being
a self-actualizing person. Spend some time focusing on why you are stronger in
some characteristics than others. What is it that has given you a higher score?
What might you do to make your score higher on any given characteristic. The
highest total you can receive is 160 points. How close are you?
- The self-actualized person has more efficient perception of reality and more
comfortable relations with it. He can accept the good and the bad, the highs
and the lows, and he can tell the difference.
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9 10
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- Acceptance of self, others, and nature. The self-actualizing person sees
reality as it is and accepts responsibility for it. He is as objective as a
subjective being can be in his perceptions.
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7 8
9 10
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- The self-actualizing person has spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness.
In other words, this kind of person is not hung up on being as others think he
should be. He is a person who is capable of doing what feels good and
natural for himself simply because that’s how he feels. He does not try to
hurt others, but he has respect for what is good himself.
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3 4
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9 10
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- Problem Centering. The self-actualizing person is someone who is generally
strongly focused on problems outside of himself. He is concerned with the
problems of others and the problems of society, and is willing to work to try
to alleviate those difficulties.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- The quality for detachment, the need for privacy. For all his social mindedness,
the self-actualizing person has a need to be by himself or a need for solitude. He
enjoys times for quiet reflection and doesn’t always need people around him. He
can be with the few people that he would be close to and not need to communicate
with them. Their presence is sufficient in and of itself.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- Autonomy, independence of culture and environment. The self-actualizing
person is capable of doing things for himself and making decisions on his own.
He believes in who and what he is.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- Continued freshness or appreciation. The self-actualizing person experiences
a joy in the simple and the natural. Sunsets are always beautiful and he seeks
them out. He can still enjoy playing the games he played as a child and having
fun in some of the same ways he did many years before.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- The mystic experience, the peak experience. Self-actualizing people usually
have experiences in which they literally feel they are floating. They feel very
much in tune or at one with the world around them, and almost feel as if they
are, for a momentary period in time, part of a different reality.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- A feeling of togetherness. Self-actualizing people have a feeling for all of
mankind. They are aware and sensitive to the people that are about them.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- Interpersonal relations. Self-actualizing people have deeper and more
profound interpersonal relations than other adults. They are capable
of fusion, greater love and more perfect identification that other people could
consider possible. They generally tend to have relatively few friends, but those
relationships are deep and very meaningful.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- The democratic character structures. Self-actualizing people tend to believe
in the equal nature of human beings, that every individual has a right to say, and
that each person has his strengths and each person has his weaknesses.
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3 4
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7 8
9 10
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- Discriminating between means and ends, between good and evil. Self-actualizing
people know the difference between means and ends and good and evil and do
not twist them in a way that hurt themselves or others.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- Philosophical and unhostile sense of humor. Self-actualizing people tend to
enjoy humor. They like to laugh and like to joke, but not at the expense of others.
They are generally seen as good natured, even though they are capable of being
very serious.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- Creativeness. Self-actualizing people are capable of being highly creative.
Creativeness can be expressed in many dimensions by writing, speaking, playing,
fantasies, or whatever, but self-actualizing do have moods of being creative.
Maslow has said that a first-rate cook is better than a second-rate painter. Hence,
creativeness can be expresses in many dimensions.
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- Resistance to inculturation, the transcendence of any particular culture. Maslow
feels that the individual is above his culture in some way, that he maintains a
strong individuality and is not so absorbed that he cannot evaluate the culture
objectively in such a way that he can make decisions about what is best for him
and those he cares about .
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3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
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- The imperfections of self-actualizing people. Self-actualizing people are individuals
who are aware of the fact that they are not perfect, that they are as human as the
next person, and that there are constantly new things to learn and new ways to
grow. The self-actualizing person, although comfortable with himself, never stops striving.
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3 4
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7 8
9 10
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TOTAL SCORE ______
