Abstract
Self-actualisation is a central theme in many accounts of well-being. Yet theories of how self-actualisation is prosecuted and how exactly it leads to well-being are relatively underdeveloped. This paper addresses this shortfall by explicating a novel theory of self-actualisation—the coalescence of being. The theory is founded on insights from existential philosophy, but these are built upon substantially by integrating recent ideas from psychology, notably self-determination theory, self-discrepancy theory and terror-management theory. The central mechanism of coalescence is the individual trying to harmonise their actual-, ideal- and ought-selves. They do this by positing their ideal-self and ought-self as a goal and then living in accordance with this aspiration. When their actual self is disclosed to them in their actions or in the assessment of others they can gauge their progress towards this goal. Success brings positive affect, while failure gives rise to negative affect. Introspecting upon these signals helps the individual to better understand whether their goals are self-congruent or need adjusting. Iterative recalibration of the three self-constructs on the basis of this introspection accelerates the coalescence process. The final part of the paper analyses how coalescence leads to well-being as defined by a range of theories of well-being.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Norton should be given credit for trying to ground his theory in the work of contemporary developmental psychologists, notably Piaget, but the science has moved on since.
“Tight” cultures are those that have strong (extensive, palpable, frequently practiced, omnipresent) norms and a low tolerance for deviant behaviour, whereas “loose” cultures have weak norms and a high tolerance for deviant behaviour. Agrarian communities typically have tighter cultures than metropolitan ones. See Gelfand et al. (2011) for a review of theory and cross-country evidence.
Norton (1976) also wrote extensively of the importance of integrity for self-actualisation and eudaimonia. Perhaps his most emphatic statement in this regard is the following (ibid, p. 193):
The actualisation of personhood is progressive, requiring, in Nietzsche’s words: “long obedience in the same direction”. To re-choose is to annihilate all accomplished actualisation stemming from original choice; it is a re-beginning out of a lapse into indeterminacy. As such it poses to the life in question the spectre of final indeterminacy as a life without identity or necessity—a life that in the true meaning of the term has failed to exist.
There are curious parallels here with coalescence argumentation (Gilbert 1995). This involves debate partners with differing opinions exploring each other’s positions in order to find common ground. This common ground can then be used to affect “coalescence, a joining or merging of divergent positions, by forming the basis for a mutual investigation of non-conflictual options that might otherwise have remained unconsidered” (ibid, p. 837). In this example and the coalescence of being more generally, the debate partners are two of the multiple selves that inhabit an individual. Some shock to the individual’s value system instigates the debate, in this case the discovery of the homosexuality of the woman’s daughter. The multiple selves must then explore common ground in an attempt to coalescence towards a relatively nonconflictual option.
Aristotle used Telos to mean end or purpose.
References
Adler, M. (2013). Happiness surveys and public policy: What’s the use? Duke Law Journal,62(8), 1509–1601.
Alexandrova, A. (2017). A philosophy for the science of well-being. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Angner, E. (2012). A course in behavioural economics. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Angyal, A. (1941). Foundations for a science of personality. New York, NY: Commonwealth Fund.
Annas, J. (1998). Virtue and eudaimonism. Social Philosophy and Policy,15(1), 37–55.
Annas, J. (2004). Happiness as achievement. Daedulus,133(2), 44–51.
Annas, J. (2011). Intelligent virtue. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Aristotle. (1999). Nichomachean ethics (W. Ross, Trans.). Kitchener, ON: Batoche Books.
Baard, P., Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (2004). Intrinsic need satisfaction: A motivational basis of performance and well-being in two work settings. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,34(10), 2045–2068.
Bargh, J., & Chartrand, T. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being. American Psychologist,54(7), 462–479.
Baumeister, R., & Leary, M. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529.
Besser-Jones, L. (2015). Eudaimonism. In G. Fletcher (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of philosophy of well-being (pp. 187–196). London: Routledge.
Carver, C. (2012). Self-awareness. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 50–68). New York, NY: Guildford.
Carver, C., Lawrence, J., & Scheier, M. (1999). Self-discrepancies and affect: Incorporating the role of feared selves. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,25(7), 783–792.
Chen, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Beyers, W., Boone, L., et al. (2015). Basic psychological need satisfaction, need frustration, and need strength across four cultures. Motivation and Emotion,39(2), 216–236.
Church, A., Katigbak, M., Locke, K., Zhang, H., et al. (2013). Need satisfaction and well-being: Testing self-determination theory in eight cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology,44(4), 507–534.
Csikszentmihaly, M. (1992). Flow. New York, NY: Harper and Row.
De Beauvoir, S. (1947/2002). The ethics of ambiguity (B. Frechtman, Trans.). New York, NY: Kensington.
DeCharms, R. (1968). Personal causation: The internal affective determinants of behaviour. New York, NY: Academic Press.
Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. New York, NY: Plenum.
Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behaviour. Psychological Inquiry,11(4), 227–268.
Deci, E., Ryan, R., Gagné, M., Leone, D., Usunov, J., & Kornazheva, B. (2001). Need satisfaction, motivation, and well-being in the work organizations of a former Eastern Bloc Country: A cross-cultural study of self-determination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,27(9), 930–942.
Diener, E., Lucas, R., Schimmack, W., & Helliwell, R. (2009). Well-being for public policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Doris, J. (2002). Lack of character: Personality and moral behaviour. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Dostoevsky, F. (1880/1994). The Karamazov brothers (I. Avsey, Trans.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Engeser, S. (Ed.). (2012). Advances in flow research. Dordrecht: Springer.
Fletcher, G. (Ed.). (2015). The Routledge handbook of philosophy of well-being. London: Routledge.
Fleurbaey, M., & Blanchet, D. (2013). Beyond GDP: Measuring welfare and assessing sustainability. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M. (2004). A multifaceted perspective on existential meanings, manifestations, and consequences of the fear of personal death. In J. Greenberg, S. Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of experimental existential psychology (pp. 54–70). New York, NY: Guildford Press.
Frankl, V. (1946/2008). Man’s search for meaning. London: Rider.
Fromm, E. (1941/1994). Escape from freedom (S. Sloan, Trans.). New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co.
Gelfand, M., Raver, J., Nishii, L., Leslie, L., et al. (2011). Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study. Science,332(6033), 1100–1104.
Gilbert, M. (1995). Coalescent argumentation. Argumentation,9(5), 837–852.
Greenberg, J., Koole, S., & Pyszczynski, T. (Eds.). (2004). Handbook of experimental existential psychology. New York, NY: Guildford Press.
Greene, J. (2014). Moral tribes: Emotion, reason and the gap between us and them. London: Atlantic Books.
Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail. Psychological Review,108(4), 814–834.
Haidt, J. (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. New York, NY: Penguin.
Harter, S. (2012). Emerging self-processes during childhood and adolescence. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 680–715). New York, NY: Guildford.
Hatemi, P., Medland, S., Klemmensen, R., Oskarron, Sven, et al. (2014). Genetic influences on political ideologies: Twin analysis of 19 measures of political ideologies from five democracies and genome-wide findings from three populations. Behavioural Genetics,44(3), 282–294.
Hausman, D. (2015). Valuing health: Well-being, freedom and suffering. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Haybron, D. (2001). Happiness and pleasure. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research,62(3), 501–528.
Haybron, D. (2008). The pursuit of unhappiness: The elusive psychology of well-being. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Haybron, D., & Tiberius, V. (2015). Well-being policy: What standard of well-being? Journal of the American Philosophical Association,1(4), 712–733.
Higgins, T. (1987). Self-discrepancy theory: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review,94(3), 319–340.
Higgins, T. (1991). Development of self-regulatory and self-evaluative processes: Costs, benefits and tradeoffs. In M. Gunnar & A. Sroufe (Eds.), Self-processes and development: The Minnesota symposium on child development (Vol. 23, pp. 125–166). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hixon, J., & Swann, W. (1993). When does introspection bear fruit? Self-reflection, self-insight and interpersonal choices. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,64(1), 34–43.
Howell, R., Chenot, D., Hill, G., & Howell, C. (2011). Momentary happiness: The role of psychological need satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies,12(1), 1–15.
Ilardi, B., Leone, D., Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (1993). Employee and supervisor ratings of motivation: Main effects and discrepancies associated with job satisfaction and adjustment in a factory setting. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,23(21), 1789–1805.
Jang, H., Reeve, J., Ryan, R., & Kim, A. (2009). Can self-determination theory explain what underlies the productive, satisfying learning experiences of collectivistically oriented Korean students? Journal of Educational Psychology,101(3), 644–661.
Johnson, E., Vincent, N., & Ross, L. (1997). Self-deception versus self-esteem in buffering the negative effects of failure. Journal of Research in Personality,31(3), 385–405.
Kahneman, D. (1999). Objective happiness. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwartz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 3–25). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York, NY: Penguin.
Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,65(2), 410–422.
Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (1996). Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,22(3), 280–287.
Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (2001). Be careful what you wish for: Optimal functioning and the relative attainment of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. In P. Schmuck & K. Sheldon (Eds.), Life goals and well-being: Towards a positive psychology of human striving (pp. 116–131). Ashland, OH: Hogrefe and Huber.
Kaufmann, W. (1991). Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. New York, NY: Penguin.
Kraut, R. (1979). Two conceptions of happiness. Philosophical Review,88(2), 167–197.
LeBar, M. (2013). The value of living well. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Locke, E., & Latham, G. (1990). A theory of goal-setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Marcus, G. (2004). The birth of the mind: How a tiny number of genes create the complexity of human thought. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Maslow, A. (1964). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review,50(4), 370–396.
McGregor, I. (2004). Zeal, identity and meaning: Going to extremes to be one self. In J. Greenberg, S. Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of existential psychology (pp. 182–199). New York: Guildford.
Morf, C., & Mischel, W. (2012). The self as a psycho-social dynamic processing system: Towards a converging science of selfhood. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 21–49). New York, NY: Guildford.
Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2011). Flow theory and research. In S. Lopez & C. Snyder (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (pp. 195–206). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Neher, A. (1991). Maslow’s theory of motivation: A critique. Journal of Humanistic Psychology,31(3), 89–112.
Nietzsche, F. (1885, 1990). The antichrist (R. J. Hollingdale, Trans.). New York, NY: Penguin.
Nietzsche, F. (1886/2000). Beyond good and evil: Prelude to a philosophy of the future (W. Kaufmann, Trans.). New York, NY: Modern Library.
Nietzsche, F. (1887/1974). The gay science (2nd ed., W. Kaufmann, Trans.). New York, NY: Vintage Books.
Nietzsche, F. (1888/2000). The genealogy of morals: A polemic (W. Kaufmann, Trans.). New York, NY: Modern Library.
Nietzsche, F. (1889/1990). The twilight of the idols: Or how to philosophise with a hammer (R. Hollingdale, Trans.). New York, NY: Penguin.
Norton, D. (1976). Personal destinies: A philosophy of ethical individualism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Nussbaum, M. (2000). Women and human development: The capabilities approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
OECD. (2013). Guidelines for measuring subjective well-being. Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Oyserman, D., Elmore, K., & Smith, G. (2012). Self, self-concept and identity. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 21–49). New York, NY: Guildford.
Pyszczynski, T., Greengerg, J., & Arendt, J. (2012). Freedom versus fear revisited: An integrative analysis of the dynamics of the defense and growth of self. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 378–404). New York, NY: Guildford Press.
Rich, G. (2013). Finding flow: The history and future of a positive psychology concept. In J. Sinnott (Ed.), Positive psychology: Advances in understanding adult motivation (pp. 43–60). Dordrecht: Springer.
Russell, D. (2012). Happiness for humans. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ryan, R. (1993). Agency and organization: Intrinsic motivation, autonomy and the self in psychological development. In J. Jacobs (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 40, pp. 1–56). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Ryan, R., & Deci, E. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York, NY: Guildford.
Ryan, R., & Huta, V. (2009). Wellness as healthy functioning or wellness as happiness: The importance of eudaimonic thinking. Journal of Positive Psychology,4, 202–204.
Ryff, C. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,57(6), 1069–1081.
Ryff, C., & Singer, B. (2008). Know thyself and become what you are: A eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies,9(1), 13–39.
Santaniello, W. (1994). Nietzsche, God, and the Jews: His critique of Judeo-Christianity in relation to the Nazi myth. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Sartre, J., & De Beauvoir, S. (1946/1960). Existentialism is a humanism (Walter Kaufman, Trans.). In Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre (pp. 287–311). New York, NY: Meridian Books.
Seligman, M. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Melbourne: William Heineman Australia.
Shapiro, D. (1981). Autonomy and rigid character. New York: Basic Books.
Sheldon, K. (2002). The self-concordance model of healthy goal striving: When personal goals correctly represent the person. In E. Deci & R. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 65–86). Rochester, NY: Rochester University Press.
Sheldon, K., Abad, N., Ferguson, Y., Gunz, A., et al. (2009). Persistent pursuit of need-satisfying goals leads to increased happiness: A 6-month experimental longitudinal study. Motivation and Emotions,34(1), 39–48.
Sheldon, K., Elliot, A., Ryan, R., Chirkov, V., et al. (2004). Self-concordance and subjective well-being in four cultures. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology,35(2), 209–223.
Sheldon, K., & Kasser, T. (2008). Psychological threat and extrinsic goal striving. Motivation and Emotion,32(1), 37–45.
Sheldon, K., & Krieger, L. (2014). Service job lawyers are happier than money job lawyers, despite their lower income. Journal of Positive Psychology,90(3), 219–226.
Showers, C., & Zeigler-Hill, V. (2012). Organisation of self-knowledge: Features, functions and flexibility. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 105–123). New York, NY: Guildford.
Simmel, G. (1903/1950). The metropolis and mental life (K. Wolff, Trans.). New York, NY: Free Press.
Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2004). The cultural animal: Twenty years of terror management theory and research. In J. Greenberg, S. Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of experimental existential psychology (pp. 13–35). New York, NY: Guildford Press.
Stone, A., & Mackie, C. (Eds.). (2013). Subjective well-being: Measuring well-being, suffering and other dimensions of experience. National research council report. Washington DC: The National Academies Press.
Swann, W., & Buhrmester, M. (2012). Self-verification: The search for coherence. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 405–424). New York, NY: Guildford.
Tiberius, V. (2008). The reflective life: Living wisely within our limits. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
von Franz, M. (1964). The process of individuation. In C. Jung (Ed.), Man and his symbols (pp. 158–254). New York, NY: Dell Publishing.
Wallace, H., & Tice, D. (2012). Reflect appraisal through a 21st-century looking glass. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 124–140). New York, NY: Guildford.
Waterman, A. (1990). Personal expressiveness: Philosophical and psychological foundations. Journal of Mind and Behaviour,11(1), 47–74.
Waterman, A. (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: Contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,64(4), 678–691.
Waterman, A. (2008). Reconsidering happiness: A eudaimonist’s persective. The Journal of Positive Psychology,3(4), 234–252.
Waterman, A. (Ed.). (2013). The best within us: Positive psychology perspectives on eudaimonia. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Wong, V. (Ed.). (2010). The human quest for meaning: Theories, research and applications. London: Routledge.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Nicolas Lema Habash, Richard Ryan and 2 anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions.
Funding
This work was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fabian, M. The Coalescence of Being: A Model of the Self-Actualisation Process. J Happiness Stud 21, 1487–1508 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00141-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00141-7