Abstract
Chapter 5 argues for the reality of the unconscious and its role in self-actualization and ego transcendence in human development. Discussion focuses on Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory on the development of personality, the theories of Neo-Freudian revisionists with emphasis on women’s development, Erik Erikson on psychosocial development, Charlotte Bühler on self-realization, Carl Rogers on becoming a person, Rollo May on the courage to create, Abraham Maslow on the biological rooting of the value-life, and Carl Jung on the process of individuation at midlife. Healthy personalities are actively motivated to maintain homeostasis to fulfill biological and psychoemotional needs and spiritual values. Existential-phenomenological and humanistic-transpersonal perspectives focus on what it means to be fully, experientially human. They are concerned with the individual’s creation of meaning, actualization of values, and potential for self-realization. They embrace a wider view of personality than mainstream trait theories because they acknowledge a growth-oriented dimension of the person.
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Gordon, S. (2022). Self-Actualization. In: The Mind-Brain Continuum. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10059-8_5
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