Autonomy: A Personality Trait

If we look at Maslow Hierarchy needs, he looks at human needs he believed that love and belonging are very important to our self- esteem. If these needs are not met we may not meet self- actualization. (Milliken & Honeycutt)

Humanistic conceptions of personality focus on our own natural progression towards achieving one’s full potential, having a holistic approach. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) believes that growth and behaviour is motivated by a number of needs ranging from basic to psychological needs. He uses a hierarchy, commonly depicted as a five-tier pyramid in which the bottom 4 levels represent our deficit needs, shown in figure 1 below. Once the individual’s physiological needs are met, they may move to the next and so on. After all deficit needs have been met, an individual is capable of achieving self-actualisation. According to Maslow, fulfilling this need means reaching one’s highest potential and truly understanding one’s self.

With these few thoughts in mind Abraham Maslow made up a hierarchy of needs. (Boeree, Page 2) The hierarchy of needs has five levels: the bottom one is Physiological Needs, the next one up is Safety needs, the next one is Belonging needs, the next one is Esteem Needs and finally the last one is Self-actualization needs. As Maslow thought he “saw human beings needs arranged like a ladder”, the most basic needs at the bottom and at the top the need to fulfill yourself. (pbs.org, Page 1) Below is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Cambridge (2016) defines autonomy as the ability to make a decision without any influence from any individual. Similarly, it is the freedom for someone to exercise their own will or action (Dictionary.com 2016).

Even before I had discovered my identity, I began moving into this intimacy versus isolation stage. At this stage individuals typically move towards “life experiences involving the development of a deeper connection, or intimacy, with another person”(Swartwood, p. 85). When it comes to developing these relationships, people must sacrifice a portion of their independence, which a portion of individuals are unwilling to do. Swartwood (p. 85) states that “resisting this loss of independence [results] in frequent break-ups and a failure to maintain a mutually loving bond with another.” This leads to isolation and loss of quality of life.

For Participant 1 (P1), experience of loneliness followed by a loss of an attachment figure who he could trust and feel safe. This sense of safety is related to both his trust in others that they would be honest and stay with him. He values sharing and dialogue with trusting other(s) as he reflects on his life tasks and in developing a solid sense of self. His value in making a good decision for himself as well as people under his care is achieved through interactions with trusting others. A lack of those trusting others, it led him to feel alone despite of his acknowledgement of presence/availability of other people. His loneliness was compounded as he found himself needing cope with difficult situations alone. He places an emphasis on the

Abraham Maslow’s theory, Theory of Hierarchy Needs, is a motivational theory in psychology that has a tier model of the five things a human needs. Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. The five stages, from bottom to top, include Physiological needs( food, water, warmth, and rest), the second stage: Safety Needs ( security and safety), third stage: Belongingness and love needs ( intimate relationships and friends), the fourth stage: Esteem Needs (prestige and feeling of accomplishment), and finally the last stage: Self-actualization ( achieving one’s full potential, including creative potential). The five stage model can be divided into

Through the use of this paper the agreement between Maslow and Rogers when it comes to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs will be shown. It will also focus on the humanistic and biological approaches to personality. According to Orana (2009), Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory that is considered to still be valid today in the areas of management training, personal development, and the understanding of the motivation of humans. This theory was first introduced in the book Personality and Motivation which was

Autonomy – respecting another’s right to self-determine their own course of action, supporting their decision making

Autonomy is often cited as a supporting ethical consideration when discussing PAS and is defined as “the quality or state of being independent, free, and self-directing” (Autonomy, n.d.). Western Europeans and

Decision-making would be so much easier if we all maintained our autonomy in making the decision, however, because our decisions do not always abide by autonomistic values paternalistic intervention must occur. The purpose of autonomy is to allow us to choose to do things that affect only ourselves and does not negatively affect those around us. Unfortunately, many choices do, whether we know it or not, involve those in our environment. Paternalism is in place to protect the rights that are in our best interest and that will benefit us in the long run. Paternalistic intervention occurs when decisions are no longer in our best interests. If the decision

As stated further by Maslow, there are five levels in the need hierarchy, which are physiological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization and they are very often of unconscious nature and can be at certain times reserved. Unfortunately, there are not too many who are capable of reaching self-actualization and the ones who will are very creative and acknowledge the world very accurately. An individual however is always aware of the fact that he or she has possesses a choice and therefore he or she has the ability to influence their behavior and personality at anytime (Cloninger, 2008).

If one was to achieve autonomy then they would have a feeling of confidence, but if those that don’t achieve autonomy doubt their own abilities and have a sense of inadequacy (Cherry, 2011). The effects of autonomy can also come back and haunt a person an adult, even if they achieved it as a child. One of the most common scenarios would be when someone works for a company and their boss does not allow them to take pride in their work or make decision by themselves (Inglish). This lack in autonomy that is forced upon them is one of the most common reasons why a person leaves their job (Inglish).

Social needs acquired by such employees include love, acceptance and belonging. They must feel accepted and a sense of worthiness before they can work up to fulfilling other, more difficult needs. The esteem level on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is the need for appreciation and respect. After the other levels of needs have been fulfilled, the esteem needs begin to play a prominent role in motivating behaviour. Theory Y employees will be motivated to gain respect in their organisation by achieving company objectives and by showing management their skills and abilities. The top need desired by such employees is self-actualisation. Maslow himself said;

We are probably all familiar with Abraham Maslow 's Theory of Hierarchical Needs; Psychological Needs, Safety Needs, Belongingness and Love Needs, Esteem Needs, Need to Know and Understand, Aesthetic Needs, and Self-Actualization Needs. And we probably all remember that according to Maslow 's theory, needs that are in the lower hierarchy must be at least partially met before a person will try to satisfy higher-level needs. Although ultimately our goal is to aid students in self-actualizing or becoming "all that one can be," they must first achieve the level of Need to Know and Understand.