Characteristics of Self-Actualization

Self-actualizing people show a high degree of

• Awareness, perception, and realistic orientation.
• Acceptance of self, others, and the natural world.
• Spontaneity, naturalness, and authenticity.
• Autonomy, self-directedness, and resistance to conformity and are largely free of the need to impress others or to be liked by everyone.
• Intrinsic motivation, and especially meta-motivations (e.g., fulfillment of life's mission or purpose, self-knowledge, growth toward unity and synergy).
• Desire for unity, oneness, integration, and increased identification with humanity.
• Devotion to a cause, a task, or a calling and view work and play as one.
• Identification with universal values (beauty, justice, truth) that are important to well-being.
• Capability for rich emotional reaction and freshness of appreciation.
• Frequency of peak experiences (moments of highest happiness or fulfillment) and mystic, natural, or cosmic experiences.
• Capability for deep empathy and profound relationships with others, and a great ability to love and to enjoy sexuality.
• Need for privacy on occasion for periods of intense concentration.
• Creative, less constricted thought processes.
• Humor that is not hostile.
• Democratic character structure.
• Wondering about life: treating each day as new.

Source: Adapted from The Farther Reacher of Human Nature, by A. Maslow, 1971, New York: Viking.