Take this Maslow Test on Self Actualization to Better View of Yourself..

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Brothers and Sisters,

I hope you enjoy this little self evaluation that will help all of us better understand what and where we can focus more of our own energy and work towards becoming a more balanced being.

Characteristics of a Self-Actualizing Person
By Dr. Richard Boyum

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?

  1. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  2. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  3. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  4. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  5. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  6. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  7. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  8. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  9. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  10. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  11. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  12. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  13. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  14. 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.1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  15. 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 .1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  1. 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.
  2. 1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10       ______
  3. TOTAL SCORE ______ 

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13 Responses to “Take this Maslow Test on Self Actualization to Better View of Yourself..”

  1. I like to think that I identify highly with the self actualizing characteristics. I am 57 years old and have had quite a few of interesting experiences. What I would say however is that experiences are very important for growth, provided they are not too debilitating. For my own part I still have a need for many ‘missed experiences’ I was incapable of finding in my youth and middle years.

    I consider the main problem in society and human development is the nature of power in all its forms such as economic, political and military. Power is necessary for societal functioning but because it goes beyond the human scale has a pevailing tendency to crush human development “for the good of all”. It will always be a problem and I suspect self actualizers also have to be good at hiding their true selves in order to survive. What do other people think?

  2. Niall Quinn Says:

    Maslow’s like loads of famous writers and scientists. Rele interesting but not quite right.I got 132.I think someone can develop and are more likely to, if they have an amazing mind.The theory’s like a classic story or something.Fiction with truth running true it.or something….no…bad metaphor.

    Well,I think saying the ‘nature of power’ is vague and ambiguous.You sound disgruntled at your own experiences(?).It’s more superiority.Those mistaken gain it in the wrong way.So the self-actualizer realizes more and has dose philosophical moments…But self-actualization is slightly ambiguous.Although basically he means people like me.What I want 2 know is; are there other people like that.Not arrogant. But people naturally logic who realize how little dey know.nd hav dose philosophical experiences….

    I rele don’t think self-actualizers hav to hide their true selves. I think true Sincerity is exciting and a real 21st century virtue.i dont rele think dat.I just don’t know how else 2 say it.I wish i never wrote dis….Wel, I just mean I have a motivational hypothesis and wen i go 2 college next year I’ll rele get 2 work on it.But, shh,dont tell ne1.

  3. I have alway’s felt an struggle in the world around me. IM 17 years old and have lived a rough life so far (not to complain i’ve grown over the experiences). I know that im not the only person in the world that have walked these shoes. I have made up my own golden rule “treat others how they haven’t treated you”. I have a great perception of reality, and i know that I’ve just starting life but ever since I was a child I’ve been tolerate of other people’s culture. I dont judge for people living a certain lifestyle. I’m a firm believer in what goes around comes around. I am dissapointed in many american citizens, they don’t care about anyone else. This capitalistic society has grown generations of consumers that dont worry about basic need’s rather than want’s. I hope for a world where people dont need to have things sugar coated, and where they can face reality.

    • Chris
      Though you do have something’s correct, capitalistic and consumerism is not the ills of our world. We have an innate nature to progress. I believe that God has given us gifts and talents that he wants us to develop to their fullest and that if every human being would aspire to achieve and then contribute to socity, and without feeling sorry for those that give up on society and demand that the government provide for them, we as a race would be advancing towards harmonizing as a species. Too often greed, self pity and distain interfere with progress. Never the less, it is the man that keeps his eye on the author of life, that can in the end hear the words that every human being from the beginning of our history longs to hear, (Well done my good and faithful servant. I came from a poor disfuctional family, I do not begrudge my father, he did as well as he could with what he had. Yet I became a Helicopter Pilot, an officer, husband, a father to a Son that has made me very proud. A college graduate, A teacher and a Leader in my community without ever seeking a handout from the government. “Seek and you shall find. Ask and you shall recieve. Knock and the door shall be oppened.”

    • chris, very well said. i agree with a lot of what you said.

      christopher david levy.

  4. Corey Chambers Says:

    “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo

    I say this to my young friend of 17, a fellow pioneer of the new age. There is a core of Truth breathing, brilliant as a star, beating as our heart within us. It is what gives us the values and such strongly felt opinions we champion. Yet these opinions are like the fallen leaves as our Spirit hacks its way through the jungle of mind. The thoughts and tendencies of yesterday compete with the compassion and undertsanding making its way through our conceptions.

    Give time to hear the voice of your passion, my friend, for it is much more full and complete than it appears at first glance. The heartfelt drives and beliefs you’ve unearthed are the first fruits of a world of new life. Follow their smell to the unmovable core of Virtue within.

    In Love
    Corey

  5. Rick Thomas Says:

    I took the test about seven years ago when I and a fellow government employee built a leadership course for fifty four executive civil servants. I, not and executive, rated the highest of the fifty four. My boss, who made me take the course along with the group asked me if I had cheated or what was going on. I told her: Look, I’m retiring in two years, I’m an artist who is going to travel the world and I just don’t give a damn anymore. Maybe that is why I got such a high rating.I don’t know, but I sure felt good on my last day of work and as I headed to Mexico in my open Jeep.

    • You Sir are self actualized for now. But be mindful my friend, it comes in phases and stages and we at anytime can get derailed and start anew with the four basic needs.

  6. FelineGrace Says:

    It says that I’m pretty high up there…but I don’t feel like that high of a self-actualizing person. I don’t like to accept the bad in people, and although I don’t try to force them to change, I still encourage them to not do something stupid like smoke, drink, or get a tatoo, ect. So, hmmm. I need to work on numbers: 1, 2, 8, and 12.

  7. Joe Shmoe Says:

    I am in college and I believe that to be the most important time in peoples lives. I went to college far away and was unable to go home on the weekends, I was completely stranded. But that aloneness allowed me to think and realize. It allows you to think on subjects like why am I here, what am I doing, and concepts of things like good and bad.

    The most important thing I have realized is the idea of our consciousness, and that because I can think it and feel it I must follow it. Because we have dreams and aspirations we must follow them and work towards becoming them. We must ask questions and strive for understanding. It is about becoming the best we can be and ignoring petty distractions.

    Is it not our basic instincts that get us in trouble and our knowledge and logic that keep us on the strait and narrow? Is evolution of thought that which has evolved us from monkeys to humans bad? Is the human race headed towards continued higher learning and thought or will we wined up killing ourselves? I see the idea of self-actualization to have no negative qualities and I therefore strive for it.

    And I promise I’m not this big of a space out in real life. I am a business major who just likes to think about stuff.

  8. I am a student of Graduate School of Education under the program Master of Arts in Nursing. I am currently enrolled in thesis writing and I am interested in conducting a study about the levels of self-actualization in elderly. In this connection, I would like to seek help from you that I may use the questionnaire in my study. I would really appreciate if you can share the interpretation or the website where I can get it. Thanks very much!

  9. Surely there is a more detailed questionaire than this somewhere.

    Further, 3 interesting qualities of self-actualizing people put forth by Wayne Dyer who said he got them straight from Maslow (he knew him): http://theskooloflife.com/wordpress/self-actualization-in-the-maslow-hierarchy/
    Good stuff.

    Good luck 😉

  10. […] ideal to aim for. But how do we know if we are getting there? This blogger has attempted a self test to see how we are going in our quest for self actualisation. I think it is well worth taking the test just for our own self interest. But also, it is useful in […]

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