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Is a Biological Driver Behind the Need for Self-Fulfillment?

posted by Fnord666 on Friday July 14 2017, @05:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-see dept.

AnonTechie writes:

As human beings, what drives us to higher levels of existence? Once we have satisfied the basics - food, shelter, a mate, children - then what? For many it's the idea of self-actualization, or realizing our full potential. But what does self-actualization look like? How do we know when we are doing it? Researchers recently published a new series of studies on what people think it means to be self-actualized.

But what does self-actualization look like? How do we know when we are doing it? When are we trying to realize our highest potential? Self-actualization is a popular idea -- in psychology, business, education and the multi-million dollar self-help industry. Everyone, it seems, wants to realize his or her full potential.

[...] By finding mates, keeping mates and caring for children, people might feel self-actualized, and they might also be furthering exactly those biologically relevant outcomes that lead to getting their genes into next generations.

[...] Or as Krems explained: "For real people, pursuing self-actualization might further biologically relevant goals."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170712145639.htm

[Also Covered By]: Individual perceptions of self-actualization: What motivates fulfilling one's full potential?

[Abstract]: Individual Perceptions of Self-Actualization: What Functional Motives Are Linked to Fulfilling One's Full Potential?

How would you go about achieving self-actualization ? Is self-actualization a relevant goal in this day and age ?

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Friday July 14 2017, @07:12PM (3 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 14 2017, @07:12PM (#539272) Journal

    Guys, let's talk about the what self-actualization means for college kids (attracting and retaining a sex partner) and Amazon's Mechanical Turk (persons in position of survival, for whom self-actualization is, for example: "I would just be named CEO of Microsoft.” or "I would be working in a big corporation making websites and making lots of money.")

    Conclusion: self-actualization has a biological drive.
    Oh, wow! I reckon they didn't quite find accomplished artists or professionals in the samples studied, I wonder why?

    Study 1. To assess the broad ideas outlined above, we first recruited undergraduates enrolled at a large Southwestern university. ... We collected data until the end of the given term, yielding 208 undergraduate participants... Participants’ mean age was 19.45 (SD = 2.21), and the range of ages was from 18 to 36 years old.
    ...
    Study 2. To include participants ranging in life history features (e.g., parents, older participants), we recruited U.S. participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk).... we sought to double our sample size for Study 2, yielding 517 participants (282 female, two gave no sex information). Participants’ mean age was 34.75 (SD = 12.74), and the range of ages was from 18 to 74 years old.

    Now, that's a precious pearl:

    Study 3 aims to tackle this question by examining lay perceptions of alternative types of well-being. Specifically, we explore lay perceptions of eudaimonic, hedonic, and subjective well-being,
    ...
    Participants. We recruited participants, all residing in the United States, from Amazon’s MTurk.

    Someone tell me what value has a study discussing hedonism with Mechanical Turks paid pennies/hour?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @07:16PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @07:16PM (#539276)

    What if trolling you is all I need to do to reach self actualization?

    Think about how much influence I have over you just by typing the words THINK ABOUT NIGGERS FUCKING GIRAFFES IN THE ASS.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @07:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @07:23PM (#539279)

      I've used my mod point to help you reach self actualization.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Friday July 14 2017, @07:39PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 14 2017, @07:39PM (#539290) Journal

    Original FA [researchgate.net] in its fullest glory.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford