The Contribution of a Home to Self-Actualization and Psychology

Humanism is a psychological perspective that emphasises the study of the whole person. Humanistic psychologists look at human behaviour not only through the eyes of the observer but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving. In other words, it tries to give a reason or justify why people are behaving in such way. There is a reason why certain people has this vision of marrying by the age of 24, or why they want that house and lot for sale in Cagayan de Oro, or why someone donates too much to charity.

Self-actualization

The concept of self-actualization is part of the Motivational Theory in Humanism. It dwells on the concept of “what a man can be, he must be.” In an attempt to understand what motivates people, Abraham Maslow has come up with a theory that people possess a set of motivation system to achieve a state of reward or unconscious desire. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid with the largest, most fundamental levels of needs at the bottom and the need for self-actualization on top. He has stated in 1943 that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behaviour. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us, and so on until it reaches the level of self-actualization. These levels of needs refer to what a person's full potential is and the realisation of that potential. Maslow describes this level as the desire to accomplish everything that one can, to become the most that one can be. Maslow also acknowledged the likelihood that the different levels of motivation could occur at any time in the human mind, but he focused on identifying the basic types of motivation and the order in which they should be met.

Safety Needs -- 

In Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, it is believed that once a person has fulfilled their basic physiological needs (food, water, warmth, and rest), he will try to satisfy his Safety Needs. It is believed we are wired to behave in such a way that we consider our safety in deciding which place to settle.

Say a house and lot for sale can be appealing or not for different people depending on their set of safety needs. Does choosing the location to make you safe from any physical harm? Can that house protect you from natural disasters? And in some extreme cases, can it protect you from war? Can it serve as a haven to protect you from any psychological abuse, say family abuse?

The latter is mostly a question that doesn’t necessarily concern location choice of a home; trauma association to a location can be a factor in satisfying safety needs.

While safety needs are also comprised of other factors such as financial security and health and well-being, this doesn’t take away that a home, in the context of motivational theory, plays a big role to self-actualization.