Maslow Case Study Essay

Words: 890
Pages: 4

Maslow Case Study
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1) Cindy’s first year of life was a very trying one, and according to Maslow, the primary needs on her hierarchy were not being sufficiently met. The first need is to have physiological needs satisfied for sheer survival purposes, such as receiving adequate food, water, elimination and sleep. Maslow explained that for a person not receiving these things, their idea of a perfect place would be one where there is plenty of food and water and they can sleep and eliminate whenever they want; if they had all of these things they would believe that they would be perfectly content and happy. For many, these needs are easily satisfied, but for Cindy this was not the case. The physician who performed Cindy’s checkups noted

By the time she was living with this family for six months, she had caught up to the development of children her age. Once Cindy’s biological mother overdosed and died, the option for adoption was there and the new family happily accepted Cindy into there life permanently. The outcome of all of this was that Cindy became a happy, confident child on the same level as other children her age.

3) According to Maslow, if Cindy were to actualize, the type of values she would have to embrace would include an acceptance of herself, others and of nature in general, which would allow her not to feel a sense of anxiety, shame or guilt due to her situation as a child. Also, autonomy, appreciation for life events, creativity from an openness to experience and spontaneity, an unhostile sense of humor and a strong ethical sense would all be values Cindy would have to embrace to be a self-actualizer. There are other characteristics that Maslow listed as belonging to these types o people, but these have a more immediate relationship to Cindy and her upbringing. Her early childhood would defiantly not give Cindy the predisposition to have these values, however, her fortunate situation in which she was later adopted by a loving and providing family would be able to give her the other needs she craves to reach