3Not all neurotic individuals feel unsafe. Neurosis may have at its core a thwarting of the affection and esteem needs in a person who is generally safe.
4For further details see (12) and (16, Chap. 5).
5Whether or not this particular desire is universal we do not know. The crucial question, especially important today, is “Will men who are enslaved and dominated inevitably feel dissatisfied and rebellious?” We may assume on the basis of commonly known clinical data that a man who has known true freedom (not paid for by giving up safety and security but rather built on the basis of adequate safety and security) will not willingly or easily allow his freedom to be taken away from him. But we do not know that this is true for the person born into slavery. The events of the next decade should give us our answer. See discussion of this problem in (5).
6Perhaps the desire for prestige and respect from others is subsidiary to the desire for self-esteem or confidence in oneself. Observation of children seems to indicate that this is so, but clinical data give no clear support for such a conclusion.
7For more extensive discussion of normal self-esteem, as well as for reports of various researches, see (11).
8Clearly creative behavior, like painting, is like any other behavior in having multiple, determinants. It may be seen in ‘innately creative’ people whether they are satisfied or not, happy or unhappy, hungry or sated. Also it is clear that creative activity may be compensatory, ameliorative or purely economic. It is my impression (as yet unconfirmed) that it is possible to distinguish the artistic and intellectual products of basically satisfied people from those of basically unsatisfied people by inspection alone. In any case, here too we must distinguish, in a dynamic fashion, the overt behavior itself from its various motivations or purposes.
9I am aware that many psychologists md psychoanalysts use the term ‘motivated’ and ‘determined’ synonymously, e. g., Freud. But I consider this an obfuscating usage. Sharp distinctions are necessary for clarity of thought, and precision in experimentation.
10To be discussed fully in a subsequent publication.
11The interested reader is referred to the very excellent discussion of this point in Murray’s Explorations in Personality (15).
12Note that acceptance of this theory necessitates basic revision of the Freudian theory.
13If we were to use the word ‘sick’ in this way, we should then also have to face squarely the relations of man to his society. One clear implication of our definition would be that (1) since a man is to be called sick who is basically thwarted, and (2) since such basic thwarting is made possible ultimately only by forces outside the individual, then (3) sickness in the individual must come ultimately from sickness in the society. The ‘good’ or healthy society would then be defined as one that permitted man’s highest purposes to emerge by satisfying all his prepotent basic needs.
References
1. ADLER, A. Social interest. London: Faber & Faber, 1938.
2. CANNON, W. B. Wisdom of the body. New York: Norton, 1932.
3. FREUD, A. The ego and the mechanisms of defense. London: Hogarth, 1937.
4. FREUD, S. New introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. New York: Norton, 1933.
5. FROMM, E. Escape from freedom. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1941.
6. GOLDSTEIN, K. The organism. New York: American Book Co., 1939.
7. HORNEY, K. The neurotic personality of our time. New York: Norton, 1937.
8. KARDINER, A. The traumatic neuroses of war. New York: Hoeber, 1941.
9. LEVY, D. M. Primary affect hunger. Amer. J. Psychiat., 1937, 94, 643-652.
10. MASLOW, A. H. Conflict, frustration, and the theory of threat. J. abnorm. (soc.) Psychol., 1943, 38, 81-86.
11. ----------. Dominance, personality and social behavior in women. J. soc. Psychol., 1939, 10, 3-39.
12. ----------. The dynamics of psychological security-insecurity. Character & Pers., 1942, 10, 331-344.
13. ----------. A preface to motivation theory. Psychosomatic Med., 1943, 5, 85-92.
14. ----------. & MITTLEMANN, B. Principles of abnormal psychology. New York: Harper & Bros., 1941.
15. MURRAY, H. A., et al. Explorations in Personality. New York: Oxford University Press, 1938.
16. PLANT, J. Personality and the cultural pattern. New York: Commonwealth Fund, 1937.
17. SHIRLEY, M. Children’s adjustments to a strange situation. J. abrnorm. (soc.) Psychol., 1942, 37, 201-217.
18. TOLMAN, E. C. Purposive behavior in animals and men. New York: Century, 1932.
19. WERTHEIMER, M. Unpublished lectures at the New School for Social Research.
20. YOUNG, P. T. Motivation of behavior. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1936.
21. ----------. The experimental analysis of appetite. Psychol. Bull., 1941, 38, 129-164.
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