ABSTRACT
The concept of self-actualization has been discussed by many personality theorists, among them K. Goldstein, A. H. Maslow, and C. R. Rogers. One of the noticeable characteristics of self-actualization is the production of interesting cognitive structures which lead to renewal of the environment, make the environment interesting, and open up new possibilities in "familiar" situations. Studies of learning under conditions of satiation, of exploratory and "play" behavior, of alternation behavior and of "exteroceptive motivation" have all seemed to converge to invalidate the drive-reduction concept both in its specific and in its generalized forms. In terms of Sophie Fox's results and formulation, adience might be viewed as a tendency to behave in ways resulting in closer matches of acute and chronic activation. The client in psychotherapy is anxious and he almost never comes to psychotherapy with self-actualization as a goal. The most radical sensory deprivation which can be inflicted upon an organism is that accomplished by deafferentiation.
