ABSTRACT
Abraham Maslow started two revolutions in psychology, humanistic and transpersonal psychology. Humanistic psychology, which started as a protest movement against behaviorism and psychoanalysis, looked at the “sense of self” more than the unconscious or external behavior, and took into account the internal emotional landscape, as well as the psychology of healthy functioning (instead of being focused exclusively on neurosis and disfunction). Maslow created a theory of human motivation called the hierarchy of needs and studied people who were “extra healthy” or mature, a state he called “self-actualization.” Maslow’s investigations into healthy and even exceptional psychological functioning would pave the way for what we now call “positive psychology.” Actor exercises include analyzing our needs (and those of our characters) based on Maslow’s hierarchy model, as well as exploring our peak experiences and greatest embodiment of our own talents.
