Toward a Fourth Force

Maslow saw Third Force Psychology as transitional; envisioning a Fourth Force, which he called "Transpersonal Psychology" (Maslow, 1968, pp. iii-iv). Transpersonal psychology would integrate states of consciousness tapped by religion into psychology that integrates the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the person to transcend the self.

Maslow felt he had contaminated the definition of self-actualization by including elements that belonged to a higher level of human consciousness. To be self-actualized, an individual seeks fulfillment by developing personal potential. While his definition of self-actualization included the human capacity to go beyond the self, he recognized that this transcendence was something different from self-actualization. Maslow proposed a "self-transcendence" level to explain how an individual seeks to 1) transcend self to further a cause, like service to others, devotion to an ideal, or unity with the divine, and 2) commune beyond the boundaries of self through peak experiences such as mystical, spiritual, and natural experiences (Koltko-Rivera, 2006).

Koltko-Rivera (2006) declares most textbook representations of Maslow are "seriously inadequate" (p. 306), adding that "It is time to change the textbook accounts of Maslow's hierarchy of needs" (p. 313) by including in contemporary accounts Maslow's later work on his holistic-dynamic hierarchy of needs, as shown in Table 1 (p. 303):

In addition to presenting Maslow's full theory by adding Self-Transcendence, the following suggestions might provide a more correct understanding of Maslow's vision: (a) Identify Maslow's needs theory as Maslow's Dynamic-Holistic Hierarchy of Needs Theory, not by simply "hierarchy" or "Maslow's Pyramid"; (b) Discontinue using a pyramid as a metaphor for Maslow's Dynamic-Holistic Hierarchy of Needs Theory and adapt the dynamic bar chart suggested by Maslow (1987) or the dynamic wave suggested by Koltko-Rivera (2007), and; (c) Start considering Maslow's statements on drives and needs being dynamic, holistic, and flexible, rather than the tendency to rely on misinterpretations that condemn the rigidity of a pyramid that Maslow did not seem to use.