Effects on Self-Actualization of Paperbacks about Psychological Self-Help

1987 ◽  
Vol 60 (3_part_2) ◽  
pp. 1243-1246
Author(s):  
James J. Forest
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Treatment Condition ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Personal Orientation Inventory ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Treatment Conditions ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Personal Orientation ◽  
Time Competence

Self-help psychology books contain claims that they can help individuals solve personal and social problems. However, there is little research on the efficacy of these books although theory and data from traditional, and behavioristic, bibliotherapy suggests that they might be valuable. This study examined the effects of self-help paperbacks on self-actualization scores in a 2 X 3 design that varied presence or absence of a pretest on the Personal Orientation Inventory and an intervening treatment condition which involved reading either one of two self-help books or reading no book. Self-actualization was measured by a posttest on the inventory. Significant effects were found for the pretest and treatment conditions on both the Inner-directedness and Time competence scales. The presence of a pretest, and both self-help books, led to higher self-actualization scores. These findings support the hypothesis that reading self-help psychology books may be associated with increased self-reported scores of mental health.

Self-Actualization and Personal Autonomy

1989 ◽  
Vol 64 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1263-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Walter Bordages
Keyword(s):  
Test Scores ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Reasoning Ability ◽  
Ability Test ◽  
Personal Orientation Inventory ◽  
Reasoning Test ◽  
Treatment Conditions ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Performance Analyses ◽  
Personal Orientation

Self-actualizing individuals, according to Maslow (1954), are hypothesized to operate autonomously of external expectations due to their undistorted perceptions of their own realistic abilities. Scores on the Personal Orientation Inventory, a measure of self-actualization, were used to divide subjects into high, medium, or low self-actualizing categories. Subjects were given a Logical Reasoning Ability Test over three treatment conditions: high, low, and no expectations with regard to performance. Analyses indicated greater personal autonomy for high and moderate self-actualizing subjects than in nonself-actualizing subjects, who showed the greatest variance in their reasoning test scores.

Stability and Internal Consistency of a Measure of Self-Actualization

1967 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 422-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Klavetter ◽  
Robert E. Mogar
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Personal Orientation Inventory ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Personal Orientation ◽  
Time Competence

The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a recently developed measure of self-actualizing tendencies, was administered on 2 occasions to 48 college students to determine the stability, independence, and utility of 10 subscales. Stability coefficients and intercorrelations indicated that 3 of the 12 scales, Inner Direction, Time Competence, and Self-actualization Value, accounted for almost all the variance. Since many of the intercorrelations approximated the scales' reliabilities, it was concluded that performance on the POI could be more accurately and parsimoniously expressed in terms of fewer dimensions.

Effects of Fictional, Autobiographical and Self-Help Literature on Personality Measures

1997 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Scholz ◽  
James J. Forest
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Personal Orientation Inventory ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Reading Condition ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Group Reading ◽  
Personal Orientation

This study evaluated three types of books under different reading conditions and using two measures of personality. Data from 163 women were analyzed in a 3 × 2 × 2 multivariate design, with control groups, which varied type of book (fiction, autobiography, self-help), reading condition (supervised and unsupervised), and order of testing (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and Personal Orientation Inventory). None of the groups who received books to read had mean scores significantly different from those of the control groups. However, the group reading the self-help book had significantly higher scores on scales of self-actualization than the groups using fictional or autobiographical books.

Evidence for a Nonlinear Relationship between Self-Disclosure and Self-Actualization

1976 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 631-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill N. Kinder
Keyword(s):  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Personal Orientation Inventory ◽  
Competence Scale ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Linear And Nonlinear ◽  
Nonlinear Components ◽  
Personal Orientation ◽  
Time Competence ◽  
The Relationship

This study investigated the relationship between self-disclosure and self-actualization. Significant linear and nonlinear components were found when scores on the Personal Orientation Inventory Inner-directed scale were correlated with Jourard Self-disclosure Scale scores. When the Time Competence scale was correlated with self-disclosure scores, substantial but nonsignificant linear and nonlinear components were indicated. The results were interpreted as supporting Cozby's (1973) hypothesis that significant departures from linearity may have gone undetected in previous research and that this relationship may be opposite from what Jourard (1964) and others have predicted.

Self-Actualization and Conceptual Structure

1982 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 672-672
Author(s):  
Jon A. Hageseth ◽  
Lyle D. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Discrimination Test ◽  
Conceptual Systems ◽  
Personal Orientation Inventory ◽  
Integration Test ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Interpersonal Discrimination ◽  
Personal Orientation

Many theorists have written about personality structures associated with positive mental health (2, 3). Conceptual systems theory provides one framework for identifying these structures (5). The purpose of this study was to replicate Wexler's finding that self-actualization is related to conceptual structure for 117 female undergraduates who completed four measures of conceptual structure and a measure of self-actualization not used in the original Wexler study, the Personal Orientation Inventory. The measures of conceptual structure included the Interpersonal Discrimination Test (1), the Wyer Integration Test (6), the Interpersonal Topical Inventory (4), and the Paragraph Completion Tesr.

Relationship between Death Anxiety and Components of the Self-Actualization Process

1981 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc E. Vargo ◽  
William M. Batsel
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
Anxiety Scale ◽  
The Self ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Personal Orientation Inventory ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Personal Orientation ◽  
Time Competence

Product-moment correlations for 35 nursing students' scores on the Death Anxiety Scale and on three scales and subscales of the Personal Orientation Inventory (Self-acceptance, r = −.85; Nature of Man-Constructive, r = −.54; Time Competence, r = −.38) suggest an inverse relationship between self-actualization and the fear of death.

Growth in Self-Actualization (Personal Orientation Inventory) in Adult Encounter Groups

1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Les Beach
Keyword(s):  
Sample Size ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Total Sample Size ◽  
Personal Orientation Inventory ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Personal Orientation

To test the efficacy of the Personal Orientation Inventory in assessing growth in self-actualization in relation to encounter groups and to provide a more powerful measure of such changes, pre- and posttest data from 3 highly comparable encounter groups (N = 43) were combined for analysis. Results indicated that the Personal Orientation Inventory is a sensitive instrument for assessing personal growth in encounter groups and that a larger total sample size provides more significant results than those reported for small samples (e. g., fewer than 15 participants).

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