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Well, first of all, let's recall the obvious. The need for knowledge itself, or the cognitive need, is special for Maslow. And in a person's life, a true cognitive need does not appear immediately. Or it's better to say: we
Exploration of Maslow's concept of cognitive needs, peak experiences, and being-cognition as pathways to self-actualization and true knowledge.
Key Takeaways
- True cognitive needs develop beyond basic survival and lead to self-actualization.
- Being-cognition represents a non-egocentric, objective way of knowing reality.
- Peak experiences are rare but transformative moments that reveal deeper truths about self and world.
- Scientific study of peak experiences remains challenging but essential for understanding human potential.
- Maslow's work bridges psychology and philosophy, enriching the study of human consciousness.
What the video covers
- Maslow's hierarchy of needs highlights the special role of cognitive needs, which emerge gradually and are distinct from basic survival needs.
- Cognitive activity initially serves physiological and safety needs but can evolve into knowledge for its own sake at higher levels.
- Maslow introduces the concept of 'being-cognition,' a pure form of knowledge focused on understanding the essence of things without egocentric bias.
- Peak experiences are unique, transformative states characterized by a sense of harmony, ecstasy, and self-actualization.
- Such experiences involve full, undistracted attention and a disinterested perception of reality, overcoming ordinary selective cognition.
- Maslow acknowledges the difficulty of scientifically studying these peak experiences but emphasizes their psychological significance.
- The video discusses the intersection of philosophy and psychology in Maslow's work, particularly the notion of perceiving 'the thing-in-itself.'
- Autotelic states are self-rewarding experiences that individuals seek to repeat for their intrinsic value.
- The process of cognition is dynamic, with repeated experiences enriching understanding and meaning.
- Maslow's ideas contribute to transpersonal psychology, addressing human experiences beyond ordinary psychological frameworks.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Cognitive Needs and Maslow's Hierarchy
- 02:38Fear of Knowledge and Self-Understanding
- 05:34Beginning of True Cognition and Human Existence
- 08:29Experiences of Rapture and Ecstasy
- 11:40Describing Peak Experiences and Their Scientific Challenges
- 14:30Philosophical and Psychological Intersection in Maslow's Work
- 17:02Absolute Attention and Objectivity in Cognition
- 19:29Significance and Characteristics of Peak Experiences
- 22:18Overcoming Egocentrism and Disinterested Perception
- 28:38Transpersonal Psychology and Human Consciousness
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
know about this not only from Maslow. Cognitive activity, of course, also exists in animals, but this activity is always done for a purpose. For instance , if we recall Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it is quite clear that such
Speaker A
know about this not only from Maslow. Cognitive activity, of course, also exists in animals, but this activity is always done for a purpose. For instance, if we recall Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it is quite clear that such
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Well, for example, some of his points tell us that a person is sometimes afraid to learn, so to speak, to go too far in knowledge, because it might lead to some loss in self-understanding.
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cognitive activity is initially carried out for the sake of satisfying physiological needs, for safety, which Maslow attaches special importance to.
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or knowing others as a path to knowing oneself. For Maslow, this is, as it were, the condition from which pure knowledge can begin, knowledge for its own sake. In the hierarchy of needs, this is the fifth level. And then let
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Well, for example, some of his points tell us that a person is sometimes afraid to learn, so to speak, to go too far in knowledge, because it might lead to some loss in self-understanding.
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sense of the world's harmony and a path to self-actualization. The point is that the cognition we are talking about now, following Maslow, he calls " being-cognition." Being-cognition. And as we know, this is his important distinction between being and,
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Conversely, knowledge for the sake of safety provides a person with protection, say, social protection. And gradually moving up this hierarchy of needs, we arrive at the fact that, strictly speaking, social cognition, social cognition is essentially understanding oneself through others,
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to a person in exceptional cases. Call these cases ultimate, call them unique, call them, as Maslow does, experiences of rapture. He even uses a word like ecstasy. Rapture, which a person experiences, well, let's say, when they are in love, in the feeling of falling
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or knowing others as a path to knowing oneself. For Maslow, this is, as it were, the condition from which pure knowledge can begin, knowledge for its own sake. In the hierarchy of needs, this is the fifth level. And then let
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understanding a situation and oneself within it. Experiences that are characterized by a transformation of perceptions, in particular, this is clear, a transformation of past perceptions of the world and of oneself . Such experiences are termed by Maslow as peak experiences. A peak experience
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us recall that when cognition as such begins, cognition, the meaning of which is in understanding the objective world and one's genuine needs, as Maslow puts it, of human existence itself. Then the results of such knowledge can become a
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But he makes such an attempt, or more precisely, he takes what is effectively the first step toward studying such experiences. The first characteristic of peak experiences is that both the experience itself and the object it is connected with are perceived as a
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sense of the world's harmony and a path to self-actualization. The point is that the cognition we are talking about now, following Maslow, he calls "being-cognition." Being-cognition. And as we know, this is his important distinction between being and,
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And Maslow is clearly at the intersection of philosophy and psychology here. A philosopher would say: "Such is the thing in itself." regardless of who is observing it, regardless of whether it is useful or harmful. Essentially, the first point
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conversely, deficiency, which applies to human motives, values, and, as we can see, to cognition as well. And then it is necessary to clearly understand what the possibilities of knowledge mean. According to Maslow, the possibilities of knowledge are opened
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real, authentic meaning. And then Maslow begins to describe to us not only the characteristics of this thing —they are not what interest him, because he is a psychologist—but rather, like Wundt, he describes the human state. And then the second point
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to a person in exceptional cases. Call these cases ultimate, call them unique, call them, as Maslow does, experiences of rapture. He even uses a word like ecstasy. Rapture, which a person experiences, well, let's say, when they are in love, in the feeling of falling
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be explained more than once here. Full attention means devoted only to the given thing. This is attention without rubrics, without prior evaluations, because Maslow constantly compares peak states with ordinary states and says that usually our attention is selective
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in love, in the feeling of discovering something new. And perhaps, for some reason, Maslow does not use this term due to his own reasons, due to his scientific tradition. But, generally speaking, this is the experience of insight. The experience of
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things are significant or insignificant for us. Such a division for us is the significance or insignificance of a thing, but in this case, this distinction disappears. We are starting to pick up a certain pace, because all 19 characteristics are hardly worth
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understanding a situation and oneself within it. Experiences that are characterized by a transformation of perceptions, in particular, this is clear, a transformation of past perceptions of the world and of oneself. Such experiences are termed by Maslow as peak experiences. A peak experience
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is enriched." Each repetition brings in new meaning. We draw an incidental conclusion. Consequently, we are talking not only about states, but also about a certain process of cognition.
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is not the essence of the concept for Maslow. It is a phenomenon which, we must warn immediately, can hardly be explained. It must first and foremost be described. For Maslow, the question of whether such experiences can be studied scientifically remains open.
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The fifth property is the overcoming of egocentrism. But Maslow is not a developmental psychologist in the strict sense of the word. He does not speak about egocentrism in the way we spoke about it. He says that every act
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But he makes such an attempt, or more precisely, he takes what is effectively the first step toward studying such experiences. The first characteristic of peak experiences is that both the experience itself and the object it is connected with are perceived as a
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And then we realize that every ordinary act of cognition distorts the object. Overcoming egocentrism according to Maslow he calls disinterested disinterested perception of being itself the being of a thing And here Maslow gradually moves on to the characteristics of the subject himself.
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complete whole, as a finished thing. Moreover, independent of its utility or harm as an objective thing, as philosophers might have said earlier.
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so-called autotelic states, self-purposed and self-sufficient, which are characterized by a property such as self-rewarding. They are experienced for their own sake, and a person truly strives to repeat them.
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And Maslow is clearly at the intersection of philosophy and psychology here. A philosopher would say: "Such is the thing in itself," regardless of who is observing it, regardless of whether it is useful or harmful. Essentially, the first point
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we must draw some conclusion. A little more, and this conclusion will probably become clear to us. The seventh point.
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can be paraphrased as: this is the observation of the essence of things. Well, and if we are in the field of personality psychology, then one can call such an experience an experience of the personal meaning of a thing, a
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forgive me, I would like to remind you once again how the little hero of Solzhenitsyn, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, lost his sense of time while he was involved in his work. We are approaching the limits of working memory. The eighth point. It was partly
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real, authentic meaning. And then Maslow begins to describe to us not only the characteristics of this thing — they are not what interest him, because he is a psychologist — but rather, like Wundt, he describes the human state. And then the second point
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positive and desirable states. But moving on, it is time for us to draw a conclusion. A preliminary conclusion.
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Maslow ventured to call absolute attention, full attention, that is, focused on the object as such. Full attention should not be understood merely as a degree of some mental process. That is, we are again talking about objectivity. And this term must
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There are distinctions between abstract and concrete. There are distinctions between active and passive. And I will not continue here, because everyone can read the rest of the list themselves.
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be explained more than once here. Full attention means devoted only to the given thing. This is attention without rubrics, without prior evaluations, because Maslow constantly compares peak states with ordinary states and says that usually our attention is selective
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the disappearance of dichotomies. There is, let's say, no distinction between absolute and relative, abstract and concrete. I see a specific person, says , Maslow's subjects say, but in this specific person, I understand the human being in general. The abstract and the
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— this is, forgive me, the definition of attention: selectivity, choosing. But here, attention as if becomes absolute or full, taking the object into account entirely. Maslow continues and again speaks of the fact, and this is the third characteristic, that
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distinction between the abstract and the concrete in Rudolf Arnheim. who speaks about creativity, who says that in the image, the image of a concrete person or event, an abstract principle can be revealed. We see a concrete person, but excuse me, if we are in
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things are significant or insignificant for us. Such a division for us is the significance or insignificance of a thing, but in this case, this distinction disappears. We are starting to pick up a certain pace, because all 19 characteristics are hardly worth
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figures. I would like to cite such a statement right now. One very good domestic director speaks, well, about the brilliant Italian director Antonioni. And he says: "Take Monica Vitti, those who know, know." In Antonioni's first films, she did not
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listing. We need ever-new examples in order to draw some incidental conclusion. Fourth point. He says: "Upon the repetition of such experiences, that is, every act of genuine cognition, upon the repetition of peak experiences, knowledge about the object
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The abstract does not exclude concretization, says Maslow. And the concrete is revealed in its fullness, in its perfect fullness, Maslow adds.
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is enriched." Each repetition brings in new meaning. We draw an incidental conclusion. Consequently, we are talking not only about states, but also about a certain process of cognition.
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approach the end of the list, we will say: Maslow, when it comes to, say, the fifteenth, sixteenth, and subsequent points, stops systematizing altogether because, as he said earlier, systematizing here is already meaningless. And among those points he lists at the end, there is an important
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And the process of cognition has one condition, which Maslow then notes, following his, so to speak, subjects.
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the East in their research, in the completion and development of their studies. And he calls this passivity non-alternative consciousness. The truth is such, and in peak experiences, truth is revealed. The truth is such that it has no alternatives. And then
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The fifth property is the overcoming of egocentrism. But Maslow is not a developmental psychologist in the strict sense of the word. He does not speak about egocentrism in the way we spoke about it. He says that every act
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to merge into one. These are states such as wonder and, simultaneously, reverence. And Maslow even uses such a term: awe before being. Maslow even ventures to say the following. And here , somewhat riskily, we are nevertheless entering a special domain. He says: "
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of perception, in principle, has a single point of view, or it is better to call it a starting point of view here. This starting point of view, since we are still talking about living people, is often called cognitive bias.
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being-love' is very significant for him , a loving, non-judgmental attitude toward the world. And most importantly, Maslow uses a good word, we will encounter it again today, a cheerful attitude toward the world, a calm and cheerful attitude toward the world. A
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And then we realize that every ordinary act of cognition distorts the object. Overcoming egocentrism according to Maslow he calls disinterested, disinterested perception of being itself, the being of a thing. And here Maslow gradually moves on to the characteristics of the subject himself.
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Mamardashvili called the tragic sense of being can now be explained today. He called it tragic cheerfulness. Now, for heaven's sake, let's avoid mundane associations like a feast during a plague. There is this calm state, which the philosopher called a state of high
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The sixth point is the self-justification or self-sufficiency of such an experience. Doesn't this remind us of something? And if we compare the details, there will be quite a lot of such comparisons. This reminds us of the characteristics of
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We are having this conversation with a person who has truly experienced a peak experience. Perhaps our conversation would be different, but there are many of us here, and our conversation is calm. And this point must be noted with
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so-called autotelic states, self-purposed and self-sufficient, which are characterized by a property such as self-rewarding. They are experienced for their own sake, and a person truly strives to repeat them.
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defenseless here. But when we read ' loss of control' in Maslow, you know, we will put at least a small warning sign here, a minus, so to speak. We remember what the researcher of autotelic states, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, said. He said: "In
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Further, Maslow can be paraphrased, because we have named the sixth characteristic, and working memory capacity is 7 plus or minus 2. And it is perfectly clear that if we want to talk about this in a lecture rather than read it in a book, sooner or later
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hacker' was synonymous with the words ' skilled programmer.' A skilled programmer who enjoys their activity and is fully involved in it. But someone your age recently explained to me the difference between a hacker and a skilled programmer. A hacker cannot
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we must draw some conclusion. A little more, and this conclusion will probably become clear to us. The seventh point.
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performing their activity, can stop it. let's say, in a language that might, just might, be understandable to those who have experienced a peak experience and managed to stop it themselves. It is essentially about a self-restraining insight. Restrained insight. And,
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This is probably familiar to everyone. A Russian author once said: "Happy people do not watch the clock." Maslow notes this based on reports. It is, as it were, disorientation in time and space, a loss of the sense of time. And
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he puts it, "healthy childishness." The person, as it were, becomes a child again. The person is open to the world, and their view is, say, seemingly spontaneous. By the way, this characteristic—openness, a peculiar childlike view of the world—is listed
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forgive me, I would like to remind you once again how the little hero of Solzhenitsyn, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, lost his sense of time while he was involved in his work. We are approaching the limits of working memory. The eighth point. It was partly
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He was a student of Thorndike and was effectively a behaviorist. And just look at the path this man traveled. And now he needs to draw a conclusion. A conclusion from the fact that he observed unique people who experience
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partly mentioned last time. The exclusively positive value of these experiences. In such experiences, Maslow says, a person unders...
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experiences in an ordinary person, in the so-called average person. And then it is possible to build a science about these experiences. And he names this science, names it quite boldly. And, by the way, which, excuse me, is truly
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pleasant and desirable to me in a language close to us, in the language this section began with. At the beginning of this section, we talked about approaches to studying personality. Basic types of psychotherapy were highlighted there, peculiar steps were identified. I won't
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explain in detail now, I hope we remember. The first step is behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy, the second step is therapy of causes, then therapy of process. Maslow calls his new psychology the fourth and names it— you know, in the translation of the
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book" Toward a Psychology of Being, "in the preface to this book, the translation given is:" transpersonal psychology. "Perhaps it is more accurate to call it as is customary, as is commonly accepted in the world—" transpersonal, "since the word"
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personality "here becomes ambiguous again and again. Transpersonal psychology is the psychology that Maslow considers possible. and begins to organize it. He is the founder of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology . And if you look into this journal, then we will meet there, generally
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speaking, stories about peak experiences in the broadest sense. And terms will be encountered there, which, perhaps, are sometimes superfluous in science. You will come across terms like parapsychology, extrasensory perception, and so on and so forth. And I think we should specifically discuss
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this desire to build a transpersonal psychology. First of all, the method here is what leads to the fourth stage, though it is already present in the third. It is the method of humanistic psychology. This method is called the
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case method not only by Maslow but by other authors as well, say, Rogers. Case study. The study of an individual case. Of course, to build a science, you need statistics and many cases, but here, every case is unique. And in this
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sense, the basis for generalization changes. Maslow says that transpersonal psychology appeals to everyone who is growing personally. And, consequently, many familiar scientific criteria may change here. Maslow says that here, in transpersonal psychology, there is a necessary, so to speak,
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extra-scientific, educational aspect. He says that in transpersonal psychology, well, those who are interested—though the word" interest "is not entirely appropriate here—it should appear for those who have lost themselves, who have experienced a personal catastrophe. You can read for
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yourselves how Maslow, often meeting those he spoke with halfway, said that yes, today...and incidentally, such statements can be found in any magazine , any newspaper, on the street. Today, much is lost: ideals are lost, meanings are lost, and so on and so forth. One
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needs to give life meaning. Maslow takes a risk. He says:" Transpersonal psychology in some sense should replace religion, because a person has a striving for something greater than themselves. "This is a literal expression of Maslow's. Of course, he
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didn't invent it himself. And yet, it is true. A striving for perfection. That is what such a science assumes: a striving for perfection, going beyond one's own limits, transcending. And you know, fortunately for us, Maslow remains a scientist after all. And to
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our own surprise, we find in the preface to the book" Toward a Psychology of Being. "And we have published the second edition of this book. In our country, it often happens that the second edition comes out first , and the first one much later. He says
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:" To this second edition, I have added something, because before striving for the good, these are Maslow's literal words, let's not be afraid of them, even if they sound somewhat unusual. We must build a humanistic psychology of evil. "A strange phrase, which Maslow
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immediately clarifies. But only such a psychology of evil which we build not from below—well, he uses the well-known symbolism. We look not from the underworld at human evil, but as he puts it, evil from above. From that very loving and, it must be said,
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cheerful, philosophically humorous point of view. What does humanistic psychology of evil mean here? It is the study of the obstacles to development that still exist. After all, look, Maslow is a complete scientist here.
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And although he describes mystical ecstasies and experienced them himself, he examines these states as a researcher. He says:" If every person is capable of peak experiences, and they strive for repetition, are desirable, and so on and so forth, "
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then this means one must necessarily study the obstacles that prevent a person from becoming free. Obstacles to the liberation of man.
Topics:Maslowcognitive needspeak experiencesbeing-cognitionself-actualizationtranspersonal psychologypsychologyphilosophyhuman motivationecstasy
