Horticultural Model
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Horticultural Model
The Horticultural Model, explicitly named in his unpublished article "Critique of Self-Actualization Theory,[1] the model treats personality growth as an organic unfolding of inherent potentials, best supported by providing the right conditions—rather than by imposing an externally designed ideal form. In Maslow’s own illustration, the aim is to “make a rose into a good rose” rather than trying to turn “roses into lilies.”[2] The Horticultural Model may be contrasted with what Maslow called the Sculptural Model.
Concept Map
Key Terms
Syncretic Terms
Related LP Terms
Non LP Related Terms
Horticultural Model > Sculptural Model
Core Axioms=
Pluralism of person-types: The model sits inside Maslow’s insistence on a “pluralism of individual differences,” including hereditary/temperamental differences.
Growth-as-unfolding (not construction): Growth means removing constraints and permitting “inner nature” to express itself—behavior is “created and released” rather than simply acquired.
Environmental conditions matter (like soil/light/water): Maslow uses the plant analogy directly elsewhere: self-actualization is “intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism,” while the environment supplies prerequisites (analogous to “food, sun, water”).
Ethical stance: acceptance + reverence for uniqueness: He links the horticultural stance to “a kind of Taoism,” requiring pleasure in another’s self-actualization even when they’re “quite different,” and implying “respect… [for] sacredness and uniqueness” of each kind of person
Notes
Of course, we make a good rose by meeting its essential needs (water, nutrients, safety). We make a Good Person by doing the same, meeting their Seven Essential Needs.
Abraham Maslow Terms
Aggridant, B-Cognition, B-Needs, B-Realm, B-Values, Being-Guilt, Big Problem, D-Cognition, D-Realm, Deficiency Diseases, Diminished Human Being, Eupsychia, Eupsychian Education, Eupsychian Management, Eupsychian Psychology, Eupsychian Theory, Eupsychian Therapy, Good Chooser, Good Person, Good Science, Good Society, Good Specimen, Growing-Tip Statistics, Hierarchy of Basic Needs, Hierarchy of Cognitive Needs, Horticultural Model, Human Diminution, Human Motivation, Human Potential, Humanistic Psychology, Inner Signals, Intrinsic Conscience, Jonah Complex, Metapathology, Motivation, Normalcy, Normative Biology, Peak Experience, Plateau Experience, Real Self, Sculptural Model, Self-Actualization, Transcending Self-Actualizers, Transhumanistic, Transpersonal Psychology
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Footnotes
- ↑ Maslow, A. H. “Critique of Self-Actualization Theory.” In Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow, edited by Edward Hoffman. Sage Publications, 1996.
- ↑ Maslow, A. H. “Critique of Self-Actualization Theory.” In Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow, edited by Edward Hoffman. Sage Publications, 1996. p. 27.