Sculptural Model
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Sculptural Model
The Sculptural Model of Human Development is an interventionist approach to human development. It involves the wilful and deliberate shaping of a person toward a generalized, externally defined ideal. It prioritizes conformity to a “standard model” over the cultivation of constitutional and temperamental differences, something key to Maslow's Humanistic Psychology[1] The Sculptural Model may be contrasted with what Maslow called the Horticultural Model.[2]
Concept Map
Key Terms
Syncretic Terms
Related LP Terms
Non LP Related Terms
Sculptural Model > Horticultural Model
Core Axioms
Standard-model ideal: Growth is defined by approximation to a generalized exemplar (a “standard model”), rather than excellence in one’s own idiom or style.
External shaping: The helper (teacher/therapist/parent/administrator) functions as “sculptor,” aiming to form persons toward a preferred type, rather than cultivating what they already are.
Neglect of pluralism: The model tends to discount constitutional/temperamental differences and the need to accept individual varieties of talent and vocation.
Selection-and-exclusion dynamics: Narrow standards of “merit” become techniques for rejecting most candidates when excellence is defined monolithically (Maslow’s critique of Ph.D. admissions as a single-minded “standard model”).
Generalized training logic: Training tries to make the person conform to an abstract ideal rather than helping them become a better instance of their natural style (Maslow’s analogy of coaching a prizefighter).
Notes
In Maslow’s framing, the Sculptural Model is a recurrent institutional temptation: when education, therapy, and professional selection adopt a single “ideal form,” plural human potentials are treated as deviations to be corrected rather than differences to be developed. Maslow’s alternative is a “Taoist helper” stance that enables people to become “healthy and effective in their own style,” which presupposes rejecting the sculptural approach.
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. pp. 27–28.
- ↑ 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.