The Perception of Self Actualization of Art Teacher Students

Abstract

The concept of self-actualization is widely used in psychology literature as well as in daily life. The term was first introduced to humanistic psychologists. According to them, when the appropriate conditions are provided to the individuals, they can utilize their inner potential and become productive individuals. Maslow listed 11 features of self-actualized people. By using these 11 characteristics, 19 art teacher candidates were asked to write about their selfactualization goals. The responses were analyzed by content analysis. The results reveled 18 main theme, 2 sub-theme, and 2 dominant themes. Students voluntarily and willingly participated to the study and provided rich in-depth insights. They loved their professions and wanted to produce unique art works. Additionally, they expressed sincere concern for social, cultural and intellectual development of the society. It appears that while some of the students have already reached their self-actualization goals, some of them were still in the process of search and selfunderstanding.