Self-actualization as a developmental structure: a profile of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Abstract

The characteristics of self-actualization are fully reflected in excerpts from Saint-Exupéry's autobiographical writings. The correspondence between the characteristics of self-actualization and Saint-Exupéry's developmental profile gains special significance because there exists, independently, a theoretical structure corresponding both to self-actualization and to Saint-Exupéry's material. This structure--level IV in the theory of positive disintegration--has previously been shown to represent Saint-Exupéry's behavioral organization. The characteristics of self-actualization and the properties of level IV structure are isomorphic. Self-actualization is the consequence of level IV structure and of the potential necessary for its development.