Developmental psychology.pdf

308 Motivation and Emotion
Figure 11.17
End of a Journey. Robin's personal
goal was achieved and his long
struggle with sensory constancy was
concluded as Dove reached the
California coast
creature and, together with Patti, wired the broken bill with stainless steel. His satisfaction
came the next day when that pelican displayed considerable skill in catching
food.
Advocates of the hierarchy regard such behavior as minor exceptions to the
general rule, still considered valid in most cases. If lower needs are regularly satisfied
in childhood, a temporary lack of satisfaction can be better tolerated later. When satisfaction
is not achieved at the lower levels, a person nevertheless can reach higher
levels but performs in a less effective and less satisfying manner (Maddi & Costa,
1972).
Possibly Robin Graham reached some sort of self-actualization in moments
of his voyage. As his father wrote when Robin set sail, "Success or failure, he is fulfilling
his destiny." This idea cannot be supported or refuted, but at the conclusion of
his five-year saga, as Robin's Dove nosed into the Long Beach marina to be greeted
by the customs officer and a dozen microphones, he thought about his purpose in the
trip. Robin wondered how he could explain it. "I felt," he said, "it had something to
do with fate and destiny. How could I phrase that? How could I tell these newsmen
that I sailed across the world because I had to do so—because that was what I was
meant to do?" (Graham, 1972; Figure 11.17).
Role of Early Experience
A more practical view focuses on Robin Graham's earlier life. It stresses the role of
prior experience in the reasons for his trip. Events from childhood prompted him to
undertake such a trip at 16 years of age.
Forming Habits and Interests At 10 years of age, Robin was given his first sailboat,
and he spent every day with it. When he was 13, he accompanied his father on an
11,000-mile sailing trip. Looking back, Robin said: "It is hard to believe that my parents,
having allowed me to sail the South Seas at a most impressionable age, could ever have
expected me to be a typical American school kid, to go to college and graduate to a
walnut desk."
In addition to early, well-formed sailing habits, Robin apparently had a longstanding
aversion to school, disliking the subjects and resenting the homework. At one
point he described the classroom as "almost unbearable." Even when he was 10 years
old, sailing "was the chance to escape from blackboards . . . from addition and subtraction
sums . . . from spelling words like 'seize' and 'fulfill' " (Graham, 1972).
Robin also played and worked by himself for most of his youth, and he seemed
to like being by himself or at least became accustomed to it. When sailing, he could
be alone, and his mother worried because he was "such a loner." His first boat gave
him the opportunity for "getting away from people," and Dove gave him the same
chance later. Making friends could have been a problem for Robin, who had attended
six different schools by his sophomore year in high school.
When he began the trip, Robin had learned to love the sea, to dislike school,
to be self-reliant, and to be alone a great deal. This constellation of habits and interests
certainly fits the requirements for such a voyage, and behavior that has been found
previously satisfying tends to be repeated.
Influence of Family Relationships One might also speculate about the father-son
relationship. Robin's father purchased the sloop, helped him prepare for the trip, and
hoped all along that Robin "would come up with just such a scheme." According to
Robin, his father lived Robin's voyage and life vicariously. When they met in the South
Pacific after more than a year apart, Robin's father reported the home news and then
immediately "started to talk about his plans for my journey. ... I should have
understood his deep personal involvement in my voyage." Later, his father produced
maps and charts, each marked with lines and dates for Robin's arrivals.