Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow (
April 1,
1908 –
June 8,
1970) was an American
psychologist. He is mostly noted today for his proposal of a
hierarchy of human needs.
Born in
Brooklyn, New York, Maslow was the first of seven children of
Jewish immigrants from
Russia. His parents were uneducated, but they insisted that he should study law. At first, Abraham conceded to their wishes and enrolled in the
City College of New York. However, after three semesters he transferred to
Cornell, then back to CCNY. After he married, he moved to
Wisconsin to attend the
University of Wisconsin from which he received his
B.A. (1930), his
M.A. (1931), and his
Ph.D. (1934) in psychology. While in Wisconsin, Maslow studied with
Harry Harlow, who was known for his controversial experiments on
rhesus monkeys and attachment behavior. A year after graduation, Maslow returned to New York to work with
E. L. Thorndike at
Columbia.
Maslow began teaching full time at
Brooklyn College. During this time he met many leading European psychologists, including
Alfred Adler and
Erich Fromm. In 1951, Maslow became the chairman of the psychology department at
Brandeis University, where he began his theoretical work. There, he met
Kurt Goldstein, who introduced him to the idea of
self-actualization.
He retired to
California, where he died of a
heart attack in 1970 after years of ill health.
|
Diagram of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
1. Physiological
2. Safety
3. Love/Belonging
4. Esteem
5. Actualization |
Maslow's primary contribution to psychology is his
Hierarchy of Human Needs, which he often presented as a pyramid. Maslow contended that humans have a number of needs that are instinctoid, that is, innate. These needs are classified as "conative needs", "cognitive needs", and "aesthetic needs". "Neurotic needs" are included in Maslow's theory but do not exist within the hierarchy.
Maslow assumed our needs are arranged in a hierarchy in terms of their potency. Although all needs are instinctoid, some are more powerful than others. The lower the need is in the pyramid, the more powerful it is. The higher the need is in the pyramid, the weaker and more distinctly human it is. The lower, or basic, needs on the pyramid are similar to those possessed by non-human animals, but only humans possess the higher needs.
The first four layers of the pyramid are what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "D-needs": the individual does not feel anything if they are met, but feels anxious if they are not met. Needs beyond the D-needs are "growth needs", "being values", or "B-needs". When fulfilled, they do not go away; rather, they motivate further.
The base of the pyramid is formed by the physiological needs, including the biological requirements for food, water, air, and sleep.
Once the physiological needs are met, an individual can concentrate on the second level, the need for safety and security. Included here are the needs for structure, order, security, and predictability.
The third level is the need for love and belonging. Included here are the needs for friends and companions, a supportive family, identification with a group, and an intimate relationship.
The fourth level is the esteem needs. This group of needs requires both recognition from other people that results in feelings of prestige, acceptance, and status, and self-esteem that results in feelings of adequacy, competence, and confidence. Lack of satisfaction of the esteem needs results in discouragement and feelings of inferiority.
Finally,
self-actualization sits at the apex of the original pyramid.
In
1970 Maslow published a revision to his original
1954 pyramid[
1], adding the cognitive needs (first the need to acquire knowledge, then the need to understand that knowledge) above the need for self-actualization, and the aesthetic needs (the needs for beauty, balance, structure, etc.) at the top of the pyramid. However, not all versions of Maslow's pyramid include the top two levels.
Maslow theorized that unfulfilled conative needs can become redirected into neurotic needs. For example, children whose safety needs are not adequately met may grow into adults who compulsively hoard money or possessions[
2]. Unlike other needs, however, neurotic needs do not promote health or growth if they are satisfied.
Maslow also proposed that people who have reached self-actualization will sometimes experience a state he referred to as "
transcendence", in which they become aware of not only their own fullest potential, but the fullest potential of human beings at large. He described this transcendence and its characteristics in an essay in the posthumously published
The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. In the essay, he describes this experience as not always being transitory, but that certain individuals might have ready access to it, and spend more time in this state. He makes a point that these individuals experience not only ecstatic joy, but also profound "cosmic-sadness" (Maslow, 1971) at the ability of humans to foil chances of transcendence in their own lives and in the world at large.
*
Carl Rogers*
Clayton Alderfer*
Colin Wilson*
Douglas McGregor*
Frederick Herzberg*
Rollo May*
David McClelland*
Victor Vroom*
Organizational behavior*
Humanistic psychology*
Human Potential Movement*
Positive Disintegration*
Chakra*
Comprehensive bibliography*
A Theory of Human Motivation (
1943, originally published in
Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.
Available online.)
*
Motivation and Personality (first edition:
1954, second edition:
1970)
*
Eupsychian Management (
1965)
*
Toward a Psychology of Being (
1968)
*
The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (
1971)
*
Abraham H. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being (1955-1957)*
Situating Maslow in Cold War America, by Cooke B, Mills A and Kelley E in Group and Organization Management, (2005) Vol. 30, No. 2, 129-152
The Right to be Human by Edward Hoffman
The Founders of Humanistic Psychology by Roy Jose DeCarvalho
* Mook, D.G. (
1987). Motivation:
The Organization of Action. London: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd (ISBN 0393954749)
* Wahba, M.A. & Bridwell, L. G. (
1976). Maslow Reconsidered: A Review of Research on the Need Hierarchy Theory.
Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 15, 212-240
*
Thinking about Self-Motivation and the Church
