Abraham Maslow: biography of this famous humanistic psychologist

The American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow, commonly called Abraham Maslow, is one of the most important figures in the History of Psychology.

This is due, among other things, to the fact that he promoted a new way of understanding this science, favoring that the focus is not only on mental disorders and illnesses, but also on the potential human. This paradigm came to be known by the term "humanistic psychology."

To better understand his life, in this article we will see a summary of the trajectory of this psychologist through a biography of Abraham Maslow in summary. But let's start with the basics... who was?

Who was this humanistic psychologist?

Abraham Maslow is well known within the world of psychology, being a notable figure that he promoted and created together with other authors such as Carl rogers known as humanistic psychology. This author worked on various topics throughout his career, developing a holistic model based on growth and development based on the satisfaction of needs.

His best known and most popular contribution is the pyramid of human needs, in which the author ranks the latter according to the degree of strength they have and observing that as we go supplying the most basic and essential needs for survival, others are emerging more and more complex.

Outside of said pyramid, he made various contributions based on his model, investigating, among other elements, each of the needs and the importance not only of satisfying them but of the way of doing it, personal self-realization, the differentiation between fact and fiction, homeostasis and the maintenance of health and well-being, higher processes of consciousness and relationships human. Knowing the life of this author can help to understand his thinking, which is why in this article we are going to outline a biography of Abraham Maslow.

• Related article: "History of Psychology: main authors and theories"

Brief Biography of Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow was born on April 1, 1908 in the New York county of Brooklyn, in the nucleus of a Jewish family of Russian origin who emigrated to the United States. Maslow was the first of seven siblings, being the first-born of Samuel and Rose Maslow. His childhood was not particularly happy, both parents being excessively demanding of him and often harassing him.

His father viewed him as stupid and disgusting, which would greatly lower the boy's self-esteem. As for his mother, Maslow himself indicated that he did not provide her with love or affection during her childhood and it was characterized by excessive harshness, demand, rigidity and even cruelty towards him, to the point that she would come to hate her and even many years later to refuse to go to her funeral.

In addition to his family life, young Maslow's childhood was marked by loneliness and social discrimination due to his origins, being a lonely boy whose only refuge would be books. Since childhood Maslow showed great intelligence and curiosity to learn, reading being one of her favorite hobbies and showing high academic performance since its inception.

Formation and marriage

At seventeen he decided to take an interest in the legal field in order to satisfy his parents, enrolling in 1926 at the City College of New York and at the Brooklyn Law School to study law and laws. However, a short time later she would realize that the legal field was not to her liking and she would end up abandoning said studies.

He transferred to Cornell University in order to study psychology, but attendance at a short introductory psychology course by Edward titchener they discouraged him from it and after the first semester he returned to the City College of New York. After that he would transfer to the University of Wisconsin, where he would eventually study psychology.

Still being a student he married against family opinion to Bertha Goodman, one of his cousins, in 1928. He moved with her to Wisconsin the same year so that he could study there. This marriage brought him love and affection that he had not had in previous times, the author even saying that his life would begin from then on. With her he would have two daughters.

Two years later, in 1930, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin. A year later he would receive a master's degree. Likewise, after that he would carry out his doctorate at the same university, being his mentor Harry Harlow. Together with him Maslow will carry out what would be the first relevant study of him, analyzing sexual behavior and dominance and power in primates. He would get his doctorate in 1934.

Work life and contributions

After finishing his studies he would start working as a teacher at the same university for a short period of time.

However, in 1935 he would move to Columbia University, where he would work as a researcher alongside Thorndike, as well as with Alfred Adler. This would make her visualize two of the main theoretical currents, behaviorism and psychoanalysis, appreciating the virtues and defects of each one.

In said university he would carry out one at that time controversial research on female sexuality (using for them concepts derived from psychoanalysis), discovering aspects about the relationship between dominance and sexuality and attraction to certain characteristics based on one's degree of dominance and publishing various articles respect.

In 1937 he returned to the University of Brooklyn, remaining there until 1951 and serving as a full professor. He would have contact with Wertheimer (one of the main founders of Gestalt) and the anthropologist Ruth Benedict, establishing a certain friendship and being great influences on his thinking.

• You may be interested: "Gestalt theory: fundamental laws and principles"

The times of World War II

The United States' entry into World War II in 1941 was too old for him to enlist, not being considered fit for military service. However, this conflict moved him to research the causes of hatred and prejudice, as well as other emotions and relationships. In 1943 he began to propose the existence of a hierarchy of needs in his publication "A theory of human motivation."

In 1947 Maslow suffered a heart attack and had to take a leave of absence, moving to California with his family. After his recovery, in 1949 he would return to the University.

In 1951 he would be hired in the department of psychology at Brandeis University, assuming leadership of it and acting as a professor. In this university he would know Goldstein's theory and concept of self-actualization. It would be at this stage that he would finish promoting and outlining what is also called the third force of psychology, the Humanistic Psychology, and would create the famous Maslow pyramid. In 1954 he publishes "Motivation and Personality", where he expands his theory and model.

Due to his multiple contributions to psychology, in 1966 Maslow he would be elected president of the American Psychological Association.

His death

As the years passed, Maslow's health began to decline, beginning to suffer from heart problems. In 1967 he suffered a heart attack, from which he managed to survive, but which together with other health problems made him have to resign from his teaching position. After that, he dedicated himself to trying to establish an ethic in the practice of humanistic psychology.

In 1970, specifically on June 8, Abraham Maslow suffered another myocardial infarction, dying at 62 years of age.

The legacy of this author is extensive, he being one of the main creators of the humanist current in psychology and serving as a precursor to psychologies such as positive. His theories are widely known and used in various fields, both at a clinical and business level.

His legacy in Psychology

The works of Abraham Maslow are well known even at the popular level, especially in relation to the hierarchy of human needs. However, while his way of thinking and understanding Psychology inspired many others to broaden the focus of interest of his research and the needs to be covered, are considered little valid from scientific standards current.

The main problem is the way in which Maslow treated people's subjectivity, assuming that its contents referred to something real, assuming that each person knows himself better than the rest in all possible contexts; This principle has been refuted on numerous occasions.

Bibliographic references:

• Haggbloom, S.J.; Warnick, R.; Warnick, J.E.; Jones, V.K.; Yarbrough, G.L.; Russell, T.M.; Borecky, Chris M.; McGahhey, R.; et al. (2002). The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century. Review of General Psychology. 6 (2): pp. 139 - 152.
• Hoffman, E. (1999). The Right to Be Human: A Biography of Abraham Maslow. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Krippner, S. (1972). The plateau experience: A. H. Maslow and others. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 4 (2): pp. 107 - 120.
• Maslow, A.H. (2005). Management according to Maslow: a humanistic vision for today's company. Barcelona: Editorial Paidós Ibérica