Abraham Maslow: a biography of this famous humanist psychologist

This researcher was interested in founding a psychology based on humanistic philosophy.

The American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow, usually 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 a focus not only on mental disorders and illnesses, but also on human potential. This paradigm came to be known by the term "humanistic psychology".

To learn more about his life, in this article we will look at a summary of this psychologist's career through a biography of Abraham Maslow as a summary. But let's start with the fundamentals... Who was he?

Who was this humanistic psychologist?

Abraham Maslow is very well known in the world of psychology.He was a notable figure who promoted and created, together with other authors such as Carl Rogers, what is 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 hierarchizes the latter according to the degree of strength they have and noting that as we meet the most basic and essential needs for survival, other increasingly complex ones arise.

He investigated, among other elements, each of the needs and the importance not only of satisfying them but also of the way to do it, personal self-realization, the differentiation between reality and fiction, homeostasis and the maintenance of health and well-being, the higher processes of consciousness and human relationships. Knowing the life of this author can help to understand his thought, which is why in this article we are going to outline a biography of Abraham Maslow.

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 that emigrated to the United States. who emigrated to the United States. Maslow was the first of seven siblings, being the first-born son of Samuel and Rose Maslow. His childhood was not particularly happy, with both parents being excessively demanding with him and often harassing him.

His father saw him as stupid and repugnant, something that would diminish the little boy's self-esteem to a great extent. As far as his mother was concerned, Maslow himself pointed out that she did not provide him with love and affection during his childhood and was characterized by an excessive hardness, exigency, rigidity and even cruelty towards him, to the point that he would come to hate her and even, many years later, refuse to go to her funeral.

In addition to his family life, Maslow's childhood was marked by loneliness and social discrimination because of his origins, being a lonely child whose only refuge would be books. Already in his childhood Maslow showed a great intelligence and curiosity to learn, and reading was one of his passions.reading was one of his favorite pastimes, and he showed a high academic performance from the very beginning.

Education and marriage

At the age of 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 Brooklyn Law School to study law and law. However, shortly thereafter he realized that the legal field was not to his liking and ended up abandoning his studies.

He transferred to Cornell University in order to study psychology, but attending a short course of study at Cornell University was not enough.He transferred to Cornell University in order to study psychology, but attending a short introductory psychology course by Edward Titchener discouraged him from doing so and after the first semester he returned to the City College of New York. After that he transferred to the University of Wisconsin, where he finally did study psychology.

While still a student he married Bertha Goodman, one of his cousins, in 1919, against family opinion.one of his cousins, in 1928. He moved with her to Wisconsin the same year, so that he could study in that city. This marriage brought him the love and affection he had not had in previous times, and the author went so far as to say that his life would begin from then on. He would have two daughters with her.

Two years later, in 1930, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin. A year later he received his master's degree. He would also go on to earn his doctorate at the same university, being her mentor Harry Harlow. Together with him, Maslow would carry out what would be his first relevant study, analyzing sexual behavior and dominance and power in primates. He received his doctorate in 1934.

Working life and contributions

After finishing his studies, he began to work as a teacher at the same university for a short period of time.

However, in 1935 she moved to Columbia University, where she worked as a researcher with 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.

At that university she would carry out a then controversial research on sexuality controversial research on female sexuality (using concepts (using concepts derived from psychoanalysis), discovering aspects of the relationship between dominance and sexuality and the attraction to certain characteristics depending on the degree of dominance and publishing several articles on the subject.

In 1937 he returned to Brooklyn College, 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 in his thinking.

The times of World War II

The entry of the United States into World War II in 1941 came when he was too old to enlist, not being considered fit for military service. However, this conflict moved him to to investigate the causes of hatred and prejudice, as well as other emotions and emotions.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, he returned to the University in 1949.

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

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

His death

As the years went by, Maslow's health began to decline and he began to suffer from heart problems. In 1967 he suffered a heart attack, which he managed to survive, but which, along with other health problems, forced him 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 the age of 62.He died at the age of 62.

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

His legacy in psychology

Abraham Maslow's work is well known even at the popular level, especially with regard to the hierarchy of human needs. However, although 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, they are considered not very valid by today's scientific standards.

The main problem is Maslow's way of dealing with people's subjectivity, assuming that their contents referred to something real, assuming that each person knows himself better than others in all possible contexts.This principle has been refuted on numerous occasions, and it was assumed that each person knows himself better than the rest in all possible contexts.

Bibliographical 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). El management según Maslow: una visión humanista para la empresa de hoy. Barcelona: Editorial Paidós Ibérica