- View Author Page at Wikipedia
- Search for Abraham Maslow at Amazon.com
Quotation by Abraham Maslow:
What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself
Abraham Maslow (more by this author)
1908-1970 (Age at death: 62 approx.)
Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 - June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Maslow was a psychology professor at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University. He stressed the importance of focusing on the positive qualities in people, as opposed to treating them as a "bag of symptoms."
Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Youth
1.2 College and university
1.3 Academic career
1.4 Death
2 Legacy
3 Humanistic theories of self-actualization
3.1 Qualities of self-actualizing people
3.2 Dynamics of self-actualization
3.3 Methodology
3.4 Hierarchy of Needs
3.5 Peak experiences
3.6 Metamotivation
3.7 B-values
3.8 Humanistic psychology
3.9 Psychology of religion
3.10 Positive psychology
4 Maslow's hammer
5 Criticism
6 Writings
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
Biography[edit]
Youth[edit]
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Maslow was the oldest of seven children and was classed as "mentally unstable" by a psychologist. His parents were first generation Jewish immigrants from Russia who fled from Czarist persecution in the early 20th century. Maslow's parents had decided to live in New York City and in a multiethnic, working-class neighbourhood. His parents were poor and not intellectually oriented, but they valued education. It was a tough time for Maslow, as he experienced anti-Semitism from his teachers and from other children around the neighborhood. He had various encounters with anti-Semitic gangs who would chase and throw rocks at him. Maslow and other youngsters at the time with his background were struggling to overcome such acts of racism and ethnic prejudice in the attempt to establish an idealistic world based on widespread education and monetary justice. The tension outside of his home was also felt within it, he rarely got along with his mother, and eventually developed a strong revulsion to her. He is quoted as saying, "What I had reacted to was not only her physical appearance, but also her values and world view, her stinginess, her total selfishness, her lack of love for anyone else in the world - even her own husband and children - her narcissism, her Negro prejudice, her exploitation of everyone, her assumption that anyone was wrong who disagreed with her, her lack of friends, her sloppiness and dirtiness..." He also grew up with few friends other than his cousin Will, and as a result "...[He] grew up in libraries and among books." It was here that he developed his love for reading and learning. He went to Boys High School, one of the top high schools in Brooklyn. Here, he served as the officer to many academic clubs, and became editor of the Latin Magazine. He also edited Principia, the school's Physics paper, for a year.[10] He developed other strengths as well:
As a young boy, Maslow believed physical strength to be the single most defining characteristic of a true male; hence, he exercised often and took up weight lifting in hopes of being transformed into a more muscular, tough-looking guy, however, he was unable to achieve this due to his humble-looking and chaste figure as well as his studiousness.[11]
College and university[edit]
Author Information from Wikipedia
Country: United States
Type: Prose
Context: Unknown