Abraham Maslow

Abraham 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.

Early life

Abraham Maslow was born in 1908 in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest of seven children. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was a barrel maker and his mother worked in a garment factory. Maslow attended the City College of New York and the University of Wisconsin.

Career

Maslow began teaching full time at Brooklyn College. During this period of his life, he came into contact with the many European intellectuals that were immigrating to the US, and Brooklyn in particular, at that time -- people like Adler, Fromm, Horney, as well as several Gestalt and Freudian psychologists.

In 1951, Maslow served as the chair of the psychology department at Brandeis University, where he began his theoretical work on humanistic psychology and the hierarchy of needs. He continued to refine his theory until his death in 1970.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation", which he subsequently extended to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human developmental psychology, some of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans.

Death and Legacy

Maslow died of a heart attack in 1970, and left behind a significant legacy in psychology. His hierarchy of needs has been widely adopted in various fields as a means of understanding human motivation, development, and management.

See also

• Humanistic psychology
• Self-actualization
• Transpersonal psychology

External links

• Abraham Maslow at the Maslow Institute