Maslow psychologist biography

Early life and education

Early life and education of Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow was born on April 1, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York City. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland who had settled in the United States before his birth. Maslow grew up in a working-class family and attended public schools in Brooklyn. He showed an early aptitude for mathematics and science but also had interests in music and art. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he studied psychology under professors like Robert S. Woodworth and Edwin R. Thurstone. In 1934, Maslow received his bachelor’s degree in psychology and continued his studies at Columbia University. There, he worked with famous psychologists such as Harry Harlow and David McClelland.

Professional career

Maslow received his PhD in psychology from Brooklyn College and went on to teach at several universities including Brandeis University, Columbia University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
He is best known for his theory of human motivation, which he outlined in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality. This theory proposes that people are motivated by five basic needs or “deficiency needs,” including physiological (e.g., hunger), safety (e.g., shelter), love/belonging (e.g., friendship), esteem (e.g., recognition), and self-actualization (e.g., personal fulfillment). According to this theory, once an individual satisfies their lower level deficiency needs, they will be motivated to strive towards higher levels of achievement.
Maslow was also active in the fields of counseling and therapy, founding the Humanistic Psychology movement and developing the concept of “self-help” as a therapeutic approach. He worked closely with other prominent figures in the field such as Carl Rogers and Fritz Perls.

Contributions to psychology

Abraham Maslow is known for his contributions to humanistic psy

Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who developed a hierarchy of needs to explain human motivation. His theory suggested that people have a number of basic needs that must be met before people move up the hierarchy to pursue more social, emotional, and self-actualizing needs.

Maslow's approach was quite a bit different than many of his contemporaries. While other psychologists were focused on disorders and dysfunctions, Maslow was more interested in understanding what helped people to thrive. His now-iconic pyramid of needs helped redefine how we think about human motivation. It offered a framework for understanding what drives us to go beyond just surviving to focus on things like love, esteem, and self-fulfillment.

Keep reading to learn more about Abraham Maslow's life, work, theories, and significant contributions to psychology. At the end of this article, take the pop quiz to find out how much you know about Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Abraham Maslow's Early Life

Abraham Maslow was born on April 1, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up, the first of seven children born to Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia. Maslow later described his early childhood as unhappy and lonely. He spent much of his time in the library immersed in books.

Maslow studied law at City College of New York (CCNY). After developing an interest in psychology, he switched to the University of Wisconsin and found a mentor in psychologist Harry Harlow, who served as his doctoral advisor. Maslow earned all three of his degrees in psychology (a bachelor's, master's, and doctorate) from the University of Wisconsin.

Abraham Maslow's Humanistic Theories

Abraham Maslow began teaching at Brooklyn College in 1937 and continued to work as a member of the school's facu

American psychologist (1908–1970)

Abraham Harold Maslow (MAZ-loh; April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who created 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". A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Maslow as the tenth most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Biography

Youth

Born in 1908 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Maslow was the oldest of seven children. His parents were first-generation Jewish immigrants from Kiev, then part of the Russian Empire (now Kyiv, Ukraine), who fled from Czaristpersecution in the early 20th century. They had decided to live in New York City and in a multiethnic, working-class neighborhood. His parents were poor and not intellectually focused, but they valued education. He had various encounters with antisemitic gangs who would chase and throw rocks at him. Maslow and other young people with his background were struggling to overcome such acts of racism and ethnic prejudice in an attempt to establish an idealistic world based on widespread education and economic justice.

The tension outside his home was also felt within it, as he rarely got along with his mother and eventually developed a strong revulsion towards 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

(1908-1970)

Synopsis

Famed psychologist Abraham Maslow was born on April 1, 1908, Brooklyn, New York. A practitioner of humanistic psychology, he is known for his theory of "self-actualization." In the books Motivation and Personality

• Name: Abraham Harold Maslow
• Birth Year: 1908
• Birth date: April 1, 1908
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: Brooklyn
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: U.S. Psychologist Abraham Maslow was a practitioner of humanistic psychology. He is known for his theory of “self-actualization.”
• Industries
• Science and Medicine
• Education and Academia
• Astrological Sign: Aries
• Schools
• University of Wisconsin
• Columbia University
• Death Year: 1970
• Death date: June 8, 1970
• Death State: California
• Death City: Menlo Park
• Death Country: United States

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• Article Title: Abraham Maslow Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/scientists/abraham-maslow
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 17, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014