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Indian J Psychiatry 52(2), Apr-Jun 2011

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THE STALWARTS

Abraham Maslow (1908 - 1970)

Naveen K. Institute of Mental Health, Hyderabad.AP. India

Abraham Maslow was a humanistic theorist who did exemplary work in the field of mental health. His thinking was

surprisingly original - most psychologists before him had been concerned with the abnormal and the ill. He wanted to

know what constituted positive mental health He proposed hierarchy of needs which is relevant even today. The

present paper presents a brief overview of his life & his work.

ABSTRCT

Address for correspondence  Dr  Naveen K.

PG psychiatry. Institute of Mental Health,

S.R. Nagar, Hyderabad-500038.AP.

Mobile: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

How to cite this article Naveen K.  Abraham Maslow.

AP J Psychol Med. Aug-Dec 2010;11:31-32

Abraham Maslow was a Psychologist who worked on

Humanistic theor y. He was born on April 1, 1908 to

uneducated Russian Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, New

York. He was a victim of the combined effect of prejudice,

discrimination and financial insecurity. He spent most

of his time in librar y with books. He graduated in

Psychology. He got PhD from University of Wisconsin &

was the first to earn this under Harry Harlow's direction.

In 1935 he returned to New York. He met, worked with,

and influenced Psychoanalysts such as Alfred Adler, Kurt

Gold s tein, Hen r y Mur ray, a nd Erich From m. Ma x

Wertheimer, the Father of Gestalt psychology, and Ruth

Benedict, the first great female anthropologist & Margaret

Mead's teacher; both were model for Maslow.

Maslow said, "Becoming a father changed my whole life,

it taught me as it by revelation". "Our first baby changed

me as a Psychologist, it made Behaviorism I had been so

enthusiastic about look so foolish I could not stomach it

anymore".

He published 'Motivation & Personality'. He w rote

extensively on concepts of Hierarchy of needs, Meta

needs, Meta motivation, self actualizing persons, and

p e a k ex p erien ces. He i nt er pr et e d p er s o na l ity i n

motivational terms, individual's whole life, his or her

perceptions, value, strivings and goals. He focused on

satisfaction of set of needs. According to Maslow, needs

are arranged in following hierarchy:

1.

Physiological needs like food, water, sex & sleep.

2.

Safety needs like protection & security.

3.

Love & belongingness.

4.

Self esteem & respect from others.

5.

Higher needs for beauty, truth, justice, & self-

actualization.

He described self-actualizers as those who 'are more

accurate, of good judgment; accept themselves; are

spontaneous; focus major portion of their life's energy

on some problem outside them; are self sufficient; feel

very deeply & strongly; are democratic, strongly ethical

& creative'.

Peak experiences according to Maslow are 'profound

movements of love, understanding, & happiness during

which a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient

and yet a part of the world; more aware of truth, justice,

harmony, goodness and so on'.

Fig. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs

He explained two ways of 'Knowing': i) D-cognition,

which is an ordinary kind of knowing ii) B- cognition,

which is a more passive, receptive & appreciative kind of

knowing; not an active, prodding or interfering kind.

Maslow died on June 8, 1970 (aged 62yrs) at Menlo Park,

California with Heart attack. In 2006, Sommers & Satel

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Indian J Psychiatry 52(2), Apr-Jun 2011

Naveen K : Abraham Maslow

Source of Support : Nil,    Conflict of Interest : None declared

said that because lack of empirical support for his ideas,

Maslow's ideas are "no longer taken seriously in the world

of a cad em ic p s ychology."However, h is wo r k ha s

influenced leaders of the positive psychology movement

such as Martin Seligman.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS : Nil

References

1.

Costa PT and Mc Crae RR. Approaches derived from philosophy and

psychology. In comprehensive text book of psychiatry. 2009: 9th Edn, vol

1, 874- 875. Eds : Sadock BJ, Sadock VA and Ruiz P. Lippincott Williams

& Wilkins.

2.

Scroggs JR. Abraham Maslow. In key ideas in personality theory.

1985:270-293. West publishing company.

3.

Abraham Maslow. Wikipedia. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Abraham_Maslow. (last assessed on 2010 Dec 1).