Maslow, Abraham (1908–1970)

Abraham H. Maslow founded a humanistic movement in psychology in the late 1950s that placed significant value on individuality, creativity, and personal freedom as essential factors contributing to mental health and general well-being. Along with his colleagues Rollo May and Carl Rogers, Maslow created the Association of Humanistic Psychology, whose members shared an appreciation of the worth and dignity of all persons. This humanistic movement was referred to as the “third wave” in psychology because its theoretical constructs varied so greatly from Freudian psychoanalysis and Skinnerian behaviorism, which were the two dominant trends in psychology during the 1950s. Today the influence of humanistic psychology extends far beyond the discipline of psychology itself and informs many areas of mainstream culture, including education.

Although Maslow acknowledged his admiration of Freudian psychoanalysis, his own view of human nature varied greatly from Sigmund Freud's. Maslow thought Freud's theory was unnecessarily pessimistic with respect to our human potential for decency and kindness. He disagreed strongly with [Page 549]Freud's contention that we are essentially selfish beings, with little real regard for others. Freud's view of human nature portrayed human potential as a fight to keep our baser instincts in check. Maslow, by contrast, believed that we are capable of becoming fully human through a process of self-actualization. Maslow conceded that we do not always show our most fully human side; indeed, we often act without dignity and respect toward our fellow brothers and sisters. But Maslow believed that such reactions were due to extenuating circumstances such as stress, pain, and the lack of basic physical needs such as food and shelter. Beneath those needs lay a core of decent and good human values, which could be brought to the surface when our basic needs were met.

Maslow's commitment to the full development of human potential was centrally concerned with the psychological constructs of self-actualization and self-esteem. Unlike the psychoanalysts and behaviorists who both rejected the notion of free will, Maslow placed strong value on an understanding of human life as both spiritual and intuitive. He studied the lives of persons he believed best exemplified the fullest account of human potential, such as Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglass. This methodology represented a significant shift away from Freud, who had studied mentally ill and neurotic people to formulate his theory of human nature, and B. F. Skinner, who had conducted most of his studies regarding human psychology with laboratory mice. Both Freud and Skinner had observed very little difference between the motivation of humans and animals, despite their respectively varied conclusions regarding the prognosis for optimal human development. By contrast, Maslow's studies signaled a humanistic approach to developmental psychology that regarded humans and animals as vastly different with respect to motivation theory.

Maslow's most renowned work in motivational theory is his development of a hierarchy of needs and information that culminated in the most fully human construct of self-actualization. Maslow's hierarchy plays a significant role in teachings in management and educational leadership. At the lowest rung of his hierarchy were the most basic physiological needs such as food, water, sex, and sleep; these needs were not distinctly human insofar as they were shared with all living creatures. Beyond the basic physiological needs were safety needs such as the need to feel secure and protected from danger, and the need to have structure and order in one's daily interactions with the community.

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