Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was an American psychologist renowned for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish immigrants from Russia, Maslow was the first of seven children. His upbringing was not particularly affectionate, and experiencing anti-Semitic harassment in his neighborhood, he sought refuge in books. Maslow initially studied law at the City College of New York (CCNY) before transferring to the University of Wisconsin, where he developed an interest in psychology and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, his Master's degree, and his Ph.D. in psychology. While there, he married Bertha Goodman and commenced his groundbreaking research work. Maslow's early work was heavily influenced by his mentors, anthropologist Ruth Benedict and psychologist Max Wertheimer, whom he admired for their own personal qualities—an anomaly given that psychology at the time was dominated by behaviorism and psychoanalysis, which largely focused on pathological behavior. Maslow wanted to understand what constituted positive mental health and exemplary individuals, which led to his focus on topics like peak experiences, self-actualization, and the psychological traits of healthy individuals. The hierarchy of needs, which he introduced in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation," is typically depicted as a pyramid with the largest, most fundamental physiological needs at the bottom (such as food and shelter), and the need for self-actualization at the top. This model has been highly influential across fields beyond psychology, including business, education, and social science. It also set the stage for what would later become known as humanistic psychology—sometimes referred to as the "third force" in psychology, alongside Freudian theory and behaviorism. Despite the enduring popularity of Maslow's hierarchy, some aspects of his theory have been critiqued and revised by later scholars. Nonetheless, his focus on the positive potential of humans has left a lasting legacy in the field of psychology.