Human nature can be very complex. How we react and why is very interesting. Human behavior is made up of several influences from the beginning of our lives. I am compelled to write about Abraham Maslow and touch on some of his greatest works – the most famous of all being his Hierarchy of Human Needs.
Studies on the topic of how the brain works have been made for centuries. I find the work of this one man in particular fascinating. Mainly because Maslow’s work has been rippling into several areas that influence us. His work on religion, values and peak experiences has been use to support religious studies. His work on management – see the Transpersonal Business Studies – is being used in business today. Many consider him the founder of human psychology.
Abraham Maslow has referred to himself as a part of the ‘third force in psychology’ for his studies of humanistic psychology, which includes several approaches to therapy and counseling. He was among the earliest to determine a hierarchy of human needs and motivations, adding to the existential psychology of Rollo May, as well as acknowledging human choice and the tragic aspects of human existence with the therapy of Carl Rogers. Rogers is the one who coined the person-centered or client-centered therapy which is focused on the patient’s capacity for self-direction, and on the understanding of his or her own development.
Maslow’s Influences
Abraham Maslow was deeply influenced by the works of Sigmund Freud and Kurt Goldstein. Maslow met Goldstein at the Brandeis University in Massachusetts while Maslow was the head of the psychology department (1951-1969). Goldstein had worked with brain-injuried solders in Germany in the 1930’s. In 1934, he had written a book, The Organism, in which he discussed his views on how the organism (you, me, and everything that is alive) is a system that struggles to cope with the challenges of the environment and itself.
Goldstein believed the organism could not be divided into mind and body because nothing is independent within the organism. It is the whole that reacts to the environment. Holistic healing would not happen by “repairing”, but by relearning. An organism cannot return to its previous state before the event of change or injury, it must adapt to the new conditions. He also emphasized the ability of the organism to react and adjust to traumatic changes of mental or physical functions.
Goldstein’s concepts of biological knowledge, self-actualization and abstract thinking allowed him to challenge approaches to localized symptoms, such as certain parts of the brain being affected, and the question where reflexes stem from. He also influenced many to use the Gestalt Psychology.
Sigmund Freud
Maslow also adapted Sigmund Freud’s study on Behaviorism – the Freudian Theory. Freud had performed a study on human instincts a few years earlier. Based on his theory, there are three basic instincts we all act by:
- id – the uncoordinated instinctual tendencies (“das Es”)
- ego – the organized realistic part of the psyche (“das Ich”)
- super ego – the critical and moralizing function (“das Über-Ich”)
The Freudian Theory would play a large role in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, as you’ll be able to see below.
Maslow’s Early Life and Education
Let’s go back in time for a minute before we continue with Maslow’s work.
Abraham’s parents were Jewish immigrants who came to the United States, escaping the Russian Revolution. Their family name was Masliankin – they later changed it to Maslow. Abraham was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 1, 1908. He was the first born out of the seven Maslow children. As a child, Abraham was pushed to study and read many books instead of playing. He was a graduate of the Boys High School in Brooklyn. It were his parents who wished he would become a lawyer.
In an attempt to obey his parents, Abraham enrolled at he City College of New York. In 1927, he transferred to Cornell, where his cousin Will Maslow was studying law. On a side note – Will Maslow became a distinguished lawyer and journalist for the New York Times. He also helped organize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 civil rights march on Washington.
But Abraham took a different path. After only one year at Cornell, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin to study psychology. And in December of 1928, the same year he started his studies in Wisconsin, Abraham married his first cousin Bertha.
His doctoral adviser at Wisconsin University was the Professor Harry Harlow. He became his mentor. Together they researched primate dominance behavior and sexuality. Maslow later did further research at Columbia University, continuing similar studies. He would also become acquainted with Alfred Adler, who had been following Sigmund Freud’s work.
In 1937, Abraham became a member of the faculty of Brooklyn College. In New York he met the anthropologist Ruth Benedict and the Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer. The two became his mentors and the base of his research on mental and human potential. Abraham worked in that place for 14 years before he left in 1951.
During the 1950’s and 60’s, Abraham was associated with the humanistic school of psychology at Brandeis University. Here, we remember, is were he finally met Kurt Goldstein.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs
Abraham displayed his theory in a pyramid with the basic needs at the bottom. The higher up it goes, the more consciousness is involved. We made a visualization for you:
In text:
- Self-Actualization – morality, creativity, spontaneity, and morality
- Esteem – self-esteem, confidence, achievements, respect of others, and respect by others
- Love/Belonging – friendship, family, sexual intimacy
- Safety – security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health, and of property
- Physiological – breathing, food, water, sleep, sex, homeostasis, excretion, clothing, and shelter
Abraham wanted to find out what the elements needed for positive mental health were. This was a different approach at the time, since much of the research were studies on mentally ill patients. His discussion was based on his belief that the study of unhealthy specimens would only result in an unproductive study for healthy philosophy and psychology. A mouthfull that makes sense.
In order to find out what constituted positive mental health, Abraham chose whom he called exemplary people: Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Frederick Douglass and the healthiest 1% of college students for his research.
In 1967, the American Humanist Association named Maslow “Humanist of the Year”. He became a resident fellow of the Laughlin Institute in California after leaving Brandeis University.
Abraham Maslow died of a heart attack on June 8, 1970.
To me, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs is extremely interesting, and it becomes even more worthy of discussion and consideration when I look at its discoverer’s story. Not only is the topic of psychology an all-time favorite (every human is a psychologist after all), but it’s also one of the first lessons taught in marketing.
Here’s a thought: much of how we react to people and situations happens on a subconscious level? Say we have a problem with a stranger – we react according to our experience in dealing with a problem like this. Let’s say it’s an acquired skill. But take a look at the need of problem solving in Maslow’s hierarchy: it’s on the highest level.
So how do you act in the above situation? Are you consciously using your knowledge about human behavior to handle social situations? On a scale from “acting” to “reacting”, where do you stand? How much are you aware of how you interact with your friends and family, and with strangers?
In other words: how much do you control your own needs?
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