Abraham Maslow, an influential humanistic psychologist, was born on April 1st, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. Maslow is known as the “father of American humanism” for broadening psychology with theories on self-actualization and human potential. He completely supported a humanistic approach that highlights individual development and provides a specific understanding on behavior and mental processes. Throughout his career, Maslow stressed that experience is the primary tool in learning about the human mind and body. Maslow, along with other humanists, believes that individuals choose their behaviors and that these choices are strictly guided by emotional, physiological, or spiritual needs. Maslow’s approach to humanistic psychology encouraged the
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These books, along with scholarly journals he kept, established his theories on humanism and understanding behavior. Maslow’s ideas contrasted with both psychoanalytic and behaviorist approaches, which placed little emphasis on conscious experience. Unlike the psychoanalytic approach, humanism proposes that both the conscious and unconscious need to be considered when attempting to understand human motivation and behavior. Humanism also contrasts with behaviorism because behaviorists do not take into account the conscious experience of an individual when studying the human …show more content…
During that same year he was elected president of the American Psychological Association. He accepted a fellowship from the Saga Administrative Corporation in California. Instead of basing his psychological model on individuals with mental and emotional problems, Maslow used a collection of exceptionally dynamic and prosperous historical figures for his point of reference. He studied contemporary and historical figures such as Albert Einstein, William James, and Thomas Jefferson in order to identify the common qualities of self-actualized individuals. Some of the qualities he discovered were deep interpersonal interests, effective communication skills, independence, integrity, and a high level of creativity. Maslow then attempted to calculate differences in degrees of self-actualization. He placed self-actualization at the peak of his hierarchy of human motivations. Like many early humanists, Maslow emphasized the innate goodness in people and viewed humans as exercising a high level of conscious control over their lives. Also, Maslow viewed personal growth and maturity as “the process of breaking the chains binding an individual to the animal world and building a more human world” (“Abraham H. Maslow” 2). Maslow continued to work out his theory of human motivation and became one of the most significant central figures for the human potential movement of the
These books, along with scholarly journals he kept, established his theories on humanism and understanding behavior. Maslow’s ideas contrasted with both psychoanalytic and behaviorist approaches, which placed little emphasis on conscious experience. Unlike the psychoanalytic approach, humanism proposes that both the conscious and unconscious need to be considered when attempting to understand human motivation and behavior. Humanism also contrasts with behaviorism because behaviorists do not take into account the conscious experience of an individual when studying the human …show more content…
During that same year he was elected president of the American Psychological Association. He accepted a fellowship from the Saga Administrative Corporation in California. Instead of basing his psychological model on individuals with mental and emotional problems, Maslow used a collection of exceptionally dynamic and prosperous historical figures for his point of reference. He studied contemporary and historical figures such as Albert Einstein, William James, and Thomas Jefferson in order to identify the common qualities of self-actualized individuals. Some of the qualities he discovered were deep interpersonal interests, effective communication skills, independence, integrity, and a high level of creativity. Maslow then attempted to calculate differences in degrees of self-actualization. He placed self-actualization at the peak of his hierarchy of human motivations. Like many early humanists, Maslow emphasized the innate goodness in people and viewed humans as exercising a high level of conscious control over their lives. Also, Maslow viewed personal growth and maturity as “the process of breaking the chains binding an individual to the animal world and building a more human world” (“Abraham H. Maslow” 2). Maslow continued to work out his theory of human motivation and became one of the most significant central figures for the human potential movement of the