Transcript Abraham Maslow ABRAHAM MASLOW • April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970 • • • • 1 of 7 children Jewish, parents uneducated Married Bertha Goodman, first cousin Received.

Abraham Maslow
ABRAHAM MASLOW
• April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970
•
•
•
•
1 of 7 children
Jewish, parents uneducated
Married Bertha Goodman, first cousin
Received BA (1930), MA (1931) and
PhD (1934) all from University of
Wisconsin
• Professor at Brooklyn College (1937-51)
and Brandeis University (1951-61)
• Considered to be the founder of
humanistic psychology.
Hierarchy of Needs
 Instinctoid:
hereditary component
 Activate and direct human behavior
 We are not driven by all needs at the
same time
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
Of Needs
SelfActualization
Esteem Needs
Belongingness & Love
Needs
Safety Needs
Physiological Needs
Hierarchy of Needs
The hierarchy has five levels:

Physiological Needs: oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar, calcium and other
minerals and vitamins, shelter and sleep etc.

Safety Needs: security, stability, protection from physical and emotional
harm

Belongingness & Love Needs: affection, belonging, acceptance,
friendship, community

Esteem Needs: (Internal ones are need for self-respect, confidence,
autonomy, and achievement. External ones are need for respect of others,
status, fame, glory, recognition and attention.) Maslow feels these are the
roots to many, if not most of our psychological problems.

Self-actualization: (doing that which maximizes one’s potential and fulfills
one’s innate aspirations)
DEFICIT (D-NEEDS)

If you don’t have enough of something you have a
“deficit” (need)


Maslow's hierarchy seems to follow the life cycle. A baby's needs
are almost entirely physiological. As the baby grows, it needs
safety, then love. Toddlers are eager for social interaction,
attention and affection. Teenagers are anxious about social
needs, young adults are concerned with esteem and only more
mature people transcend the first four levels to spend much time
self-actualizing.
Under stressful conditions, or when survival is threatened, we
can “regress” to a lower level need.
Safety Needs
 Second
from bottom of hierarchy
 Structure, order, stability, predictability
 More important to children than normal
adults
Belongingness and Love Needs
 Middle
of hierarchy
 Intimate and social relationships
Esteem Needs
 Fourth
from bottom of hierarchy
 2 forms of esteem needs:


From ourselves: feelings of self-worth
From others: status, recognition, social
success
BEING NEEDS (SELFACTUALIZATION)

Needs that do not involve balance

Once engaged, they continue to be felt

Continuous desire to fulfill potentials (“be all you can be”)

You need to have lower needs taken care of, at least to a
considerable extent

Only a small percentage of the population is truly, self-actualizing
(approximately 2%)
Self-Actualization Needs
 Pinnacle
of hierarchy
 Maximum realization of potentials, talents,
abilities
 Fullest personality development
 Even if satisfy all other needs, person will
feel restless and discontent if not selfactualizing
Conditions for Self-Actualization
 Free
of constraints
 Not distracted by lower needs
 Secure self-image and relationships
 Realistic knowledge of strengths and
weaknesses
Characteristics of SelfActualizers
 Efficient
perception of reality
 Acceptance of selves, others, nature
 Spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness
 Focus on problems outside of themselves
 Social interest
 Creativeness
Characteristics of SelfActualizers
 Peak
experiences: religious, mystical
experiences
 Profound interpersonal relationships
 Resistance to enculturation
 Extremely rare- seen in less than 1% of
the population
Research in Malsow’s Theory
 Negative
correlation between high selfactualizing scores and alcoholism, mental
disorders, neuroticism
 Meeting esteem needs: greater feelings of
self-worth, self-confidence, competence
(similar to Badura’s self-efficacy)
Criticisms of Maslow’s Theory
 Weak


research methodology
Small sample size
Lack of empirical methods
 Vague
terms (peak experiences)
Contributions of Maslow
 Further
development of humanism in
psychology
 Applicable to variety of disciplines
(teaching, religion, business)
 Very optimistic- may be more appealing to
some than behavioral or psychoanalytic
approaches