Abraham Maslow and The Humanistic Theory

In the mid-to-late, 1900’s psychology was not a new thing, as it had been around for years by that point in time. During this time period many new ideas had been popping up and one such came from a young inspirational man named Abraham Maslow. His new idea was an advance on the humanistic theory, which was lackluster at that point, and a whole new hierarchy system called, The Hierarchy Of Needs, a ranking system of needs that hinder self-actualization. This new idea of his would become a true blessing to psychology, but how he got to understand this and come to the realization of his theory is a fascinating one.

Abraham Maslow was born in April of 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the first of seven children and he would spend most of his childhood immersed in books. He would marry his first cousin Bertha Goodman against his parents' permission. Maslow would go on to study law at City College of New York but would switch over to the University of Wisconsin where he developed an interest in psychology (Cherry, 2020). During the 1950s, Maslow became one of the founders and driving forces of humanistic psychology (Cherry, 2020). His theories included the hierarchy of needs, self-actualization, and peak experiences. Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology compromising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a period (Mcleod, 2020). Abraham Maslow shifted focus to look at the positive side of mental health while other psychologists focused on human nature (Cherry, 2020). His interest in human potential, seeking peak experiences and improving mental health by seeking personal growth had a lasting influence on psychology. Maslow expanded the field of humanistic psychology to include an explanation of how human needs change throughout an individual's lifespan, and how these needs influence the development of personality (“Maslow's Humanistic Theory of Personality”, 2020). Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory has made a major contribution to teaching and classroom management in schools. All of Maslow‘s accomplishments would end up being very vital to psychology today. We know a lot more things because of everything he has done. Maslow would pass away in June of 1970 due to a heart attack.

In about his accomplishments, he had a few. The notable accomplishments include the Hierarchy of Needs, Maslow’s Hammer, Positive psychology, self-actualization, and his advancement in humanistic psychology. His most notable achievement, The Hierarchy of Needs, is a system that is in place to establish the needs of people and how if they aren’t met they can be a hindrance towards self-actualization. The hierarchy states that a pressing human need would need to be mostly satisfied for the person to move onto the next highest need division. Starting with his first publication in 1943, Maslow described human needs as fluid and flowing, with many needs being present at once. His theory states that if a person reaches the top of the hierarchy and has satisfied all news, they can eventually reach self-actualization, but self-actualization doesn’t just come from satisfying all other needs ( Maslow, 2020, Jan 24). The hierarchy goes as follows: the bottom tier is basic needs, food, water, sex, breathing, homeostasis, and sleep. The next tier is the safety and security needs, security of body, security of employment, security of the family, security of property, security of health, and security of morality and resources. The third tier is the love and belonging tier, this includes family, friendship, and sexual intimacy. The fourth tier is achieved when the person is comfortable with what they have done, or the esteem tier, this includes self-esteem, achievements, and respect of others (Maslow, 2020, Jan 24). These first four tiers are called the D-Needs or Direct needs. These needs are needs that if you don’t have enough then you’ll feel like you are missing something or need to get the needs. Then there is a neutral phase where people can get creative and explore but the last tier is interesting. The last tier is where self-actualization occurs and is all about morality and creativity and problem-solving (Maslow, 2020, Jan 24). His Hierarchy system is considered to be the best system to help build humanistic psychology. Speaking of humanistic psychology and Humanistic theory, Abraham Maslow’s thinking was simple, he wanted people to focus on their basic needs before their higher needs. In source two of our resources, it states,

¨Maslow wanted to know what constituted positive mental health. Humanistic psychology gave rise to several different therapies, all guided by the idea that people possess the inner resources for growth and healing and that the point of therapy is to help remove obstacles to individuals' achieving them. The most famous of these was client-centered therapy developed by Carl Rogers. Humanistic psychology theory suits people who see the positive side of humanity and believe in free will. This theory clearly contrasts with Freud's theory of biological determinism. Another significant strength is that humanistic psychology theory is compatible with other schools of thought. Maslow's Hierarchy is also applicable to other topics, such as finance, economics, or even history or criminology. Humanistic psychology, also coined positive psychology, is criticized for its lack of empirical validation and therefore its lack of usefulness in treating specific problems. It may also fail to help or diagnose people who have severe mental disorders.” Although many believe this theory did work, there is still room for improvement.

With any theory, comes at least a few flaws. Maslow’s humanistic theory is no exception. The entire theory is based on the hierarchy of needs, in order from bottom to top they go: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem, and finally self-actualization. Each of the bottom four needs require some social interaction while the sought-after need, self-actualization, is obviously without social interaction (“Why Maslow's Self-Actualization Theory Is Not Quite Right”, N.D.). All of Maslow’s ideas are known to focus on the western culture, anyone eastern, would have trouble using his theory towards self-actualization. (“Pros and Cons of Maslow's Hierarchy - Consumer Behaviour: a needs perspective”, N.D.). Since all people are individuals, each person can progress through this hierarchy at different rates, some faster and some slower. There is really no feasible way to test the amount of satisfaction required for each category to move up a tier. (“Pros and Cons of Maslow's Hierarchy - Consumer Behaviour: a needs perspective”, N.D.). Maslow’s hierarchy model is also known to be pretty simplistic. The requirements or needs for each tier can be achieved by doing some of the same actions (“Pros and Cons of Maslow's Hierarchy - Consumer Behaviour: a needs perspective”, (N.D.).

Abraham Maslow and his humanistic theory, although somewhat controversial, is still used widely today. His adolescence is what we can credit for his major psychology successes. Abraham Maslow once said, “One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” This is a model we should all attempt to live by.