preview

Abraham Maslow Research Paper

Decent Essays

On April 1, 1908 Abraham Harold Maslow was born in a multiethnic neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish immigrants from Russia. From a young age Maslow’s parents pushed him hard for academic success. His parents were uneducated but they valued education. They hoped that the new world would bring the best for their children. Aside from pushing their children to exceed in school, Maslow’s parents were uncaring and different. His father verbally abused him and his mother was selfish and showed her children no love or attention. He eventually developed a strong revulsion for his parents. Maslow also had hard time in school. He heard teachers speaking contemptuously of him as “that smart Jew,” and throughout his youth he was tormented by …show more content…

Eventually, he transferred to the University of Wisconsin where he discovered his love for psychology and found a mentor in psychologist Harry Harlow who served as his doctoral advisor. In 1928, while still in college he married his first cousin Bertha, who was still in high school at the time. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1930, a master's degree in 1931 and a doctorate in 1934. After receiving his doctorate, Maslow returned to New York to work at Columbia Teachers College where he was mentored by Alfred Adler, one of Sigmund Freud’s colleagues. Maslow continued to conduct research on the topic of sexuality and dominance at Teachers College. Instead of using primates as subjects he employed female undergraduates, arguing that “girls are more tractable”. As a result of his research, Maslow maintained that there was a fundamental continuity between human sexuality and primate sexuality (Maslow, 1943). In 1937, he worked as a psychology instructor at Brooklyn College. There he met Max Wertheimer, a gestalt psychologist, and an anthropologist named Ruth Benedict. Both Wertheimer and Benedict became the subject of Maslow’s research. He observed and assessed them, forming the foundation for his theories on human potential and psychological well-being. Maslow stated that human motivation is based on people seeking fulfillment and change through personal …show more content…

He analyzed biographies and writings of 18 people he identified as being self-actualized to develop a list of qualities that seemed characteristic of this specific group of people. Some argue that Maslow’s method of research is questionable because of its very limited no diverse sample. It is extremely difficult to empirically test Maslow's concept of self-actualization in a way that causal relationships can be established. Biographer, Eric Hoffman said that it is important to note that self-actualization is a continual process of becoming rather than a perfect state one reaches of a 'happy ever after' (Hoffman,

Get Access