ABRAHAM MASLOW

Personality Theories
• Humanistic
EARLY LIFE
 Abraham Maslow is one of the most influential
psychologists of the twentieth century.

 His biggest contributions to psychology were his

contributions to humanistic psychology as well as
his development of the hierarchy of needs.

 Maslow’s career in psychology greatly predated

the modern positive psychology movement, but it
might not look the same were it not for him.
EARLY LIFE (CONTD…)
 Maslow was first drawn to behaviorism in
psychology, but soon rejected it, though he still
“retained a strong loyalty to positivism throughout
his life” (Hoffman, 2008).

 Maslow considered himself a “very timid boy”

when he first started his studies, and he partially
attributes his later interest in self-
actualization and the optimization of the human
experience to this timidity and the isolation it
caused (Frick, 2000)
HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
 Soon after Maslow began his career, he became
frustrated with the two “forces” of psychology at
the time, which were Freudian psychoanalysis and
behavioral psychology (Koznjak, 2017).
 Maslow believed that psychoanalysis focused too
much on “the sick half of psychology” and not
enough on “the healthy half.”
 On the other hand, he believed that behaviorism did
not focus enough on how humans differ from the
animals studied in behaviorism. He thus
contributed to the third force of psychology that
arose in response to this frustration: humanistic
psychology.
EARLY WORK
Humanistic psychology gained influence for its
“appreciation for the fundamental inviolability of the
human experience” (Bugental, 1963). One of these
factors was the Gestalt psychology-influenced idea
that human beings were more than just the sum of
their parts, and that understanding humanity would
take more than just understanding each part of a
person. From this idea sprouted Maslow’s main
contribution to humanistic psychology (and
psychology in general), his theory of motivation that
focused on his hierarchy of needs.
EARLY WORK (CONTD…)

 Aside from developing the hierarchy of needs,

Abraham Maslow also cofounded the Journal of
Humanistic Psychology in 1961 with Anthony
Sutich (SAGE Publishing).
EARLY WORK (CONTD…)

Human life will never be understood unless its

highest aspirations are taken into account.
Growth, self-actualization, the striving toward
health, the quest for identity and autonomy, the
yearning for excellence (and other ways of
phrasing the striving "upward") must by now be
accepted beyond question as a widespread and
perhaps universal human tendency … (Maslow,
1954, Motivation and Personality,  pp. xii-xiii)
EARLY WORK (CONTD…)

Abraham Maslow essentially made self-fulfillment

and happiness a central part of his life's work. In a
break from the other experts of his time, he
wanted to understand what motivated the great
people of history and to understand human
potential; he wanted to know what humans are
capable of as their healthiest self.
EARLY WORK (CONTD…)

More than anything, both Maslow and proponents

of positive psychology are driven by the idea that
traditional psychology has abandoned studying
the entire human experience in favor of focusing
on mental illness (Rathunde, 2001).
THE HEIRARCHY OF NEEDS

 The hierarchy of needs comes from Maslow’s

belief that:

“the fundamental desires of human beings are

similar despite the multitude of conscious desires”
THE HEIRARCHY OF NEEDS

Maslow describes these needs as “being arranged

in a hierarchy of prepotency.”

**prepotency: the quality or state of having more

power, impact, or force
THE HEIRARCHY OF NEEDS
One of the many interesting things Maslow
noticed while he worked with monkeys early in his
career, was that some needs take precedence
over others.  For example, if you are hungry and
thirsty, you will tend to try to take care of the thirst
first.  After all, you can do without food for weeks,
but you can only do without water for a couple of
days!  Thirst is a “stronger” need than hunger. 
Likewise, if you are very very thirsty, but someone
has put a choke hold on you and you can’t breath,
which is more important?  The need to breathe, of
course.
THE HEIRARCHY OF NEEDS

Maslow describes his hierarchy of needs as being

made up of five needs, which are:
1. physiological
2. safety
3. love 
4. esteem
5. self-actualization
arranged in a pyramidal manner, with physiological
needs making up the bottom of the pyramid (Maslow,
1943). 
THE HEIRARCHY OF NEEDS
THE HEIRARCHY OF NEEDS
EXAMPLES
The Physiological Needs

The basic physiological needs are probably fairly

apparent—these include the things that are vital to
our survival.

Physiological needs are the physical requirements

for human survival. If these requirements are not
met, the human body cannot function properly
and will ultimately fail. Physiological needs are
thought to be the most important; they should be
met first.
The Physiological Needs: Examples
Physiological needs include:

 Air (Breathing)
 Water
 Food
 Sleep
 Clothing
 Shelter
 Sexual instinct
In addition to the basic requirements of nutrition, air
and temperature regulation, the physiological needs
also include such things as shelter and clothing.
Safety Needs
 Once a person's physiological needs are relatively
satisfied, their safety needs take precedence and
dominate behavior.

 As we move up to the second level of Maslow’s

hierarchy of needs, the requirements start to
become a bit more complex. At this level, the needs
for security and safety become primary. People
want control and order in their lives, so this need for
safety and security contributes largely to behaviors
at this level.
Safety Needs: Examples
 Financial security
 Heath and wellness
 Safety against accidents and injury
 protection from elements
 Order and law
 freedom from fear.
 Health and well-being

 Finding a job, obtaining health insurance and health care,

contributing money to a savings account, and moving into a
safer neighborhood are all examples of actions motivated
by the security and safety needs.
Social Needs/Love and Belonging
 When physiological needs and safety needs are,
by and large, taken care of, a third layer starts to
show up. 
 You begin to feel the need for friends, children,
affectionate relationships in general, even a sense
of community. 
 Looked at negatively, you become increasing
susceptible to loneliness and social anxieties.
Social Needs/Love and Belonging:
Examples

 Friendships
 Romantic attachments
 Family
 Social groups
 Community groups
 Religious organizations
 trust, and acceptance
 receiving and giving affection and love
 Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends,
work).
Self-Esteem

 Esteem needs are ego needs or status needs

develop a concern with getting recognition, status,
importance, and respect from others.
 All humans have a need to feel respected; this
includes the need to have self-esteem and self-
respect. Esteem presents the typical human
desire to be accepted and valued by others.
 People often engage in a profession or hobby to
gain recognition. These activities give the person
a sense of contribution or value.
Self-Esteem
 In addition to the need for feelings of
accomplishment and prestige, the esteem needs
include such things as self-esteem and personal
worth.
 People need to sense that they are valued and by
others and feel that they are making a contribution
to the world.
 Participation in professional activities, academic
accomplishments, athletic or team participation,
and personal hobbies can all play a role in fulfilling
the esteem needs.
Self-Esteem

 Maslow classified into two categories:

1. esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement,

mastery, independence)
2. the desire for reputation or respect from others
(e.g., status, prestige). Maslow indicated that
the need for respect or reputation is most
important for children and adolescents and
precedes real self-esteem or dignity.
Self-Esteem:Examples
 getting recognition
 Status
 Importance
 respect from others.
 Dignity
 Achievement
 Mastery
 Independence
 Status
 prestige
Self-Actualization
 At the very peak of Maslow’s hierarchy are the self-
actualization needs. "What a man can be, he must
be,“

 Maslow explained, referring to the need people have

to achieve their full potential as human beings.

 Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned

with personal growth, less concerned with the
opinions of others, and interested fulfilling their
potential.
Self-Actualization
 According to Maslow’s definition of self-
actualization:
"It may be loosely described as the full use and
exploitation of talents, capabilities, potentialities,
etc. Such people seem to be fulfilling themselves
and to be doing the best that they are capable of
doing... They are people who have developed or are
developing to the full stature of which they capable.“

Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with

personal growt
Self-Actualization: Examples

 Thinking
 Learning
 decision making
 Values
 Beliefs
 Fulfillment
 helping others
 Self-aware
IF NEEDS NOT FULFILLED
NEEDS IF NOT FULFILLED
1. physiological Loss of basic needs, concerned

2. safety you become concerned, not with needs like hunger and
thirst, but with your fears and anxieties.

3. love  you become increasing susceptible to loneliness and

social anxieties.
4. esteem low self-esteem and inferiority complexes. 

5. self- First, they often suffered considerable anxiety and guilt -

actualization - but realistic anxiety and guilt, rather than misplaced or
neurotic versions.  Some of them were absentminded
and overly kind.  And finally, some of them had
unexpected moments of ruthlessness, surgical coldness,
and loss of humor.
Critical Analysis
The “big picture” aside, there are a few criticisms we
might direct at Maslow’s theory itself.  Some if them
are:
 The most common criticism concerns his
methodology:  Picking a small number of people that
he himself declared self-actualizing, then reading
about them or talking with them, and coming to
conclusions about what self-actualization is in the
first place does not sound like good science to many
people.
 a little harder to respond to, is that Maslow placed
such constraints on self-actualization.  First, Kurt
Goldstein and Carl Rogers used the phrase to refer to
what every living creature does:  To try to grow, to
become more, to fulfill its biological destiny. 
Critical Analysis
 Another point is that he asks that we pretty much
take care of our lower needs before self-
actualization comes to the forefront.  And yet we
can find many examples of people who exhibited at
very least aspects of self-actualization who were far
from having their lower needs taken care of. 

 Furthermore, Maslow's biographical analysis

focused on a biased sample of self-actualized
individuals, prominently limited to highly educated
white males (such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham
Lincoln, Albert Einstein, William James, Aldous
Huxley, Beethoven).
Critical Analysis
 The most significant limitation of Maslow's theory
concerns his methodology. Maslow formulated the
characteristics of self-actualized individuals from
undertaking a qualitative method called
biographical analysis.
 He looked at the biographies and writings of 18
people he identified as being self-actualized. From
these sources, he developed a list of qualities that
seemed characteristic of this specific group of
people, as opposed to humanity in general.
 Personal opinion is always prone to bias, which
reduces the validity of any data obtained. Therefore
Maslow's operational definition of self-actualization
must not be blindly accepted as scientific fact.