Abraham Maslow

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Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) was an American psychologist best known for his Hierarchy of Needs and the concept of Self-Actualization, but his deeper mission—one he explicitly articulated—was to develop a psychology for the peace table. Following a vision experienced the day after Pearl Harbor, Maslow realized that global conflict stemmed from a profound lack of understanding of human nature. He committed his life to creating a psychological framework that could support peace, Human Development, Human Flourishing, and mutual understanding. This vision shaped not only his theory of human motivation and self-actualization but also his central role in founding Humanistic Psychology and later Transpersonal Psychology. He helped establish the Journal of Humanistic Psychology and the American Association for Humanistic Psychology, aiming to move psychology beyond pathology and behaviourisms toward a holistic, growth-oriented science of human potential. His later work on Eupsychia, a theoretical ideal society based on psychologically healthy individuals, was a direct extension of his lifelong goal: to build a psychological foundation for peace, both personal and global.

Concept Map

Abraham Maslow Terms

B-Cognition, B-Realm, B-Values, Big Problem, D-Cognition, D-Realm, Deficiency Diseases, Eupsychia, Eupsychian Theory, Good Person, Good Science, Good Society, Good Specimen, Hierarchy of Basic Needs, Hierarchy of Cognitive Needs, Human Diminution, Humanistic Psychology, Inner Signals, Intrinsic Consciousness, Normalcy, Normative Biology, Peak Experience, Plateau Experience, Real Self, Self-Actualization, Transcending Self-Actualizers, Transhumanistic

Key Figures

Human Development > A. L. Kitselman, Abraham Maslow, Albert Hofmann, Aldous Huxley, Grof, Stanislav, Humphry Osmond, Johan Galtung

Notes

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was not just a theory of motivation—it was a roadmap for creating the psychological conditions necessary for peace and cooperation.

His concept of self-actualization emphasized the realization of human potential, which he believed was essential for building a peaceful, just society.

Maslow founded the Journal of Humanistic Psychology in 1961 and was a key figure in launching the American Association for Humanistic Psychology, aiming to institutionalize a psychology centered on growth, values, and human dignity.

In his later years, Maslow developed the idea of Eupsychia, a utopian society populated by self-actualizing individuals, as a practical application of his theories to social and political life.

He also played a foundational role in the emergence of Transpersonal Psychology, extending the scope of humanistic psychology to include spiritual and transcendent dimensions of human experience.

Maslow’s work was utopian, oriented toward transformation, of the individual, of education, of society—guided by the belief that understanding and nurturing the best in humanity is the surest path to peace.

The Biological Nature of human needs. "Humanistic psychology parallels the Freudian model to the extent of seeing human needs as biological in origin. The major emphasis in Humanistic psychology rests on the assumptions regarding "higher needs." They are seen as biologically based, part of the human essence or the species character. The term I use is "instinctoid," meaning it is not an instinct, but instinct-like in the sense of being genetic, to an appreciable extent determined by genes."

The Root of Human Pathology Failure to meet needs. "Perhaps human nature has been sold short in that the higher possibilities of man have not been seen as biological. The need for dignity, for example, can be seen as a fundamental human right in the same sense that it is a human right to have enough calcium or enough vitamins to be healthy. If these needs are not fulfilled, pathology results."

The outcome of needs satisfaction. "If, however, these needs are fulfilled, a different picture emerges. There are people who do feel loved and who are able to love, who do feel safe and secure and who do feel respected and who do have self-respect. If you study these peop]e and ask what motivates them, you find yourself in another realm. This realm is what I have to call trans- humanistic•, meaning that which motivates, gratifies, and activates the fortunate, developed, self-actualizing person. These people are motivated by something beyond the basic needs."

Elitism." Contradictory element in Maslow's work. On the one hand, points out that pathology result of failure to meet needs. On the other hand, he totally loses that insight when he speaks about the study of the "growing tip" where "all the action takes place, where we find "not the average of the species, but a select sample, i.e., the most creative or most talented or perhaps most intelligent that we could find."

Criticism of Capitalist Culture In his article "Resistance to Acculturation," he asks the question if it is possible to grow a healthy human being in an imperfect culture. Says that yes it is possible to grow healthy people in "American culture." "They manage to get along hy a complex combination of inner autonomy and outer acceptance which of course will be possible only so long as the culture remains tolerant of this kind of detached withholding from complete cultural identification.

Of course this is not ideal health. Our imperfect society clearly forced inhibitions and restraints upon our subjects. To the extent that they had to maintain their little secrecies, to that extent was their spontaneity lessened and to tbat extent are some of their potentialities not actualized. And since only few people can attain health in our culture, those who do attain it are lonely for their own kind and therefore again less spontaneous and less actualized. "

Eupsychic Theory: "There is now available a new conception, of a higher possibility, of the healthy society. There are tools now available to judge and compare societies. One society can be judged to be better than another society, or healthier or possessing more "growth-fostering-potential." We can talk about the value of the society, or the function of the society-that is, the greatest coming to fulfillment of the people in the society."

Maslow believed in ESP, but also recognized a lot of "crap" about astrology, Tarot cards, and etc.

Maslow had some interesting things to say about Connection Experience.

In my first investigations … I thought some people had peak-experiences and others did not. But as I gathered information, and as I became more skillful in asking questions, I found that a higher and higher percentage of my subjects began to report peak-experiences.... I finally fell into the habit of expecting everyone to have peak-experiences and of being rather surprised if I ran across somebody who could report none at all. Because of this experience, I finally began to use the word “non-peaker” to describe, not the person who is unable to have peak-experiences, but rather the person who is afraid of them, who suppresses them, who denies them, who turns away from them, or who “forgets” them (Maslow 2012, 340-1).

At first, it was our thought that some people simply didn’t have peaks. But, as I said above, we found out later that it’s much more probable that the non-peakers have them but repress or misinterpret them, or-for whatever reason-reject them and therefore don’t use them. Some of the reasons for such rejection so far found are: (1) a strict Marxian attitude, as with Simone de Beauvoir, who was persuaded that this was a weakness, a sickness (also Arthur Koestler). A Marxist should be “tough.” Why Freud rejected his is anybody’s guess: perhaps (2) his 19th-century mechanistic-scientific attitude, perhaps (3) his pessimistic character. Among my various subjects I have found both causes at work sometimes. In others I have found (4) a narrowly rationalistic attitude which I considered a defense against being flooded by emotion, by irrationality, by loss of control, by illogical tenderness, by dangerous femininity, or by the fear of insanity. One sees such attitudes more often in engineers, in mathematicians, in analytic philosophers, in bookkeepers and accountants, and generally in obsessional people (Maslow 1962: emphasis added).

At first it was our thought that some people simply didn’t have peaks. But, as I said above, we found out later that it’s much more probable that the non-peakers have them but repress or misinterpret them, or-for whatever reason-reject them and therefore don’t use them. Some of the reasons for such rejection so far found are: (1) a strict Marxian attitude, as with Simone de Beauvoir, who was persuaded that this was a weakness, a sickness (also Arthur Koestler). A Marxist should be “tough.” Why Freud rejected his is anybody’s guess: perhaps (2) his 19th century mechanistic-scientific attitude, perhaps (3) his pessimistic character. Among my various subjects I have found both causes at work sometimes. In others I have found (4) a narrowly rationalistic attitude which I considered a defense against being flooded by emotion, by irrationality, by loss of control, by illogical tenderness, by dangerous femininity, or by the fear of insanity. One sees such attitudes more often in engineers, in mathematicians, in analytic philosophers, in bookkeepers and accountants, and generally in obsessional people (Maslow 1962: emphasis added).

Personal development social and individual "What I may call the bodhisattvic path is an integration of self-improvement and social zeal, i. e., the best way to become a better "helper" is to become a better person. But one necessary aspect of becoming a better person is via helping other people. So one must and can do both simultaneously. (The question "Which comes first" is an atomistic question.)”

Human Development and Self-Actualization

“Slowly and unexpectedly, Maslow’s self-actualization research had become the basis for an entirely new vision of psychology, with the premise that each of us harbors an innate human nature and vast potential that usually becomes blocked or thwarted through the deprivation of basic needs.”

“The notion I am working toward is of some ideal of human nature, closely approximated in reality by a few “self-actualized” people. Everybody else is sick in greater or lessor degree...There seems no intrinsic reasons why everyone shouldn’t be this way [self-actualizing]. Apparently, every baby has possibilities for self-actualization, but most get it knocked out of them... I think of the self-actualizing man not as an ordinary man with something added, but rather as the ordinary man with nothing taken away.”

"By early 1946, Maslow had thus uncovered two significant traits that seemed common to self-actualizing people: their intense desire for privacy and their tendency to experience mystical-like moments. He also had a hunch about a third trait: that emotionally healthy people see their world more accurately than their more anxiety-ridden peers."

In this psychology is the question of what is full Human Potential. Maslow was aware of the difficulties in assessing this and suggested using the Good Specimen,l Growing-Tip Statistics, or the analysis of "superior" "healthiest" people who had managed to develop to an empirically verifiable state of higher function.

Quotes

Maslow's Lifelong Goal

That moment changed my whole life... I realized that the rest of my life must be devoted to discovering a psychology for the peace table." – Abraham Maslow, reflecting on his post-Pearl Harbor vision.

Maslow's vision for a Psychology of the Peace Table, experienced shortly after the US entry into WWII.

One day just after Pearl Harbor, I was driving home and my car was stopped by a poor, pathetic parade. Boy Scouts and fat people and old uniforms and a flag and someone playing a flute off-key. As I watched, the tears began to run down my face. I felt we didn’t understand—not Hitler, nor the Germans, nor Stalin, nor the Communists. We didn’t understand any of them. I felt that if we could understand, then we could make progress

I had a vision of a peace table, with people sitting around it, talking about human nature and hatred and war and peace and brotherhood. I was too old to go into the army. It was at that moment that I realized that the rest of my life must be devoted to discovering a psychology for the peace table. That moment changed my whole life.

Growing Tip Psychology

"If we want to answer the question how tall can the human species grow. then obviously it is well to pick out the ones who are already tallest and study them. If we want to know how fast a human being can run, then it is no use to average out the speed of a "good sample" of the population; it is far better to collect Olympic gold medal winners and see how well they can do. If we want to know the possibilities for spiritual growth. value growth. or moral development in human beings. then I maintain that we can learn most by studying our most moral. ethical. or saintly people."

Human Health

“In a certain sense, only saints are mankind [sic]. All the rest are cripples.”

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