Abraham Maslow

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Abraham Harold Maslow (born April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn , New York City , † June 8, 1970 in Menlo Park , California ) was an American psychologist . He is considered a founding father of humanistic psychology and introduced the term positive psychology in 1954 .

Life

Maslow was the oldest of seven children. His parents were Jewish-Ukrainian immigrants. Maslow describes his childhood as unhappy and isolated. He had no friends and spent a lot of time in libraries.

Maslow studied at the University of Wisconsin – Madison , where he received a BA in 1930 and an MA in 1931 , and received his doctorate in psychology in 1934 . In 1937 he became a professor at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York , in 1951 he moved to Brandeis University near Boston . In 1967 he was named "Humanist of the Year".

Maslow died of a heart attack on June 8, 1970 .

Services

He is particularly known for Maslow's hierarchy of needs , which is a development model of the hierarchy of human needs. His work goes further, however, insofar as Maslow wanted to reorient the science of man as a whole. Through more than 100 essays and books, he influenced not only academic psychology, but also related areas such as education and management. In the last years of his life he became one of the founders of transpersonal psychology . During this period he added a sixth to the five levels of the hierarchy of needs, the need for transcendence .

Maslow studies existentialism in order to gain knowledge from it for psychologists. Maslow understands existential psychology in two ways:

  1. It puts a radical emphasis on the concept of identity as a conditio sine qua non ("condition without which not") of human nature and any philosophy or science of human nature.
  2. Right from the start she placed greater emphasis on empirical knowledge than on conceptual systems or abstract categories or a prioris .

Existentialism is based on phenomenology ; that is, he uses personal, subjective experience as the basis for abstract knowledge.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Maslow hierarchy of needs.svg

Maslow has developed a level model of motivation ( pyramid of needs ) based on his concept of man , which is divided into five levels. The physiological needs (food, warmth, etc.) are the most basic and powerful of all: "The needs that are usually used as the starting point for motivational theory are the so-called physiological drives."

This is followed by security needs, provided that the physiological needs are largely met. Under security needs (2nd level) “Security; Stability; Security; Protection; Freedom from fear; Need for structure, order, law, boundaries; Protective power "understood. Next, there are social needs (3rd level). "When both the physiological and the security needs are satisfied, the needs for love, affection and belonging will emerge [...]" In the further course, needs for respect (4th level) and self-realization (5th level) can be served.

Maslow claims that there are real psychological and functional differences between "higher" and "lower" needs. The higher needs characterize humans (in contrast to, for example, animals) specifically, but are not absolutely necessary for their survival. The needs can also be differentiated according to deficit needs (essential needs, 1st - 4th level) and growth needs (higher needs); Deficit needs must be met so that satisfaction can arise, the additional fulfillment of growth needs means happiness that goes beyond satisfaction.

Only when the deficit needs are reliably satisfied and physical satisfaction in the form of higher life expectancy , less illness and a better nutritional situation, do the growth needs , which were previously subjectively less urgent, come to the fore. Their satisfaction in turn leads to deeper happiness, serenity , wealth of inner life and increased individuality . Furthermore, the higher needs and their satisfaction have desirable civil and social consequences.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is probably the best-known development model, but similar classifications of needs were made by European scholars long before him, for example in Lujo Brentano's attempt at a theory of needs (1908). Already in antiquity, Plato stated : “The first and greatest of all needs is the procurement of food for the sake of existence and life… The second then the procurement of a dwelling, the third that of clothing and what belongs there.” Building on this he developed the need for the higher value goods painting, embroidery, gold and ivory, for security, knowledge, education and art. Maslow later expanded this model and placed transcendence as the top level above the level of self-realization ( expansion of the Maslow model ).

Although the hierarchy of needs is a well-known and well-known motivational model, it is subject to widespread criticism due to its strongly reductionist view . See Maslow's hierarchy of needs, section “Reception and Criticism” .

The implementation of self-actualization

Maslow describes that in virtually all historical and contemporary theories of motivation, needs, drives, and motivational states are generally viewed as annoying, irritating, and undesirable. On the other hand, it can be argued that there are a multitude of idiosyncratic (individually different) needs that belong to self-realization. Therefore - according to Maslow - the theory “need equals anger” is incorrect.

Maslow sees in humans a still hardly recognized, let alone developed potential for self-realization, the development of which would lead to greater maturity, health and fearlessness:

“Self-actualizing people, people who have reached a high degree of maturity, health and self-fulfillment, can teach us so much that they sometimes appear almost like a different race of human beings. But because it is so new, exploring the highest realms of human nature and its ultimate possibilities and hopes is a difficult and tortuous task. For me it has brought with it a constant destruction of axioms that have become dear, the incessant confrontation with apparent paradoxes, contradictions and ambiguities, sometimes also the collapse of long-established, firmly believed and apparently unassailable laws of psychology. Often it turned out to be not laws, just rules for living in a state of mild and chronic psychopathology and anxiety, in a state of disability and crippling and immaturity, which we do not notice because most others have the same illness as we do . "

This - from Maslow's point of view still very new - confrontation with the highest level of human existence and the ultimate rejection of established ideas regarding our psychological constitution are necessary in order to achieve true self-realization and to free oneself from the state of immaturity, anxiety and illness. Significantly influenced by Maslow's ideas, the Human Potential Movement developed from the USA , with the focus on the development of human personality and potential and the fulfillment of meaning in life.

Realizing being versus realizing the deficit

Maslow describes two different modes of recognition:

“In S-cognition (knowledge of being ) the experience or the object tends to be seen as a whole, as a complete unity, detached from the relationships, from the possible usefulness, expediency and appropriateness. It is perceived as if it were everything there is in the universe, as if it were the whole of being, synonymous with the universe. This is in contrast to D-cognition (cognition of the deficit), which includes most human cognitive experiences. These experiences are fragmentary and incomplete ... "
“If there is S-knowledge (knowledge of being), one has to devote one's attention exclusively and fully to the perceived object. This can be called 'total attention' [...] "(Compare also flow experience.)
“Since the whole of being is perceived, all those laws apply that would be valid if the whole cosmos could be grasped at once. This perception is in sharp contrast to normal perception. Here you pay attention to the object at the same time as everything else that is relevant. "

The recognition of being corresponds to the holistic, humanistic view of the world and man on which Maslow's work is based.

Additional Services

Motivation and image of man

A motivation theory is usually based on an image of man in which the question of what motivation actually is and how it can be increased is discussed . Maslow based his theories on an image of man shaped by humanism ; he claims that the humanistic worldview appears as a new and hopeful, encouraging way of representing any area of ​​human knowledge.

Maslow postulates that every human being basically has an essential, biologically based inner nature. This inner nature is "natural" to a certain extent, given and only changeable to a certain extent. It is a generic criterion and not good or bad in and of itself. The inner nature that is good or neutral rather than bad should be encouraged rather than suppressed. In a society there can be a suppression of the inner nature of the human being, with considerable consequences; If this important core of the person is denied, this can lead to illness , which is why Maslow advises that people should be able to perceive their inner nature and live out freely.

From his image of man, Maslow developed a much broader worldview and a comprehensive philosophy of life, which was expressed in his psychology. In doing so, Maslow emphasizes the holistic nature of people: He explains that "the entire individual is motivated and not just a part of him". Maslow, for example, refers to the effects of hunger on the whole human being. On the physical level, for example, perception changes ; hungry people are more focused on food than they would otherwise. Effects on a psychological level are, for example, tension and nervousness .

Maslow writes that it is not clearly possible to define the term motivation. The necessary measuring devices are missing to be able to record the extent of motivation.

“The problems the authors plagued with in this area when they tried to define and narrow down the motivation are the result of the exclusive demand for observable, external behavioral criteria. The original criterion of motivation and the one still used by all people except behaviorists is the subjective. I am motivated when I feel a desire or a need or a longing or a desire or a lack ”.

Maslow thus emphasizes the subjective , not objectively determinable dimension of motivation:

“No objectively ascertainable condition has yet been found that correlates halfway with these subjective reports, i. H. A suitable behaviorist definition of motivation has not yet been found. Fortunately, however, we can ask people about it, and there is no reason in the world why we should not do it until we have better sources of information ”.

Fonts (selection)

  • Cases in Personality and Abnormal Psychology. Brooklyn College Press, New York 1938.
  • with Bela Mittelmann: Principles of Abnormal Psychology. The Dynamics of Psychic Illness. Harper and Brothers, New York 1941.
  • Motivation and personality. Harper & Row, New York 1954; Revised edition, ibid. 1970.
  • Motivation and personality. Walter, Olten 1977, ISBN 3-530-54440-X ; Rowohlt, Reinbek 1981, ISBN 3-499-17395-6 .
  • (Ed.): New Knowledge in Human Values. Harper & Row, New York 1959.
  • Toward a Psychology of Being. D. Van Nostrand, Princeton NJ 1962.
  • Psychology of being. A blueprint. Kindler, Munich 1973; Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt 1985, ISBN 3-596-42195-0 .
  • Religions, Values ​​and Peak experiences. Ohio State University Press, Columbus 1964.
  • Everyone is a mystic. Hammer, Wuppertal 2014, ISBN 3-779-50488-X .
  • Eupsychian Management. A journal. Irwin, Homewood 1965.
  • The Psychology of Science. A reconnaissance. Harper & Row, New York 1966.
  • The psychology of science. New ways of perceiving and thinking. Goldmann, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-442-11131-5 .
  • Farther Reaches of Human Nature. Viking Press, New York 1971.

See also

literature

  • Frank Goble: The Third Force. The Psychology of Abraham Maslow . Viking Adult, 1970, ISBN 0-670-70065-7 .
  • The third force. AH Maslow's Contribution to a Psychology of Mental Health . Walter, Olten 1979, ISBN 3-530-26740-6 .
  • Harald Hochgräfe: The educational concept in the humanistic psychology of AH Maslow . Centaurus, Pfaffenweiler 1988, ISBN 3-89085-216-5 (= Psychology Series , Volume 16).
  • Susan Kreuter-Szabo: The concept of self in humanistic psychology by A. Maslow u. C. Rogers . Land, Frankfurt am Main / Bern / New York / Paris 1988, ISBN 3-8204-1173-9 (= European university publications : Series 6, Psychology , Volume 235, also dissertation at the University of Zurich 1987).
  • Colin Wilson : New Pathways in Psychology. Maslow and the Post-Freudian Revolution . Gollancz, 1972, ISBN 0-575-01355-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Guru: Abraham Maslow. on: economist.com , October 10, 2008.
  2. Abraham Maslow. on: psy.rin.ru in engl. language
  3. Maslow, 1977, p. 74.
  4. Maslow, 1977, p. 79
  5. Maslow, 1977, p. 85.
  6. See Maslow, 1973, pp. 153-156.
  7. Reprinted in: Lujo Brentano: Concrete conditions of the economy. Felix Meiner, Leipzig 1924, pp. 104–195; New edition Metropolis, Marburg, pp. 87–158.
  8. ^ Plato, Der Staat, Verlag Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig 1978, p. 108.
  9. See Platon, 1978, pp. 113-119.
  10. See Maslow, 1973, pp. 43, 44.
  11. Maslow, 1973, pp. 83 and 84.
  12. Maslow, 1973, pp. 85 and 86.
  13. a b Maslow, 1973, p. 86.
  14. cf. Maslow, 1973, p. 21
  15. cf. Maslow, 1977, pp. 7, 8
  16. a b Maslow, 1977, p. 55
  17. Maslow, 1973, p. 38
  18. Maslow, 1973, p. 8