Motivational Theorist: Abraham Maslow

1477 Words3 Pages

Motivational Theorist Paper: Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
“What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.” (“Brainy Quote”) This quote by Abraham Harold Maslow is the foundation on which much of his work is based. Maslow was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 1, 1908, to a poor Jewish immigrant family from Russia. He was the first of seven children and since his parents wished for the best for their children they were very strong about academic achievement. Due to this push from his parents he became a very unsociable boy and found comfort in reading and studying books. His parents treated him very unfairly and were downright mean to him by telling him that he was ugly to physically beating him up. He came from a very stressed household, because his parents had no lover for him or the rest of the family. These different aspects of his young life built him to what he was and he got into college studying psychology. Studying psychology is where he would assess and study human needs and wants, and then come up his well-known hierarchy of needs triangle.
His college education began in 1925 when he first studied law in the City College of New York. After just three semesters there, he transferred to Cornell and then back again. Once back at the City College of New York, he married his first cousin Bertha Goodman and the couple would go on to have two daughters. Once 1928 came, Abraham and Bertha moved to Wisconsin in order for him to attend the University of Wisconsin. Here is where an interest for psychology was sparked and his studies began. While studying here, he worked much of his time with Harry Harlow who studied monkeys. He was very successful, and in 1930 he received his BA, in 1931 he received his MA...

... middle of paper ...

...oals and future. His hierarchy of needs is all very logical in that once the basic needs are met we can move up to the next needs, however this does not mean that any need would be exactly less important. We each can work our way up to the top and fill this potential that he speaks of to make our life the fullest. The famous hierarchy of needs is what assess the human needs and wants to show what everyone needs in their life. Thanks to Abraham Maslow, we have a diagram to clearly depict and show each level of these needs.

Works Cited

“Abraham Maslow”. Pbs.org. Web. 4 March 2014.
“Abraham Maslow Quotes”. Brainyquote.com. Web. 6 March 2014.
“Biography of Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)”. Psychology.about.com. Web. 4 March 2014.
Boeree, C. “Abraham Maslow”. Webspace.ship.edu. 2006. Web. 4 March 2014.
Emrich, Michelle. “Abraham Maslow”. Muskingum.edu. Web. 6 March 2014.

Open Document