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Part III    Humanistic/Existential Theories276
whocould cutoffthediseased body parts withnodiscernible emotion. ToMaslow, 
medical school—like lawschool—reflected anunemotional andnegative viewofpeo-
ple,andhewasbothdisturbed andbored byhisexperiences inmedical school. When 
Maslow became bored withsomething, heusually quitit,andmedical school wasno
exception (Hoffman, 1988).
Thefollowing yearhereturned toNewYork tobecome E.L.Thorndike’s research 
assistant atTeachers College, Columbia University. Maslow, amediocre student dur-
inghisdaysatCityCollege andCornell, scored 195onThorndike’s intelligence test,
prompting Thorndike togivehisassistant freereintodoashewished. Maslow’s fertile 
mind thrived inthissituation; butafterayearandahalfofdoing research onhuman 
dominance andsexuality, heleftColumbia tojointhefaculty ofBrooklyn College, a
newly established school whose students weremostly bright, young adolescents from 
working-class homes, much likeMaslow himself 10years earlier (Hoffman, 1988).
Living inNewYork during the1930s and1940s afforded Maslow anopportu -
nitytocome intocontact withmany oftheEuropean psychologists whohadescaped 
Nazi rule.Infact,Maslow surmised that,ofallthepeople whohadeverlived, he
hadthebestteachers (Goble, 1970). Among others, hemetandlearned from Erich 
Fromm, Karen Horney, MaxWertheimer, andKurtGoldstein. Hewasinfluenced by
eachofthese people, most ofwhom conducted lectures attheNewSchool forSocial 
Research. Maslow alsobecame associated withAlfred Adler, whowasliving inNew
York atthattime. Adler heldseminars inhishome onFriday nights, andMaslow was
afrequent visitor tothese sessions, aswasJulian Rotter (seeChapter 18).
Another ofMaslow’s mentors wasRuth Benedict, ananthropologist atColumbia 
University. In1938, Benedict encouraged Maslow toconduct anthropological studies 
among theNorthern Blackfoot Indians ofAlberta, Canada. Hiswork among these 
Native Americans taught himthatdifferences among cultures weresuperficial and
thattheNorthern Blackfoot werefirstpeople andonlysecond weretheyBlackfoot 
Indians. Thisinsight helped Maslow inlateryears toseethathisfamous hierarchy of
needs applied equally toeveryone.
Right aftertheUnited States waspulled intoWorld WarIIinDecember of
1941, Maslow experienced alife-altering insight. Hewaswatching aveterans parade 
andhadaverymoving insight thatfrom thenonhislifewould havetobedevoted to
“apsychology forthepeace table” (Hoffman, 1998, p.2).Thisinsight alsogaverise
tohisideathatmotives arehierarchical, withhigher order needs likegrowth andwell-
being onlyabletobeafocus once lower levelbiological andsafety needs arerelatively 
well-satisfied. During themid-1940s, Maslow’s health began todeteriorate. In1946, 
atage38,hesuffered astrange illness thatlefthimweak, faint, andexhausted. The
nextyearhetookamedical leave and,withBertha andtheirtwodaughters, moved 
toPleasanton, California, where, inname only, hewasplant manager ofabranch of
theMaslow Cooperage Corporation. Hislightwork schedule enabled himtoread
biographies andhistories inasearch forinformation onself-actualizing people. After 
ayear, hishealth hadimproved andhewent backtoteaching atBrooklyn College.
In1951, Maslow tookaposition asthechairman ofthepsychology department 
attherecently established Brandeis University inWaltham, Massachusetts. During 
hisBrandeis years, hebegan writing extensively inhisjournals, jotting down atirreg-
ularintervals histhoughts, opinions, feelings, social activities, important conversa -
tions, andconcerns forhishealth (Maslow, 1979).Final PDF to printer