Physiological Needs
Physiological needs, including hunger, thirst, air, and sleep, are the most de-
manding in that they must be satisfied before we can move to higher level
needs. Throughout history —and in many places today —many people ’s lives
have been focused on meeting these basic needs. Finding enough food and
water for survival takes priority over concerns about gaining the respect of
peers or developing potential as an artist.
Safety Needs
When physiological needs are met, we become increasingly motivated by our
safety needs. These include the need for security, stability, protection, structure,
Abraham H. Maslow
1908 –1970
The evolution of Abraham
Maslow ’s personal and
professional life resemble inmany ways the personalgrowth he described in his
writings. Although generallyregarded as a warm andgregarious adult, Maslow
had a cold and lonely childhood. “I was the little
Jewish boy in the non-Jewish neighborhood, ”he
recalled. “I was isolated and unhappy. I grew up in
libraries and among books, without friends ”(cited in
Hall, 1968, p. 37).
His professional career also started on a path far
from his eventual position as the father of humanistic
psychology. His parents, uneducated Russianimmigrants, encouraged Maslow to go to law school.He went to City College of New York in this pursuitbut found it uninteresting and dropped out during thefirst year. Maslow went to Cornell and then to theUniversity of Wisconsin to study psychology.Ironically, what initially attracted him to psychologywas behaviorism, particularly the works of John B.Watson. “I was so excited about Watson ’s program, ”
he said. “I was confident that here was a real road to
travel, solving one problem after another and changingthe world ”(cited in Hall, 1968, p. 37). Although his
enthusiasm for behaviorism would eventually wane,Maslow ’s desire to solve the world ’s problems through
psychology never diminished.Maslow stayed at Wisconsin to finish his PhD in
1934. He remained a loyal behaviorist throughout this
period, working closely with Harry Harlow in his
animal lab. After graduation, Maslow went to
Columbia University to work with the famous learningtheorist E. L. Thorndike. But with the birth of his first
daughter, Maslow went through a mystical experiencesimilar to the peak experiences he later studied.Looking at his newborn child, Maslow realized thatbehaviorism was incapable of providing theunderstanding of human behavior that he now needed.“I looked at this tiny, mysterious thing and felt so
stupid, ”he said. “I was stunned by the mystery and by
the sense of not really being in control. …Anyone who
had a baby couldn ’t be a behaviorist ”(cited in Hall,
1968, p. 56).
After Columbia, Maslow taught at Brooklyn
College for 14 years, where he came into contact with
Karen Horney and Alfred Adler. Most important, hemet Max Wertheimer, one of the founders of Gestaltpsychology, and Ruth Benedict, a culturalanthropologist. It was his desire to better understandthese two people, whom he called “the most
remarkable human beings, ”that led him to his
exploration of self-actualized people (Maslow, 1970).Maslow moved to Brandeis University in 1951 andremained there until shortly before his death in 1970.He hoped to leave a new movement in psychology as
his legacy. “I like to be the first runner in the relay
race,”he once said. “Then I like to pass on the baton to
the next man ”(cited in Hall, 1968, p. 56)Bettmann/CORBISAbraham Maslow 285