Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) was an American psychologist and a leading figure in humanistic psychology, best known for his theory of human motivation and the concept of self-actualization. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he studied psychology at the City College of New York, Cornell University, and the University of Wisconsin, where he earned his doctorate in 1934. His early research included studies of primate behavior under Harry Harlow, but his later work shifted toward questions of human motivation, personality, creativity, and psychological well-being. In Motivation and Personality (1954), Maslow proposed a hierarchy of human needs, commonly represented as physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization, arguing that psychological development involves movement toward increasingly complex forms of fulfillment. He subsequently examined psychologically healthy and highly creative individuals and developed his conception of self-actualization as the realization of one’s capacities and potential. Maslow taught at Brooklyn College and Brandeis University and helped establish humanistic psychology as an influential alternative to both behaviorism and orthodox psychoanalysis.