Albert Maslow

Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist, who was born on April 1st 1908 and died June 8 1970. He is mostly known for Maslow's hierarchy of needs. He is also the tenth most quoted psychologist of the twentieth century.

His parents were Jewes who had to emigrate to the United States during World War II. However, both of his parents and Abraham himself were still often the target of antisemitism.

But that didn't change his view on people. Maslow still believed that people are good at their core, which was very optimistic of him and it was shining through other theories with a much more pessimistic point of view on society and a person itself.

Based on his studies he created the famous Maslow's hierarchy of needs. We often see it composed into the form of a pyramid. It is set based on the urgency of that need, so primal needs are at the very bottom, but self-realization is on the top. The lower needs have to be at least partly satisfied for the less pressing needs to appear. However, there are a lot of arguments expressing how people in extreme conditions such as concentration camps tend to hold on to their beliefs and principles although their primal needs are definitely not fulfilled.

As said at the bottom of the pyramid are primal needs such as food, water, air… Then comes the need of safety and stability, followed by the need of acceptance, love, solidarity. The need to belong with other people is one recognized already in ancient Greece by Aristoteles and his famous caption of humans as a "zoon politikon", beings in need of society. Above that he placed a need of self-esteem, confidence, achievement and recognition, which would earn him respect from others. And lastly on the top of the pyramid there is self-actualization. That contains for example one's morality, acceptance of facts, creativity and spontaneity.

Quotes:

• "If you have a hammer you tend to see every problem as a nail."

• "We may define therapy as a search for value."

• "What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself."

• Abraham Maslow