Nowadays, only the lazy have not heard of the Maslow pyramid, or the pyramid of needs. This symbol shows in which hierarchy the needs of the average person are located: first come the physiological needs, then safety, the desire to be loved, and so on.
The meaning of this theory is that when a person is full and has a roof over his head, other, less material needs arise, up to highly spiritual ones. Some psychologists dispute this theory, many are guided by it in their work.
Biography
Parents Abraham - come from Russia. First, his father came to the United States, began to do business. And when things went well with him, he invited his girlfriend to his house, and they were already married in America. The future psychologist was born in New York in 1908.
From childhood, he was a shy, notorious, nervous boy. He had great abilities to study, but because of shyness, he did not really show them. He considered himself unworthy to ride with other people in the same carriage, because he considered himself very ugly.
So Abraham's school days passed, and then he enrolled at City College to become a lawyer. It was the father’s desire, but the future psychologist did not like the college so much that he did not even finish the first course.
Then he became a student at Cornell University and within its walls became acquainted with psychology.
After being transferred to the University of Wisconsin, Harry Harlow, who had been researching primates for a long time, became Maslow's supervisor. At this time, Abraham became interested in behaviorism - the theory of a person’s reaction to the environment, to negative and positive events in his life. Now many psychologists know such terms as "reinforcement", "punishment" and others. And at that time, scientists conducted experiments on rats and monitored their reactions to certain actions in relation to them.
Scientist career
Maslow showed great success in work, and already in 1930 became a bachelor. And four years later he became a doctor of sciences.
The young scientist dreamed of continuing his research, he wanted to do science. Therefore, he went to New York, which at that time was a real center of science. Scientists gathered there who were persecuted by the Nazis, and there were many great minds of our time in the city.
It was during that period that Maslow met such celebrities as Alfred Adler, Eric Fromm, Karen Horney. Most of all he had a chance to talk with Max Wertheimer, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology, and Ruth Benedict, a wonderful specialist in cultural anthropology.
In New York, Abraham went to tests at Columbia University, to the psychologist Edward Thorndike. He had a special test to test the mental abilities of applicants, and the young scientist passed it simply brilliantly - this has not yet happened. Of course, Thorndike was glad to have such a specialist as his assistant.
And soon Maslow began working as a teacher at Brooklyn College. In this educational institution he worked for fourteen years and received a huge amount of material for his scientific work.
In his student years, the future scientist was engaged in behaviorism, and this interest remained with him for life. When he became acquainted with the works of Freud, he agreed that he paid particular attention to sexuality. And so he devoted his dissertation to the sexual behavior of primates. And having received a specialized education and a scientific degree, he devoted part of the time to the study of people's sexual behavior. And he believed that if everyone understands the effect of sexuality on his life, life will become easier.
When the Second World War began, the scientist realized that psychology is powerless when it comes to international conflicts. Then all his attention turned to social and personal psychology. He decided to study the problem of negotiating and sending them peacefully.
Whatever the scientist does, he translates everything into the field of research. So, one day he became very ill and had to leave his job. At this time, he helped his father in his work - making barrels. At this time, he made brilliant conclusions about production management, which are still used today.
Since 1951, Maslow began working at the University of Brandes. He was invited as the head of the department of the first psychological faculty. The history of the university says that he made a great contribution to the development of the entire university.
The scientist died of myocardial infarction when he was sixty-two years old.
