Abraham Harold Maslow (1908-1970)
- Life
Born April 1, 1908, Brooklyn, NY
Oldest of seven; Russian immigrants
Moved from slums to lower-middle class (only Jewish boy in neighborhood)
Not close to either parent
Father worked a lot
Mother was schizophrenic: punished at least provocation; didn’t attend her funeral
Studied law at the City College of New York, 3 semesters
Transferred to Cornell, back to CCNY
He married Bertha Goodman, his first cousin, against his parents wishes
University of Wisconsin
Interested in psychology; school work improved dramatically
Worked with Harry Harlow: baby rhesus monkeys and attachment behavior
1935, returned to New York
worked with E. L. Thorndike at Columbia
became interested in research on human sexuality
Taught Brooklyn College; met Adler, Fromm, Horney, etc.
1951-1961, Brandeis
met Kurt Goldstein; introduced him to the idea of self-actualization
began to advocate humanistic psychology
- Approach
Behaviorism = practical way to improve society
Birth of his first daughter “thunderclap”
Turned from behaviorism
Emphasized the positive side of human nature
Human being as a “wanting animal”
Humanistic psychology; “3rd Force”
Inner force to fulfill potential
Each person is unique
Ideal self vs. real self
- Theory
Motivation versus Meta-motivation
Motivation = reducing tension by satisfying deficit states or lacks;
D-needs; deficit needs; physical survival
Meta-motivation = growth tendencies;
B-needs; being needs; drive to self-actualize and fulfill inherent potential;
D-needs take precedence B-needs
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological
Safety = orderly, stable, predictable world
Belonging and love = affection, intimate relationships, feel part of group
Self-esteem = 2 kinds: respect from other and self-respect
Self-Actualized
- Self actualization
Picked out a group of people; some historical figures, some people he knew
Included:
Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Jefferson
Mahatma Gandhi
Eleanor Roosevelt
Benedict Spinoza
Albert Einstein
William James
Studied their lives; biographies, writings, etc
- Characteristics
reality-centered: could differentiate what is fake from genuine
problem-centered: life’s difficulties as problems demanding solutions;
not as personal troubles to be railed at or surrendered to
different perception of means and ends; ends don’t necessarily justify the means
means could be ends themselves; the journey was often more important than the ends
different way of relating to others
need for privacy and comfortable being alone
independent of culture and environment; relying on their own experiences and judgment
resisted enculturation; not susceptible to social pressure; nonconformists in the best sense.
intimate personal relations; few close friends and family members
Gemeinschaftsgefühl; social interest, compassion, humanity; democratic values,
open to ethnic and individual variety
unhostile sense of humor; joke at their own expense
acceptance of self & others; not try change you into what you should be;
take you as you are
spontaneity and simplicity; preferred being themselves, not pretentious
freshness of appreciation; ability to see ordinary things with wonder
creative, inventive, and original
more peak experiences: feeling of being part of the infinite and the eternal;
takes you out of yourself; makes you feel very tiny; mystical experiences
self-actualizers are not perfect:
considerable anxiety and guilt but realistic anxiety and guilt
absentminded
overly kind
unexpected moments of ruthlessness, surgical coldness and loss of humor
- Psychopathology and Treatment
Symptoms of pathology are learned
Treatment should be a learning situation; adaptive behaviors and cognitions are taught
Therapist-client relationship is viewed as being similar to a teacher-student relationship - Self is
the most important being
the center of one’s universe
second to no others
intrinsically good
self-perfecting
- Needs
Hierarchically organized; lower levels before higher needs
Lower needs are more powerful & pressing; more primitive; deficiency-based
Higher needs are weaker, or subtle; more human; growth-based
- Criticisms
Vague concepts: self-actualization, fully-functioning person
Too much free will
Psychology should be like physics: perfect prediction
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
- Life
Born January 8, 1902, Oak Park, Illinois, suburb of Chicago
4th of 6 kids
Father = civil engineer
Mother = devoted Christian
1914, moved to farm 30 miles west of Chicago
Self-disciplined, isolated, chores
His family gave him a lot of direction as he grew up
Attended U of Wisconsin: agriculture major, switched to religion
1 of 10 selected to attend World Student Christian Federation Conference, China
Graduated from college
Married Helen Elliot (against his parents’ wishes)
Attended Union Theological Seminary
- Approach
People are basically good (healthy)
Mental health is the norm
Mental illness, criminality, etc are distortions of natural tendency
A relatively simple theory
Phenomonology
Each individual exists in center of phenomonal field
Emphasis on individual’s perception of reality
How it is perceived by the individual
The event itself is not important
Primary tendency of organism is to maintain, actualize and enhance itself
not automatic or effortless process
Behavior is goal-directed attempt of organism to meet its needs as it perceives them
Emotions facilitate behavior
Experiences are intrinsically growth-producing
An organismic valuing process subconsciously guides toward productive growth experiences
Provided that it has not been overlaid with external rules and social values. - Self
Self gradually emerges from the interaction with significant others
Real self vs self as perceived
Experiences are symbolized, ignored, dined or distorted, become subconscious
Parent shouldn’t threaten integrity of child’s self-concept
accept the child’s feeling of satisfaction
accept the child’s feelings that certain actions are inappropriate
- Types of Self
Ideal Self: How you want to be
Actual Self: How see yourself
Real Self: How you act from day to day
Congruence of Self
Incongruence of Self
- Self-concept
A portion of the phenomonal field that has gradually become differentiated
Comes in part through others; the potential for dissocaitve or estrangement exists
Self-concept is the object of perception
Basic human drive is to be a fully functioning person,
who lives by his/her values and not society’s/parents’ values
Self-concept is what we think our values are, but this might not reflect reality
If real values and our self-concept disagree, feel anxiety & use defense mechanisms,
including distortion (society is not trying to influence us) and d
enial (society is not succeeding in influencing us)
we subconsciously “know” it’s not true, so we feel unhappy.
To alleviate anxiety, Rogers used client-centered therapy:
unconditional positive regard (i.e. “You’re great no matter who you are”),
not conditional positive regard received (“You’re great only if do the right things)
- Congruence
Symbolized experiences reflect all actual experiences
When congruent, person is free from inner tension and psychologically adjusted
- 2 basic needs
positive regard by others
positive regard by self
Positive regard = being loved and accepted for who one is
unconditional positive regard
conditional positive regard
Positive self-regard follows automatically when receive unconditional positive regard
5 characteristics of a fully functioning person
Openness to experience
Experiential freedom
Existential living
Organismic trust
Creativity
- Theory
“Nondirective therapy” therapy (original name)
Client was given no direction at all
Choice of topic was up to client
“Client centered therapy”
Later, modified approach
Stressed client-therapist relationship
Stressed importance of “unconditional regard” (total acceptance; warm, friendly)
- Psychopathology and Treatment
Symptoms of pathology are learned; all behavior is learned
Treatment is a learning situation
Adaptive behaviors and cognitions are taught
Therapist-client relationship is like teacher-student relationship
Becoming a fully functioning person
Unconditional positive regard
- Therapy
Focus on the client’s topics of discussion
Clarify feelings
Restatement of content
Client is responsible for therapy’s progress, own conclusions, solve own problems