Abraham maslow Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Abraham maslow - Essay Example His approach to psychology has motivated eupsychology, for example, a new way of doing psychology as a science and as a therapy. Abraham Maslow is thus a humanistic psychologist. Above all he is a humanist, because he places the human being at the center of his studies, at the center of the world. His faith in the human being is reflected on his own conclusions about the human race. In this paper we will take a look a his life and work."He was born and raised in Brooklyn, the eldest of seven children. He was smart but shy, and remembered his childhood as lonely and rather unhappy. Maslow attended City College in New York. His father hoped he would pursue law, but he went to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin to study psychology. While there, he married his cousin Bertha, and found as his chief mentor Professor Harry Harlow. At Wisconsin he pursued an original line of research, investigating primate dominance behavior and sexuality. He went on to further research at Columb ia University, continuing similar studies. He found another mentor in Alfred Adler, one of Freud's early followers." (PBS Online, 1998).Maslow dedicated most of his life to studies in psychology. He was really an academic professional as he took part in different universities throughout his career. PBS Online goes on narrating his life:"From 1937 to 1951, Maslow was on the faculty of Brooklyn College.... Maslow became the leader of the humanistic school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, which he referred to as the "third force" -- beyond Freudian theory and behaviorism." (PBS Online, 1998). The Wikipedia deals with his life in a slightly different way: "Abraham Maslow (April 1, 1908 - June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist. He is mostly noted today for his proposal of a hierarchy of human needs. () Born in Brooklyn, New York, Maslow was the first of seven children of Jewish immigrants from Russia. His parents were uneducated, but they insisted that he study law. At first, Abraham acceded to their wishes and enrolled in the City College of New York. However, after three semesters he transferred to Cornell, then back to CCNY. After he married, he moved to Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin from which he received his B.A. (1930), his M.A. (1931), and his Ph.D. (1934) in psychology. While in Wisconsin, Maslow studied with Harry Harlow, who was known for his studies of rhesus monkeys and attachment behavior. A year after graduation, Maslow returned to New York to work with E. L. Thorndike at Columbia." (Wikipedia, 2006). It is important to note that the Wikipedia doesn't say that Maslow married his first cousin. Maybe they didn't want to get too personal. The Wikipedia continues speaking about Maslow's life in the following manner: "Maslow began teaching full time at Brooklyn College. During this time he met many leading European psychologists, including Alfred Adler and Erich Fromm. In 1951, Maslow became the chairman of the psychology department at Brandeis University, where he began his theoretical