010- PSY102 Chapter10 Maslow

One day shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor,at age 33, Abe Maslow witnessed apathetic and beggarly civilian parade--one that seemed to emphasize the futility andtragic waste of war.With tears streaming down his face,he made a firm vow:to prove that the human raceis capable of something grander than hate and destructiveness,and to do so by studying the psychologically healthiest people that he could find (M.H.Hall,I968a,

pp.54-55).

• To integrate the best aspects

o f

various theories

o f

personality(eclecticism),including Freudian psychoanalysis and t he importance

o f

the unconscious.• To correct Freud ' s pessimistic view

o f

human nature

by

showing that our inner potent ials are ent irely healthy ,but that t hey are weak and can easily

be

over whelmed

by

pathogenic environmental forces.• To distinguish between two kinds

o f

motives:de(t ciency motives , whichinvolve dr ive reduct ion and (tiling an internallack ,and growth motives ,which repr esent a higher level

o f

functioning and include pleasurable tension increases and ful(t lling one' s unique potentials.• To show that fundamental human needs form a hierar chy ,wherein higher level needs do not become mot ivating(or even r ecognizable)until lower level needs have at least

to

some ext ent beensat is(ted . • Tolearn about thehighest level need , self-act uali zation ,

by

st udying the psychologically healthiest people. • To describe the behaviors that d i fferent iate self -actuali zers from those who have not achieved this level

o f

behavior . • To show that psychopathology

is

caused

by

the failure

to

satisfyour fundamentalneeds ,and that the failure

to

self -actualize leads

to

markedly d i fferent symptoms. •To advocate an eclect ic approach

to

psychotherapy ,wherein d i fferent procedur es(including Freudian psychoanalysis ,br iefer forms

of

psychotherapy ,and behavior therapy)may

be

used depending ont he nature and severity

o f

the pat ient' s problems.

Abraham H. Maslow was born on April1,1908, inBrook lyn, New York .His parents wereun- educated Jewishimmigrants fromRussia;his fatherowned abarrel manufacturing company. Maslow'schildhood was economically and sociallydeprived, and he waslaterto comparehis position in a non-Jewish neighborhood tothat of the firstBlack inanall-White school(M. H. Hall,1968a,p.37). Isolated andunhappy,he grewup in the company of libraries and books rather than friends.Masloworiginallyenrolled at Cornell University but soontransferred to the University of Wisconsin,primarilybecause its catalog advertised thepresence of variousprominent scien- tists.To his considerable disappointment,he found that these notables were only visiting professors who hadlong sincedeparted. Yethe stayed to earnnot onlyhis bachelor's degree,but also his Ph.D. inpsychology in 1934. Maslow's doctoraldissertationdealt withthe sexual behavior of monkeys,underthe supervisionof Harry Harlow.His professors at Wisconsinalso provided him withinstructionin the socialamenitiesthat hehadneglected, suchasthef ine art of buying a suit (M.H.Hall,1968a,p. 37). Maslow marriedBerthaGoodman,hishigh school sweetheart,while a 20-year-old undergraduate.The marriage proved to be veryhappy and successful,and the Maslows were tohavetwodaughters.

At first an ardent behaviorist, Maslow's firsthand experience with his children con-vinced him to abandon this approach as inadequate.In 1937 he accepted a position atBrooklyn College, where he was to remain for some 15 years. During this time he fur-thered his knowledge by obtaining personal interviews with such noted theorists as Adler,Fromm,and Homey,underwent psychoanalysis,and experienced the aforementioned pro- found reaction to World War II. In 1951 Maslow moved to Brandeis University, andbecame perhapsthe foremost exponent of humanistic personality theory. In addition to hisacademic endeavors,he also spent more than 10 years practicing brief, nonanalyticpsychotherapy.Maslow's writings consist of some six books and numerous articles in psychological jour-nals,and his honors include election to the presidency of the American Psychological Associ-ation in 1967.Long troubled by heart problems, Abe Maslow died of a heart attack on June 8,1970.For the most part,Maslow shares Rogers's optimistic view of human nature.Our innate (instinctoid) tendencies are predominantly healthy,and they include the capacity for con-structive growth,kindness,generosity,and love.Yet Maslow also agrees with Erikson that these"instinct-remnants" are very weak, and are easily overwhelmed by the far more power-ful forces of learning and culture. "The human needs ...are weak and feeble rather thanunequivocal and unmistakable; they whisper rather than shout.And the whisper is easily drowned out"(Maslow,1970b,p. 276; see also Maslow,1965;1968, pp. 164, 171,191; 1970b,pp.ix, xvii-xix,27-28,77-95,103). A pathogenic environment can easily inhibit our positive potentials and evoke hatred,destructiveness,and self-defeating behavior. Thus Maslow prefers an eclectic approach to personality, and he advises psychologists to guard against excessive theoretical optimismby acquiring a thorough knowledge of Freudian psychoanalysis:[My goal is] to integrate into a single theoretical structure the partial truths I [see] inFreud,Adler,Jung,... Fromm, Homey, [and others].... Freud is still required reading for the humanistic psychologist ... [yet] it is as if [he] supplied to us the sick half of psy-chology, and we must now fill it out with the healthy half ....[Thus] it is already possi- ble to reject firmly the despairing belief that human nature is ultimately and basicallydepraved and evil,...[and to conclude that the striving toward health] must by now be accepted beyond question as a widespread and perhaps universal human tendency. (Maslow,1968,p.5; 1970b,pp. xi-xiii. See also Maslow,1968, pp. vii,3-8,48; 1966/1969; 1970b, pp. ix-xxvii, 117-129;1971, pp. 4,32.)

Deficiency Motives.

Some of our instinctoid impulses aim toward the reduction of such drivesas hunger,thirst,safety, and obtaining love and esteem from others.These deficiency motives (deficit motives, D·motives) are possessed by everyone, and involveimportant lacks within us that must be satisfied by appropriate objects or people.