ABRAHAM MASLOW - HIERARCHY OF NEEDS (Hough, 2010; Romero & Kemph,

2007; Corey, 2005; Colledge, 2002)

- Born in Brooklyn, New York (1908-1970).

- An only Jewish boy in the neighborhood.
- A lonely childhood.
- Parents wanted him to become a lawyer but studied psychology and obtain a Ph.d at the
age of 26 years from University of Wisconsin.
- Was first interested in behavioural psychology but with time was not satisfied with the
approach because in his view, it did not explain what motivates people and give
meaning and purpose to their life.

Maslow was aware of the evil and destructiveness in the world but he chose to focus on the
positive aspects of human experience.

View of Personality

- A human being is in the process of self actualization.

- Human beings cannot meet a higher need until the lower need in the hierarch of needs is met.
- Human beings are responsible for their destiny.
- Every struggle has an underlying motivation to meet a certain need.
- Problems/struggle arise when an individual lacks in the self actualization process.

Key Concepts:
Self Actualization

Dfn: This is a process of striving to become what the person was intended to be.

- A healthy person is the one who is able to get in touch with his\her inner resources and use those
resources maximumly to attain whole self.
- Clients struggle are expressed in therapies by stating that they are not able to develop the skills and
their natural talents.
- Client’s inability to reach his/her inner potential cause the client to suffer.

Maslow was much interested in the progress of the client than his/her problems and his studies involved
high achieving people: Philosopher Spinoza, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.

In his study among the high achievers, he found that:

- These people had the ability to perceive reality clearly in that they were able to judge people and
situations accurately.
- They had ability to accept self and others.
- Were spontaneous in thinking and behaving as well as sense of humour.
- Were problem centred and not self centred i.e. had capacity to view problems with a wider
perspective.
- Had a quality of detachment and ability to be self-contained when alone (independent)
- Ability to resist cultural influence.
- Capacity to appreciate the good in life.
- Capacity to enjoy moments of the day (transcendence).
- Interest in social issues and welfare of others.
- Ability to form deep satisfying relationships.
- Originality and creativity and willing to experiment with new ideas.
- Ability to tolerate uncertainty.
Therapeutic Techniques

- Maslow views the counsellor attitude as paramount for successful therapy. This includes the core
conditions as viewed by Rogers where the counselor portrays interest, frankness, accepting, and
concern without judgment.
- He also suggested as listening skill as a important in therapies.
- The other thing that he thought paramount as well is the counselor’s life experience such as:
experiences of friendship, good intimate relationship, education, job satisfaction, overcoming
difficulties, creative activities and family security.

Goal of Therapy

- NB: Maslow argued that these same people sometimes had the characteristics: boring, silly, vain,
irritating, depressing and lost tempers. This indicates that they were human with human
experiences but were able to overcome inhibitions and move forward towards actualization.
- Many clients can be such achievers but in times of stress, they become inhibited in their talents and
the counsellor’s work is to help them remove the distortion of their unique reality.
Reference

Colledge, R. (2002). Mastering counseling theory. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Corey, G. (2005). Theory and practice of counseling psychology. (ed.7). USA: Thomson
Brooks/Cole.

Hough, M. (2010). Counseling skills and theory. (ed.3). London: Hooder Education An Hachette
UK Company.

Romero, A.A. & Kemp, S.M. (2007). Psychology demystified: A self-teaching guide. New York: McGraw
Hill.