Contents
I am an antidoctriner. I am against what closes the doors to us and cuts off opportunities.
A. Maslow
Abraham Maslow has done more to change our view of human nature and personality than any other American psychologist in the past half century.
Leonard
With the light hand of Abraham Maslow, the concepts of self-actualization and personal growth are one of the key, even cult, in modern psychology. Maslow’s works are often quoted today, although they have become available only in recent years and, frankly, there are few who have carefully read them. They are known mainly in abstract presentation, and most psychology students usually limit themselves to memorizing Maslow’s “pyramid of needs” on the night before the exam, so as not to remember it again. In fact, Maslow’s role in world psychology is much deeper and more serious, and this truly outstanding psychologist deserves to be known firsthand by his colleagues.
Childhood in Brooklyn
Abraham Harold Maslow was born on April 1, 1908. We should probably pronounce such a strange-sounding surname for an American in the usual manner — Maslov. This surname was borne by the father of the future psychologist, a native of the southern provinces of the Russian Empire, who, like tens of thousands of his Jewish compatriots, shocked by the ruthless pogroms of the beginning of the century, moved to the New World. There he opened a workshop for the manufacture of barrels, «got on his feet» and discharged his bride from his homeland. So their firstborn, who in other circumstances could be our compatriot and be called Abram Grigorievich Maslov, was already born in Brooklyn, not the most respectable area of New York.
Maslow’s childhood years would make an excellent subject for a psychoanalytic essay. His father turned out to be far from being an ideal family man, more precisely, a drunkard and a womanizer. He disappeared from home for a long time, so that his positive influence on the children (there were three of them in the family) was determined mainly by his absence. One can only be surprised that the family business developed quite successfully and allowed the family to exist quite safely. And later, Abraham himself, already a certified psychologist, took part in managing the production of barrels.
Abraham’s relationship with his mother developed badly and was colored by mutual hostility. Mrs. Maslow was a quarrelsome person and severely punished children for the slightest offense. In addition, she openly preferred the two younger children, and did not like the first-born. The scene was imprinted in the boy’s memory for the rest of his life: the mother smashes the heads of two cats against the wall, which her son brought from the street.
He didn’t forget or forgive. When his mother died, Maslow didn’t even show up for her funeral. In his notes, one can find the following words: “All my philosophy of life and my research have one common source — they feed on hatred and disgust for what she (mother) embodied.”
It is important to note that Abraham was not at all handsome. His small build and huge nose made him repulsively comical. He was so upset by the shortcomings of his appearance that he even avoided taking the subway, waiting for an empty car for a long time, where he could not catch anyone’s eye. It can even be said that in childhood and youth he was tormented by a severe inferiority complex in connection with his appearance. Perhaps that is why he was subsequently so interested in the theory of Alfred Adler, whom he even met personally when he moved to America. For Maslow himself was the living embodiment of this theory. In full accordance with Adler’s ideas (with which, of course, he was not yet familiar with in his youth), he sought to compensate for his thinness and awkwardness by intensive sports. When he failed to realize himself in this field, he took up science with the same zeal.
Youth
At the age of 18, Abraham Maslow entered New York City College. The father wanted his son to become a lawyer, but the young man was absolutely not attracted to the legal career. When his father asked what he still intended to do, Abraham replied that he would like to «learn everything.»
Interest in psychology arose in his penultimate year of college, and the topic for his term paper was chosen by him purely psychological. This happened under the influence of the bright speeches of the father of American behaviorism, John Watson. For many years, Maslow remained committed to behavioral psychology and the belief that only a natural-scientific approach to human behavior opens the way to solving all the world’s problems. Only over time, the limitations of the mechanistic interpretation of behavior, characteristic of behaviorism, became not only obvious to him, but also unacceptable.
It is interesting that, unlike the handsome, lively Watson, who deserved many reproaches for promiscuity, the plain Maslow was distinguished by a rare constancy in intimate relationships. In his youth, he passionately fell in love with his cousin, but, tormented by complexes, he did not dare to open up to her for a long time, fearing to be rejected. When his timid display of affection was unexpectedly reciprocated, he experienced the first peak experience in his life (this concept later became one of the cornerstones of his system). Mutual love became a huge support for his unsettled self-esteem. A year later, the young people got married (he was 20, she was 19) and, as they say in the novels, they lived happily ever after.
The study of sexuality in primates and humans
Maslow began systematic studies in psychology by entering Cornell University, and this almost extinguished his nascent interest in this science. The fact is that the first psychology course he took at Cornell was read by Wundt’s student, the structuralist Edward Titchener.
Against the background of Watson’s irresistible charm and the growing popularity of his behavioral ideas, Titchener’s academic reasoning sounded a dull anachronism. In Maslow’s words, it was something «inexpressibly boring and completely lifeless, having nothing to do with the real world, and therefore I fled from there with a shudder.»
He transferred to the University of Wisconsin, where he was actively engaged in experimental studies of animal behavior. Here he received a bachelor’s degree in 1930, a master’s degree in 1931, and in 1934, at the age of 26, a Ph.D. Harry Harlow, who became famous for his unique experiments on baby monkeys, acted as his supervisor. Under his leadership, Maslow carried out research work on the problems of dominance and sexual behavior in primates.
In those years, the problem of sexuality, despite the rapid flowering of psychoanalysis, continued to be frighteningly piquant for the public, and few scientists dared to approach it. Because of this, Maslow turned out to be one of the few who could, with a certain stretch, be called an expert on this problem. Therefore, it was to him that Alfred Kinsey subsequently turned, who was to revolutionize the American public consciousness by publishing the results of his sociological research on sexual topics.
Interestingly, Maslow rejected the offer of cooperation. Subsequently, he was repeatedly reproached for neglecting scientific methods and, in general, the criteria of scientific character. But he did not agree with Kinsey just on the grounds that he considered his research to be inconsistent with the criteria of scientific character. According to Maslow, Kinsey’s sample of respondents cannot be considered representative, since only those who voluntarily agreed to participate in the surveys participated. To draw conclusions on such a delicate issue as the characteristics of sexual behavior, according to Maslow, it would be permissible only taking into account the opinions of those who reject the very possibility of discussing this topic. Since this is impossible, the conclusions are hardly reliable.
Maslow’s article on the subject appeared in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology in 1951, but went largely unnoticed and is not remembered today. But in vain! The idea is correct. After all, even today we grieve about the sexual promiscuity of young people, watching its most “outrageous” representatives and forgetting about those who behave delicately and modestly.
Uncommon experiences and acquaintances
Maslow actually did not neglect scientific experimentation and approached this matter with all seriousness. It’s just that the results obtained were involuntarily lost against the background of his inherently philosophical reasoning. So, for example, few people know his remarkable work, completed already in the mid-sixties and devoted to the problem of social perception.
Maslow asked his subjects to evaluate the presented photographs according to the attractiveness parameter (it should be noted that the most ordinary faces are usually chosen for this purpose). It was required to do this in different conditions, more precisely, in differently designed rooms — in a room “beautiful and comfortable”, “ordinary” and “ugly”. The result turned out to be easily predictable: the more pleasant the environment is for perception, the higher the rating on the parameter of attractiveness deserves the perceived faces. An interesting experiment, there is something to think about. At least for another psychologist, one such experience would be enough for lifetime glory. Maslow made his fame in another area.
His first scientific publication was published in 1937 as a chapter on cross-cultural research in the collection The Psychology of Personality, edited by Ross Stagner. This publication reflects the experience gained by Maslow in the course of research work on an Indian reservation. Even with the most careful analysis, no hints of his subsequent theoretical constructions can be seen in this work, and only a few historians of science know about it today.
In the second half of the thirties, Maslow managed to personally meet many prominent psychologists who were forced by historical cataclysms to move from Europe to America. From the enumeration of these brilliant names, a fairly representative table of contents of an anthology on the history of psychology of the twentieth century could be compiled — in addition to the already mentioned Adler, these were Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Kurt Koffka, Kurt Goldstein, Max Wertheimer.
The latter had a particularly great influence on Maslow — not only as a scientist, but also as a person. It was under the influence of reverent delight for Wertheimer that Maslow began to study mentally healthy people who managed to achieve self-actualization in life. It was Wertheimer, as well as another acquaintance of Maslow, the famous American anthropologist Ruth Benedict, who served as examples for him of the most complete embodiment of the best qualities of human nature. However, one has to admit with regret that even Maslow, a true humanist and optimist, numbered very few such examples.
Humanization of psychology
The beginnings of Maslow’s theory, which served as the basis for a whole branch of scientific thought — humanistic psychology, were formulated by him in a general form in two small articles published in the Psychological Review in 1943 (their contents were later included in an expanded form in his famous book «Motivation and Personality») . Even then, Maslow made an attempt to formulate a new approach to human nature, radically different from traditional psychological views.
In his opinion, psychoanalysis impoverishes our understanding of a person, focusing on sick people and painful manifestations of personality. Behaviorism actually reduces life activity to manipulation and thereby reduces a person to the level of a stimulus-reactive mechanism. And where is the actual human in man? This is exactly what Maslow called for studying.
In 1951, he received an invitation to the newly opened Bradais University near Boston. Maslow accepted the invitation and worked at this university until 1968, heading the Department of Psychology.
It should be noted that Maslow’s attempts to humanize psychology met with a fierce rejection by most colleagues who adhered to the behaviorist orientation. Although Maslow’s students were almost idolized, the editors of the leading psychological journals for a number of years rejected any of his manuscripts without consideration.
In fact, the students carried him into the chair of the president of the American Psychological Association. But this happened in another era, in the late 60s — in the era of Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol, Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey. Perhaps when they say that the youth of the 60s changed the face of America, there is some truth in this. At least this is true for psychology.
Striving for self-actualization
Maslow’s first truly significant work, which now rightfully occupies an honorable place in the golden fund of world psychological thought, Motivation and Personality, was published in 1954. It was in it that the hierarchical theory of needs was formulated, building a pyramid with a base of basic needs and with the need for self-actualization at the top.
From Maslow’s point of view, each person has an innate desire for self-actualization, and this desire for the maximum disclosure of one’s abilities and inclinations is the highest human need. True, in order for this need to manifest itself, a person must satisfy the entire hierarchy of underlying needs.
The higher nature of man relies on his lower nature, needs it as a foundation, and collapses without this foundation. Thus, most of humanity cannot manifest their higher nature without satisfying the basic lower nature.
An extremely interesting aspect of Maslow’s theory is his postulation of the so-called Jonah complex, which for some reason is less known even to professionals than, say, the notorious castration complex, although in real life it is much easier to notice the first than the second.
The Jonah Maslow complex calls a person’s unwillingness to realize their natural abilities. Just as the biblical Jonah tried to shirk responsibility as a prophet, many people also shirk responsibility for fear of reaching their full potential. They prefer to set themselves small, insignificant goals, do not strive for serious life successes. This «fear of greatness» is perhaps the most dangerous barrier to self-actualization. A rich, full-blooded life seems unbearably difficult to many.
The roots of the Jonah complex can be seen in the fact that people are afraid to change their uninteresting, limited, but well-established existence, they are afraid to break away from everything familiar, to lose control over what they already have. Involuntarily, a parallel arises with Fromm’s ideas, which he expressed in his famous book «Escape from Freedom». However, the explicit and implicit influence of European colleagues on the formation of Maslow’s ideology has already been discussed.
By the way, speaking about the term «self-actualization», it should be noted that it was used by K.-G. Jung, although this is rarely noted by humanist psychologists. According to Jung, self-actualization meant the ultimate goal of personality development, the achievement of unity by it on the basis of the most complete differentiation and integration of its various aspects. Very close in their content to the idea of self-actualization are also the concepts of «striving for excellence» and «creative self» by A. Adler.
How to become happy
In the 50s and especially in the 60s, in an era of radical reassessment of many values, Maslow’s theory gained considerable popularity and recognition. Although even then in scientific circles reproaches against her continued to be heard.
From a scientific, more precisely, from a natural-science point of view, Maslow’s position is very vulnerable to criticism. His most important theoretical judgments were the result of everyday observations and reflections, not supported by any experimental evidence. In Maslow’s works, the word subjects does not mean subjects at all, but simply people who came into the author’s field of vision and attracted his attention; at the same time, the author does not give any statistical calculations, on the contrary, he constantly operates with vague formulas “probably”, “probably”, “apparently” …
However, Maslow himself seemed to be aware of this and emphasized that he considered his approach not an alternative to the mechanistic, natural-science approach, but an addition to it.
In his later works Toward a Psychology of Being (1962) and The Far Reach of Human Nature (published posthumously in 1971), Maslow significantly modified his concept of motivation and personality, effectively abandoning the multi-level pyramid of needs that today’s students continue to diligently memorize.
He divided all human needs into lower, “deficient”, dictated by the lack of something and therefore saturable, and higher, “existential”, focused on development and growth, and therefore unsatisfied. (Again, one involuntarily recalls Fromm’s «To have or to be»). However, the author himself considered these works as preliminary, hoping that in the future they would receive some kind of confirmation.
He did not live to realize his hopes — he died suddenly of a heart attack on June 8, 1970. True, it must be said that even if he lived to be a hundred years old, his aspirations were not destined to come true. For even today, the verdict pronounced by the authors of the American History of Modern Psychology, the Schultz spouses, sounds right: “The theory of self-actualization lends itself to laboratory research rather weakly, and in most cases is not confirmed at all.”
Nevertheless, for several decades, attempts have been made to use it in practice, in particular, in management practice. And what is most interesting — these attempts for the most part are quite successful. How can one not recall the words of an out-of-fashion classic about the most reliable criterion of truth!
Thirty years ago, Abraham Maslow wrote, “If you are deliberately going to become less important than your ability allows you, I warn you that you will be deeply unhappy all your life.”
He himself, apparently, was a happy man.