Psychology Assignment

Dyana Mohammad Yousuf

Abraham Maslow’s Background

Abraham Maslow was born on April 1, 1908 to Jewish parents. They

migrated from Kiev, present day Ukrain, from Czarist persecution.
He studied psychology from the University of Wisconsin and married his first
cousin in 1928. Maslow was trained in experimental-behavior when he
studied psychology at UW.
At Wisconsin he researched primital behavior and sexuality. Maslow had a
positivist mindset.
Maslow wrote his master's thesis on "learning, retention, and reproduction of
verbal material" on the advice of Professor Hulsey Cason. Maslow thought
the study was comically insignificant, yet he finished his thesis and received
his master's psychology degree in the summer of 1931. He deleted the
thesis from the psychology library and tore out the catalog listing because
he was embarrassed by it. Professor Cason, on the other hand, was so
impressed by Maslow's findings that he encouraged him to publish it.
Maslow's thesis was split into two essays and published in 1934.

He continued his studies on comparable topics at Columbia University.

Maslow was a professor at Brooklyn College from 1937 to 1951. His
psychological theories were inspired by his upbringing and experiences.
Maslow began to doubt how psychologists arrived at their findings after
World War II, and while he did not fully disagree, he had his own beliefs
about how to comprehend the human mind. Humanistic psychology was the
name he gave to his new field.

The war prompted him to create a vision of peace, which led to his
revolutionary self-actualization psychological research. He began his studies
with two mentors, Ruth Benedict who was an anthropologist and Max
Wertheimer who was a Gestalt psychologist. They made significant progress
in both areas. They motivated Maslow to take notes on them and their
conduct since they were such good people This study would ultimately serve
as the foundation for his lifetime study of mental health and human
potential. Maslow expanded on the issue by incorporating ideas from
several other psychologists and developing new ones, such as the hierarchy
of needs, metaneeds, metamotivation, self-actualizing individuals, and peak
experiences. From 1951 through 1969, Maslow served as a professor at
Brandeis University.

Maslow’s Theory

Abraham contributed to psychology a great deal. Some of his well known

contributions among others are: hierarchy of needs, humanistic
psychology(founder), peak experiences, self-actualization. The most popular
among his contributions to psychology are the Hierarchy of needs and self
actualization.
His ideas emphasized the good parts of human nature. At a period when
most psychologists concentrated on aberrant parts of human nature,
Abraham Maslow moved his attention to the positive aspects of mental
health.
His work affected how we think about mental illness. His interest in human
potential, peak experiences, mental health development, and personal
growth left an indelible mark on psychology.
Prior to him, most psychologists were focused with the aberrant and the
sick. He pushed individuals to meet their fundamental needs first, before
moving on to greater requirements and, eventually, self-actualization. He
was curious as to what constituted good mental wellness. Humanistic
psychology gave rise to a variety of treatments, all of which are driven by
the belief that people have internal resources for growth and healing, and
that the goal of therapy is to assist them in reaching these goals. The most
well-known of them was Carl Rogers' client-centered therapy.
Humanistic psychology's core assumptions are straightforward:
● A person's current functioning is the most important component of
their personality. As a result, humanists place a greater emphasis on
the now rather than the past or attempting to anticipate the future.
● People must take accountability for their behaviors, whether positive
or negative, in order to be mentally healthy.
● Each individual is fundamentally deserving simply by being. While any
particular behavior may be detrimental, this does not negate a
person's worth.
● Self improvement and understanding are the ultimate goals of life. A
person can only be fully happy if they are constantly improving and
knowing themselves.

Maslow characterized human needs as being organized in a prepotent

hierarchy, with the most pressing need being met first before moving on to
the next greatest need. Human wants, according to Maslow, are "very fluid,"
with multiple needs existing in a person at the same time.
According to the hierarchy of human needs paradigm, human wants will only
be met on one level at a time.

In relevance to Maslow's theory, a human being can reach self-actualization

by ascending the levels of the hierarchy and fulfilling the requirements of the
hierarchy. Maslow came to the conclusion that self-actualization did not
occur automatically as a result of meeting other human needs.
According to Maslow, there are specific circumstances that must be met in
order for the fundamental needs to be met. Some of the conditions are
freedom of expression, liberty to express oneself, and freedom to pursue
alternative information. Any restrictions on these liberties might prevent the
basic demands from being met.

Use of Maslow’s Theory in modern times

Maslow's Hierarchy is a fundamental concept in student development and is
utilized in higher education for counseling students and student retention.
Maslow's Hierarchy has been the topic of internet memes in recent years,
focusing on the current integration of technology in our lives and jokingly
implying that Wi-Fi was one of the most fundamental of human
requirements.
The theory of hierarchical needs still holds high interest in education and is
continually taught.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs can still be relevant in today's culture when
viewed as a guide to our many wants rather than a set sequence in which
they must be addressed. Each person has their own priorities and
motivations for pursuing some requirements at the expense of others. This
flexibility is an element of our identity, and it defines how each of us
progresses forth in life, determining our wants and everything else.

Individuals can implement the hierarchy of needs to their professional lives

by starting with knowing your strengths, abilities, and what you're capable
of. This can contribute to your choice of career and also contribute to the
relationship with your boss.
You must be self-actualized to achieve the highest level of this motivating
theory in the workplace, which implies you recognize your talents, abilities,
and what you're capable of handling. Individuals who have attained the top
level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs make up a healthy and engaged
workforce.
The capacity to recognize your needs and ensure that they are met in a
favorable way can improve the odds. Your attitude may impact people
around you in the workplace when you feel comfortable, supported, a sense
of belonging, and self-actualized. Because engagement and motivation are
typically team-based attitudes, a group of people who believe their needs
are being addressed can help to build a more positive, engaging workplace
culture.
Employers with low levels of engagement have been reported to have
greater staff turnover, as well as low morale and dissatisfied staff. A
company may raise satisfaction while also increasing motivation and
engagement, which has an influence on productivity, by investing in its
employees' overall happiness.

Assessment of Maslow’s theory

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is popular and generally well-accepted, however
the available data does not always back up Maslow's theory.
Maslow's hypothesis has gained a lot of traction both inside and outside of
psychology. The hypothesis has had a significant impact in the sectors of
education and business.

Maslow's theory has not been without criticism, despite its popularity.
Among the long-standing grievances are:

Needs do not obey a hierarchy: While some study has backed up Maslow's
beliefs, the majority of studies have failed to back up the concept of a needs
hierarchy. According to Baruch College scholars Wahba and Bridwell, there is
minimal support for Maslow's classification of these requirements, and much
less evidence that they exist in a hierarchical sequence.

It's tough to put the hypothesis to the test: Other objections of Maslow's
thesis include the difficulty of experimentally testing his notion of self-
actualization. Maslow's self-actualization study was also based on a small
sample of people, including persons he knew and biographies of renowned
people he considered to be self-actualized.
Some contemporary criticisms claim that Maslow was inspired by the
Blackfoot nation's belief systems, citing various lectures delivered by tribe
members that were conceptually tied to his pyramid of needs, leading to
misattributions.

Others add to this criticism by claiming Maslow's original research on the

Northern Blackfoot tribe was done as an anthropologist. However, over time,
this underlying grounding faded, causing him to misunderstand the concepts
he was supposed to evaluate.

Maslow's five-stage model has been enlarged to incorporate cognitive and

aesthetic requirements, as well as later transcendence demands.
Today a seven-stage model and an eight-stage model, both created during
the 1960s and 1970s, are noted as modifications to the original five-stage
model.

Related Theories
According to some motivational theories, employee performance and
satisfaction are determined by how well the organization satisfies the
individual's requirements. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of requirements,
Frederick Herzberg's dual component theory, Clayton Alderfer's existence-
relatedness-growth (ERG) theory, and David McClelland's acquired needs
theory are the four primary theories in the needs-based category.

Theory of Two Factors

Frederick Herzberg began his research on motivation by asking employees
what they found fulfilling and dissatisfying about their jobs. Certain factors,
according to Herzberg, simply had to be satisfied and did not increase
contentment. If these parameters, referred to as hygiene factors, were not
satisfied, it resulted in high unhappiness. The hygiene issues that caused
unhappiness were a result of the job's environment. Among examples of
hygiene considerations are company regulations, supervision, working
environment, remuneration, workplace safety, and job security.

Theory of the ERG

Maslow's hierarchy of requirements was amended by Clayton Alderfer into
three categories: existence, relatedness, and growth (ERG). Existence is
linked to psychological and safety requirements, whereas relatedness is
linked to social and self-esteem needs, and progress is linked to self-
actualization. The ERG theory does not dictate the sequence in which
requirements are met, and it encourages the pursuit of many levels at the
same time.
Theory of Acquired Needs
According to several research, David McClelland's acquired requirements
theory can predict management performance. The desire for
accomplishment, affinity, and power are all intertwined and the effect of a
person's life experiences.
When a person is promoted into management, however, a strong demand
for accomplishment might become a problem. Rather than persistently
pursuing his or her own objectives.

Building ties is important to those who have a strong desire for affiliation.
Employees that are motivated by affinity will be productive in teams, strong
collaborators, and ready to work with new individuals.

People with a strong desire for power are driven to exert control over others
and their surroundings. Their attention is drawn to the overall approach, or
"big picture."

Conclusion
There is data that supports Maslow's hypothesis to a significant extent. The
satisfaction of his suggested wants and needs is linked to happiness in
cultures all across the world.However, there are discoveries that a person
might report having strong social ties and self-actualization even if their
basic requirements and safety needs are not totally met.

We can still use the theory as a baseline to seek fulfillment and self-
actualization to experience prime moments in our life. However, as Maslow's
original idea of self-actualization not being a destination but a process and
our journey being more fluid than stages, we must allow ourselves to
deviate from the hierarchy.
We can further study ourselves under the spotlight of the study to apply the
theory to better our personal and professional lives but not allow it to
restrict us from achieving happiness even if not all needs are fulfilled.
It's important to remember that self-actualization isn't a destination. It is a
practice, a journey, and something you need to strive to achieve at all times
in your life. We do not have one dimension; and we often go through several
versions of ourselves throughout our lives, which allows us to feel content.
You'll already be making significant progress toward self-actualization if you
spend time to sit and reflect about what your requirements are and how you
may be proactive in acting and finding out methods to satisfy them.
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