History And Systems Of Psychology

Shiarah Tejada
History and Systems
March 26, 2012

Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist, born in Brooklyn, New York, April 1, 1908. Maslow is known as the father ofhumanistic psychology (third-force psychology). His relationship with his parent was not a healthy one; he never loved or accepted his mother in his life because according to him she was an unloving andhostile woman. With his father, things were a little better but still he believed his father was an alcoholic and violent man. Because of his terrible relation with his mother, he decided to work inhumanistic psychology. He was the oldest of seven children and grew as a lonely and shy man. He was an excellent student who at the age of 26 had his doctorate degree already. While he was studying,he was influenced by Watson’s behaviorism. Maslow was fascinated with Watson and his ideas of behaviorism until the birth of his child when he began to think he had less control over his child thanbehaviorism would suggest.
After receiving his doctorate, Maslow started teaching at the University of Wisconsin, to later move to Columbia University to become the research assistant of EdwardThorndike. Around this time, he began his research on human sexuality by doing some interviews to both male and female students. Maslow made huge contributions about human sexuality. The interviewingskills he developed “served him well when he later studied the characteristics of psychologically healthy individuals” (Hergenhahn, 585). After a year at Columbia, he moved back to New York, where hemet psychologists such as Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Max Wertheimer, etc. People that influenced Maslow and the development of humanistic psychology.
In 1951, Maslow moved to Massachusetts, where hebecame the chairman of the psychology department at Brandeis University. Because of health issues, he accepted a fellowship by the Saga Administrative Corporation, where he was able to write as...