Abraham Maslow

(1908–1970)

modernHumanistic PsychologyAmerican

Biography

American psychologist who founded humanistic psychology and proposed the hierarchy of needs, culminating in self-actualization — the realization of one's fullest potential. His study of psychologically healthy, thriving individuals (rather than pathology) revealed common characteristics: creativity, spontaneity, acceptance, deep relationships, and 'peak experiences' of transcendence and unity.

Key contribution

Identified self-actualization as the highest human need — the drive to become everything one is capable of becoming — and studied what it looks like when people fulfill it.

Key works

  • Motivation and Personality
  • Toward a Psychology of Being

Perspectives on purpose

Becoming Who You Are

foundational

Purpose is the process of actualizing your unique potential — becoming everything you are capable of becoming.

What a man can be, he must be — self-actualization is not luxury but necessity.

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.”

— Motivation and Personality
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