Abraham Maslow (1908–70) was born in new york, the son of Jewish immigrants. he received both his undergraduate and graduate training at the university of wisconsin, where he studied with, among...

Abraham Maslow (1908–70) was born in new york, the son of Jewish immigrants. he received both his undergraduate and graduate training at the university of wisconsin, where he studied with, among others, harry harlow, an eminent expert on primate behaviour, and with clark hull, a behaviourist theorist. after receiving his doctorate in 1934, he went back to new york to teach psychology at brooklyn college. while his graduate studies focused on primate behaviour, as time went on, Maslow became more interested in human concerns, in part because of events related to world war ii. in the late 1930s, new york had become a gathering place for a number of european intellectuals, many of whom were fl eeing the nazi rise to power. at this time he met such distinguished psychoanalysts as alfred adler, Karen horney and erich Fromm. he also encountered scholars from a range of other perspectives, including Max wertheimer, one of the pioneers of gestalt psychology. world war ii seemed to emphasize for him how little psychology had contributed to solving social problems, and he began to focus on social psychology and personality theory. his emphasis on real-world issues was also expressed in his interest in applying psychology to business – a domain often disdained by research-oriented psychologists. in 1951 Maslow moved to the newly-established brandeis university near boston; as fi rst chairperson of the psychology department, he fostered the school’s growth until 1968. in 1967–68, he also served as president of the american psychological association – an indication of the infl uence of his work. he died in 1970.