Abraham Maslow

1908 – 1970

Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who created the hierarchy of needs, a theory of human motivation introduced in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" and elaborated in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality. A founder of humanistic psychology, he insisted on studying human strengths and self-actualization rather than reducing people to a "bag of symptoms," and his framework has become foundational across psychology, education, business management, and nursing. He served as president of the American Psychological Association in 1967.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM