Abraham Maslow was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 1, 1908. Hewas the eldest son of Russian Jews who emigrated to the United States. In orderto please his father, Maslow studied law at the College of New York, but droppedout during his freshman year due to a lack of interest in the subject.
In 1928, Maslow married his cousin, Bertha Goodman. Both enrolled atthe University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Abraham earned a BA (1930), MA(1931) and PhD (1934) in psychology.
Maslow was influenced first by Behaviorism and later by PsychoanalyticTheory. He became increasingly critical of both theories and in the 1960's,with the assistance of colleagues, developed an alternative school of thoughtknown as the "third force" or Humanistic Psychology.
Between 1954 and 1966 Maslow published at least six books related tohis ideas and theories. Abraham Maslow died of a heart attack in Menlow Park,California on June 8, 1970, at the age of sixty-two. More than one hundredarticles written for magazines and scientific journals were publishedposthumously.
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