October 5, 2011

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs on Audio

The godfather of the modern positive psychology movement is humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, who coined the term “positive psychology” in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality. Maslow created a theory on the hierarchy of human needs placing self actualization at the top of his pyramid. His focus on human potential and peak experiences would lay the groundwork for authors like Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to further study the science of human happiness.

We are pleased to be offering a free audio book which is an audio recording of Maslow’s 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. This work is the cornerstone of psychiatrist Abraham Maslow’s concept of the human hierarchy of needs. In this paper, Maslow describes humanity as a “wanting” species, and traces a chain of needs from the most basic (hunger), to the most self serving (personal safety, financial security), to the most social (esteem) and finally to the most transcendent (self-actualization).

Download A Theory of Human Motivation by Abraham Maslow

This paper was originally published in Psychological Review in 1943 and is now in the public domain as the copyright was not renewed. The audio book is 1 hour in length and read by our very own Seth Anderson. Download this audio book for free on MP3 audio download today!

Download A Theory of Human Motivation by Abraham Maslow

At LearnOutLoud we are also excited to be offering some exclusive audio recordings available on audio download from Abraham Maslow. During the 1960s, Abraham Maslow gave many excellent lectures and workshops at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Maslow was an easy speaker to listen to and he speaks on psychology with the same enjoyment that Joseph Campbell spoke of mythology and Alan Watts spoke of Eastern religion. The audio programs we feature have been selected from the recordings of Maslow’s many lectures and workshops at Esalen. We feature seven of these audio programs and have created descriptions for the content of each of them. Here they are:

1. The Aims of Education

This lecture on the aims of education attempts to reconceive the goals of education under a Maslow framework:

• How do we develop the humanness of a child? What are the ingredients?
• What do we lose when we become adults that we should have been taught earlier?
• What system of values is most important for a child to remember? How do we train teachers to instill these values?
• How do we enhance peak experiences within a child so we retain that into adulthood. Why do we lose this as childhood gives way to maturity?

These, and more fascinating questions are brought up and discussed in Maslow’s exploratory dialogues. Ultimately he feels the primary aim of education is in nurturing the child towards the self-actualization that is the primary goal of all healthy human beings.

2. The B-language Workshop

In the B-Language Workshop, we listen in as Maslow presides over a group think-tank on how to convert Maslow’s concept of B-Values into a workable language. What comes about is a series of discussions on such topics as the role of humor, transcendent love, why power motivates us, how we should define success in our culture and ultimately what all of these conversations mean when we try to find certain words for vague, sometimes elusive (yet interrelated) concepts. This workshop is an interesting time capsule of an era where several like-minded people came together to suss out a novel vocabulary of experience steeped in a psychological framework they all agreed was exciting.

3. The Eupsychian Ethic

In this workshop Abraham Maslow confronts the humanist alternative education community of the Esalen Institute about what is to be done with the psychological growth and personal insights they’ve learned. Maslow worries that for many the journey towards self-actualization becomes self-absorbed and he lays out his idea of the “Eupsychian Ethic” where the personal growth knowledge is taken to the practical level of helping to improve individuals in the community and towards making a more peaceful and united world.

4. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

In this in-depth workshop Abraham Maslow looks at human potential in many aspects of modern culture from business to science to family to education and more. He applies his hierachy of needs to these different aspects of society and gives examples, from the basics of survival in these areas up the pyramid to the self-actualization or transcendence beyond these social institutions. With humor and candor he lays out the methods of achieving these farther reaches of human nature.

5. Psychology and Religious Awareness

Through his own scientific pursuits and his determination to shatter psychiatric dogma, Maslow came to believe that the best scientists are looking for the same thing as the saints: a transcendence of dichotomies. He argues that scientific breakthroughs are akin to religious euphoria in that both experiences provide a rare understanding of our existence. Thus science can be “the religion of the non religious person, or the music of the man who can’t sing” as he puts it. He concludes that if we all tried to seek higher, probe deeper, and leave room for doubt as we search, we might form a new brotherhood of man, where we combine previously trivial divisions into a single force that is dedicated to an open minded approach to learning more about life’s mysteries.

6. Self-Actualization

This lecture on Self-Actualization recorded in 1966, sketches out a definition of the ideal self-actualized person. What he traces here are common traits he noted after studying self-fulfilled people, such as:

• Selfishness: how being good to yourself is the best way to be good to the world.
• Vocation: how the self-actualized person tends to link what they do inextricably with their sense of who they are.
• B-Values: How these people derive the most excitement from their work the more it correlates with universal human, or as Maslow terms it “B-values”.

Maslow goes on to point out that Self-Actualization is only possible after our biological needs are met and thus spiritual motivation emerges only after lower, physical needs such as hunger, safety, love and other bodily motivations are satisfied. In general this lecture is a great introduction to some of the ultimate aims of Maslow’s project.

7. Weekend with Maslow

In this weekend workshop, Abraham Maslow lectures on a wide variety of topics related to his ideas on psychology. He looks at the idea of success and goals and tells how he discovered his purpose. He addresses the potential for positive change and the problem of evil from the perspective of his hierachy of needs theory. He talks about values and counter-values, gratitude and entitlement, and many more interesting topics that he had explored throughout his life.

Enjoy this exclusive audio from Abraham Maslow!

If you want a free sampling of some of these audio recordings check out: The Maslow Podcast