Customer Reviews

Motivation and Personality

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book's title and author intrigued me in the first place. I'd heard about Maslow's hierarchy of needs in college. Usually, about half a page or so was dedicated to it in general college psychology textbooks. What a disservice! Dipping one's big toe in the swimming pool is not the same as plunging into it. This book deserves to be plunged into, marked up, highlighted, commented on, thought about, and discussed. It is brilliant, original, fascinating, and readable. I'm not sure how to say it because there is so much, but I would say that what makes it especially unique is its study of psychologically healthy people (Maslow calls them self-actualizing people). This book will turn your brain on. I am not a technically/medically trained person. It took time to read trough Motivation and Personality, mostly because I wanted to stop and think about what it was saying. It's not a rush through kind of book. This book, as well as Dr. Peck's "People of Lie," exposed a whole new layer of the world I live in. I believe it fine tunes perceptions and make one so much more aware and alive.

This is one of the best books written in Psychology and is often overlooked my many people in the field. It was last revised in 1970 and it is still a classic in the field. If you want to see "future" projections of what is it is to be human, read this book. The man was a genius.

I was assigned to read this book for my AP Psychology class, at first it was really boring to me, I'll be honest. But after a while it started to grow on me, and I began enjoying learning the teachings of Maslow. I agree with Maslow's pyramid of needs, and after reading this book I have began to notice when people's needs arent being met, and how aggitated they will get when trying to achieve the needs that they want. This book will open up a lot of people's eyes and allow people to see things in a different light, if they are willing to get through the very detailed sections of Maslow's ideas. Overall, the book was enjoyable, a little slow because it is basically a giant thesis paper, but still enjoyable and much will be learned from this book.

Motivation and Personality explores the complex world of what motivates people and how their personalities interact with these motivations. Maslow is a significant contributor on timeless thinking about personal and professional motivational theory.

Abraham Maslow is best known for his Hierarchy of Needs. Chapter 5 in this book explores that hierarchy; not in the detail of his original paper on the subject, but it does have some good food for thought.

Maslow's writing is easy to read and understand, but has a great deal of depth to it. For example, in a section called Satisfactions Generate New Motivations, Maslow writes: "The Human being is a wanting animal and rarely reaches a state of complete satisfaction except for a short time. As one desire is satisfied, another pops up to take its place." This simple but profound statement at least partially explains why we as humans have accomplished so much...good and bad.

Overall, a fantastic book about motivation and personality that is extremely insightful!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

I thought Amazon had the best deals on books.

Maslow pours his wisdom into our minds explaining the core needs of human beings. This is a great book to learn about yourself and the motivations of others.

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was an American psychologist best known for his conceptualization of a "hierarchy of human needs" and "self-actualization." He (along with Carl Rogers) is considered the founder of humanistic or "Third Force" psychology.

This book was first published in 1954, and was revised in 1970. Maslow states in the Preface to the 1970 edition, "I have tried in this revision to incorporate the main lessons of the last sixteen years. These lessons have been considerable ... When this book appeared in 1954 it was essentially an effort to build UPON the classical psychologies available rather than to repudiate them or to establish another rival psychology... If I had to condense the thesis of this book into a single sentence, I would have said that, in ADDITION to what the psychologies of the time had to say about human nature, man also had a higher nature and that this was instinctoid, i.e., part of his essence. And if I could have had a second sentence, I would have stressed that profoundly holistic nature of human nature in contradiction to the analytic-dissecting-atomistic-Newtonian approach of the behaviorisms and of Freudian psychoanalysis."

This is the book in which he formulated (but was first proposed in his 1943 paper, 'A Theory of Human Motivation') his famous "Hierarchy of Human Needs"; i.e., where humans may progress from physiological needs (food, shelter) up to the level of self-actualization. (No, he DIDN'T arrange these in the "Triangle" we've all seen in Intro to Psych classes; he just listed them.)

This is a very important, pathbreaking book. Here are a few quotations to whet your appetite to read it:

"Homing pigeons, salmon, cats, etc., each have instincts peculiar to the species. Why could not the human species also have characteristics peculiar to it?" (Ch. 6)
"It is quite important to dissociate this experience from any theological or supernatural reference, even though for thousands of years they have been linked. Because this experience is a natural experience, well within the jurisdiction of science, I call it the peak experience." (Ch. 11)
"When it comes down to it, in certain basic ways (the self-actualized person) is like an alien in a strange land. Very few really understand him, however much they may like him." (Ch. 11)
"(Psychotherapy) is the best technique we have ever had for laying bare men's deepest nature as contrasted with their surface personalities. Their interpersonal relations and attitudes toward society are transformed." (Ch. 15)
"At this moment, however, we must accept the fact that therapeutic results may occur to some degree independently of theory, or for that matter, with no theory at all." (Ch. 15)

Many years ago this book changed my life and inspired me to read everything Dr. Maslow wrote. Of particular value is the section "Self-Actualizing People ... a Study in Psychological Health." Here you will find Maslow's famous declaration: "It becomes clear that the study of crippled, stunted, immature and unhealthy specimens can yeild only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosphy. The study of self-actualizing people must be the basis of a more universal science of psychology."

This book is essential to any psychology student & even those interested in how advertising works or motivation in general. It was an easy read, with short chapters, but the third edition my teacher recommended was identical to the 2nd and 1st edition in our library. This only has a few comments on how his ideas have been used/changed. This was the lowest price I could find anywhere new (even at my school.) Read this, or not buy it used and you'll save a lot of money. The older editions are also hardcover and last longer. But I loved how compact the 3rd Edition was, I could fit it n my purse! Highly recommend!

This guy was a thinker. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can't believe how expensive it is. I got is used for a little less.