Sigmund Freud and Abraham Maslow

Sigmund Freud was born on May 6th, 1856 in Galician Jewish . He studied medicine and then he specialized in psychiatry. Freud was interested in the human brain, that´s why he started to study the human behavior. He invented new theories about topics like unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression. He is famous for founding the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud also talked about the human sexuality, and he said that in childhood the sexual desires are very important, because these are the primary motivations of a person`s behavior. He created the psychosexual stages of development: The first one is the oral stage, the second one is the anal stage, the third is the phallic stage, then the latency period, and the last one is the genital stage. The kid should pass these stages and solve them, to live in a good way.

Abraham Maslow was born in Brooklyn (U.S.A). He was an important American psychologist and founded humanistic psychology. Maslow also created the "hierarchy of needs". This concept is very useful in psychology and it deals with human motivation. The theory consists of a pyramid of needs. In the base of the pyramid are the physiological needs that are breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping and finding shelter. If this needs are not satisfied they become the main concern in the person´s life. The next stage of the pyramid is safety needs, it consists of: security of body, of employment, of morality, of the family, of health and of property. The next one is love/belonging that consists in

friendship, family and sexual intimacy. This one is very important for the human been because we need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance. The next one is the esteem needs that consists in have self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, and respect by others. The last one is the self-actualization stage that consists in the development of morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving abilities and acceptance of facts. Obviously this one is the highest level of the pyramid. By satisfactorily passing all stages the person can reach this stage.

The comparison between Freud and Maslow is that both of them were interested in solving how the motivation is produced in the person. In the case of Freud, motivation was in the human sexuality and psychosexual stages, and in Maslow was in the human needs.

In my opinion both theories are very important to psychology and both of them contributes a lot in the study of the human behavior.

References NOTE : THE VIDEO IS IN THE TOP

http://members.tripod.com/psico1_deshumano/psicoanalitica.html

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirámide_de_Maslow