Maslow’s Intellectual Betrayal of Ruth Benedict
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9021405 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rene Anne Smith (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA, corresponding author), Kenneth D Feigenbaum (0000-0001-7439-2412, University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, MD, USA) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 307-321 |
| Publication date | 2012-12-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Humanistic Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-1678 • E-ISSN: 1552-650X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022167812469832 |
| OpenAlex | W2139685617 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
During the summer of 1938, Abe Maslow was engaged in a field study of the Northern Blackfeet. He received a grant-in aid from the Social Science Research Council under the sponsorship of Ruth Benedict to study the “security needs” of the tribe. This project reflected Benedict’s long-term interest in her concept of synergic and nonsynergic societies, which culminated with her publication of Patterns of Culture in 1934. It was Benedict’s thesis that synergic societies, such as Zuni, had most of their psychological security needs met, whereas low synergic societies, such as the Dobu, did not. Initially, Maslow as a neophyte anthropologist employed a questionnaire to members of the Northern Blackfoot tribe to measure psychological security needs. Scholars have already postulated that this experience had lasting effects on Maslow’s later development of concepts such as “self-actualization and “peak experience.” However valid this is, the thesis of this article is that Maslow’s anthropological turn disappeared over time and his later work indicated that he did not understand the synergic collective anthropological approach of Benedict but rather misused the concept of synergy to promote a person-centered psychological reductionist position mostly devoid of its cultural context
Betrayal · Context (archaeology · Maslow's hierarchy of needs · Psychoanalysis · Social science · Sociology · Tribe · Anthropology · History · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Representations and Identity
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |