Abraham Maslow and Heinz Kohut: A Comparison
In this article we present a comparison of the lives and work of Abraham Maslow, a founding father of humanistic psychology, and Heinz Kohut, the founding father of self psychology. While this comparison reveals certain predictable differences between these distinct leaders and their theoretical orientations, it also reveals surprising similarities in terms of their visions, their theories, and their lives. In addition, this comparison indicates that self psychology can provide an empirical bridge between humanistic psychology and modern psychoanalysis. This finding is particularly important at a time when the humanistic psychology community has identified the need to move away from ideology and to focus on humanistic psychology's empirical and clinical foundations, as one of its primary strategic challenges.The person in the peak-experiences feels more integrated (unifiled, whole, all-of-a-piece), than at other times,... more integrated,... more harmoniously organized, more synergic,... In Roger's nice p...