Abraham Maslow was born in 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. Maslow was the eldest of seven children of poorly educated immigrant parents. His father wanted to reach the United States so badly that he crossed Western Europe on foot and hitchhiked from Russia. His father's intense drive was instilled in Abraham from a young age. Maslow felt very alone as a child. He had a miserable family and thought his mother was a horrible person. His mother did not accept him at all and favored younger siblings. She was so horrible to him that when she died, Maslow refused to go to the funeral. His work in psychology is closely linked to his mother's abuse, but also to the hatred he felt towards his mother. Maslow said much of his work had its roots in hatred against everything his mother believed. Maslow had a very big nose and a very skinny figure, which gave him an inferiority complex as a child. He tried to compensate for his feelings of inferiority by working as hard as possible in sports. However, when he failed to achieve success in sports, he turned to studies and reading. Maslow read every book he could get his hands on. The library played an important role in his childhood and adolescence. He started out studying law, but realized at university that he wanted to study everything. His childhood and adolescent years really stand out in his hierarchy of five innate needs, which are physiological, safety, belonging and love, esteem and self-actualization. He believed that these needs were instinctive, but he also said that heredity could be overridden by learning and fear of disapproval. He wrote that physiological and safety needs arise in early childhood, which are linked to his unstable childhood and...... middle of paper ...... Maslow's theory explains the development of my personality. I didn't have a wonderful childhood. I grew up in what I would consider a broken home. Lots of fighting and shouting, that's what marked my childhood. However, I still had good relationships with both my parents. My mother and I didn't get along at all for the better part of two years, from my freshman year of high school until college. I never felt accepted and I never felt enough. Maslow experienced this earlier than me, but we share this common bond of needing a sense of belonging, especially from Mom. Even though these past events have affected my life and my self-esteem, I have grown a lot and I am happy with the man I am. My relationship with my mother is much better now and I choose not to dwell on the difficult times in my past, but I choose to grow from them and use them for good..