Maslow, MAS loh, Abraham Harold (1908-1970), was an American psychologist whom many people consider the founder of a movement called humanistic psychology. The movement developed as a revolt against behaviorism and psychoanalysis, the two most popular psychological views of the mid-1900's. Humanistic psychologists believe individuals are controlled by their own values and choices and not by the environment, as behaviorists think, or by unconscious drives, as psychoanalysts believe. Maslow stressed the importance of studying well-adjusted people in society instead of only disturbed ones.