Editing Human Potential Movement (section)

==Roots==
[[File:Esalen Institute.jpg|left|thumbnail|200px|[[Esalen Institute]] ]]
The HPM has much in common with [[humanistic psychology]] in that [[Abraham Maslow]]'s theory of [[Maslow's hierarchy of needs#Self-actualization|self-actualization]] strongly influenced its development.  [[The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential]], founded in 1955 by Glenn Doman and Carl Delacato, was an early precursor to and influence on the Human Potential Movement, as is exemplified in Doman's assertion that "Every child born has, at the moment of birth, a greater potential intelligence than Leonardo da Vinci ever used."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter From Glenn Doman |url=https://www.gentlerevolution.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=LETTER&Store_Code=G |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.gentlerevolution.com}}</ref>

In the middle of the 1960s, [[George Leonard]] did research across the United States on the subject of human potential for the magazine [[Look (American magazine)|''Look'']]. In his research, he interviewed 37 psychiatrists, brain researchers, and philosophers on the subject of human potential. He found that "Not one of them said we were using more than 10% of our capacity",<ref name="Wayne2005">{{Cite book |last=Wayne |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/quantumintegralm00mich/page/22 |title=Quantum Integral Medicine: Towards a New Science of Healing and Human Potential |publisher=iThink Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-9766797-0-7 |location=Saratoga Springs |page=[https://archive.org/details/quantumintegralm00mich/page/22 22] |quote='Not one of them said we were using more than 10% of our capacity. In later years, I came to realize that was a very conservative estimate - we're using about 1% I would guess. Maybe less.'}}</ref> a common misconception which has since been proven false.<ref>{{Cite web |title= Do we only use 10 percent of our brain?|date=26 January 2024 |url=https://mcgovern.mit.edu/2024/01/26/do-we-use-only-10-percent-of-our-brain/}}</ref>

During the course of his research, Leonard met [[Michael Murphy (author)|Michael Murphy]], a co-founder of the nascent [[Esalen Institute]] (established in 1962) that at the time was running educational programs for adults on the topic of "human potentialities". Leonard and Murphy became close friends and together "put forth the idea that there should be a human potential movement".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wayne |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/quantumintegralm00mich/page/22 |title=Quantum Integral Medicine: Towards a New Science of Healing and Human Potential |publisher=iThink Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-9766797-0-7 |location=Saratoga Springs |page=[https://archive.org/details/quantumintegralm00mich/page/22 22] |quote=Together, they put forth the idea that there should be a human potential movement.}}</ref>