Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Harold Maslow

Abraham Maslow was an American Psychologist born in 1908 in Brooklyn. He began his career at Brooklyn College where he became very popular among the students for his unusual combination of confidence in his subject and personal humidity. After College, he became chairman of the Department of Psychology at Brandeis University and was also president of the American Psychological Association from 1967 to 1968. (2) After World War II, Maslow begun to question the way psychologists ad come to their conclusions, and although he did not completely disagree, he had his own ideas on how to understand the human mind. He called his new discipline humanistic psychology. (Wikipedia) Maslow conducted research and studies in many areas, but he is most remembered for his hierarchy of needs and the concept of self-actualization. (2)(8) He was thinking in an original way. He urged people to acknowledge their basic needs before addressing higher needs and ultimately self-actualization. He viewed human potential as vastly underestimated and an unexplained territory. (2) Maslow died on June 8, 1970, due to a heart attack at the age of 62 in Menlo Park, California. (8)

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology compromising a five-tier model of human needs. According to Maslow, we attempt to satisfy stronger motives or needs lower down in the hierarchy before trying to satisfy motives that are higher up. Because the priority of fulfilling basic needs in the hierarch is a continuing struggle, only a small number of people achieve self-actualization. (5) (3) The five-stage model by Maslow can be divided into deficiency needs and growth needs. The first four levels are referred to as deficiency need and the top level is known as growth or being need. The motivation to fulfill deficiency needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. For example, the longer person goes without food, the more hungry they will become. Our activities become habitually directed towards meeting the next set of needs as soon as a deficit need has been acceptably satisfied.

The Original hierarchy of needs

The original hierarchy of needs consists of a five-stage model:

1. The physiological needs

These include the biological requirements for human survival such as air, food, drink, warmth, minerals, and so on to ensure homeostasis in their organisms (protection of the internal balance of the body). (4) The need for shelter and clothes, activity, rest and sleep, and avoidance of pain. One of the most basic needs is a need for physical survival. If the physiological needs are not satisfied the human body cannot function optimally. In Maslow's opinion, all of the other needs become secondary unless the basic ones are fulfilled. (1) (5)

2. The safety and security needs

Most people want to have order and control in their lives. This need for safety and security contributes largely to behaviors at this level. An example of some of the basic security and safety needs are financial security, health, and wellness or safety against accidents and injury. Looking at it from the negative perspective you become concerned with fears and anxieties. Together, the safety and physiological levels of the hierarchy make up what is often referred to as basic needs.

3. The love and belonging needs

The third stage of the hierarchy is social and involves feelings of belongingness. Examples include friendship, intimacy, trust, acceptance, receiving and giving affection, and love. It is also a need to be part of the group – family, friends, work, etc. According to Maslow, except for a few pathological exceptions, all people have a need or desire for a stable and sound self-assessment, self-esteem, and other's respect. (4) One thing that is also important to differentiate is that love is not synonymous with sex. Sex may be studied as a purely physiological need whereas love needs to involve both giving and receiving love. (1)

4. The esteem needs

This category Maslow classified into two categories. The first is the need to be appreciated and respected by others related to the reputation of a person, such as status, recognition, and appreciation. (10) The other one is the desire for reputation or respect from others as well as self-respect. (5) Maslow indicated that the need for respect or reputation is most important for children and adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or dignity.

This level is the highest level of the pyramid of needs. It refers to the realization of a person's potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth, and peak experiences. (5) A person should be whatever he or she can be (Maslow 1943,1) Self-realization is an effort made by an individual to maximize his own capacity, to develop his skills, and to reach the ideal type of person he really wants to be. (4)

The expanded hierarchy of needs

The expanded hierarchy of needs has been enriched to include cognitive and aesthetic needs (1970a) and later transcendence needs (Maslow 1970b). Those extensions were developed during the 1960s and 1970s. (5)

1. The physiological needs

2. The safety and security needs

3. The love and belonging needs

4. The esteem needs

5. Cognitive needs – knowledge and understanding, curiosity, exploration, need for meaning, and predictability (5)

6. Aesthetic needs – appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc. (5)

7. Self-actualization needs

8. Transcendence needs – A person is motivated by values that transcend beyond the personal self e.g., mystical experiences and certain experiences with nature, aesthetic experiences, sexual experiences, service to others, the pursuit of science, religious faith, etc.) (5)