Maslow's Hierarchy
of Needs
Maslow studied exemplary people such as
Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglass
rather than mentally ill or neurotic people, writing that "the study
of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only
a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy." Maslow also studied
one percent of the healthiest college student population.
While Maslow's theory was regarded as an improvement over previous theories
of personality and motivation, it had its detractors. For example, in
their extensive review of research that is dependent on Maslow's theory,
Wahba and Bridwell (1976) found little evidence for the ranking of needs
that Maslow described, or even for the existence of a definite hierarchy
at all.
Chilean economist and philosopher
Manfred Max Neef has also argued that fundamental human needs are non-hierarchical,
and are ontologically universal and invariant in nature - part of the
condition of being human; poverty, he argues, is the result of any one
of these needs being frustrated, denied or unfulfilled.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs,
represented as a pyramid with the more primitive needs at the bottom.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often depicted as a pyramid consisting
of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as deficiency
needs associated with physiological needs, while the top level is termed
growth needs associated with psychological needs. Deficiency needs must
be met first. Once these are met, seeking to satisfy growth needs drives
personal growth.
The higher needs in this
hierarchy only come into focus when the lower needs in the pyramid are
satisfied. Once an individual has moved upwards to the next level, needs
in the lower level will no longer be prioritized. However, if a lower
set of needs is no longer being met, the individual will temporarily
re-prioritize those needs by focusing attention on the unfulfilled needs.
The individual never regresses
from one level to a lower one, however. An example of this fact may
be a businessman at the esteem level who is diagnosed with cancer. He
will spend a great deal of time concentrating on his health (Physiological
needs) but would still value his work performance (esteem needs) and
is likely to return to work during periods of remission.
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