Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs consisting of physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. He believed humans are motivated to fulfill deficit needs but also have a drive for personal growth. Maslow's hierarchy describes how lower level needs must be satisfied before higher level growth needs can be pursued. Self-actualization, achieving one's full potential, is difficult as safety needs can discourage risk-taking needed for growth. Maslow studied self-actualized individuals like Einstein to understand characteristics like peak experiences.
2. +
Maslow
• Believed humans are interested in growing rather than simply
restoring balance or avoiding frustration.
• Described humans as ‘wanting animals’ who are almost
always wanting something.
• Key goal is to reach self-actualisation – to fulfill one’s potential
- moving forward towards growth, happiness and satisfaction.
• Distinguished between motivation and metamotivation.
3. +
MOTIVATION
Motivation: reducing tension by satisfying deficit states.
Involves deficiency needs (D-needs) – physiological survival
and safety, and motivate the individual to reduce these
drives.
Motivation and D-needs = powerful determinants of
behaviour
4. +
METAMOTIVATION
Metamotivation: growth tendencies.
Involves being needs (B-needs) – drive to self-actualisation.
Goal is to enhance life by enriching it.
Rather than reduce tension, they frequently heighten it in
their quest for ever-increasing stimuli that will bring a life
lived to the fullest.
5. +
MOTIVATION VS
METAMOTIVATION
Motivationand D-needs take precedence
over metamotivation and B-needs because
they dominate the organism when both
needs are thwarted.
E.g. when an individual is desperate for
food, they are unlikely to be concerned
with spiritual goals like truth or beauty.
Within the D-needs, physiological needs
are stronger than safety needs.
7. +
Maslow’s Stats
According to Maslow, the average American meets 85%
physiological, 70% safety/security, 50% love and
belongingness, 40% self-esteem and 10% self-actualisation.
The extent to which our lower needs remain unsatisfied
determines how strongly those needs will dominate our
behaviour.
Maslow at one point claimed that only two percent of the
human population are truly, predominantly self-actualised.
8. +
Knowledge and Understanding
In addition, Maslow suggested the important needs to know
and understand – the need to know is more powerful than the
need to understand
Understanding
Knowledge
9. +
Aesthetic Needs
Clinical
studies also convinced Maslow that
in some individuals, aesthetic needs are
very important:
“they get sick [in special ways] from
ugliness, and are cured by beautiful
surroundings; they crave actively, and their
cravings can be satisfied only by beauty”
These needs overlap with the hierarchy
and are interrelated.
10. +
Exceptions to hierarchy
Maslow recognised that some creative
people have pursued the development and
expression of their special talents despite
serious hardships and social ridicule.
Also, stronglyvalued and idealistic people
willing to die or go on hunger strike.
Maslow speculated some might scramble
their hierarchies due to unusual factors in
their personal history.
11. +
Criticism
Cross cultural research suggests that the order of needs does
not always hold true for other cultures.
E.g. in Greece and Japan, security needs are much stronger
than self-actualisation needs in determining motivation
(Hofstede, 1980; Hofstede et al. 2002)
In these cultures, job security > job satisfaction.
In Sweden and Norway, quality of life > what a person
produces – therefore, social needs > self-actualisation.
12. +
Self-Actualisation
“fulfilling themselves and doing the best that they are
capable of doing”
13. +
Why it is rarely achieved
Jonahcomplex – tendency to doubt and
even fear own abilities. Characterised by a
fear of success that prevents a person from
aspiring to greatness and self-fulfillment.
Socialand cultural environments imposing
certain norms (e.g. what is masculine and
what is not).
Strongnegative influence exerted by safety
needs. Growth needs courage – most
continue specific habits as > fear = >
regression towards safety and security
14. +
Peak experiences
According to Maslow, the self-actualised
person frequently experiences peak
experiences
During a peak experience, the individual
experiences not only an expansion of self
but also a sense of unity and
meaningfulness in life. The world appears
to be complete and the person is at one
with it.
15. +
Who is among the self-actualised?
Maslow identified: Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin,
William James, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor
Roosevelt.
Not everyone agrees; Roosevelt was born into a wealthy
family destroyed by alcoholism, Lincoln suffered from
depression.
16. +
Maslow’s Methods
Began by selecting people who appeared to be
psychologically healthy and completely satisfied their need
for self-actualisation.
Rather than statistical or quantitative, Maslow used holistic
analyses – general impressions.