Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

There are many integral theories of motivation given by prominent psychologists and ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory’ is one of them. It is a theory of motivation that explains that people discover motivation to fulfill their needs based on an ascending order outlined by Maslow.

It was first introduced by Abraham Maslow in 1943 and was one of the greatest contributions in the theory of motivation. Hierarchy is a system that has many levels from the lowest to the highest similarly, the hierarchy of needs includes the needs of human beings starting from the basic needs such as physiological needs and then ascending to the higher needs such as self-actualisation.

Abraham Maslow once said “What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.” The need for self-actualization is the highest position in the need hierarchy and is also the main goal of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow classified his work sequentially in the form of a hierarchy in the prism showcasing 5 levels of need initially, followed by adding three more levels within this pyramid.

Physiological Needs

These needs lie at the base of Maslow’s pyramid. Physiological needs are directly linked with survival. It encompasses food, shelter, water, clothing, and sexual reproduction. According to Malow, physiological needs form the foundation of human needs, the completion of which leads to a higher level of needs.

Safety and security needs

Once physiological needs are received, desires start getting a bit complex. These include security of the job, safety from any harm or injury, and sustaining good health. Both of these physiological, safety, and security needs comprise the basic elements of this hierarchy.

Love and Belonging

The desire and the need for emotional relationships come into play at this level. The emotions of love, belonging, and acceptance are crucial here. Family relationships, social and community support reservoirs, and romantic engagements are incorporated into the level of Love and Belonging. This need highlights the importance of having a personal and social group.

Esteem needs

The fourth level comprises respect. When physiological, security and belonging needs are fulfilled, a human focuses on achieving respect. To receive praise and respect from others lies at the centre of this level. Personal growth and self-esteem are crucial elements here. Seeking respectful validation here is of utmost importance Developing self-respect here is the achievement and getting a sense of inferiority is the defeat in this case.

The third and fourth level, love and esteem, describes the segment of psychological needs of the pyramid. The first four needs are labelled as deficiency needs which are motivated by the motivation of deprivation. Whereas self-actualization need is labelled as growth needs that arise not due to a deficiency or deprivation of something.

Self-actualization needs

This lies at the peak of the prism. It encompasses self-awareness revolving around personal growth without focusing on other’s opinions. People who have reached this stage have used their full potential. Fulfilling the complete individual potential is achieved at the level of self-actualization.

Application of Maslow’s Hierarchy

Maslow’s work is still prominent because of its applicability and utilization in diversified aspects of life.

Education

For better comprehension of student’s needs, Maslow’s Hierarchy often comes into play. Children usually belong to different socio-economic. structures, ensuring kids are not deprived of basic needs. Psychological needs are greatly influenced by what kind of parenting and upbringing the child receives at home, directly impacting the intrinsic motivation to learn.

Work setup

When employers ensure the basic needs of their workers like job security, healthy working conditions, deserving wages, and so on. Even when an employee is valued enough, he feels belongs with his colleagues and team, appreciations like bonuses, increments and constructive criticism can contribute to better productivity at work.

Criticisms for Maslow’s Hierarchy

One of the biggest criticisms of Maslow’s hierarchy is its sequential line; many scholars debate that these lines can be in any form depending on the experiences an individual perceives from his environment. Other criticism includes how the theory was way too inclined toward personal aspects and overpowering the social and cultural segments of a human’s life. Along with this, not enough empirical evidence has been drawn up. Cultural bias is also associated with Maslow’s hierarchy it is mostly influenced by Western countries. 

Impact

Maslow’s hierarchy has been proven to be one of the best works of a humanistic school of psychology. Having a structural framework for efficient analysis of motivations has been a bliss to researchers. From workplace education, the applicability of Malow’s hierarchy tends to be almost universal. Even for the virtue of success, Maslow’s hierarchy has an apt interpretation. Many individuals use this to enhance their growth in personal terms. On the other hand, various government policies have also taken up Maslow’s Hierarchy to form social policies.  

Transcendence

For the expanded version of Maslow’s hierarchy, transcendence is one of the biggest additions. Earlier, self-actualization was considered as one the highest form of need whereas in its new version, Maslow classifies Transcendence as the ultimate superior need. What is it? Self-actualization is when one finds a purpose of self, but transcendence is when a person loses self in the process of finding and achieving the purpose of his or her existence. For instance, a soldier serves his or her nation even putting their safety in danger. H has risen above other needs so that he can now cater to his purpose without having anything else valued equally like the passion of purpose.

Existential therapies

Therapies like existential therapies and meaning therapy revolve around the concept that a person may not achieve mental well-being when his purpose is being compromised. According to it, every individual finds and defines his or her life purpose that aligns and satisfies the curiosity of their being, but when such ambitions are left unfulfilled, a sense of displeasure arises for a prolonged period that affects the quality of mental well-being further escalating the risk of mental illnesses.

Knowledge and understanding

are the new needs of cognition in an expanded version of Maslow’s hierarchy? It is the will to answer curiosities and seek more knowledge that solves various questions. It is classified as a growth need but often against the need for self-actualization. Self-actualization is often termed as more of personal growth whereas cognition is related to the assimilation and synthesis of knowledge.

The need for aesthetics is one of the three expansions in Maslow’s hierarchy. It signifies the importance of how humans need things appealing to their eyes to maintain a calm state of mind. It revolves around the urge to praise beauty and gain pleasure from its positive virtues.

In conclusion, Maslow’s work on the hierarchal needs of humans has been a pioneer in diversified aspects of psychology like developmental psychology, clinical and counselling psychology and organizational psychology.