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Citation: Huitt, W. (2004).
Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta
State University. Retrieved [date] from,
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html. Abraham
Maslow
(1954) attempted to synthesize a large body of research related to
human motivation. Prior to
Maslow, researchers
generally focused separately on such factors as biology, achievement,
or power to explain
what energizes, directs, and sustains human behavior. Maslow posited a hierarchy
of human needs based on
two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs. Within the deficiency
needs, each lower
need must be met before moving to the next higher level. Once each of
these needs has been
satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is detected, the
individual will act to
remove the deficiency. The first four levels are: 1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts,
etc.; 2) Safety/security: out of danger; 3) Belonginess and Love: affiliate with others, be
accepted; and 4) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and
recognition. According to Maslow, an individual is ready to act upon
the growth needs if and only if
the deficiency needs are met. Maslow's initial conceptualization
included only one growth
need--self-actualization. Self-actualized people are characterized by:
1) being
problem-focused; 2) incorporating an ongoing freshness of appreciation
of life; 3) a
concern about personal growth; and 4) the ability to have peak
experiences. Maslow later differentiated
the growth need
of self-actualization, specifically naming two lower-level
growth needs prior to
general level of self-actualization (Maslow & Lowery, 1998) and
one beyond that level
(Maslow, 1971). They are: 5) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore; 6) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty; 7) Self-actualization:
to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential; and 8) Self-transcendence:
to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find
self-fulfillment and realize their potential. Maslow's basic position is that as one becomes more self-actualized and
self-transcendent, one becomes
more wise (develops wisdom) and automatically knows what to do in a
wide variety of
situations. Daniels
(2001) suggests that Maslow's ultimate conclusion that the highest
levels of self-actualization are transcendent in their nature may be
one of his most important contributions to the study of human behavior
and motivation. Norwood (1999) proposes that Maslow's hierarchy can be
used to describe the
kinds of information that individual's seek at different levels. For
example,
individuals at the lowest level seek coping information
in order to meet
their basic needs. Information that is not directly connected to
helping a
person meet his or her needs in a very short time span is simply left
unattended. Individuals at the safety level need helping
information.
They seek to be assisted in seeing how they can be safe and secure. Enlightening
information is sought by individuals seeking to meet their
belongingness
needs. Quite often this can be found in books or other materials on
relationship
development. Empowering information is sought by
people at the esteem
level. They are looking for information on how their ego can be
developed.
Finally, people in the growth levels of cogntive, aesthetic, and
self-actualization seek edifying information. While
Norwood does not
specifically address the level of transcendence, I believe it safe to
say that
individuals at this stage would seek information on how to connect to
something beyond themselves or to how others could be edified. Maslow published his first conceptualization of his
theory over 50 years ago (Maslow,
1943) and it has since become one of the most popular and often cited
theories of human
motivation. An interesting phenomenon related to Maslow's work is that
in spite of a lack
of evidence to support his hierarchy, it enjoys wide acceptance (Wahba
& Bridgewell,
1976; Soper, Milford & Rosenthal, 1995). The few major studies that have been
completed on the hierarchy seem to
support the proposals of William
James (1892/1962) and Mathes (1981) that there are three
levels of human needs.
James hypothesized the levels of material (physiological, safety),
social (belongingness,
esteem), and spiritual. Mathes proposed the three levels were
physiological, belonginess, and self-actualization; he considered
security and self-esteem
as unwarranted. Alderfer (1972) developed a comparable hierarchy with
his ERG (existence,
relatedness, and growth) theory. His approach modified Maslow's theory
based on the work
of Gordon
Allport (1960, 1961)
who incorporated concepts from systems
theory into his
work on personality. Alderfer's Hierarchy of
Motivational Needs Level of Need Definition Properties Growth Relatedness Existence A Reorganization of
Maslow's and Alderfer's Hierarchies Notice
that bonding and relatedness are a component of every theory. However,
there do not seem to be any others that are mentioned by all theorists.
Franken (2001)
suggests this lack of accord may be a result of different
philosophies of researchers rather than differences among human beings.
In addition, he
reviews research that shows a person's explanatory
or attributional style
will modify the list of basic needs. Therefore, it seems appropriate to
ask people what
they want and how their needs could be met rather than relying on an
unsupported theory.
For example, Waitley (1996) advises having a person imagine what life
would be like if time and money were not an object in a person's life.
That is, what would the person do this week, this month, next month, if
he or she had all the money and time needed to engage in the activities
and were secure that both would be available again next year. With some
follow-up questions to identify what is keeping the person from
happening now, this open-ended approach is likely to identify the most
important needs of the individual. There is much work still to be done
in this area before we can rely on a theory to be more
informative than simply collecting and analyzing data. However, this
body of research can
be very important to parents, educators, administrators and others
concerned with
developing and using human potential. It provides an outline of some
important issues that
must be addressed if human beings are to achieve the levels of
character and competencies
necessary to be successful in the information age. References |
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