Abraham Harold Maslow (1908 – 1970) is considered the main founder of humanistic psychology or Third Force Psychology, which was a reaction to behaviorism and psychoanalysis. In humanistic psychology, man’s mental health is paramount and man’s self-realization is examined in the context of a holistic concept, where Maslow opposed the absolutization of quantificational models and methods in psychology. His simplified representation of man’s psychosocial needs, expressed in Maslow’s pyramid, made him widely known. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs found its way into other sciences. The subject of ‘human needs’ can be approached in a multidisciplinary manner in the social sciences, in theology or in philosophy. The model became particularly popular in economics and at the interface between business and psychology (business psychology).
- Psychosocial needs
- Maslow’s pyramid: explanation, meaning and examples
- Physical needs
- Need for security
- Social needs
- Need for self-esteem
- Need for self-realization or self-actualization
- Need for self-transcendence
- Possible variations on Maslow’s pyramid
- Areas of application of the needs pyramid
- Criticism of Maslow’s Needs Scale
- Individual and cultural differences
- Almost all behavior can be explained with it
- A number of essential motifs are missing
- All people are tarred with the same brush
Maslow’s Pyramid / Source: J. Finkelstein, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-4.0)
Psychosocial needs
Maslow’s pyramid, almost everyone has heard of it. But what exactly is it about? It was around 1943 when the behavioral researcher and father of humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow, realized that there are different levels of psychosocial needs and he classified them according to different levels of satisfaction. The psychologist stated that the needs at one level must be minimally satisfied before the level above can influence behavior. A person who is hungry will only worry about his safety once his hunger has been satisfied. A person with a chronic lack of love and social contacts only starts to worry about his own identity when his need for love has been satisfied. In 1943 he published his so-called pyramid of needs or pyramid of needs, which has since become known worldwide and is mentioned in all ‘introductions to psychology’.
Maslow’s pyramid: explanation, meaning and examples
A need is a perceived lack of ‘something’ by humans. The hierarchy below can be divided into gaps (shortages) and growth needs. The first levels of the pyramid are often called deficiency or deficiency needs and the higher level is often called growth needs.
Physical needs
At the bottom of the pyramid of needs, the first level is the physical or physiological needs. First of all, people need oxygen to breathe, water to meet their hydration needs and good food to get the most important nutrients. Light and an acceptable temperature are also part of it. Also the need for sex. So all the things that are essential for survival in the most basic sense. These are the survival motives.
Need for security
The needs for safety and security are at the second level. This includes not only protection against violence or other physical harm, but also security. You also need housing and protection from homelessness. A job and a wage you can live on are also included. The need for safety and security varies per person and per age/developmental stage. These are also survival motives.
Social needs
The social needs, which are then at the third level, can vary greatly. These include relationships, friends, partnership, love, family, belonging to community groups, churches and religious organizations, and recognition. However, some people also want to fulfill a certain social function in society. Of course, these social needs are not necessarily essential. But as Maslow and others have rightly pointed out, the human being is not just the sum of his physiological parts and their interaction. To be truly satisfied and to exist as much as possible without mental disorders, a certain social environment is absolutely necessary. Man is a herd creature and not a solitary creature. Thus, social needs can also be classified as deficit needs.
Need for self-esteem
There is a very smooth transition to the fourth step of the pyramid. There are individual needs. These are already growth needs. It concerns, among other things, career, reputation, self-respect and prestige. But hobbies and other individual interests are also in the foreground here. From now on, people no longer see themselves as merely social beings. He also wants to achieve as much as possible in the areas that are important to him, score as high as possible in the social hierarchy and often also amass as much wealth and prosperity as possible. There are actually no upper limits here. And as for goals and desires, it can go on and on with ever new growth needs.
Need for self-realization or self-actualization
The fifth level of the pyramid of needs is then the level of self-realization. People who reach this level not only want to accumulate more and more material goods and increase their prestige in the areas that are important to them. They also want to fully utilize their potential. For example, becoming the perfect manager, psychologist, construction worker or group leader. Or the best sailor or artist. Instead of simply amassing wealth and prestige, the focus is increasingly on perfecting one’s own skills and interests.
There are significant cultural differences in self-realization . This individualistic approach is especially common in Western cultures. On the other hand, most cultures in Asia, Africa and South America are predominantly collectivist and place individual needs behind the needs of the group, which are seen as agents of true self-fulfillment.
Need for self-transcendence
At a later stage, a sixth phase was included in the pyramid of needs: the need for self-transcendence. This means that you will do things that are not primarily intended for yourself, but are primarily aimed at helping and assisting others.
Possible variations on Maslow’s pyramid
In theory, Maslow’s pyramid of needs could be reduced to just two levels. Namely at the level of shortage and growth. This would take into account the fact that in many cases, at the level of deficit needs, physical needs and safety needs may be of equal importance. Social needs can also play a role here at the same level. And growth needs often involve a blending of individual needs with self-actualization. At this point it should be explicitly stated that Maslow’s pyramid, including possible modifications, is only a model. So there is nothing right or wrong here. Rather, it depends on which of the models works best. Moreover, Maslow’s pyramid is based only on empirical observations.
Areas of application of the needs pyramid
In principle, the needs pyramid can be deployed and used in many areas. For example in the field of (school) careers. Why does one student or employee try more than another? For teachers, employers or HR professionals, this question is very important and an answer could lie in the current needs of the student, intern or employee in question. So if it can be ensured that this person’s needs are met when they do certain things, then the motivation to make an effort is much greater for these people.
But you can also ask yourself what your own wishes and needs are at the moment. An important aspect for many people is the pursuit of personal happiness in life, including their working life. Only those who know their needs and therefore know how to meet them can act on them and achieve their goals and satisfy their needs in the long term. It wouldn’t hurt, for example, to hire a career coach who will look with you and make you think about things that you would otherwise not think about.
Criticism of Maslow’s Needs Scale
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has received a lot of criticism over the years and it has been argued that this theory is outdated. These are the main criticisms.
Individual and cultural differences
Even without extensive scientific studies, simple everyday observations cast doubt on Maslow’s hierarchy. For example, there are people who compromise their safety in favor of status (self-esteem) (e.g. through daredevilry by jumping on a moving train), who risk health for self-actualization (e.g. starving yourself for a slim figure or risky cosmetic surgery for a certain appearance) and also people who, in extreme cases, endanger and risk their own lives (need for safety) for loved ones (social needs). These are all examples of a reverse order of what the theory predicts. The meaning of aspects of safety or self-actualization can vary greatly depending on life stage and age. Cross-cultural social motives can also differ significantly. After all, belonging to social groups is more important in Japan than in the Netherlands. Of course
, if Maslow’s assumptions were correct, this would have serious consequences for practice. But here too there are clear doubts. For example, it would not make sense to offer consumer products that increase your prestige (self-esteem) if your social needs are not yet met. However, it is more likely that someone who desires social connection is even more sensitive to status-related products. He hopes this will buy acceptance and recognition. Likewise, it would make no sense to give employees the freedom to work (self-actualization) if their social needs are not yet met or if they do not yet have high status (self-esteem). These examples quickly show that the hierarchical structure in Maslow’s theory does not correspond to reality. In practice, slavish adherence to the hierarchy of needs leads to pointless, even harmful measures.
Almost all behavior can be explained with it
People’s needs and motives are formulated so abstractly that almost every behavior can be explained with them and contradictory behavior can be traced back to the same motives. A person who is completely focused on work and neglects his family can be said to be practicing self-actualization. Someone who exhibits the opposite behavior, complete focus on family and neglect of work, can also be seen as self-actualized. But both can of course also be a need for social contact: the first seeks contact with colleagues, the second with his family. Or security: one person seeks protection from colleagues, another from the family. This means that the theory can apparently explain any behavior, but cannot predict anything and that hardly any practical measures can be derived. For example, what is the point of knowing that employees have a great desire for self-development? Very little, because individual ideas about what self-realization looks like are too different. For employee motivation, motives are more meaningful at a much more concrete level: how much freedom of choice or variation do employees want and desire in their job responsibilities? At this level one could very well predict which task can motivate which employee and also easily take practical measures to increase motivation.
A number of essential motifs are missing
In addition, the model also misses a number of essential motives, such as power and influence. As a humanist, Maslow only sees the ‘sunny’ side of people’s motivation, such as the desire for social recognition and connection. He does not see other, darker motives, such as excluding others and distinguishing yourself, having power over people, the desire to oppress them or greed.
All people are tarred with the same brush
The theory assumes that all people have the same motives. As a result, attention is lost for important differences in motivation between people (and entire groups of people). In fact, people respond very differently to the same stimuli and have very different motivations. There are also major differences in people that strongly influence motivation, such as:
- optimism
- personality or character traits
- self-efficacy: a person’s confidence in his or her own ability to successfully influence his or her environment
- self-regulation: acting independently and taking responsibility for this in the context of a specific situation/environment
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