Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the theory which was developed by Abraham Maslow, the American psychologist. He was born on April 1, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York. At University of Wisconsin, he met a well-established researcher named Kurt Goldstein, who developed the idea of “self-actualization.” This concept greatly influenced Maslow, and led him to the field of humanistic psychology, which he valued more than his own research. Maslow died on June 8, 1970.

Maslow developed the hierarchy of needs through observing the monkeys. Through the observation, he found that monkeys prioritize the food over playing and water over food. Then he formed the idea that physiological need is more superior to other behaviors such as playing. He later transitioned this idea over human behavior, and was able to establish the pattern of physiological needs over safety needs, safety needs over belongingness needs, belongingness needs over esteem needs, and finally above esteem needs, there comes a state of self–actualization. The needs are arranged in hierarchy, often expressed in the form of pyramid as physiological needs at bottom and self-actualization at the top. (Later, transcendental needs are added on top of self-actualization.)

Let’s examine the each level of needs one by one. Physiological needs include the food, air, drink and sleep, everything necessary to continue living on earth. Above the physiological needs, there are safety needs, which include the security, freedom from fear, protection. These two levels are considered as deficiency needs because these things must be fulfilled in order for human to survive on earth. Next level which is belongingness needs is the transition from deficiency needs to growth needs. Growth needs are needs that are necessary for human to realize his potential and grow as a human person. According to Maslow, belongingness needs are divided in to two types of love. First is D-love, which is considered as deficiency needs and selfish love. This love is more on to take than to give. Another is B-love, which is considered as growth need and unselfish love. This love is more on love for others. Next to belongingness needs are the esteem

needs, which are consist of need for admiration and respect, and need to regard oneself as competent and successful. And finally, self-actualization needs, where one has discover and fulfill one’s own potential. This need is also known as peak experience, which is a heightened experience associated with feeling of joy and wonder. Next to self-actualization need is transcendental needs, which are added to hierarchy; it is the need to guide other to reach the level of self-actualization.

There are theories stated by Maslow that is supported by other psychologist. First, according to Maslow, individuals high up in hierarchy of need should have more peak experience than those lower down the hierarchy. This theory is supported by the work of Mathes. Zevon, Roter, and Joerger (1982) who devised the peak scale which was used to assess the individual with tendency to have peak experiences. Reiss and Havercamp (2005) confirmed that “lower” motives are stronger in younger than in old adults, and “higher” motives are stronger in older than younger adults. Aronoff (1967) confirmed Maslow’s prediction which states that “higher needs will only emerge when lower ones are satisfied” through observation of Indian fisherman and cane cutter. He found that Indian fishermen are people who have attained enough physiological needs and chose to work as fisher man over cane cutter, which is more secure job. But Summerlin and Norman found fact contrary to finding of Aronoff, through surveying the college students and homeless men. They found out that college student who are supposed to have higher rate on peak scale, as suggested by Maslow, had almost same score as homeless men, who definitely have lower needs. Also, Maslow suggested that all peak experiences are positive, but in fact, some peak experience occur in threatening situation.

There are several critiques regarding Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. First, people do not necessarily want to achieve the level of self-actualization; it is evident in some of human behavior such as watching TV when they have nothing to do. Also, Maslow did not emphasize the importance of environment in development of self-actualization. Hanley and Abell (2002) pointed out that Maslow’s model is based heavily on western culture and individualistic ideals of personal growth that de-emphasizes the importance of relatedness in self-

actualization. Relatedness is crucial to psychological development especially in culture which emphasizes group process which puts importance on group over individual. However, Maslow is the first one to emphasize the positive aspect of human nature contrary to previous researches who emphasized the negative aspect.