According to A. Maslow, human needs have levels from simpler to higher, and the desire for higher needs, as a rule, is possible and occurs only after the satisfaction of needs of a lower order, for example, in food and security.
On the criteria for dividing motives into lower and higher, see →
In his work Motivation and Personality (1954), Maslow suggested that all human needs are innate and that they are organized into a hierarchical system of priority or dominance, consisting of five levels. The pyramid is as follows:
- Physiological needs (food, water, sleep, etc.)
- Need for security (stability, order, dependence, protection, freedom from fear, anxiety and chaos)
- Need for love and belonging (family, friendship, inner circle, reference group)
- Need for respect and recognition (I respect myself, others respect me, I am known and needed. 1: I achieve, 2: prestige and reputation, status, fame)
- The need for self-actualization (development of abilities. A person should do what he has inclinations and abilities for)
Later, in other works, A. Maslow sometimes added two more levels: the level of cognitive abilities and the level of aesthetic needs.
According to A. Maslow, needs of one type must be fully satisfied before another need, of a higher level, manifests itself and becomes valid. Another pattern observed by Maslow is that when simpler needs are satisfied, a person begins to reach out to a need of a higher order. At the same time, Maslow himself noted that there are often exceptions to this rule: for some people, the need for self-actualization may be more important than the need for love, just as some people stop at the level of lower needs, not being interested in higher needs, even when lower needs seem to be satisfied. According to Maslow, all such violations of the normal development of a person occur as a result of the development of a neurosis or in a situation of severely unfavorable external circumstances.
What is the meaning of Maslow’s pyramid?
Marketers often criticize Maslow’s pyramid: and in vain. Why? Marketers took a reasonable psychological theory and tried to apply it in marketing (where it was not created for), and when it didn’t work, they accused Maslow that his theory was “absurd”, “outdated”, “does not work for us”.
What is the point for psychologists, educators, and even ordinary people to know about this pyramid? There are two main meanings here.
First. People (the masses) are told that after they eat, sleep and have fun, they may (and if they respect Science, they should) have other desires and interests. It’s time, gentlemen!
Second. Psychologists, educators and parents are told that it is hardly possible to expect high interests from their pupils until they are fed with something simpler. Don’t pull.
At the same time, A. Maslow’s view of the top of his pyramid, that the need for self-actualization is the highest value of human life, seems pedagogically controversial. Perhaps for a person as an organism this is true, but for a person as a person there are other views on the main life values and peaks of personal growth and development.
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