Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs are inborn, having evolved over tens of thousands of years. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain how these needs motivate us all.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself.
Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development.
Conversely, if the things that satisfy our lower order needs are swept away, we are no longer concerned about the maintenance of our higher order needs.
Maslow's original Hierarchy of Needs model was developed between 1943-1954, and first widely published in Motivation and Personality in 1954. At this time the Hierarchy of Needs model comprised five needs. This original version remains for most people the definitive Hierarchy of Needs.
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
This is the definitive and original Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. While Maslow referred to various additional aspects of motivation, he only expressed the Hierarchy of Needs in these five clear stages.
Here is a quick simple self-test based on the original Maslow's 5-level Hierarchy of Needs. It's not a scientific or validated instrument - merely a quick indicator, which can be used for self-awareness, discussion, etc.
1970's adapted hierarchy of needs model, including cognitive and aesthetic needs - free pdf diagram and free msword diagram
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.
6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
N.B. Although Maslow referred to additional aspects of motivation, 'Cognitive' and 'Aesthetic', he did not include them as levels or stages within his own expression of the Hierarchy of Needs.
1990's adapted hierarchy of needs including transcendence needs - free diagram and free msword diagram
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.
6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.
N.B. Although Maslow referred to additional aspects of motivation, 'Cognitive', 'Aesthetic', and 'Transcendence', he did not include any of these as additional stages in the Hierarchy of Needs.
Here is a quick self-test based on the extended 8-level Hierarchy of Needs. Like the 5-level Hierarhcy of Needs self-test it is not a scientific or validated instrument - merely a quick indicator for helping self-awareness, discussion, etc.
Maslow said that needs must be satisfied in the given order.
Aims and drive always shift to next higher order needs.
Levels 1 to 4 are deficiency motivators;
level 5, and by implication 6 to 8, are growth motivators and relatively rarely found.
The thwarting of needs is usually a cause of stress, and is particularly so at level 4.
Examples in use:
You can't motivate someone to achieve their sales target (level 4) when they're having problems with their marriage (level 3).
You can't expect someone to work as a team member (level 3) when they're having their house re-possessed (level 2).
Interpreting behaviour according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is an excellent model for understanding human motivation, but it is a broad concept.
If you are puzzled as to how to relate given behaviour to the Hierarchy it could be that your definition of the behaviour needs refining.
For example, 'where does 'doing things for fun' fit into the model? The answer is that it can't until you define 'doing things for fun' more accurately.
You'd need to define more precisely each given situation where a person is 'doing things for fun' in order to analyse motivation according to Maslow's Hierarchy, since the 'fun' activity motive can potentially be part any of the five original Maslow needs.
Understanding whether striving to achieve a particular need or aim is 'fun' can provide a helpful basis for identifying a Maslow driver within a given behaviour, and thereby to assess where a particular behaviour fits into the model:
- Biological - health, fitness, energising mind and body, etc.
- Safety - order and structure needs met for example by some heavily organised, structural activity
- Belongingness - team sport, club 'family' and relationships
- Esteem - competition, achievement, recognition
- Self-Actualization drivers - challenge, new experiences, love of art, nature, etc.
However in order to relate a particular 'doing it for fun' behaviour the Hierarchy of Needs we need to consider what makes it 'fun' (ie rewarding) for the person.
If a behaviour is 'for fun', then consider what makes it 'fun' for the person - is the 'fun' rooted in 'belongingness', or is it from 'recognition', ie., 'esteem'.
Or is the fun at a deeper level, from the sense of self-fulfilment, ie 'self-actualization'.
Apply this approach to any behaviour that doesn't immediately fit the model, and it will help you to see where it does fit.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs will be a blunt instrument if used as such.
The way you use the Hierarchy of Needs determines the subtlety and sophistication of the model.
For example: the common broad-brush interpretation of Maslow's famous theory suggests that that once a need is satisfied the person moves onto the next, and to an extent this is entirely correct.
However an overly rigid application of this interpretation will produce a rigid analysis, and people and motivation are more complex.
So while it is broadly true that people move up (or down) the hierarchy, depending what's happening to them in their lives, it is also true that most people's motivational 'set' at any time comprises elements of all of the motivational drivers.
For example,
self-actualizers (level 5 - original model) are mainly focused on
self-actualizing but are still motivated to
eat (level 1) and
socialise (level 3).
Similarly, homeless folk whose main focus is
feeding themselves (level 1) and
finding shelter for the night (level 2) can also be, albeit to a lesser extent, still concerned with
social relationships (level 3), how their friends perceive them (level 4), and even the
meaning of life (level 5 - original model).
Like any simple model, Maslow's theory not a fully responsive system - it's a guide which requires some interpretation and thought, given which, it remains extremely useful and applicable for understanding, explaining and handling many human behaviour situations.


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