Felicity’s Study Tips: A Review of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
This post is designed to assist with the following courses PSY 201, PSY 220, PSY 210, BEH 225
This post is designed to assist with the following courses PSY 201, PSY 220, PSY 210, BEH 225
This post is designed to help individuals with a variety of courses. Don’t struggle on the Homework Mountain!
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory that proposes that basic human needs must be fulfilled before higher needs. This theory defines human needs in terms of levels from lowest to highest. According to Maslow the lowest or first level of needs must be attained before one can move to the next level. Once these levels are fulfilled, the highest level being the most challenging to attain, is then sought.
Maslow lists human needs, from lowest to highest order: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. With Maslow’s theory, people must first acquire the most basic of physiological needs such as food and water before they can move on to the next. Safety needs require people to establish a safe and secure environment. Once basic physiological needs and safety needs are established, the social need for love and belonging can be approached. Esteem needs are the next level up and this is the need to have self-worth. The highest level is self-actualization, which means that having satisfied one’s needs, the individual can now begin realizing their potential. (Being all they can be.)
Maslow’s hierarchy seems correct or at least makes sense in a superficial sense. However, upon closer inspection, the theory begins to unravel to some degree. The first point of contradiction in the theory is that this hierarchy could be slightly different for each individual. For example, one’s esteem is not always dependent on whether or not he or she feels loved by others. In contrast there are others who need love and belonging to such a degree that they will forfeit their safety needs such as in abusive relationships.
Another point of criticism is that Maslow assumes that there is an order to this hierarchy in which a person goes from point A to point B. However, it is completely possible for a person to fall in love and begin a relationship when he or she is unemployed or poor. Thus the order or hierarchy is not truly set and can occur in different ways.
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References
Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm
