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Introduction :
American psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced hierarchy of needs theory in his paper “A Theory Of Human Motivation.” Hierarchy of needs is presented in the shape of a pyramid. However Maslow himself never created a pyramid to present the idea. Hierarchy of needs is popular in sociology research and used as an assessment tool in health care and education. In this blog I will share with you a brief introduction to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, levels of hierarchy of needs, why hierarchy of needs is important and criticism to hierarchy of needs.
Introduction To Hierarchy Of Needs:
The goal of hierarchy of needs is to attain self-actualization. The concept is people are self-aware; they are concerned with their own personal growth and less concerned with others' opinions. People can reach their full potential as human beings. Maslow describes five stages to achieve this goal: the psychological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. However to achieve self-actualization each of the prior stages must be achieved by an individual.
Levels Of Hierarchy Of Needs:
Maslow's pyramid of hierarchy of needs: Image created by Samar Parhar
Psychological Needs:
On the bottom of the hierarchy of needs is psychological needs. According to Maslow a person’s basic needs must be met; without psychological needs being fulfilled a person can’t be expected to do higher thinking. He describes psychological needs as food, water, shelter, and air. Psychological needs is the most essential human needs that we need in order to survive.
Safety Needs:
The next level is safety needs such as financial security, absence of fear and stable health etc. Safety needs is anything that brings security to our day-to-day life.
Needs Of Belonging:
According to Maslow once our essential and basic needs are met. Then our needs shift to the needs to feel a sense of belonging such as friendship, love, community etc. Maslow says with absence of friends, partner or children, we strive with great intensity to achieve our needs of belonging.
Esteem Needs:
In the context of hierarchy of needs, Maslow describes esteem as a Peron's sense of self and his/her sense of self in relation to others. The esteem needs include dignity, personal achievement, feeling of self-confidence, worth-feeling of being useful etc.
Self-Actualization Needs:
On top of the hierarchy of needs is self-actualization. The final level which can only be achieved once all the prior levels are achieved. Self-actualization is best of oneself which can be explained in many ways i.e. desire to explore, expand skills, learn new skills etc. Maslow describes self-actualization as
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy, What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization.” (Despite the pronouns, one assumes the process of self-actualization is also applicable to humans who are not men.)”
Why Is Hierarchy Of Needs Important?
The basic concept of hierarchy of needs is that we human beings are motivated by our needs. If our basic needs are not met, we won’t be able to make progress in life or meet our other needs. People can be “stuck” or “unmotivated” because their mind is occupied with unmet needs, preventing them from meeting the higher needs.
Criticism To Hierarchy Of Needs:
There is criticism to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. First of all hierarchy of needs cannot be measured scientifically because we human beings have different needs at different times of our lives. Our needs also don’t always exist in a pyramid or one need can be more important than the other. In addition, different situations in life can lead people to have different values in life.
The second big criticism is that Maslow used unreliable sample and there is no measure provided by Maslow to test self-actualization. The other criticism is that people come from different cultures and backgrounds. Hierarchy of needs reflects western cultural values and does not acknowledge different social backgrounds, not all the individuals are motivated by the same factors.
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