Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory

Abraham Maslow believed that people develop through various levels toward their full potential. While most stop at a lower level along the way, stuck in needs that are not adequately met, a few reach the highest level of development and are called self- actualized. He saw these few as beacons, directing humankind toward its full potential.

BIOGRAPHY

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Abraham Maslow was born on April 1, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Russian immigrants, poor and uneducated, but hoping for something better for their son. Abraham was the oldest of seven children, in the only Jewish family in the neighborhood, and he “was not always sure where his next meal was coming from”. He described the experience as lonely: “I grew up in libraries and among books, without friends”. In his family, he was regarded as physically ugly and so developed a sense of inferiority.

Maslow was intellectually gifted. His IQ was measured at an astonishing 195. In college, he at first studied law, as his father wished, but abandoned it after 2 weeks. He turned to a broader course of studies at Cornell and then transferred to the University of Wisconsin in 1928 to study psychology. While still in college, he married his high school sweetheart, an artist, who undoubtedly fostered Maslow’s respect for more global and integrative approaches to knowledge.

Ironically, given the later direction of his theorizing, Maslow was at first excited about the behaviorism. His interest turned for a time to psychoanalysis and these paved the way for an experiential conversion. He became professor and chair of the Psychology Department at the new Brandeis University (1951–1969). Despite his success, Maslow experienced anxiety about his academic work in graduate school and public presentations later, for which he sought psychotherapy briefly. While on a leave of absence, working on the implications of humanistic psychology for broader social values, Maslow died of a heart attack in 1970, at age 62.

Abraham Maslow was a member and officer in several professional organizations, including the American Psychological Association (of which he became President in 1968), and of course the Association for Humanistic Psychology (of which he was one of the founding members).

IN A NUTSHELL

• Maslow proposed a third force humanistic psychology that is less deterministic and more focused on values than psychoanalysis or behaviorism.
• Maslow proposed that people develop through five levels of a need hierarchy: physiological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization.
• At the four lower stages, a person is motivated by deficiencies. At the highest stage, self-actualization, the person is motivated by being motivation and has distinctive characteristics, foremost of which is creativity.
• Peak experiences are mystical states of consciousness that are particularly common among self-actualized people.
• Maslow’s theory has implications for many fields and is closely associated with the human potential movement.
• Maslow urged religion to be less dogmatic and more concerned with growth. In addition to psychotherapy, his work prompted the development of growth centers, where people could live in a community that promoted self-actualization.
• Maslow urged employers to be more concerned with the growth needs of their employees and educators to encourage personal growth and creativity among students. He urged psychology to be more concerned with human values.
• Maslow criticized mainstream psychology for being method centered rather than problem centered, and he argued that scientific investigation of the highest human potentials requires the development of new models of science.
• Positive psychology has built on Maslow’s emphasis on subjective experience and growth, adding scientific research to the humanistic base.
• Positive subjective experience, like happiness, life satisfaction, and flow, has benefits for individuals that include improved health and productivity.
• Positive traits, like optimism and resiliency, predict beneficial outcomes. Furthermore, they can be developed by positive psychology interventions.
• Positive institutions, like properly functioning work and school environments, have the potential to improve individual outcomes and to function more effectively.

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