Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs motivational model
Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50’s USA, and the Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development. Indeed, Maslow’s ideas surrounding the Hierarchy of Needs concerning the responsibility of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and enables employees to fulfil their own unique potential (self-actualization) are today more relevant than ever. Abraham Maslow’s book Motivation and Personality, published in 1954 (second edition 1970) introduced the Hierarchy of Needs, and Maslow extended his ideas in other work, notably his later book Toward A Psychology Of Being, a significant and relevant commentary, which has been revised in recent times by Richard Lowry, who is in his own right a leading academic in the field of motivational psychology.
Abraham Maslow was born in New York in 1908 and died in 1970, although various publications appear in Maslow’s name in later years. Maslow’s PhD in psychology in 1934 at the University of Wisconsin formed the basis of his motivational research, initially studying rhesus monkeys. Maslow later moved to New York’s Brooklyn College. Maslow’s original five-stage Hierarchy of Needs model is clearly and directly attributable to Maslow; later versions with added motivational stages are not so clearly attributable, although in his work Maslow refers to these additional aspects of motivation, but not specifically as levels in the Hierarchy.
Interpreting behaviour according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is an excellent model for understanding human motivation see Figure 14 Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, 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’ (i.e. 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, i.e. ‘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.
I have also found it useful to associate Maslow’s hierarchy with something called Spiral Dynamics in looking at motivational drivers
- Which level are you at?
- What needs to happen to move up?
- If you are at Self-actualisation, anything you need to do to sustain at that level?