Maslow: Needs-Hierarchy Theory
Introduction
● The founder and spiritual leader of the humanistic psychology movement
● Objected other approaches that focused only on the abnormal bc it focuses on all
negative aspects of humanity
● His approach was examining the most outstanding individuals and seeing what they did
right. He concluded that each person is born with the same set of instinctive needs that
enable us to grow, develop, and fulfill our potential
The Life of Maslow (1908-1970)
● Miserable childhood
○ Poor, 1st gen, bad family, no close friends, father would leave,
○ Hates his mother, attributed his direction in psych to her
● Alone in the world
○ Insecure of his physical appearance, would compensate with athletic
performance
● Finding a new style of life
○ Would eventually love reading in his adolescence, wasn’t even a good student,
but good enough to go to college and graduate
○ Hated psych at first but was drawn to behavioral psychology research with
monkeys
● From monkeys to self-actualization
○ Influenced by WWII, becoming a father, meeting his idols, and witnessing a
parade after the Pearl Harbor attack, he set out to develop a psychology that
would deal with the highest human ideas and demonstrate that people are
capable of displaying better behavior than prejudice, hatred, and aggression
● Becoming famous
○ From 1951 to 1967 he developed his ideas and was recognized for it
○ Became consumed with his work as he became sick, did nothing else
○ Died of a heart attack in 1970 while jogging around his swimming pool, an
exercise recommended by his cardiologist
Personality Development: THe Hierarchy of Needs
● General
○ Maslow proposed 5 innate need that activate and direct human behavior, they
are Instinctoid (have a hereditary component) but the behaviors we use to satisfy
them are learned
○ Only one need will dominate your personality at one point in time, as we satisfy
needs on the bottom of the hierarchy we move up.
● Characteristics of the needs
○ The lower the need is, the greater is its strength and priority
○ Higher needs appear later in life
, ○ Lower needs were called deficit needs
■ Failure to produce lower needs, not a higher need, produces an
immediate crisis
○ Higher needs are called growth or being needs
■ Bc they contribute to our personal growth
○ A need does not have to be 100% satisfied before the next need becomes
important.
● The 5 needs
○ Physiological Needs
■ Basic survival needs: In the moment, being driven by a need for food,
water, air, and survival will always take priority over everything else.
■ This need is less of an issue in middle class culture
○ Safety Needs
■ Acquiring stability, security, and freedom from fear and anxiety.
■ Those who are neurotic and infants are driven by this need: change and
falling out of routine feels dangerous to them
■ Most adults have satisfied these needs but they still influence our choices
in our attempts to avoid lack of stability
○ Belongingness and love needs
■ Close social relationships with a friend, lover, mate, or groups.
■ The failure to satisfy the need of love is a fundamental cause of emotional
maladjustment
○ Esteem Needs
■ Feelings of self worth and feelings of status, recognition, and social
success.
■ Satisfaction of this need allows one to feel confident and become more
competent. When we lack this need we feel inferior and helpless
○ Self-Actualization
■ Fullest development of the self: the maximum realization and fulfillment of
our potential, talents, and abilities
■ Without self actualization, a person may be restless, frustrated, and
discontent. Anybody can achieve this with any skill
■ Conditions for achieving self actualization
● Free of constraints imposed by society and ourselves
● Must not be distracted by lower order needs
● We must be secure in self image and in relationships with others
● We must have a realistic knowledge of our strengths and
weaknesses, our virtues and vices
■ Achieving self-actualization in non-traditional ways
● Fasting until death in the service of their beliefs, for example.
● Cognitive needs
○ Geneal
■ A second set of innate needs- to know and understand
■ They exist outside the hierarchy
Introduction
● The founder and spiritual leader of the humanistic psychology movement
● Objected other approaches that focused only on the abnormal bc it focuses on all
negative aspects of humanity
● His approach was examining the most outstanding individuals and seeing what they did
right. He concluded that each person is born with the same set of instinctive needs that
enable us to grow, develop, and fulfill our potential
The Life of Maslow (1908-1970)
● Miserable childhood
○ Poor, 1st gen, bad family, no close friends, father would leave,
○ Hates his mother, attributed his direction in psych to her
● Alone in the world
○ Insecure of his physical appearance, would compensate with athletic
performance
● Finding a new style of life
○ Would eventually love reading in his adolescence, wasn’t even a good student,
but good enough to go to college and graduate
○ Hated psych at first but was drawn to behavioral psychology research with
monkeys
● From monkeys to self-actualization
○ Influenced by WWII, becoming a father, meeting his idols, and witnessing a
parade after the Pearl Harbor attack, he set out to develop a psychology that
would deal with the highest human ideas and demonstrate that people are
capable of displaying better behavior than prejudice, hatred, and aggression
● Becoming famous
○ From 1951 to 1967 he developed his ideas and was recognized for it
○ Became consumed with his work as he became sick, did nothing else
○ Died of a heart attack in 1970 while jogging around his swimming pool, an
exercise recommended by his cardiologist
Personality Development: THe Hierarchy of Needs
● General
○ Maslow proposed 5 innate need that activate and direct human behavior, they
are Instinctoid (have a hereditary component) but the behaviors we use to satisfy
them are learned
○ Only one need will dominate your personality at one point in time, as we satisfy
needs on the bottom of the hierarchy we move up.
● Characteristics of the needs
○ The lower the need is, the greater is its strength and priority
○ Higher needs appear later in life
, ○ Lower needs were called deficit needs
■ Failure to produce lower needs, not a higher need, produces an
immediate crisis
○ Higher needs are called growth or being needs
■ Bc they contribute to our personal growth
○ A need does not have to be 100% satisfied before the next need becomes
important.
● The 5 needs
○ Physiological Needs
■ Basic survival needs: In the moment, being driven by a need for food,
water, air, and survival will always take priority over everything else.
■ This need is less of an issue in middle class culture
○ Safety Needs
■ Acquiring stability, security, and freedom from fear and anxiety.
■ Those who are neurotic and infants are driven by this need: change and
falling out of routine feels dangerous to them
■ Most adults have satisfied these needs but they still influence our choices
in our attempts to avoid lack of stability
○ Belongingness and love needs
■ Close social relationships with a friend, lover, mate, or groups.
■ The failure to satisfy the need of love is a fundamental cause of emotional
maladjustment
○ Esteem Needs
■ Feelings of self worth and feelings of status, recognition, and social
success.
■ Satisfaction of this need allows one to feel confident and become more
competent. When we lack this need we feel inferior and helpless
○ Self-Actualization
■ Fullest development of the self: the maximum realization and fulfillment of
our potential, talents, and abilities
■ Without self actualization, a person may be restless, frustrated, and
discontent. Anybody can achieve this with any skill
■ Conditions for achieving self actualization
● Free of constraints imposed by society and ourselves
● Must not be distracted by lower order needs
● We must be secure in self image and in relationships with others
● We must have a realistic knowledge of our strengths and
weaknesses, our virtues and vices
■ Achieving self-actualization in non-traditional ways
● Fasting until death in the service of their beliefs, for example.
● Cognitive needs
○ Geneal
■ A second set of innate needs- to know and understand
■ They exist outside the hierarchy
