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Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 2 studies (1 qualitative, 1 theoretical), q1–q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description

Abraham Maslow proposed that human motivation is organized into a hierarchy of five need levels, in ascending order of "prepotency": physiological needs (food, water, sleep — "the most pre-potent of all needs"), safety (structure, order, security, freedom from danger and chaos), love/belonging (friends, family, group identification, intimate relationship), esteem (both strength/achievement/confidence and earned respect/recognition from others — Maslow is explicit that esteem "must come from earned respect and not from fame or social status"), and self-actualization (growth and self-improvement, which Maslow described as rare). Maslow also discussed a desire to know and understand as a separate cognitive drive, prepotent in itself (the desire to know precedes the desire to understand), but he treated it as distinct from, not a sixth member of, the core five-level hierarchy.

Emergence of a need is gradual rather than all-or-none: Maslow illustrated this with rough satisfaction percentages for an "average citizen" — physiological 85%, safety 70%, love 50%, esteem 40%, self-actualization 10%. Needs are largely unconscious and are claimed to be universal across cultures even though their specific expression varies. A related but distinct set of preconditions for need satisfaction — freedom to speak, freedom of expression, freedom to investigate, freedom to defend oneself, justice, fairness, honesty, orderliness — are reacted to almost as strongly as direct threats to the basic needs themselves when they are threatened.

Maslow himself catalogued several exceptions to the standard order: some people's self-esteem outranks their need for love; innately creative people may keep creating despite unmet lower needs; long-term deprivation (e.g., extended unemployment) can permanently lower a person's aspirations; early, prolonged loss of love can produce a "psychopathic personality" that permanently forgoes that need; a need satisfied for a long time can be underestimated in importance; a person's conscious desires and their actual behavior can diverge; and self-sacrifice for an ideal is explained as increased frustration-tolerance built through early gratification. Behavior is typically multi-motivated — a single act can express several needs simultaneously — and not all behavior is need-driven at all.

Implications

Context

  • Contemporary research treats motivation as more pluralistic than a strict ladder: Tay and Diener (2011), analyzing Gallup data from 60,865 people across 123 countries, tested six needs analogous to Maslow's against three wellbeing measures and found the needs themselves are cross-culturally universal, but the hierarchical ordering was not supported — people can benefit from "higher" needs without first satisfying "lower" ones
  • Maslow derived the self-actualization traits from a biographical analysis of only 18 people he judged self-actualized, and his sample (Jefferson, Lincoln, Einstein, Gandhi, and a few women such as Eleanor Roosevelt) skewed heavily toward highly educated white men — a methodological limitation on the theory's claim to generalize
  • Counter-examples exist to a strict reading of the hierarchy: people in severe poverty who still achieve love and belonging, and impoverished artists (Rembrandt, Van Gogh) who appear to have reached self-actualization without their lower needs being reliably met

Target Learners

  • Learners whose physiological, safety, belonging, or esteem needs are unmet or precarious — hunger, fatigue, insecurity, and low self-esteem are named as direct barriers to learning
  • Applicable across ages, though classroom applications are most often drawn from K-12 contexts

Target Learning Objectives

  • Not objective-specific; the theory is a framework for the conditions (safety, belonging, respect) that make any learning objective attainable, and for self-directed growth as an aspirational long-term outcome

Educational Implications

A tired and hungry student will find it difficult to focus on learning — physiological needs must be substantially met before cognitive/learning needs can be productively addressed. Students must feel emotionally and physically safe and accepted in the classroom to progress toward their potential; a teacher should visibly show students they are valued and respected. Students with low self-esteem will not progress academically at an optimal rate until their self-esteem is strengthened. Maslow (1971, p. 195) framed the goal of a humanistic educational approach as producing people who "would be stronger, healthier, and would take their own lives into their hands to a greater extent," actively shaping the society they live in rather than simply being shaped by it.

Claims

Examples

Key Sources

  • Maslow, A. H. (1943). A preface to motivation theory. Psychosomatic Medicine, 5, 85-92.
  • Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. D. Van Nostrand Company.
  • Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). Harper & Row.
  • Maslow, A. H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. Viking.
  • McLeod, S. A. (2017). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
  • Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective well-being around the world. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 354-365.
  • Bauman, S. (2017). Break open the sky: Saving our faith from a culture of fear. Multnomah.
  • Fromm, E. (1941). Escape from freedom. Farrar and Rinehart.
  • Zhou, M., & Brown, D. (Eds.). (2015). Theory of human motivation. In Educational learning theories (2nd ed.). GALILEO Open Learning Materials.
Page metadata
Field Value
type theory
title Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
description Maslow's hierarchy of needs proposes that human motivation is organized by prepotency, from physiological needs through safety, love/belonging, and esteem to self-actualization, with lower needs typically requiring substantial (not complete) satisfaction before higher needs become active motivators.
status review
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