Do Our Needs Motivate Us?
In an era when some people have had time to think in lockdown about what motivates us, it has been interesting to study a theory that originated in the 1940s by Abraham Maslow. In this article, I set out a summary of the well-known ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ model and look at some of the criticisms it has faced over the years to see whether it is still relevant today.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Anyone who has taken a psychology course and many who have looked at motivation in the workplace will have heard about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The theory is often illustrated by a triangle of five colourful levels. Similar to progressing through a video game, the individual starts at the bottom of the triangle and moves up through the levels:
Physiological needs – we all have basic needs like air, food, water, shelter and rest.
Safety – next comes the need for stability, security and a lack of fear.
Belonging and love – building on this is the idea of friendships, family relationships and intimate relationships with a partner of choice.
Esteem – once those are in place, we have the need to feel good about ourselves (e.g.: freedom, independence and strength) and the need to feel valued by others (e.g.: prestige, attention and status).
Self-actualisation – ultimately, we desire our full potential of personal fulfilment and happiness.
Maslow stated that lack of the initial four needs creates displeasure, resulting in those needs being motivated by a deficiency. In contrast, he said that the final goal of self-actualisation is motivated by growth and a desire to fulfil one’s full potential. In some respects, the model is less about needs and more about what we do to achieve them and why.
Criticism of Maslow’s hierarchy
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was criticised in his lifetime for being too rigid, as well as being culturally biased towards Western values and ideologies. It was based on Maslow’s observations and it has been said to be lacking in scientific evidence.
In his lifetime, Maslow responded to some of the criticisms by adapting the initial model and clarifying that the levels could overlap. Maslow also introduced an ultimate goal of transcendence, a place of helping others to find fulfilment in their lives.
New seven-level model
I was interested to discover that a research team in 2010 attempted to modernise Maslow’s model and introduced the concept of a pyramid of seven levels, instead of Maslow’s five, that shows the needs as clearly overlapping and coexisting.
The bottom four levels of the new pyramid are fundamentally the same as Maslow’s original four deficiency needs: immediate physiological needs, self-protection, affiliation and status/esteem. The crucial difference is that self-actualisation does not feature in the new seven-level model at all. Instead, the top three needs of the new model are evolutionary motives of mate acquisition, mate retention and, at the top of the pyramid, parenting.
Over the years, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has found its way into popular awareness, but it is interesting to note that the needs were not put into the pyramid by Maslow. Although this model has been criticised, it is still used for self-development at home and at work, to identify what motivates people and how humans interact with each other.
Emma’s thoughts:
Basic needs are vital: a healthy mind and body starts with satisfying our basic human needs of air, food, water, shelter, rest, safety and security.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a useful checklist for troubled times: we can mentally go through the framework and establish areas to develop.
Love and belonging are vital to us all: we are social beings and relationships and friendships are an important part of life.
There is no neat route through: if the basic needs are not satisfied, it is still possible to have good social relationships.
Showing up for others can get you through tough times: although parenting is not relevant for everyone, the need to look after children can help focus the mind on the basic physiological needs that the family needs.
The levels are only a model: we all have multiple needs but we are all unique, so no one model is going to fit everyone.
I’d love to know what you think and if these theories of our needs are still relevant today.
Come share your thoughts or tell us which needs are most important to you by reaching out via the link below.