Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs
holistic approach to motivation, repeatedly pointing out that whole person, not any single part of function, is motivated. Second, motivation is usually
complex; it means that person’s behavior may appear from separate motives. Third assumption is that people are continually motivated by one need or
another. When one need has been satisfied, then it will lose its motivational power and will be replaced by another need. Next assumption is that all people
everywhere are motivated by the same basic needs. Needs for food, safety and friendship are common to the entire species. The last assumption is that needs
can be arranged on a hierarchy.
23
Conversely, if the things that satisfy our lower order needs are swept away, we are no longer concerned about the maintenance
of our higher order needs. According to Maslow, there are five levels of hierarchy of needs; there
are physiological needs, safety needs, social needs love and belonging, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. Physiological, security, social, and
esteem needs are deficiency needs also known as D-needs, meaning that these needs arise due to deprivation. Satisfying these lower-level needs is important
in order to avoid unpleasant feelings or consequences. Maslow termed the highest-level of the pyramid as growth needs also known as being needs or B-
needs. Growth needs do not stem from a lack of something, but rather from a desire to grow as a person.
24
23
Jess Feist Gregory J. Feist,Theories of Personality, fifth edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002, p. 497.
24
Kendra Cherry, “Hierarchy of Needs, The Five Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”, www.About.comHierarchy-of-needs.htm accessed on 22nd October 2014
Maslows hierarchy of needs represented as a pyramid
25
1. Physiological Needs The first level of Hierarchy consists of physiological needs. It is
the collection of needs which are urgency because it relates with maintenance of biology and life. Physiological needs consists of the needs
of water oxygen, and active; taking a rest, constant body temperature, sex and sensory stimulus. This need is really urgency so the need will be given
precedence for satisfaction by individual. If physiological need is not satisfied then the individual will not gain the higher needs.
26
25
Alan Chapman,
Maslows Hierarchy
of Needs,
2001, http:www.businessballs.commaslow.htm accessed on 27th October 2014
26
Jess Feist Gregory J. Feist, 2002, op. cit, p. 119
Physiological needs is differ from other needs in at least two important respects. First, they are the only needs that can be completely
satisfied even overly satisfied.
27
2. Safety Needs Safety needs will appear when physiological needs are fully
satisfied. Safety needs are including physical security, stability, dependency, protection and freedom from such threatening forces as
illness, fear, anxiety, danger and chaos.
28
Safety needs dominate our behavior primarily in times of emergency. Maslow, however, felt that working of the safety needs can
also be seen in people’s preference for familiar surroundings, secure jobs, savings accounts, and insurance. Safety needs are most evident in your
children, as shown when an infant cries if it is dropped suddenly, is started by a loud sound, or a stranger enters the room.
29
This needs also appear in adult but in other way. The way of adult to get insurance for their work of get fancy salary is the example of the
safety needs in adult.
30
3. Love and Belonging Needs If both the physiological and the safety needs are fairly well
gratified, there will emerge the love and affection and belongingness needs, and the whole cycle already described will repeat itself with this
27
Ibid p. 498
28
Jess Feist Gregory J. Feist, 2002, loc. cit.
29
Herbert L. Petri,Motivtation: Theory and Research California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2003, p. 290
30
Jess Feist Gregory J. Feist, 2002, op. cit, p. 122
new center.
31
Then, they become unimportant in the direction of behavior, and the love or belongingness needs emerge. These needs involve a hunger
for affectionate relationship with other, a need to feel part of a group, or a feeling that one “belong”. The love needs are not equivalent to sexual
needs which are physiological, though sexual intimacy can serve to satisfy one’s need to belong.
32
Maslow argue that individuals seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving
and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging. 4. Esteem Needs
If the love need have been adequately met, they too slip into the background in relation to guiding behavior, and the esteem needs become
dominant. These are need for a positive, high evaluation of oneself. This
evaluation can be broken down into two subcategories – a need for self- esteem
and a need for esteem from other.
33
The need for self-esteem motivates the individual to strive for achievement, strength, confidence, independence, and freedom. The need
for self-esteem seems to have at its core the desire to feel worthwhile and appears highly similar to Roger’s concept of positive regard
34
. The related need of esteem from others involves a desire for reputation, status,
31
C. George Boeree, Personality Theories. http:webspace.ship.educgboermaslow.html Accessed on 27th October, 2014
32
Herbert L. Petri 2003, loc. Cit.
33
Ibid.
34
Accepting and respecting others as they are without judgment or evaluation. This is different from unconditional love; unconditional positive regard does not require love or affection
- it simply refers to acceptance of others whether you like them or not. Unconditional positive regard can be misunderstood as being nice, pleasant, or agreeable with others; however,
unconditional positive regard is not an action towards others. Rather, its more like a feeling or mindset.
recognition, appreciation by others of one’s abilities and a feeling of importance.
35
People need knowledge that they were well known and well assessed by others
5. Self-Actualization Needs When one has satisfied the first four level of need, the final level of
development, which Maslow termed self-actualization, can be reached. At the self-actualization level, the person’s behavior is motivated by different
conditions than at the lower level.
36
It means, in this level, the person is in the peak of hisher hierarchy needs.
The self-actualized individual has satisfied all the deprivation needs of the first four levels of the hierarchy. The behavior of the self-
actualized person is, as a result, motivated by new set of needs, which Maslow termed the being needs B-motivation, or metamotivation. These
B-motives are values such as truth, honesty, beauty, and goodness, and they provide meaning to the life of the self-actualized individual.
37
The clear emergence of these needs usually rest upon some prior satisfaction of
the physiological, safety, love and esteem needs.
38
Maslow doesn’t think that self-actualizers are perfect, of course.
There were several flaws or imperfections he discovered along the way as
well: First, they often suffered considerable anxiety and guilt -- but realistic anxiety and guilt, rather than misplaced or neurotic versions.
35
Ibid. p. 291
36
Ibid.
37
Ibid.
38
C. George Boeree, 2006, loc. Cit.
Some of them were absentminded and overly kind. And finally, some of them had unexpected moments of ruthlessness, surgical coldness, and loss
of humor. Two other points he makes about these self-actualizers: Their values were natural and seemed to flow effortlessly from their
personalities. And they appeared to transcend many of the dichotomies others accept as being undeniable, such as the differences between the
spiritual and the physical, the selfish and the unselfish, and the masculine and the feminine.
39
39
C. George Boeree, 2006, loc. Cit.