MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY OF MOTIVATION

 Different schools of thought have advanced different theories on the topic of motivation and how it relates to behaviour. The humanistic approach to motivation is one school of thought that will be considered in this discourse and Abraham Maslow’s Needs Theory of Motivation will be at the centre stage of this paper. The main themes as presented in this discourse are as follows: definition of important terms; brief background of Maslow; Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and his humanistic approach to motivation; the criticisms that the theory has faced; the implications of the theory to teaching and learning; and lastly a conclusion.

BRIEF BACKGROUND OF MASLOW AND HIS HUMANISTIC APPROACH TO MOTIVATION

Abraham Maslow lived between 1908 and 1970. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the first of seven children born to his Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia. Maslow later described his early childhood as unhappy and lonely, and he spent much of his time in the library immersed in books. Maslow studied law at City College of New York (CCNY) and married his first-cousin Bertha Goodman. He later switched to Psychology and earned all three of his degrees in psychology from the University of Wisconsin.

Abraham Maslow was heavily influenced by Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer and anthropologist Ruth Benedict. He believed that they were such exceptional people that he began to analyse and take notes on their behaviour. This analysis served as the basis for his theories and research on human potential. At a time when most psychologists focused on aspects of human nature that were considered abnormal, Abraham Maslow shifted to focus to look at the positive sides of mental health (Ibid). His theories including the hierarchy of tweeds, self-actualization and peak experiences became fundamental subjects in the humanist movement. 

Maslow became the leader of the humanistic school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, which he referred to as the “third force” – beyond Freudian theory and behaviourism. Basically, humanistic psychology began as a reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviourism, which dominated psychology at the time. Humanist thinkers felt that both psychoanalysis and behaviourism were too pessimistic, either focusing on the most tragic of emotions or failing to take the role of personal choice into account (Ibid ). 

Humanistic psychology was instead focused on each individual’s potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology was that people are innately good, and our innate tendencies are predominantly healthy with mental and social problems resulting from deviations from this natural tendency. People have an innate capacity for constructive growth, honesty, generosity and love. However, these instincts are weak and could easily be overwhelmed by the more powerful forces. 

Humanistic psychology took a more holistic view of the individual. It is an approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings. Humanists Psychologists argue that all have an inherent need for growth and the fulfilment of potential. They likened this tendency to the planted seed whose natural potential is to become a flower; people are seen as naturally inclined towards goodness, creativity, love and joy. It is concerned with topics that are meaningful to human beings, focusing especially upon subjective experience in individual human lives. 

Humanistic psychologists differ from most other psychologists in focusing on discussion of experience rather than on the use of the experimental method. Whether or not these views are valid, they have certainly succeeded in offering an alternative point of view- a humanistic point of view to motivation. It is these humanistic views that Maslow held that led to the formulation of the needs hierarchy theory to motivation.

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Maslow’s need hierarchy theory provides both a theory of human motives by classifying basic human needs in a hierarchy and a theory of human motivation that relates these needs to general behaviour. Prior to Maslow, researchers generally focused separately on such factors as biology, achievement, or power to explain what energizes, directs, and sustains human behaviour. Abraham Maslow however, attempted to synthesize a large body of research related to human motivation. He posited a hierarchy of human needs based on two groupings: deficiency needs andgrowth needs. Deficiency motivation and growth needs are also known as deficiency motivation and growth needs are also known as being needs or meta motivation.

Maslow made the major assumption that in order for the higher needs to emerge, the lower needs must be satisfied, which means that people only focus on their growth needs after their deficiency needs have been met, so consequently, fewer people manage to satisfy their growth needs than to satisfy their deficiency needs. Needs at the lowest level of the hierarchy, he said must be at least partially satisfied before people can be motivated by higher level goals. Once each of these needs has been satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency.

He postulated that deprivation or dissatisfaction of a need of high prepotency will lead to the domination of this need over the organism’s personality. A prepotent need according to Maslow is one that has the greatest power or influence over our actions. For example, if food was taken to be a prepotent need, a person who is lacking food, safety, love and esteem would most probably hunger for food more strongly than for anything else. In other words, our actions and behaviour are as a result of our deficiencies. Unlike the deficiency needs, the being needs can never be completely filled. Teachers for example, continue to strive for even greater improvement even when they are successful in their efforts to develop as a teacher.

To do his research, Maslow used the biographical method (archival research) to study the lives of several individuals and found similarities in their lives that he called ‘self-actualising tendency’. Among the people he studied was Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Albert Einstein and on the basis of this work, he identified 15 characteristics of self-actualised people. These include; accurate perception of reality, enjoyment of new experiences, tendency to have peak experiences, clear moral standards, sense of humour, feeling of kinship with all people, close friendships, democratic character, accepting others, need for privacy, independence from culture and environment, creativity, spontaneity, problem-centred rather than self-centred, acceptance of human nature, resistance to conformity. Maslow argued that it was not necessary to display all these characteristics in order to be self-actualised, and not only self-actualised people display them. However, Maslow considered that those individuals that he had identified as self-actualised people displayed these characteristics more. Self-actualisers are people who fulfil their own potential, not perfect human beings. According to Maslow all the 15 characters he studied had attained self-actualisation or self-fulfilment because they were no longer being bothered by the deficiency needs.

To prove Maslow’s assumption that the deficiency needs needed to be attained first before the growth needs do, Gage (1991) tested the assumption by comparing fishermen and cane cutters in the British West Indies. Fishermen worked on their own and generally earned more than cane cutters, who worked in groups and were paid on the basis of the amount of cane cut by the entire group. Cane cutting was a more secure job, because the rewards fluctuated less than for fishermen, and because cane cutters were still paid even if they were unwell. It seems to follow from Maslow’s theory that it would be mainly those whose security and esteem needs were met who would choose the more challenging and responsible job of fishermen. As predicted from

Maslow’s theory, only 25% of the fishermen had a high need for security or safety, against 80% of the cane cutters. In addition, 80% of the fishermen had high self-esteem, but only 20% of the cane cutters.

FIVE STAGES OF MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

The first four levels are physiological, safety, love and esteem needs. These four according to Maslow must be satisfied before a person can act unselfishly.

The physiological needs are the first and basic needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They are basically required to sustain life, such as: air, water, nourishment, sleep just to mention a few. According to Maslow’s theory, if such needs are not satisfied then one’s motivation will arise from the quest to satisfy them. Higher needs such as social needs and esteem are not felt until one has met the needs basic to one’s bodily functioning. As long as the body feels deprived, it organises all its energies in the service of satisfying these demands. But once these physical needs are met regularly, they no longer exert pressure. A need fulfilled no longer motivates. It is at this stage that one moves to the next level.

Safety needs are second in the hierarchy. Once physiological needs are met, one’s attention turns to safety and security in order to be free from the threat of physical and emotional harm. Such needs might be fulfilled by; living in a safe area, having Medical insurance, Job security, and financial reserves. According to Maslow’s hierarchy, if a person feels that he or she is in harm’s way, higher needs will not receive much attention. If we do not feel safe and secure, whether it be for bodily safety or safety of resources, it is all consuming and hard to think of anything else in a productive way.

Love and belongingness: Satisfaction of safety needs is followed by motivation for belonging and love which is the third need in the hierarchy. These needs are also known as social needs. They are basically related to interaction with other people and may include: need for friends, need for belonging, need to give and receive love. An inability to love and belong may motivate a person to behave in different ways to gain such acceptance. For example some people attempt to use achievement as a substitute for love.

The need for esteem is the fourth need on the hierarchy. Once a person feels a sense of “belonging”, the need to feel important arises. This need includes a good feeling of self-esteem and may be a sense of achievement, which results in a show of confidence, respect for others, and respect by others. When humans feel good about themselves, they worry less about what others think of them and start taking more chances.

Self-actualisation: Maslow’s initial conceptualisation included only one growth need- Self-actualisation which is the fifth need on the hierarchy. Self-actualisation was the summit of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is the quest of reaching one’s full potential as a person. Unlike lower-level needs, this need is never fully satisfied; as one grows psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow. Kurtz, (2000) indicates that self-actualised people tend to have needs such as Justice, truth, Wisdom, Meaning Self-actualised persons have frequent occurrences of peak experiences, which are energised moments of profound happiness and harmony. People motivated by this need to explore and enhance relationships with others; follow interests for intrinsic pleasure rather than for money, status, or esteem.

According to Maslow (1954), self-actualisation can be described in the following way: “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualisation.” According to Maslow, only a small percentage of the population reaches the level of self-actualisation. The needs pyramid is used to describe Maslow’s Hierarchy as presented below.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory of motivation

This five-stage model can be divided into deficiency needs and growth needs. The first four levels are often referred to as deficiency needs (D-needs), and the top-level is known as growth or being needs (B-needs).

The deficiency needs are said to motivate people when they are unmet. Also, the need to fulfil such needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. For example, the longer a person goes without food, the hungrier they will become.

One must satisfy lower level deficit needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. When a deficit need has been satisfied it will go away, and our activities become habitually directed towards meeting the next set of needs that we have yet to satisfy. These then become our salient needs. However, growth needs continue to be felt and may even become stronger once they have been engaged. Once these growth needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to reach the highest level called self-actualization.

Extension of Maslow’s needs theory

Cognitive and Aesthetic needs

Maslow later differentiated the growth need of self-actualisation, specifically naming two lower-level growth needs prior to the general level of self-actualisation and one beyond that level. Thus, the fifth need level became the Cognitive need which basically meant the need to know, to understand, and to explore. The sixth one was named the aesthetic need which met the need for symmetry, order, and beauty. Self-actualisation became the seventh one that we have already discussed.

Self-transcendence need

The eighth and last need that Maslow postulated was the Self-transcendence need. Meaning to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfilment and realise their potential.

 

IMPLICATION OF MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEED THEORY ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory is a baby of the humanistic views. These views have great impact to education. One of them according to Gage (1991), is that it promotes positive self- direction and independence. It develops ability to take responsibility for what is learned. It also develops creativity and enhances curiosity.

According to Maslow, the ideal university would have no formal credits, required courses, or degrees. It would serve as an educational retreat where people could explore various subjects, discover their own true interests and identities, arid appreciate the joys of learning and the preciousness of life. The teacher would be a self-actualiser, thereby serving as a model for the students’ inevitable identifications. Thus education would achieve its proper goal: to help people become fully human and actualise their highest potentials.

Pupils whose basic needs have not been met will have difficult to do homework, are restless in class or are completely uninterested in class activities. Maslow’s theory helps us to look at the student holistically. Thus physical, emotional and intellectual are all interrelated.

If school is a fearful, unpredictable place where pupils do not know where they stand, they are likely to be more concerned with security and less with learning.

Consequently, teachers who have satisfied their physiological needs and have financial security may not find money as a motivator. To them being with their pupils or continuing with their education is an incentive. He continues to argue that teachers at levels three and four of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs may be more satisfied working with very complex pupils where as those at levels one and two may prefer less complex pupils with shorter contact sessions. For teachers struggling at levels one and two, more money is an effective motivator and as such there is less concentration on the learners.

At the centre of humanistic motivational perspective is the recognition of the power that lies within learners to drive and direct their own learning in line with their desire for self –actualization. The role of the teacher therefore, is to ensure that learners freely pursue their self-chosen goals.

CONCLUSION

Though Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been criticized heavily, it has been very influential over the years, partly because the needs associated with basic survival and security do generally take precedence over those related to self-enhancement or personal growth. In our impoverished education system administrators should try to consider each teacher from Maslow’s perspective. Teachers could be assisted to increase their introspection on what really motivates them. This knowledge for the employing institution and the individual teacher could prove to be a more satisfying model for all and improve retention as well as results in the education sector