Theories and Concepts

Hierarchy of Needs

Personality Psychology
Five-Tier Stepped Pyramid

Maslow's hierarchy of needs organizes human motivation into physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization needs, with lower needs generally, though not rigidly, taking priority over higher ones. Maslow stressed flexibility rather than strict sequencing, and later added a level of transcendence needs above self-actualization.

Facts
Core Claim
Human motivation is organized into a hierarchy of needs, physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization, that generally, though not rigidly, build on each other. 1
Origin Year
1943 1
Evidence Standing
Contested 2
Hierarchy of Needs
Filter Results1 entry
Connections

Held Differently

ERG Theory, Theories and Concepts

ERG theory explicitly built upon Maslow's hierarchy of needs, recategorizing its five levels into three (existence, relatedness, growth).

Source Wikipedia: ERG Theory

Associated With

Theory X and Theory Y share motivation-theory roots with Maslow's hierarchy of needs rather than one directly extending the other.

Source Wikipedia: Theory X and Theory Y

Belongs To School

Source OpenStax: Psychology 2e: 11.5 Humanistic Approaches

Developed By

Source Abraham Maslow

In Branch

Open Questions

In the Other Atlases

Used In

Also in Education Atlas: which uses this subject.

Source Hierarchy of Needs (Wikipedia)Article text
Quote, Article text
The hierarchy of needs remains a popular framework and tool in higher education, business and management training, sociology research, healthcare, counselling and social work.
Sources
1. Maslow%27s hierarchy of needs
Wikimedia Foundation
  • introduction
    a conceptualization of the needs (or goals) that motivate human behaviour
  • body text
    Maslow stressed that a need does not require being satisfied 100% before the next need emerges
  • Historical development section
    Maslow proposed his hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in the journal Psychological Review.
2. Hierarchy of Needs (Wikipedia)
Article text
Quote, Article text
Although widely used and researched, the hierarchy of needs has been criticized for its lack of conclusive supporting evidence and its validity remains contested.
View the Source
Abraham Maslow
Wikimedia FoundationDeveloped By: Abraham Maslow, intro paragraph
Quote, Developed By: Abraham Maslow, intro paragraph
created Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Wikipedia: Theory X and Theory Y
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Theory X and Theory Y, Introduction
Quote, Associated With: Theory X and Theory Y, Introduction
McGregor's work was rooted in motivation theory alongside the works of Abraham Maslow, who created the hierarchy of needs.
View the Source
Wikipedia: ERG Theory
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: ERG Theory, Introduction
Quote, Associated With: ERG Theory, Introduction
The ERG theory is a theory of human need proposed by Clayton Alderfer, which built upon Maslow's hierarchy of needs by categorizing needs relating to existence, relatedness and growth.
View the Source
OpenStax: Psychology 2e: 11.5 Humanistic Approaches
OpenStaxBelongs To School: Humanistic Psychology, Page text
Quote, Belongs To School: Humanistic Psychology, Page text
When you studied motivation, you learned about one of the best-known humanistic theories, Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, in which Maslow proposes that human beings have certain needs in common and that these needs must be met in a certain order.
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Open Questions (1 open question)
Does Maslow's hierarchy of needs reflect a genuinely universal structure of human motivation, or is it culturally specific to individualistic Western societies?

Critics note the needs and drives of those in individualistic societies tend to be more self-centered than those in collectivist societies, and a 1976 review found little evidence for the theory's specific ranking of needs, undermining its claim to universality.

What would resolve this Controlled cross-cultural studies directly testing whether need-priority sequencing holds across individualist and collectivist societies.
Cross-cultural psychologyMaslow%27s hierarchy of needs
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