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CHAPTER 10
Hierarchy of Needs
of Abraham Maslow
Think of someone who fits the following description: loving, fair, realistic,
relaxed, self-sufficient, spontaneous, creative, nice. Make sure he or she also
has an honest directness, a playful spirit, a history of successful risk taking,
and a way of moving through life that seems effortless.
This is the kind of extraordinary person Brandeis University psychologist
Abraham Maslow considered when he devised a theory of motivation fifty
years ago. They are a rare breed-the Olympic medal winners of the human
race. To Maslow, it made sense to examine the finest specimens of the
species. So in order to discover exemplary qualities in the human race, he
studied the lives of Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Frederick Douglass, Martin Buber, Albert Schweitzer, and a few
dozen others representing his definition of the brightest and the best.
THE THIRD FORCE: A REACTION TO PESSIMISTIC DETERMINISM
Maslow realized that his method was a radical departure from the two
standard psychological approaches to the study of human nature. The Freudian
psychoanalytic school emphasized people’s destructive tendencies. Consistent
with the survival-of-the-fittest views of Charles Darwin, Freud saw no
moral difference between people and animals. We may walk upright, but
there’s no reason to believe we’ll act that way. Maslow thought that Freud’s
pessimism was a logical result of looking at the dark side of the human
psyche. “The study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens
can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy.“i
124
The behaviorism of B. F. Skinner offers little more hope. Since students of
motivation spend most of their time studying the behavior of white rats, it’s
no wonder they construct need models based solely on hunger, thirst, sex,
and the avoidance of pain. If we must do animal research, Maslow asked,
why not study the playfulness of monkeys or the affectionate loyalty of dogs?
He was also critical of behaviorists’ tendency to ignore unique characteristics.
When they finally get around to looking at people, they lop off individual
differences and reduce warm bodies to cold statistical averages.
HIERARCHY OF NEEDS 125
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs offers an alternative to what he saw as the
depressing determinism of both Freud and Skinner. To call attention to the
differences between his optimistic view and their denial of human freedom
and dignity, he labeled his approach the “Third Force.” Maslow was convinced
that when scientists finally examined the noble examples of human
development, they would discover that people are basically trustworthy, selfprotecting,
and self-governing. Our innate tendency is toward growth; we are
even capable of love. Maslow’s theory is bullish on the human race.
DEFICIENCY NEEDS MUST BE SATISFIED FOR GROWTH TO OCCUR
Maslow was not stupid. He could read the newspaper as well as anybody else
and was saddened by the daily reports of inhuman deceit and violence. But
that was exactly his point. Lying, cheating, stealing, and murder are not what
he thought human nature was meant to be. These are aberrant behaviors that
occur when legitimate human needs are thwarted. To borrow a line spoken
by a gang member to Officer Krupke in the 1962 Academy Award winning
movie West Side Story, “I’m depraved on account of I’m deprived.“2
According to Maslow’s theory, there are four types of needs that must be
satisfied before a person can act unselfishly. As Figure 10.1 shows, the needs
are arranged in a hierarchical order. The upward climb is made by satisfying
one set of needs at a time. The most basic drives are physiological. After that
comes the need for safety, then the desire for love, and then the quest for
1 PHYSIOLOGICAL
FIGURE 10.1
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Adapted from Gable, The Third Force.)
126 ZNTRAPERSONAL COMMUNlCATlON
esteem. Note the softening of terminology used to describe the move up the
ladder. We’re driven to satisfy the lower needs, but we’re drawn to meet the
higher ones.
Maslow referred to the four lower needs as “deficiency needs” because
their lack creates a tension within us. He saw nothing wrong with the human
desire to scratch where we itch. As long as we can work to satisfy the
cravings, we’re moving toward growth. It’s when a repressive society or a
warped individual curtails our freedom to satisfy our needs that we become
ill. Satisfying needs is healthy. Blocking gratification makes us sick.
The urge to fulfill needs is potent but not overpowering. Maslow thought
that the Freudian label instinct overstated the case. Maslow used the term
instinctoid to designate a less insistent motivational force. People can resist the
pull of physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs, but it’s not easy.
The instinctoid label also means that these needs are universal urges and
not created by culture, as the behaviorist would claim. Although everyone
has the same set of the needs, our ways of fulfilling those needs can be
different. You could meet your need to belong (love and be loved) by going to
a party, whereas your roommate might go for a quiet walk with a friend.
Despite these different means of gratification, our common desire for love
makes us brothers or sisters under the skin.
LOWER NEEDS TAKE PRIORITY UNTIL MET
There is nothing unique about Maslow’s focus on physical, safety, love, and
esteem needs. Other theorists include these four in their lists of basic needs.
The genius of the hierarchy is its concept of prepotency. A prepotent need is the
one that has the greatest power or influence over our actions. Maslow claimed
that everyone has a prepotent need, but the need will differ among individuals.
You might be motivated by a craving for love, while I may be motivated
by a desire for esteem. Which need is prepotent for a given individual?
According to Maslow, a person’s prepotent need is the lowest unmet need in
the pyramid.
Not surprisingly physical drives take priority in Maslow’s system. Almost
all motivational theorists regard the needs for food and other physical necessities
as powerful and primary urges. Fortunately for many people, these
basic wants are usually well satisfied. What happens when there is plenty of
bread and the belly is full day after day? Maslow described the shift in
motivation that occurs when survival needs are met:
At once other (and higher) needs emerge, and these, rather than physiological
hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again
new (and still higher) needs emerge, and so on. As one desire is satisfied, another
pops up to take its place.3
What follows is a brief description of the deficiency needs in the order
Maslow predicted they occur.
HIERARCHY OF NEEDS 127
Physiological Needs
Physiological needs are basic: The body craves food, liquid, sleep, oxygen,
sex, freedom of movement, and a moderate temperature. When any of these
are in short supply, we feel the distressing tension of hunger, thirst, fatigue,
shortness of breath, sexual frustration, confinement, or the discomfort of
being too hot or cold. These irritants compel us to seek the missing commodity
so that our body can return to homeostasis-a system in balance or at rest.
As long as the body feels substantially deprived, it marshals all its energies
in the service of satisfying these demands. Responding like a heatseeking
missile, a dog or cat invariably finds the one patch of sunlight that
provides a warm place to doze. On the physiological level, Maslow sees
people as no different. But once these physical needs are met regularly, they
no longer exert pressure. A need fulfilled no longer motivates.
Weight Watchers advises that the time to go to the grocery store is after a
complete meal. When we’ve had enough to eat, food becomes relatively
unimportant. As hunger and the other physiological needs are met, the need
for security kicks in.
Safety Needs
The safety needs operate mainly on a psychological level. Naturally we try to
avoid a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. But once we’ve managed a certain
level of physical comfort, we’ll seek to establish stability and consistency in a
chaotic world. When he talked about security, Maslow pictured the child who
strives for predictability and certainty. For instance, most kids enjoy a set
bedtime routine and grow visibly distressed if a parent tries to short-circuit
the ritual. Their safety needs require a consistent and secure world that offers
few surprises.
Unfortunately, life doesn’t always cooperate. Some of you who come
from a broken or dysfunctional home know the cringing fear of waiting for
the next fight or the other shoe to fall. Many adults go through life stuck on
this level and act as if catastrophe will happen any moment. Political appeals
for law and order are aimed at people whose insecurities have never been
quieted. Maslow also placed religious inclination on the safety rung because
he saw that tendency as an attempt to bring about an ordered universe with
no nasty shocks.
Love and Belongingness Needs
The love or belongingness needs come into play after the physiological and
security drives are satisfied. Gratification is a matter of degree rather than an
either-or accomplishment. But once a need has been significantly satisf