Abraham Maslow (1965) postulates that needs are hierarchically structured and that needs low in the hierarchy must be fulfilled before need higher in the hierarchy become salient. Interrelationships between needs are specified, which are missing in McDougall's and Murray's systems. According to Maslow, the physiological needs (e.g., hunger, thirst) come first, followed by security needs, social needs (affiliation), self-esteem needs (recognition), and finally self-actualization needs. Recently, the need to know and to understand, and aesthetic needs are added to the list (Maslow, 1970). The need to know and to understand is comparable to Berlyne's (1963) epistemic behavior.
Maslow's basic needs (Maslow, 1943, 1965, 1970) are thought to be structured in such a way that the satisfaction or gratification of the lower-order needs leads to the activation of the next higher-order need in the hierarchy. This is the gratification/activation principle. The other principle is the deprivation/domination principle, which states that the most deficient need is the most important need. A distinction is sometimes made between deficiency and growth needs. Needs for belongingness, love, and self-actualization are referred to as growth needs; the others are deficiency needs. To achieve growth needs, deficiency needs must first be satisfied. This may be compared with Herzberg's (1966) hygienic and motivating factors in his job satisfaction theory. A deficiency in the hygienic factors creates dissatisfaction, while fulfillment of these factors does not create satisfaction. The motivating factors, when fulfilled, give rise to job satisfaction. Job satisfaction, and probably also consumer satisfaction, is not measurable on a simple bipolar scale but consists of two more or less independent (sets of) factors. In consumer research, we may distinguish between necessary product attributes (hygienic factors) and motivating product attributes. Absence of necessary attributes gives rise to dissatisfaction, while the presence of motivating attributes leads to satisfaction.