You've probably heard of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but what does it actually mean? Maslow's hierarchy is frequently mentioned, but what are its main points, why has it become so popular, and is it even accurate? In this article, we dive into Maslow's hierarchy of needs and answer the following questions:
- What is Maslows hierarchy of needs?
- What are the five levels of Maslow's hierarchy (and why do some sources mention eight levels?)
- What are some Maslow's hierarchy of needs examples?
- How is Maslow's hierarchy used in the real world?
What Is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?
Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who studied, among other topics, quality of life, decision making, and self-actualization choices in people. In 1943, he published a paper called "A Theory of Human Motivation" which laid out his hierarchy for the first time. The concept was later expanded in Maslow's 1954 book, Motivation and Personality.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs, as it is now called, reflects the universal needs of humans and human motivation. There are five stages to the original hierarchy, which is typically arranged as a pyramid. The lowest level is the most basic level of need. Once a person has achieved that level, they'll begin to focus on the next level up, then the next...until they reach the fifth and final level of the hierarchy which is where they can focus on creating the best life for themselves.
When the paper was published, Maslow noted that he didn't have any data to support his idea of the hierarchy. This opened it up to criticism from other psychologists. In the decades since its publication, various studies have been conducted to test the accuracy of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. We discuss their findings later on in this article. Despite pushback from some other psychologists over the decades, Maslow's hierarchy of needs has become an extremely popular idea both among psychologists and the general public.
What Are the 5 Levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?
Below are the five levels of Maslow's hierarchy. For each one, we give Maslow's hierarchy of needs examples and explain what you need to meet to move up to the next level. Several decades after he first created his hierarchy, Maslow expanded the hierarchy into eight levels; we discuss this in the next section.
Level 1: Physiological Needs
- Food, water, shelter, rest
This is the lowest and most basic level of Maslow's hierarchy. The four above needs are literally the difference between living and dying. You can have great self-confidence, a comfortable home, and lots of strong relationships, but if you don't have, say, food, your very survival will be at risk. You can't focus on having a great life if your ability to have any life at all is in jeopardy. Maslow included sex in this category which has been criticized by some people who feel that sex isn't a basic need the same way food and water are, and that it would be better placed in Level 3.
Level 2: Safety Needs
- Safety, security, freedom from fear
Once someone has met the basic needs required for survival, move into focusing on how to add stability and order into their lives. This is when a person starts to look for safety and security. Safety can refer to medical care, schools, improved shelter, police, law and order, etc. Security can refer to financial security, emotional security, health security, etc. At this level, the needs being met are still quite basic and quality of life can still be pretty low as a person works to get their safety needs met.
Level 3: Belongingness and Love Needs
- Friendship, intimacy, trust, inclusion
At this level of the hierarchy, a person feels secure in their ability to meet basic survival requirements, and they now focus on improving the quality of their life. According to Maslow, the first thing a person requires after survival needs are met is close relationships. These relationships can be with family, friends, romantic partners, or all three. To meet this need, a person needs to have a sense of belonging and acceptance, feel loved and valued, trust others and feel close to them, and give and receive affection.
Level 4: Esteem Needs
- Pride, feeling of accomplishment, reputation
It's difficult to feel good about yourself if no one else likes you, which is why this level of the hierarchy can only be met after a person feels a sense of belonging. Once someone has a strong support system in place, they are able to focus on bettering themselves.
Maslow divided this level into two categories: 1. Esteem for oneself, which includes independence, dignity, achievement, and mastery, and 2. Respect from others, which includes feelings like prestige and your status in society. Maslow stated that, for children and adolescents, feeling respect from others was more important than having high self-esteem.
Level 5: Self-Actualization Needs
- Achieving one's full potential, expressing creativity
This is the highest level in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At this level, the person is able to be their best self and put their talents to their best use. A person at this level on the hierarchy is looking to achieve personal growth, meet ambitious goals, and have "peak experiences," the kind that give you a sense of deep happiness and fulfillment and that you remember for years and even decades after. Because everyone has a different idea of what their best life and best self are, how people act at this stage can vary widely. Some focus on earning a lot of money, some turn to different creative pursuits, some decide to focus on giving back to others in the world, etc. Every person has the innate desire to achieve this level, but setbacks can often impede progress up the hierarchy. Many people move up and down levels in the hierarchy multiple times before achieving the top level.
Maslow referred to this level as a "growth need" and the previous four levels as "deficient needs." When you're trying to meet a deficient need, there will be a part of your life that's causing you unhappiness (such as being hungry, lonely, frightened, etc.). Each time you move up one of the first four levels, you remove more unpleasantness from your life. In contrast, if you haven't met the growth need in level 5, you aren't actively harmed by that the way you are when not meeting the other levels. You just haven't experienced the highest level of happiness that you could be.
The Expanded Hierarchy: Maslow's Eight Level of Needs
In 1970, Maslow expanded his hierarchy to include three more levels, for a total of eight. However, the five-level model is still the best well known. Below is the eight-level model, with the three new levels explained.
Level 1: Physiological Needs
Level 2: Safety Needs
Level 3: Belongingness and Love Needs
Level 4: Esteem Needs
Level 5: Cognitive Needs
- Knowledge and understanding
At this level people search to satisfy their curiosity and need to understand things, including the world at large. A person at this level may read about topics they're curious about, as well as actively have new experiences in order to expand their knowledge and sense of identity.
Level 6: Aesthetic Needs
- Appreciation of beauty
At this level people actively search for and revel in beauty in the world. This can be through art, music, as well as beauty in the natural world.
Level 7: Self-Actualization Needs
Level 8: Transcendence Needs
- Helping others achieve self-actualization
At this level, a person moves beyond their own needs. They begin to focus more on helping others and pursuing "higher powers" which can be deep spiritual connections, mystical experiences, or even just a closer relationship with the natural world.
How People Move Up and Down the Hierarchy
In theory, a person cannot focus on needs higher up in the hierarchy if their more basic needs lower in the hierarchy aren't being met. This makes intuitive sense. You're unlikely to be concerned about expressing yourself creatively if you're starving and don't know when you're going to get food again. In that scenario, you'd be at the lowest level of the hierarchy (Physiological Needs), and you wouldn't focus on any of the higher-level needs until those basic needs are met.
In his initial 1943 paper, Maslow stated that a person can only attend to higher needs when more basic needs have been met, he later clarified his opinion and stated that the hierarchy levels aren't all-or-nothing, and a person doesn't need to meet 100% of the needs in a particular level of the hierarchy before they can move up to a higher level. Instead, he stated in a 1987 paper that a need must be only more or less satisfied before a person begins to look at the next level of the hierarchy.
Generally, people will move up one level of the hierarchy at a time because it generally takes time for different needs to be met. However, a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, job loss, divorce, illness, etc. can cause someone to drop down several levels of the hierarchy very quickly.
How Maslow's Hierarchy Has Been Used in Research and the Real World
As Maslow himself noted, when he created his hierarchy, there was no empirical evidence to support it. However, since then, there have been numerous studies testing the validity of the hierarchy. As you'll read below, results have been mixed, but that hasn't stopped the principles of Maslow's hierarchy spreading to other areas such as the business world and education.
Psychological Studies on Maslow's Hierarchy
As we mentioned above, one major criticism of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is that, when it was published, there was no firm evidence to back it up. Since then, researchers have attempted to test how true the hierarchy actually is in the real world. One of the most well-known studies was done in 2011 by researchers Louis Tay and Ed Diener. They looked at data that assessed different types of needs (similar to Maslow's hierarchy levels) from over 60,000 participants in over 120. They found that meeting these needs, especially basic needs, was linked to well-being and improved quality of life, as Maslow posited. However, they also found that peoples' needs don't follow any order of precedence perfectly. Specifically, they found that people reported feeling a sense of self-pride, love and belonging, and that they highly valued their relationships, even if they were struggling to meet much more basic needs like food and shelter. The authors concluded that Maslow's hierarchy should be used as more of a rough guideline than a strict rule of how humans act and feel. A study from 1981 found that a person's own hierarchy changes with age, with children having higher physiological needs and adolescents having higher esteem needs.
Despite data showing that peoples' needs and motivations aren't as cut and dry as originally put out by Maslow, his theory has had a significant and long-lasting impact on the field of psychology. Today, many psychologists appreciate the framework of Maslow's ideas, even though it is more common now to view the hierarchy levels as overlapping needs, rather than steps that each must be mastered before a person can move onto the next one.
Maslow's Hierarchy in Business
Beginning around the 1950s, numerous business managers began to understand that people were happier and did better work when they feel like they are part of a team (level three in the hierarchy), feel appreciated (level 4), and are able to pursue some of their own projects at work (level 5). In 1960, a man named Douglas McGregor published a book called The Human Side of Enterprise that explained how a worker-focused approach that incorporated many of Maslow's ideas was more effective than a traditional managerial approach at the office. (The book became a bestseller.) In many modern offices, incorporating Maslow's ideas has become a standard way of running an office. For example, Google famously allows many of its employees to spend 10% of their work hours on any project that interests them. Many companies also have regular team-building sessions, happy hours, and work retreats to build a sense of community and belonging.
Maslow's Hierarchy in Education
Many education professionals have recognized how important it is that a student's basic needs be met before they can function well in a classroom. For example, a student who is hungry or tired will likely not perform at full potential. A student who feels lonely and like an outcast can lose motivation to try in school. A student can also just become bored with repetitive schoolwork and focus their attention on more creative personal pursuits. Educators who incorporate Maslow's hierarchy into their work aim to do more than just educate students; they also try to focus on any needs that aren't being met. Examples of this in schools include free/reduced lunch programs, creating routine and stability in the classroom, encouraging students to bond and work together, and allowing students latitude in how they complete different assignments so they can better express their creativity.
Summary: What Is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
What is Maslow's hierarchy of needs? It's a simple way to understand human desires and choices. Psychologist Abraham Maslow published a paper describing the hierarchy in 1943. In it, he states that humans have five levels of needs:
- #1: Psychological
- #2: Safety
- #3: Belonging and Love
- #4: Esteem
- #5: Self-Actualization
A person can only move up to a higher level on the hierarchy if all or nearly all of their needs in the lower tiers are met. Some Maslow's hierarchy of needs examples include a person who is starving not particularly caring what other people think of him until he gets enough food or someone who is incredibly lonely not worrying about pursuing creative pursuits until she feels a better sense of belonging. Studies conducted to test the accuracy of the hierarchy have produced mixed results, but because Maslow's hierarchy of needs makes strong intuitive sense, many people support it, and it has become a well-known term in society.
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