Maslow’s Hierarchy
According to Maslow, human needs can be classified by levels from more basic to higher. In his work Motivation and Personality (1954), Maslow suggested that all human needs are innate and organized in a hierarchical system of priority and dominance, consisting of five levels. Level concepts include physiological necessities, the need for security, love, respect, and self-realization. Later, in other works, Maslow mentioned two more levels: the level of cognitive abilities and the level of aesthetic needs (Peng, 2020). The pursuit of higher essentials is usually occurring only after the satisfaction of lower needs, such as food and security.
Theoretical Part
The pattern noticed by Maslow states that when basic needs are satisfied, a person begins to reach for a necessity of higher demand. At the same time, Maslow noted that there are often exceptions to this rule: for some people, the need for love may be more significant than the need for self-realization (Peng, 2020). Some people stop at the level of lower requirements without being interested in higher essentials regarding love, affection, respect, and any other nonphysiological matters. According to Maslow, all disturbances in the normal development of a person arise as a result of neurosis or severe damaging external circumstances.
Empirical Part of a Research
The pyramid was built more than half a century ago, and some psychologists have deduced that it needs to be critically approached and updated. Maslow created the system when many positions in the manufacturing economy did not meet basic safety and security needs. The issue of survival is no longer so acute, and in some cases, Maslow’s pyramid starts falling apart. Many people do not wait for their love or aesthetic needs to be satisfied but immediately seek personal growth and self-expression. When examining and using the pyramid, one should remember the uniqueness of each necessity for every person regarding different psychological characteristics, environment, gender, age, and many others.
Reference
Peng, S. (2020). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory combined with subjective well-being to explore the influencing factors and promotion strategies, research & development. Science Publishing Group, 1(1), 19–24.