Running head: ABRAHAM MASLOW 1

Abraham Maslow

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
ABRAHAM MASLOW 2

Abraham Maslow

Abstract

Motivation can be defined as the mental forces that are used to accomplish a given action or goal

without necessarily being pushed or told to do so. Through the unsatisfied needs, human

behaviors are driven to exert effort to achieve their desired goals. For instance, people go to

school because they lack knowledge and people go to work because they require money.

Consequently, people will always be motivated by that which they lack. Abraham Maslow who

was born in 1908 came up with a particular theory regarding human motivations, which is based

on the hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, basic needs are supposed to be understood in a

specific hierarchy because each requirement needs to be satisfied first before moving to another

to the next higher level. Thus, motivation towards some of the things that people need can be

arranged in a particular order in which they are most needed. This paper gives details of

Abraham Maslow theory of human motivation from the very basic need to the last one in that

order and finally a conclusion.

Abraham Maslow Life

Abraham Maslow is a highly reputable psychologist and theorist based on his work on

Human Motivation and more particularly Hierarchy theory. He was born in 1908 in Brooklyn to

a humble family of the Russian family, and he was the first born in a family of seven children

(Tandon, 2004). Maslow was pushed so hard by his parents who wanted the very best from him.

He went through unpleasant life as a child, which was majorly due to the constant punishment

from his mother who was a superstitious and would penalize him for even the slightest mistake.

The mother showed much love for the younger siblings and would continuously reject him over
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the other children. Maslow grew up hating on her mother until her death, and he had to live an

isolated as the father was aloof and occasionally left his unhappy marriage.
Having lived in the society where he was the only Jew, Maslow went through hostility

and open prejudice based on his religious beliefs, and he had to join Jewish gang for self-

defense. He later enrolled as a law student, but after three semesters at City College of New

York, Maslow transferred to Cornell before coming back to CCYN (Tandon, 2004). Abraham

moved to Wisconsin after marrying his cousin Bertha against the parent’s wishes, and he

attended the University of Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin that Maslow found his real passion,

which was psychology. He was able to thrive in his studies and even worked for some time with

Harry Harlow. In 1930, Maslow received Bachelors of Arts in Psychology, received masters in

the same area in 1931, and later Ph.D. in 1934 still in Psychology all of which was done at the

University of Wisconsin.
In his career, Maslow worked with monkeys, and he noticed that some needs that take

precedence over the rest. It was at this point that he noticed that people have some inclinations

and needs towards particular things when are presented with two different things. According to

Maslow, "if you are hungry and thirsty, you will tend to try to take care of the thirst first. After

all, you can do without food for weeks, but you can only do without water for a couple of days!

Thirst is a "stronger" need than hunger" (Tandon, 2004). This was the starting point for the

numerous theories of human motivation and more particularly hierarchy of needs.

Maslow mentions general types of needs, which include physiological, safety, love, and

esteem, and these he says must be satisfied first before one can start acting unselfishly. He

referred to these needs as the "deficiency needs," and as long as one is motivated to satisfy these

cravings, one is said to be moving towards growth and self-actualization (Maslow & Stephens,

2000). The motivational need that must be met first is the primary physiological drives, which
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includes sleep, hunger, and the need for safety, shelter, and sense of security. It is from the

physiological needs that the foundation for the higher level of motivation is driven.

Consequently, in the motivational profile provided by the Maslow, which is also known as the

hierarchy of needs, physiological needs come first.

Physiological Needs

The physiological needs according to Maslow are the needs that must take the starting

point in the motivation theory and are commonly referred to as the physiological drives. There is

two most recent research that has been used to help understand this need in the hierarchy and

they include the concept of homeostasis and the second one is the finding that appetites.

According to homeostasis, the body is believed to be designed such that it automatically

maintains a constant and regular state of the bloodstream. On the other hand, Young gave a

summary of appetite about the body needs where when the body lacks some particular chemical

there will be a trigger for a specific appetite or a given food element to correct the situation.

Physiological needs are known to include sex, food, oxygen, water, protein, sleep, excretion, and

numerous other minerals (Maslow & Stephens, 2000). However, it is not possible to

categorically say that these needs fall under the homeostatic. Most of these physiological needs

are supposed to be relatively independent of each other, and as such, it is possible to develop an

underlying somatic base for the drive. However, that may not be the case with fatigue,

sleepiness, and even maternal response but in the classic instances such as hunger, sex, and thirst,

it is considered valid.

The physiological needs are relatively complex, and it is said to be a channel for nearly

all kinds of other needs. For instance, one may think he is hungry when in the actual sense he
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wants to be comfortable. Besides, it is possible for one to arrest hunger in parts by first starting

by drinking water or even smoke cigarette. Consequently, it can be said that physiological needs

are not isolated, as they may seem to be in the real sense (Shafritz & Hyde, 2016). However, that

which remains constant is that people are expected to be motivated by physiological needs than

any other thing when they miss everything in life. For instance, when one lacks food, safety,

love, and esteem, he or she will be more likely to hunger for food more than any other need. In

fact, no one will think of any other needs other than physiological needs in cases where all needs

are unsatisfied. For instance, when one is hungry, all the system will be focused on ensuring that

hunger is satisfied first. In fact, all the other systems that are not related to hunger are put into the

mute mode or are all aligned towards hunger satisfaction effort. Maslow states that "The

receptors and effectors, the intelligence, memory, habits, all may now be defined as simply as

hunger gratifying tools." That capacity that cannot take part in this activity is expected to become

dormant or being thrown into the background (Shafritz & Hyde, 2016). For instance, it is not

possible for one to consider buying a poet book when is hungry and fails to have money to buy

food. A hungry person thinks of nearly nothing other than how to get food to eat. Other things

such as sex, esteem, and many others do not appear anywhere near them except for the need for

food to eat. Such a person believes by satisfying the hunger, he will be able to meet other needs

and in fact, will not require anything else. In that case, life is given a simple definition such as

the provision of food and other things are not important. In that case, it is possible to say that one

can be pushed to a higher motivation when deprived of food or when subjected to hunger or

thirst.

If one lacks food to eat, what becomes most important in their lives is food and the rest

are less critical and may not be considered as necessary. However, when there is plenty of what
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to eat, other needs are expected to emerge and when the new ones are satisfied the next to come

in line (Shafritz & Hyde, 2016). It is in this case that the human needs are said to be organized in

a hierarchy of relative prepotency. It is notable that gratification is the most important aspect as

deprivation in motivation theory. People are expected to move to the next need ones the physical

needs are satisfied.

The Safety Needs

As already pointed out, people are expected to look for a different need one the

physiological needs are appropriately gratified. The next needs that are satisfied after the

gratification of physiological needs are the safety needs. According to Maslow, the safety needs

can be best understood when thought of from the perspective of infants and children. It is from

the infants and children that the observation of the safety needs is more straightforward and

transparent (Shafritz & Hyde, 2016). Unlike adults who have learned to inhibit the threats of

insecurity, infants and children inhibit clear reaction to the threat of danger. For instance, when

children are sick, they demonstrate threat or danger on how they react to the vomiting or chronic

pain through wails and cries. It is possible to understand that a child is in need of safety when

they exhibit routine or rhythm. Children and infants tend to be interested in a more predictable

and rhythmic world and they will always be anxious when the parents show unfairness,

inconsistency, and become unpredictable. The reason for this is not that such action leads to pain,

but there is fear that the world will become unreliable, unsafe, or unpredictable.

Children tend to be threatened by parents who are harsh, reckless, calling them names, or

subjecting them to physical punishment. Consequently, it can be said that average children or

infants prefer a society that is safe, orderly, organized, predictable, and that which they can count
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on and parents are available to protect them from any possible harm (Shafritz & Hyde, 2016). It

is shown that the society is the unsafe place because children always exhibit fear while those

living in a loving family without open quarrels and outburst do not display fear. The adults

equally seek safety regarding different things such as economic safety, family safety, and even

safety from criminal activities. As such, people tend to feel unsafe the same way children are

except that the reaction is not as bright as it is with the children. From the Maslow, adults equally

show some elements of childish attitudes of fear as well as threat reaction when confronted by

danger.

The Love Needs

Upon satisfaction of the physiological as well as safety needs, the motivation for another

need comes in, and that is the love needs. Those who have food and are safe will tend to develop

the need for love, affection, and belongings and it will be easier for the person to notice the

absence of friends, wife, sweetheart, or children, which was less likely before satisfying

physiological and safety needs (Shafritz et al., 2016). Such individuals get hungry not for food

but affectionate relations with people and will always do everything possible to meet such needs.

Love and affection needs are equally demonstrated by the sexual express where people tend to

develop a sexual urge towards their partners. However, the word love cannot be used to mean sex

as love is more focused on being able to give and to receive from people around.

The Esteem Needs

Except for the few pathological cases in the society, people tend to desire for a more

stable, firmly based high level of evaluation of themselves, which is equally associated to the

desire for self-esteem, self-respect, and esteeming other people in the society. The high level and
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firmly self-evaluation involves a real capacity, particular achievements, and respect that one

earns after a particular action (Shafritz et al., 2016). The esteem needs can be based on the need

for attracting reputation, attention, prestige, appreciation or a feel of importance. On the other

hand, it is possible to classify the esteem needs as the desire for strength, adequacy,

achievements, or confidence in the society. Most of the people who satisfy their self-esteem need

always have a feeling of self-confidence, strength, and capability. Besides, they tend to feel like

they are useful in the society. However, failure to satisfy this need of self-esteem leads to the

feeling of inferiority, helplessness, and weakness. Such feelings are believed to be the cause of

discouragements or sometimes compensatory.

The Need for Self-Actualization

After the satisfaction of the needs for love and self-esteem, the desire for self-

actualization is developed. This is more concerned with the desire to be in a position where one

does what he thinks he is fitted to do or what he feels comfortable doing. People are more

satisfied when they are doing what they are fitted to do for instance a musician doing the music

and a driver driving to be happy. Self-actualization is being what one can be, and Maslow refers

to it as “What a man can be, he must be” (Shafritz & Hyde, 2016). Consequently, self-

fulfillment, where one becomes actualized in their potential, will always vary from one person to

another. It is more of one fighting to be more of what he can be to attain everything that he is

capable of being. The emergence of self-actualization, however, comes after the satisfaction of

physiological needs, safety needs, love needs, and esteem needs. Thos who are satisfied by the

four needs is expected to get now motivated to attain satisfaction even though it is not possible to

measure satisfaction.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, Maslow in his theory of motivation tries to explain various categories of

human needs and how they can be ranked based on their urgency. While people may be different

in behavior and actions, it is clear that all human beings have their needs ranked with the highest

of all needs being physiological needs that involve satisfaction of human hunger or thirst. The

gratification of the physiological needs leads to the emergence of the need for safety where one

will always want to pursue safety from possible dangers such as economic danger, diseases,

criminal activities, and even natural. The next level identified is the need for love where one

feels keener than before the absence of friends relatives and even children. Maslow ranks esteem

needs as the future need, and it is where one wants to feel respected or feared in the society. After

the physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs are satisfied, the next level is self-actualization

where one becomes what he is capable of being and have the feeling of being fully satisfied.

References
Maslow, A. H., & Stephens, D. C. (2000). The Maslow business reader. New York [u.a.: Wiley.
Shafritz, J. M., & Hyde, A. C. (2016). Classics of public administration. Nelson Education.
Shafritz, J. M., Borick, C., Russell, E. W., & Hyde, A. C. (2016). Introducing public

administration. Routledge.
Tandon, R. K. (2004). Child psychology. New Delhi, India: A.P.H. Pub. Corp.
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