"A Theory of Human Motivation" by Abraham Maslow

Background

Abraham Maslow (1908 - 1970) was a well-known American psychologist. He made his most important academic contributions in the 1940s and 1950s. He is considered one of the founders of 'humanist psychology'. "The Theory of Human Motivation", originally published in 1943 in "Psychological Review", Vol. 50, NO. 4, pp. 370-396 is one of his best known articles.

The theory consists of two parts. The first part is a short preface, first published in 1943 in "Psychosomatic Medicine", Vol 5, pp. 85-92. The preface describes the most important presumptsions to the motivation theory, while being Maslow's definition of 'humanist psychology'. The main thesis of the theory itself is that all human needs can be categorized into a hierarchy where 'higher' needs emerge only once the 'lower' needs have been (partially) satisfied.

The preface

The presumptions to the theory of motivation, that are listed in the preface, form the author's definition of humanist psychology. The key propositions are the following:
A human being should be viewed as a an integrated unit.
The needs of a human being are felt more unconsciously than conciously, thus cultural and social context do not play a significant role in the theory of needs.
Man is a perpetually wanting animal.
Behaviour is motivated by a complex set of conscious and unconscious needs, as well as the socio-cultural context. Thus, studying one single need is usually too little to explain behaviour.

The theory

As described, the main thesis of the theory of human motivation is that all human needs can be arranged into a hierarchy of pre-potency, where the appearance of a certain need is connected to the satisfaction of the other, more pre-potent needs.

The author proposes a five-level hierarchy. Starting from the most pre-potent needs, the hierarchy is the following:

Physiological needs, such as - breathing, drinking, eating, staying warm (homeostasis).
Safety needs – the personal mental and pshysical safety.
Love/belonging needs – finding a partner, establishing relationships, building a community.
Esteem needs – finding a status/reputation in the community.
Self-actualization needs – unleashing the creative power inside.

The first four levels of needs, as the author describes, can be called 'deficit needs'. He explains that these needs are felt by every human being, but once any of these needs is satisfied, it is no longer motivating.

The fifth level of needs, however, is called 'the being need'. It differs from the lower levels, because it is never fully satisfied. The author explains that although people are mostly occupied with satisfying their urgent 'lower' needs, it is the self-actualization need that drives us to the real innovation and satisfaction. A famous quote from the article states: "what a man can be, he must be!"

Limitations

Abraham Maslow's article offers the motivation theory in a form of a philosophical argumentation. The author himself does not back the theory with any real-life experiments. He underlines the fact that the hierarchy of needs is never fully exposed in human behaviour, as behaviour is always affected by a large number of factors. He underlines that although cultural differences make a difference on how people satisfy their needs, the needs are felt in the sub-conscious level and thus they not much affected by social or cultural circums