Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as Discussed by LaFleur
In his article, the author describes Maslow’s theory of needs in detail using examples from Xena Warrior Princess. On the one hand, the heroine goes through all the stages the philosopher identifies. Still, she does this with the reservation “as is possible under these conditions” (LaFleur, 1997). The author describes each step of the pyramid of needs with exceptions: the first stage is not completely fulfilled, especially among those badly injured.
Safety in the Athenian garrison during a tense conflict seems not only a relative concept but, in general, practically unattainable. Even within the third degree, the author emphasizes that the main character has taken steps toward achieving the goal, but she has not yet fully achieved love and belonging (LaFleur, 1997). While according to Maslow, without the full implementation of one stage, it is impossible to move on to another (King, 2018). Thus, the article could figuratively describe Maslow’s philosophy; however, in reality, none of the pyramid levels was fully implemented, so I disagree with the comparisons.
Expectancy Theory as an Alternative to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow did describe the basic needs and desires of almost every person, but he defined physiological needs as basic needs and made them dominant. This means that, according to Maslow, achieving other stages in a person’s life is impossible without meeting the basic ones. However, it should be remembered that each person can determine other basic needs for oneself. Sometimes the leading motivation is not the satisfaction of needs but the achievement of a specific result, which is another motivation, covered in the article.
In this case, people are active, not only trying to satisfy their needs, because the expectation of specific results becomes more important (King, 2018). Xena pursued the goal of the Atonement, and even the article’s author notes that “Xena is even willing to sacrifice herself to achieve this goal” (LaFleur, 1997). Thus, the heroine had a strong desire to achieve specific results, and the higher the level of visualization, the stronger the involvement of the performer.
References
King, L. A. (2018). Experience psychology. McGraw-Hill Education.
LaFleur, R. (1997). The price: An application of Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”. Whoosh. Web.