Introduction
Motivation can be characterized as an individual’s need to make efforts toward the achievement of a specific goal. Biological motives, also known as physiological motives, focus on an individual’s efforts to ensure survival. Furthermore, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations define motivations sourced from an individual’s aspirations or external factors, such as fear of punishment or desire for praise. Maslow’s hierarchy of motives presents one of the most important works explaining the psychology behind human motivation.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Motives
Firstly, Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who studied behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Maslow proposed a system that reflected the hierarchy of biological, individual, and social motivations (Spielman et al. 2020). The hierarchy aspect is Maslow’s system is often criticized due to its inclination to a naturalistic understanding of human nature; for example, the theory does not concern the impact of religious worldviews on believers’ motivation (McCleskey and Ruddell). Furthermore, the pyramid’s structure provides easier visual communication of the hierarchy’s ideas, and therefore it was widely integrated into textbooks and management studies (Bridgman et al. 2019). However, Maslow himself never framed his ideas in a pyramid form in his works.
Next, Maslow’s hierarchy suggests that fulfilling the basic physiological needs is required for an individual to progress to the development of social and individual needs. Thus, food insecurity can interfere with an individual’s ability to be concerned about “whether others view him as a good person” (Spielman et al. 2020, 347). Furthermore, acquiring a safe and stable environment in the form of financial savings and employment is required to develop an individual’s need to be loved and have a sense of belonging. The penultimate stage focuses on an individual’s personal development and desire to gain other people’s respect. Lastly, the final stage presents a state of self-actualization, characterized by people’s motivation to reach their full potential and achieve complete self-awareness.
Conclusion
Maslow’s hierarchy of motives presents a significant example of an attempt to organize different types of human motivation. While the theory emphasizes the naturalistic understanding of human nature, it fails to consider that people with different cultural, religious, and social backgrounds can have different hierarchies of motivations. However, the work still provides significant insight into the psychology behind human motivation and demonstrates the relationship between different types of human motivations.
References
Bridgman, Todd, Stephen Cummings, and John Ballard. “Who Built Maslow’s Pyramid? A History of the Creation of Management Studies’ Most Famous Symbol and Its Implications for Management Education.” Academy of Management Learning & Education 18(1): 81–98.
McCleskey, Jim A., and Larry Ruddell. 2020. “Taking a Step Back—Maslow’s Theory of Motivation: A Christian Critical Perspective.” The Journal of Biblical Integration in Business 23(1): 6-16. Web.
Spielman, Rose M., William J. Jenkins, and Marilyn D. Lovett. (2020). Psychology 2e. Houston: OpenStax.