Abraham Maslow wasn’t wrong. Those who were wrong are the people misinterpreting his theory. In this article you will learn why it is important to remember there was no pyramid and how this little tweak changes the interpretation of Hierarchy of Needs. It will all make sense from now on!
A few years ago, at the beginning of my training path, I admitted in one training forum that I use Maslow Pyramid of Needs in training to make people aware of various needs that may appear in their team and their impact on morale. For a long time I could not shake off the avalanche of hatred and jokes that I became the object of. That day I learned two things from the other trainers:
- When you speak about motivation, Daniel Pink’s „Drive” is all you need.
- The Maslow Theory is from outer space that has not been confirmed by research.
After this discussion, perhaps subconsciously, I completely gave up training in motivation until I started focusing on conducting training based on the latest research to always be sure if the model I’m using is credible. If that unpleasant experience was one of the reasons for me to choose my path, I can only be thankful for it!
Abraham Maslow returns
The Hierarchy of Needs came back to me unexpectedly, when I was running. I was listening to the TED Radio Hour podcast, in which Maslow’s theories were praised. How is it possible that the hosts do not yet know how much of a fool this scientist and anyone who uses his theories was? Or maybe the trainers were wrong? I parked the topic for my desk research, and today it’s time to check it out!
„This pyramid is nonsense, you fool!” – some smart ass trainer
The most important objection to Maslow Hierarchy of Needs is that human needs are not arranged in an order, so the shape of the pyramid was completely wrong. Here are two examples of evidence that can be found in the pop-science:
- According to the Csikszentmihalyi flow theory, people completely devoted to an activity will not feel hunger, which is the basis of Maslow’s pyramid of needs.
- People setting up a startup are able to survive a temporary threat to financial security, counting on the fulfilment of the need for self-development.
Initially, I did not want to argue with this assumption at all, because it seemed obvious to me. However, I found a publication that surprised me and completely changed my view on Maslow’s theory, and which may surprise you as well.
„It’s not a pyramid of needs, darling!” ~ Abraham Maslow
In 2013, the research of Taormina and Gao in the area of Maslow’s theory was published in the American Journal of Psychology. 386 adults were examined, trying to determine whether meeting the needs lower in Maslow’s hierarchy can predict meeting the higher needs. And guess what? In each case, the more the lower-order need was satisfied, the more the higher-order need was satisfied[1].
This shows a fundamental error in understanding Maslow’s theory that I made, as did the trainers criticizing me and the scientists proving his assumptions to be false. According to Taormina and Gao, Maslow believed that the chances to meet needs, not to feel them, grows hierarchically. The fulfilment of basic needs is a prerequisite to meeting higher needs, and the state of flow may only be a temporary deviation from this dependence. So we are more likely to fulfil the need for self-realization if we have previously fulfilled the need for safety and physiological needs.
Beyond Maslow Hierarchy of Needs – Full view on Motivation
Taking this opportunity, I would also like to refer to my current approach to motivation training. Certainly Maslow’s theory is not a solution for everything. But neither is Pink, mentioned at the beginning of this post. In self-determination theory approach (taken from other scientists, Ryan and Deci), we assume that motivation is either internal (desired) or external (unwanted). What if someone would like to be motivated both at once?
Will an employee who is fully competent to perform a task, a team that supports him and autonomy in shaping it (i.e. 3 necessary factors according to Pink), be motivated to perform it despite his boss being an a*hole or facing some serious family problems?
Different Theories in the field of Motivation
Motivation is a very complex topic. In addition to the theory of self-determination, the theory of flow, Maslow’s pyramid, we also have:
- Herzberg’s two-factor theory, explaining hygiene factors, the lack of which causes loss of motivation, but does not increase it in any way, and satisfaction factors whose change increases motivation,
- XY McGregor’s theory, which tells us that sometimes the perception of employee motivation is the very same thing that limits this motivation,
- Vroom’s theory of expectations – according to which motivation depends on how strongly we want something and what is the chance of getting it – which perfectly describes the motivation to participate in training and predicts Kirkpatrick’s level 3 effects[3],
- Dozens of studies on gamification and evidence that the implementation of play to work significantly increases motivation,
- Many other theories (Oettingen, Locke, Adams, Aldeferer, McClelland, Skinner) and hundreds of studies on specific factors influencing motivation.
I try to design my trainings in this area in such a way as to broaden the participants’ perspective on the issue of motivation, focusing on what currently in their team may be needed the most. These are trainings in which the needs analysis is particularly important and particularly difficult. It is not easy to determine what someone is motivated by, because the very feeling of motivation is difficult to diagnose – even at the moment when we feel it. The research in which scientists took up the measurement of this phenomenon is also helpful, as we can read about, for example, in Osteraker[4].
Maslow’s impact on the self-development market
In the 1950s, Abraham Maslow began research to focus on what makes a person feel so happy, that they want to love, create, take responsibility. Until then, psychology has focused only on the negative aspects of the human mind. It was the beginning of humanistic psychology, which in turn is the basis of positive psychology, which is becoming more and more popular today[5]. In his research, he focused primarily on what encourages people to meet the highest needs. He researched love, he researched why people want to be successful, how they make decisions, which was a breakthrough for the psychology of his time. Interestingly, he also never presented the hierarchy of needs as a pyramid. It was done by people who referred to his theory in textbooks.
Maslow started a movement, the development of which over the years has made working conditions better and better, people are getting closer and more understanding. He also co-founded the Human Potential movement, which, although criticized for setting too high expectations, was behind the success of Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Microsoft.
Resources:
[1] Taormina, RJ and Gao, JH (2013). Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: measuring satisfaction of the needs. American Journal of Psychology, 126(2), 155–177. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.126.2.0155
[2] Leclerc, G., Lefrançois, R., Dubé, M., Hébert, R. and Gaulin, P. (1998). The self-actualization concept: a content validation. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 13, 69–84.
[3] Bauer, KN, Orvis, KA, Ely, K. and Surface, EA (2015). Re-examination of motivation in learning contexts: meta-analytically investigating the role type of motivation plays in the prediction of key training outcomes. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-015-9401-1
[4] Osteraker, MC (1999). Measuring motivation in a learning organization. Journal of Workplace Learning, 11(2), 73–77.
[5] https://positivepsychology.com/abraham-maslow/ Accessed: 19/09/2019
