Abraham Maslow

A detailed Summary of Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow is a well know theorist and psychologist know for his theory on Human Motivation, more specifically Maslow's needs Hierarchy theory. Abraham Maslow "noticed while he worked with monkeys early in his career, was that some needs take precedence over others" (Boeree, 1998). Maslow thought that people have certain tendencies and needs towards certain things when confronted with two different subjects. For instance, Maslow said that "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" (Boeree, 1998).

This simple idea of Maslow's' was a starting point for his theory of a hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, the hierarchy of needs consist of five needs which are physiological needs, safety needs, love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. These thoughts alone put Maslow's name up with those of Freud and B.F. Skinner. "Little did he realize at the time that his tentative proposal, based on an extremely limited clinical study of neurotic patients, would become one of the most influential concepts in the fie

Although Maslow's theory is well-known and accepted my many, there is still those few that believe it has some deficiencies. His theory has been put to actual test to prove if he is correct in his ideas. Some seem to think that a "two-level" approach would be more appropriate then a five-level hierarchy. This is said because "any one of a number of needs may emerge as the single most important need, depending on the individual" (Kreitner, 2001). A leading motivation researcher Edward Lawler said "Which higher-order needs come into play after the lower ones are satisfied and in which order they come into play cannot be predicted. If anything, it seems that most people are simultaneously motivated by several of the same-level needs" (Kreitner, 2001). One may think that Lawler's ideas seem to be more consistent with most people. Human beings are faced with different challenges at different times of their lives, so there is no way that Maslow's hierarchy can apply to each and ever person. Although, his views "has not stood up well under actual testing, it teaches managers one important lesson: a fulfilled need does not motivate an individual" (Kreitner, 2001).

It is thought by some that this next level of needs is very important and is necessary in order to survive or carry on. That next level is Love or affection needs. This level is most apparent when talking about relationships. People seem to believe that in order to survive in today's society, they must love someone or ha

Some common words found in the essay are:
Safety Security, Esteem Maslow, Skinner Little, Abraham Maslow, Edward Lawler, According Maslow, kreitner 2001, boeree 1998, Maslow's Hierarchy, Human Motivation, maslow's hierarchy, abraham maslow, individual kreitner, bottom pyramid, individual kreitner 2001,

Approximate Word count = 1008
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History