Theory of human motivation in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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Theory of human motivation in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow, an American renowned psychologist born in 1908, was a psychologist
who carried a lot of studies throughout his professional life on primates, but after acquiring his
Ph.D., he primarily focused on studying theories on human motivation (Kermally, 2005).
Abraham Maslow was a psychology professor in various universities including Brooklyn
College and Columbia University. According to a survey conducted in 2002, Maslow was ranked
as the 10th most cited Psychologist in the 20th century. In 1943, Maslow proposed a theory known
as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in his paper titled “theory of human motivation.” The study
arose as a concern where Maslow wanted to know why most people did not self-actualize even
after having met their basic needs. Before this study, other researchers primarily focused on other
aspects not related to motivation in order to portray what sustains and directs human behavior
(Huitt, 2011). Maslow’s theory, however with some modifications, is still valid in this modern
day’s understanding on human motivation. For managers, the theory has become fundamental for
providing insight on what motivates people or what makes them tick.
In his study, Maslow desired to identify what motivated individuals since he believed that
people had various motivation systems which were not primarily related to unconscious desires
and rewards. Therefore, in his paper, he indicated that individuals were motivated to attain
specific kinds of needs. For example, when a need is fulfilled for a particular individual, the
individual will seek to fulfill another need and so on. Besides, while conducting the study on
human motivation, he studied exemplary people such as Jane Addams, Albert Einstein, Fredrick
Douglass, and Eleanor Roosevelt (McLeod, 2007). Maslow also studied about 1% of the
healthiest college student population.
In relation to Maslow’s theory on human motivation, each individual is motivated by
needs which are innate (Kermally, 2005). Maslow presented the needs in a pyramid form which
consisted of five level of needs. The needs were categorized as physiological needs, safety needs,
belonging and love, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. In addition, the needs are
structured hierarchically since they act as motivators. Their structure/arrangement is dependent
on both priority and urgency to persons. The lowest two levels of needs are deemed as basic
needs, the upper two levels psychological needs and lastly the most upper need is deemed as
self-fulfillment needs.

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Physiological needs are the lowest needs in the pyramid of the hierarchy of needs. These
are the first and most basic needs individuals require for their survival (Martin & Loomis, 2013).
They include physiological requirements such as water, food, warmth, sex, and shelter. For each
individual, these needs have to be met because if any of these psychological necessities are not
met or unfulfilled, people will automatically be unmotivated to move up the hierarchy since they
will be confined in fulfilling these particular needs (Kermally, 2005). In general, these needs
make up the general wellbeing of people.
Figure 1 Source: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Secondly, we have the safety and security needs which come after satisfying the
physiological needs. Safety refers to a feeling where individuals know they are protected from
harm either emotionally, physically or mentally (Martin & Loomis, 2013). These needs are
divided into; financial security, personal security, safety against adverse impacts and also health
security. People can still leave without the needs; however, their absence can also have adverse
effects. For example, the absence of physical safety due to either war or family violence,