Maslow's hierarchy of psychosocial needs

[Graybeard]

I suspected that might be your reply to this topic.

I hate it when I have been outsmarted ......

cool bananas ... greg

[labelwench]

I hate it when I have been outsmarted ......

cool bananas ... greg

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer....

The best defense is a strong offense.

You have not been outsmarted Greg.

You but chose one of several expectations....

Your Moderator's cloak of invisibility does not cover all of your tracks.

[labelwench]

No theory is without detractors, and below are listed some of the criticisms of Maslow's hierarchy. My comments are in green. LW

Maslow did not adopt a rigorous, scientific approach to developing his concepts but built his ideas from studying his mentor, Max Wertheimer, as the epitome of Self-Actualisation and then finding others - such as Albert Einstein - who seemed to possess similar qualities to Wertheimer. He also studied historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Ludwig van Beethoven. He then considered the forces (D-needs) which would prevent Self-Actualisation.

Perhaps not rigorous scientific approach, yet he selected his baseline by identifying with a mentor and finding a pattern which he chose to study. Not entirely without substance.

In their extensive review of research related Maslow's theory, A Wahba & L Bridgewell (1976) found little evidence for the ranking of needs Maslow described, or even for the existence of a definite hierarchy at all. However, Graves’ model, which has similar levels to Maslow and very much supports the idea of a hierarchy, was grounded in nearly 30 years of near-continuous research. A number of other developmentalists – most notably Jane Loevinger - have also come up with similar hierarchies of levels. (See Comparison Map.)



The Hierarchy of Needs has also been attacked as having cultural bias, representing white, middle class North American values.

Entirely possible. Unfortunately, I am one of the biased culture, so I cannot offer subjective comment.

Chilean economist and philosopher Manfred Max Neef (1992) has argued fundamental human needs are non-hierarchical, and are ontologically universal and invariant in nature - part of the condition of being human; poverty, he argues, is the result of any one of these needs being frustrated, denied or unfulfilled.

Poverty is also the result of bad personal choices, although I would expect that lacking in the esteem and recognition levels may well lead to poor judgement/poverty. Why do people gamble away fortunes, or walk away from a solid relationship to pursue a dream? Maybe it is part of the human condition.


Maslow has also been criticised for concentrating on healthy people and not taking into account those with psychological disorders.

While I accept this as a valid point, in my observation, evolution favors health more often than not. Even with a broader sampling, would the outcome have been significantly altered?

[labelwench]

From what I have observed, in people and in dogs and horses, more influences lie within our genotype (DNA) than are affected by our phenotype (immediate environmental influences).

Our experiences can have tremendous impact on us, physically and psychologically, yet in my subjective observation, it is the potential that is inherent in the individual which determines whether they shall use both the positive and negative to advantage in their life.

Some people shall turn lemons into lemonade.

Others shall deplore that their cup is ever half empty, and never regard that it is conversely, also, half full. LW

Safety Needs - "If the physiological needs are relatively well gratified, there then emerges a new set of needs, which we may categorize roughly as the safety needs, (security; stability; dependency; protection; freedom from fear, anxiety, and chaos; need for structure, order, law, and limits; strength in the protector; and so on)."

Belongingness and Love Needs - "If both the physiological and the safety needs are fairly well gratified, there will emerge the love and affection and belongingness needs, and the whole cycle already described will repeat itself with this new center. The love needs involve giving and receiving affection. When they are unsatisfied, a person will feel keenly the absence of friends, mate, or children. Such a person will hunger for relations with people in general - for a place in the group or family - and will strive with great intensity to achieve this goal. Attaining such a place will matter more than anything else in the world and he or she may even forget that once, when hunger was foremost, love seemed unreal, unnecessary, and unimportant. Now the pangs of loneliness, ostracism, rejection, friendlessness, and rootlessness are preeminent."

Esteem Needs - "All people in our society (with a few pathological exceptions) have a need or desire for a stable, firmly based, usually high evaluation of themselves, for self-respect or self-esteem, and for the esteem of others. These needs may therefore be classified into two subsidiary sets. These are, first, the desire for strength, achievement, adequacy, mastery and competence, confidence in the face of the world, and independence and freedom. Second, we have what we may call the desire for reputation or prestige (defining it as respect or esteem from other people), status, fame and glory, dominance, recognition, attention, importance, dignity, or appreciation."

"Satisfaction of the self-esteem need leads to feelings of self-confidence, worth, strength, capability, and adequacy, of being useful and necessary in the world. But thwarting of these needs produces feelings of inferiority, of weakness, and of helplessness."

"The most stable and therefore most healthy self-esteem is based on deserved respect from others rather than on external fame or celebrity and unwarranted adulation."

Self-actualization Need - "Even if all these needs are satisfied, we may still often (if not always) expect that a new discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he or she, individually, is fitted for. Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What humans can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature. This need we may call self-actualization." ( Maslow later redefined self-actualization as a function of frequency of peak experiences).

[labelwench]

Transegoic

Transegoic means a higher, psychic, or spiritual state of development. The trans is related to transcendence, while the ego is based on Freud's work. We go from preEGOic levels to EGOic levels to transEGOic. The EGO in all three terms are used in the Jungian sense of consciousness as opposed to the unconscious. Ego equates with the personality.

In Maslow's model, the ultimate goal of life is self-actualization, which is almost never fully attained but rather is something to always strive towards. Peak experiences are temporary self-actualizations.

Maslow later theorized that this level does not stop, it goes on to self-transcendence, which carries us to the spiritual level, e.g. Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Dalai Lama, or even poets, such as Robert Frost. Maslow's self-transcendence level recognizes the human need for ethics, creativity, compassion and spirituality. Without this spiritual or transegoic sense, we are simply animals or machines.

In addition, just as there are peak experiences for temporary self-actualizations; there are also peak experiences for self-transcendence. These are our spiritual creative moments.

While the research of Maslow's theory has undergone limited empirical scrutiny, it still remains quite popular due to its simplicity and being the start of the movement away from a totally behaviorist/reductionistic/mechanistic approach to a more humanistic one. In addition, a lot of concerns are directed at his methodology: Pick a small number of people that he declares self-actualizing; read and talk about them; and come to the conclusion about self-actualization. However, he understood this, and thought of his work as simply a method of pointing the way, rather than being the final say. In addition, he hoped that others would take up the cause and complete what he had begun.

[Mikal]

Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What humans can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature....quote by LW...

Interesting statement! I was examining a theory of consciousness online the other day and it stated....

"The beginning or God would be a perfectly relaxed state of consciousness, free from nervous tension and creation could be looked upon as diverse Frames of Mind superimposed on the beginning....for example there would be legal frames of mind, military frames of mind, theological frames of mind, artistic frames of mind, poetic frames of mind, musical frames of mind, research frames of mind...etc...

Its an interesting thought that striving may be simply one being pushed by their own innate unspoken assumption to be true to their own nature, and in that striving reach their own pattern of mind which would end as one existing in a perfectly relaxed state of consciousness beneficial to adaptation and survival.....


Regards Mikal

[Lloyd Gillespie]

You have both stated it as it is__A dynamic many-frames of reference mind__The triadic plus perspectives. Our problems all arise in trying to narrow the perspectives, yet specific understanding requires we do narrow our perspectives__from the universals to the particulars. The solution may be in being very careful with the wording to consider all feelings' perspectives__as some of our greatest thinkers have tried to accomplish, by not crossing the negative line of other's interpretations of frames of reference__but how to accomplish that complete task__is the real task...rrr

Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What humans can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature....quote by LW...

Interesting statement! I was examining a theory of consciousness online the other day and it stated....

"The beginning or God would be a perfectly relaxed state of consciousness, free from nervous tension and creation could be looked upon as diverse Frames of Mind superimposed on the beginning....for example there would be legal frames of mind, military frames of mind, theological frames of mind, artistic frames of mind, poetic frames of mind, musical frames of mind, research frames of mind...etc...

Its an interesting thought that striving may be simply one being pushed by their own innate unspoken assumption to be true to their own nature, and in that striving reach their own pattern of mind which would end as one existing in a perfectly relaxed state of consciousness beneficial to adaptation and survival.....


Regards Mikal

[SteveA]

Quite an interesting subject and I think it also relates to some of SB_UK's ideas regarding a layered mental structure and also there are correlations that can be drawn with regard to the idea of structures that possess "prime" or irreducible components that form a foundation for the existence of something that ensures it remains influencial in some aspect, even if it's reduced or minimized.

As an analogy, life requires energy. Though the specific form of energy that is utilized by life might vary, in some form it's still necessary and can't be removed from being a "need".

We can look at a large number of needs for human life and each of these can provide a challenge in meeting them. Beyond those needs are desires that are more optional (though for survival as a species, some of these may not be optional even if they're optional for individuals, in which there's likely a large genetic and possibly social or cultural bias involved).

Anyway, I believe there are a range of needs and desires in many aspects of life that can even be largely subconscious and not typically recognized and it's likely that general emotional well-being reflects aspects of this. Someone may feel unsatisfied with something and not know specifically why, yet there can be a broad range of desires or needs that are reflected in that emotion, though I also tend to think emotions are generally short sighted and can be quite transient as well. You might enjoy a creamy vanilla shake and the emotion reflects various needs and desires of the body and subconscious aspects but of course there can be longer term trade offs that are not met by this and ultimately a cost, so some intelligence and emotional insights can help coordinate these better and if you "convince" the emotions to enjoy something more sustainable in all aspects then that more reflective of a healthy wisdom, though it's more than just physical health but mental health and future potentials and growth etc. There are a wide range of needs and desires and they can be layered as well, where the satisfaction of one leads to the discovery of one that's even more fundamental and I think there might even be a component of regression here where needs and desires "evolve" during life upon each other and some of the most fundamental existed early in life with derived needs and desires inheriting them as a common foundation.

Anyway, those are just some ideas to consider.

[Mikal]

for example there would be legal frames of mind, military frames of mind, theological frames of mind, artistic frames of mind, poetic frames of mind, musical frames of mind, research frames of mind...etc...


Strangely enough does it not seem like some evolutionary thrust to create a social order??? I mean has not every civilization marked history with its social order and culture???


Regards Mikal

[Lloyd Gillespie]

Exactly correct, Mikal...rrr

for example there would be legal frames of mind, military frames of mind, theological frames of mind, artistic frames of mind, poetic frames of mind, musical frames of mind, research frames of mind...etc...


Strangely enough does it not seem like some evolutionary thrust to create a social order??? I mean has not every civilization marked history with its social order and culture???


Regards Mikal