THEORIES OF

MOTIVATION :
NEED HIERARCHIES
THEORY
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
Need hierarchies Theory of
Motivation
 Need Hierarchies Theory
• Hierarchy of needs suggests that people are
motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving
to other more advanced needs .
• Person who did in past wants to do well in
the future .
• Human motive or human needs explain by a
hierarchy or ladder .
 CONTD.
• This hierarchy is most often displayed as a
pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid are
made up of the most basic needs , while the
most complex needs are located at the top of
the pyramid .
• From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards the
needs .
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Transcendence
 Self-Actualization
 Aesthetic Needs
 Cognitive Needs
 Esteem Needs
 Belongingness & Love Needs
 Safety Needs
 Physiological Needs
 2 TYPES OF NEEDS
• Deficiency Needs (D-needs)
• Contains the most fundamental and basic four
layers of the pyramid : physiological needs ,
safety needs , belongingness and love
needs ,and esteem needs.
• These needs are arise due to deprivation.
• The satisfaction of these needs helps to
“avoid” unpleasant feelings or consequences .
 CONTD.
• Growth needs also known as being needs or
(B-needs).
• Growth needs do not come from a place of
“ lack ” but rather from a desire to grow as a
person .
• Contains the highest level in Maslow’s
pyramid TARNSCENDENCE .
 PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS
• 1. Physiological needs - Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that
people are motivated to achieve certain needs .
• Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be
the first thing that motivates our behavior. Once that level is
fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us, and so on.
• these are biological requirements for human survival, e.g. air,
food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sleep.
• If these needs are not satisfied the human body cannot
function in a balanced way . Maslow considered physiological
needs the most important as all the other needs become
secondary until these needs are met.
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS
 SAFETY NEEDS
•  Safety needs - Once an individual’s physiological needs
are satisfied, the needs for security and safety come .
People want to experience order, predictability and
control in their lives. These needs can be fulfilled by the
family and society (e.g. police, schools, business and
medical care).
• For example, emotional security, financial security (e.g.
employment, social welfare), law and order, freedom
from fear, social stability, property, health and wellbeing
(e.g. safety against accidents and injury).
SAFETY NEEDS
 BELONGINGNESS &L LOVE NEEDS
• Belongingness and Love needs - After
physiological and safety needs have been fulfilled,
the third level of human needs is social and
involves feelings of belongingness. The need for
interpersonal relationships motivates behavior .
• For e.g. friendship, intimacy, trust, and
acceptance, receiving and giving affection and
love. Affiliating, being part of a group (family,
friends, work).
CONTD.
 ESTEEM NEEDS
•  Esteem needs are the fourth level in Maslow’s
hierarchy - which Maslow classified into two
categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity,
achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii)
the desire for reputation or respect from others
(e.g., status, prestige).
• Maslow indicated that the need for respect or
reputation is most important for children and
adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or
dignity.
CONTD.
 COGNITIVE NEEDS
• Cognitive needs - Needs to increase
intelligence , knowledge , understanding,
curiosity, exploration, need for meaning and
predictability .
• It is a natural human need to learn , explore ,
discover and create to get a better
understanding of the world around them.
 AESTHETIC NEEDS
• . Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for
beauty, balance, form, etc.
• Humans need to refresh themselves in the presence
and beauty of nature. carefully absorbing and
observing their surroundings to extract the beauty
that the world has to offer.
• This need is a higher level need to relate in a
beautiful way with the environment and leads to the
beautiful feeling of intimacy with nature and
everything beautiful.
 SELF - ACTUALIZATION
•  Self-actualization needs 
• It refer to the realization of a person's potential,
self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and
peak experiences. A desire “to become
everything one is capable of becoming
• Maslow (1943) describes this level as the desire
to accomplish everything that one can, to
become the most that one can be.
• ”.
 TRANSCENDENCE NEEDS
•  Transcendence needs - A person is motivated
by values which transcend beyond the personal
self .
• For e.g., mystical experiences and certain
experiences with nature, aesthetic experiences,
service to others, the pursuit of science,
religious faith, etc .
• leads to feelings of integrity and take things to
another level of being .
 CRITICISMS :
• Maslow's assumption that the lower needs
must be satisfied before a person can achieve
their potential and self-actualize.
• This theory concerns its methodology. 
 Maslow's operational definition of self-
actualization must not be blindly accepted as
scientific fact.
 CONTD.
• Not explain physiological changes and
psychological bases .

• Not explain experimental evidence .

• Level of motivation may be permanently lower