Essay on Maslow Law PDF

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Why Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs not Universally Applicable

Is Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs Really Universally Applicable? In Short NO Arya Kc,46484671 Macquarie University PSYX1104 – Introduction to Psychology I Department of Psychology Samiul Hossain Arial 27, 2020

Word count 1,197

Why Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs NOT Universally Applicable According to what we have been taught throughout our childhood, the basic motivational needs for humans are food, shelter and clothing as these are a necessity for survival. While this is true, these are the external factors that we cannot meet within ourselves to reach self-actualization. Self-actualizing according to Maslow (1943) is when in individual has teacher their full potential. In A.H. Maslow’s, one of the greatest disciplines of psychology ’A Theory Of Human Motivation’, Maslow’s theory concludes that humans are driven to satisfy this hierarchy of needs where selfactualizing occupies the preeminent and therefore, an individual cannot begin to satisfy self-actualizing until they have satisfied their basic needs. These basic needs include the things necessary for our survival such as food, shelter as well as those that are required for the basic psychological needs such as food, love, safety and self-esteem. It is only when these needs are satisfied that we can begin to fulfil our need to selfactualising and become our best selves (Maslow 1943, a theory of human motivation). As per Maslow, this theory reflects universal motivation, possessed by all individuals in both an individualistic and collective society, however, to be universal, this theory must be applicable to all scenario, for all individuals in any place and time. Thus, this essay, through the use of evidential facts, will verify how though this theory seems reliable it is not universally applicable to both individualistic and collective society.

It is in human essence to hold social dominance. According to Jeevan D’Souza and Michael Gurin’s ’The Universal Significance Of Maslow’s Concept Of SelfActualizing.’ page 1, individuals constantly strive for self-superiority and are motivated by personally rewards and benefits. In an individualistic society, greater emphasis is based on individualistic goals, individualistic success and individualistic achievement rather than group goal or achievement. Maslow’s theory of heredity was 1

Why Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs NOT Universally Applicable developed based on the values of Americans during the mid-twenty centuries. This was the era where individualism was stressed, and individualistic goals and development was praises making this hierarchy most applicable to an individualistic society. As a result, Maslow’s test (Maslow 1970 motivation and personality ) on 100 British men who represented individuals from an individualistic culture was flawed and limited due to Maslow's inaccurate experiment limiting the accuracy and authenticity of Maslow’s theory to European individualistic ideological values. Mallow’s theory of Selfactualizing is based on the need to realise and fulfil one’s true potential for selfimprovement and gain personal achievements and rewards, rather than a collective improvement. The classified ’higher’ needs such as self-esteem is also based on self rather than collective development and this is the reason Maslow’s theory can be applied to an individualistic society, despite empirical evidence. Theologically speaking there is no denying that humans are all ultimately motivated by the needs listed in Maslow’s theory, it is instead supported by many such as G. Hofstede (1984) and E.C Nevis (1983) however in the sense that individual priorities will differ. As mentioned in ’A Theory Of Human Motivation’ by A.H. Maslow, all humans have a basic physiological need crucial for survival, but individuals personal desire and motivation vary depending on what the individual prioritises. Bernardo J. Carducci ”The Psychology Of Personality: Viewpoints Research and Application” argues against Maslow’s hierarch as Individuals articulating in hunger strikes derive themselves from their psychological needs to begin to fulfil a higher need, similarly with asylum seeks in concentration camps are derived from almost all basic needs still pursue truth, morality and self-actualization. During 2020 corona pandemic individualistic society in Australia, as claimed by the statistic from Hofstede, went on a mass saving for toilet paper, to the point that 80% of 2

Why Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs NOT Universally Applicable the department stores in Australia went on a low stock (Hofstede 2020). During this same time, individuals in America and Canada went on mass purchasing of canned food. Here we can see how individuals are motivated by fear of being deprived of their basic need. We can also see that their values for needs differ even in individualistic countries. Because of these aspects of reality, Maslow’s claim that one needs to be satisfied within a lower need to begin satisfying a higher need is misleading. In accordance to Maslow, his ’hierarchy of needs’ theory is more universally applicable for all culture compared to other theories based on desires and behaviours (Maslow 1978 page 213 and 54) however Maslow’s theory is constantly criticised for its lack of relatable across collective societies by psychologist such as T. Hofstede and Navis. Collective societies are a tightknit community where individuals prioritise group success and growth rather than individual success despite differences. One of that main reasons mentioned in T. Hofstede 19 argues that Maslow’s theory is not universal due to the origin of both Maslow and his theoretical research. Maslow’s research and ideas for the heredity of needs theory were solely based on both his own experience growing up in the twentieth century us alone with the experimental outcome of 100 American individuals. (Maslow 1978) This meant that the theory was based only on the individualistic European values and needs during the mid-twentieth century and didn’t apply with international values of collective society across other cultures. For the collective society of china, researches conducted on Chinese cultural study by psychologists Li Et Al (2002), Smith and Bond (1993) identified that Chinese community are family orientated and place a high emphasis on family value and heritage similarly Nevis (1983), also noticed that these priorities were also applicable in both Chinese and other Asian households and workplace. These results suggest that although Maslow's hierarchy of need could apply to the society of 20th-century 3

Why Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs NOT Universally Applicable European society, it does not apply to the Asian community, as their ‘hierarchy of needs’ would be sought in a sequence where love would likely be placed above selfactualization and self-esteem.

In conclusion, Through critical thinking and analysis of several scientific articles, such as those from Maslow himself as well as those from T. Hofstede and Navis it was evident that although it is possible to apply Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs to individualize society slightly, it still raises question due to humans individualism, resulting in different values and priorities. The limitation and inaccuracy of Maslow’s experiment also supplements as to why this theory cannot be applied to a collective society. Therefore, ultimately Maslow’s theory of that humans are all motivated as implied by hierarchy of need is not and cannot be universal.

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Why Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs NOT Universally Applicable

Reference 

D'Souza, J., & Gurin, M. –(2016). The universal significance of Maslow’s concept of self-actualization. The Humanistic Psychologist, 44(2), 210-214. https://doi.org/10.1037/hum0000027

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Hofstede, G. (1984). The Cultural Relativity of the Quality of Life Concept. The Academy of Management Review, 9(3), 389-398 https://doi.org/10.2307/258280

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Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological review, 5, 370-396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346

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Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality 2nd edition. Harper and Row. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6807(19\010)7:43.CO;2-3

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Nevis, E.C. (1983). Using an American Perception in understanding another culture: Towards a hierarchy of needs for the People’s of Republic of China. The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science 19(3), 249-264. https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2003.11658505

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