Located on the top floor of the pyramid of needs. Maslow's Pyramid: Widely Known and Still Relevant

Maslow's pyramid of needs reflects the basic ideas of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow. He developed a hierarchical theory of levels of human satisfaction in life. Its essence lies in the fact that a person closes his needs sequentially, gradually climbing up the pyramid.

This is what Maslow's pyramid looks like

The hierarchical needs theory itself was framed in the presented diagram after Maslow's death by his students. And initially, the theory of hierarchy, as it is also called, was set out in Maslow's work "The Theory of Human Motivation" in 1943 and further developed by him in his work "Motivation and Personality" in 1954.

Maslow's pyramid levels

Let's take a closer look at what Maslow's pyramid is. Human needs are distributed in its more simplified version over 5 levels.

1. Physiological (organic): breathing, thirst, hunger, sexual desire, etc.

2. Needs for protection: shelter, some constancy of living conditions to replace everyday anxiety and fear and gain a basic sense of security in life.

3. Social needs or belonging: relationships with other people, everyday communication, feelings of affection, realization of caring for other people, receiving attention or so-called "strokes" according to Berne, joint activities.

4. Prestige needs or public recognition: achieving a certain level of self-esteem, recognition of merit by others, achieving success and high marks, career growth.

5. Spiritual needs: knowledge, satisfaction of aesthetic needs, self-actualization and self-expression, which is manifested in the realization of one's potential and the discovery of the meaning of life, the fulfillment of a spiritual mission.

A more complex version in which Maslow's pyramid is implemented is a seven-level one. In it, the 5th level of needs is divided into 3, from which cognitive needs are distinguished first (to be able, to know, to explore), then aesthetic (order, beauty, orderliness) and only then the need for self-actualization associated with the realization of the higher meaning of one's existence.

Maslow pyramid 7 levels

So, the first level of Maslow's pyramid is organic or physiological. It is the foundation of the foundations and no one will argue with that. We are in the physical world and are forced to maintain our existence with the help of air, water, food and the administration of natural needs. And that's what Maslow's pyramid tells us about this. Examples obvious. If you have an upset stomach on your way to work, then you will look for the toilet, and not think about the report, trying, for example, to the office for the first reason, and not for the second.

The second level of Maslow's pyramid is the need for security, protection, defense, etc. The basis of this level is a place where you can hide from the dangers of the outside world, that is, a house. You also want to stop worrying about what to feed yourself and your family. Therefore, strive for a stable source of income. In addition, a person wants to part with the background feeling of anxiety for himself and his loved ones. Therefore, the security of the district, kindergartens, schools, universities, etc. is so important to us.

The third level of Maslow's pyramid is the acquisition of an inner social circle. This need is realized in the fact that a person wants to make friends, start a family, join the team at work. That is, in a global sense, it is the need for everyday communication and receiving benefits from it.

The fourth level of Maslow's pyramid is the desire for social recognition and success. Usually reaching this stage is characterized by the need for career growth or building your own business. It is on it that the basis for self-identification (who am I?) and self-actualization (what am I for?) is formed. It is here that the first sprouts of talent and creativity make their way.

The fifth level of the Maslow pyramid is the expansion of the possibilities of cognition. Since a person has already achieved some success, it is quite possible that positive incentives will take him even further. He will not want to stay on his high "plateau", but will try to take the next peak. Therefore, he will learn new things, get additional information, master the missing skills.

The sixth level of Maslow's pyramid is the contemplation and creation of beauty. It is practically expressed in the aesthetics of designing the space around oneself, traveling, visiting art galleries, museums, theaters.

The seventh level is self-actualization. This need is manifested in leadership, confirmation of one's life mission, the need to transfer personal and professional experience and knowledge to others, mentoring, understanding the meaning of one's life.

Maslow's pyramid: just a model?

You must remember that the theory of needs expressed in a simple but visual diagram is an ideal model. When this American psychologist developed his theory of hierarchies, he was guided by the experience of the most prominent representatives of mankind - Albert Einstein, Richard Wagner, Abraham Lincoln, etc.

Human needs may not be met in such a linear fashion. The very sequence of the onset of certain stages may vary from one person to another. In addition, no one can measure the measure of satisfaction of a person who has reached one or another level. And this means that when a person reaches a new level, the previous needs still do not go away, but require their satisfaction.

Maslow's pyramid: application

Nevertheless, in sales management, namely in the field of employee motivation, the “decoding” of human needs, which was produced by an American psychologist, can be very useful.

It underlies the complex salary that should be applied to sales staff. The complex salary consists of 3 parts:

Fixed salary - about 30% of the total earnings of the seller who fulfilled the plan. It is paid to the subordinate regardless of the result and must cover his basic needs, that is, those that Maslow calls physiological.

The second and third parts of the manager's remuneration - a soft salary for the performance of indicators in the amount of 10-20% and bonuses from transactions - at least 50%, are incentives that can "cast" a person immediately to the 4th level of satisfaction of the need for recognition and veneration.

We've talked about how sometimes people don't grow in the straight-line sequence of the presented needs model. However, the trick is that, most likely, a normal person will never move to the 5th level and beyond until he feels satisfied in the first 4 steps. And here Maslow was generally right about the majority.

A sharp transition from the 1st level to the 5th or 6th, for example, without taking into account the previous ones, is available to rare non-standard personalities. But since you hire normal specialists, then provide them with an equally normal and understandable scheme of material motivation described above.

After that, you, as an employer, are able to stimulate the employee's transition to higher levels. Develop forms of non-material motivation: training and advanced training of employees, contests, competitions. They will push the seller to knowledge and even self-actualization.

We reviewed Maslow's theory of needs and explained how you can put it into practice in order to correctly form motivational mechanisms in your company.

In addition to unique architectural structures, there are pyramids of a different kind, which, nevertheless, cause far from a weak hype around them. They can be called intellectual structures. And one of them is the pyramid of needs of Abraham Maslow - the famous American psychologist, the founder of humanistic psychology.

Maslow's pyramid

Maslow's pyramid is a special diagram in which all human needs are presented in a hierarchical order. However, none of the publications of the scientist contains any schematic images, because. he was of the opinion that this order is dynamic in nature and can change depending on the characteristics of the personality of each individual person.

The first mention of the pyramid of needs can be found in the German-language literature of the 70s of the XX century. In many educational materials on psychology and marketing, they can be found today. The very same model of needs is actively used in the economy and is of great importance for the theory of motivation and consumer behavior.

Also interesting is the widespread opinion that Maslow himself did not create a pyramid, but only brought out common features in shaping the needs of successful people in life and creative activity. And the pyramid was invented by his followers, who sought to visualize the ideas of the scientist. We will talk about this hypothesis in the second half of the article. In the meantime, let's figure out what Maslow's pyramid is in detail.

According to the research of the scientist, a person has five basic needs:

1. Physiological needs (the first step of the pyramid)

Physiological needs are characteristic of absolutely all living organisms existing on our planet, respectively, and every person. And if a person does not satisfy them, then he simply will not be able to exist, and also will not be able to fully develop. For example, if a person has a strong desire to go to the toilet, he certainly will not enthusiastically read a book or calmly walk through a beautiful area, enjoying the amazing scenery. Naturally, without satisfying the physiological needs, a person will not be able to work normally, do business and any other activity. These needs are breathing, food, sleep, etc.

2. Security (the second step of the pyramid)

This group includes the needs for security and stability. To understand the essence, you can consider the example of babies - while still unconscious, they subconsciously strive, after they have satisfied their thirst and hunger, to be protected. And only a loving mother can give them this feeling. Similarly, but in a different, milder form, the situation is with adults: for security reasons, they seek, for example, to insure their lives, install strong doors, put locks, etc.

3. Love and belonging (the third step of the pyramid)

This is about social needs. They are reflected in such aspirations as making new acquaintances, finding friends and a life partner, being involved in any group of people. A person needs to show love and receive it in relation to himself. In a social environment, a person can feel his usefulness and significance. And this is what motivates people to satisfy social needs.

4. Recognition (fourth step of the pyramid)

After a person satisfies the need for love and belonging to society, the direct impact on him of those around him decreases, and the focus is on the desire to be respected, the desire for prestige and recognition of various manifestations of one's individuality (talents, features, skills, etc.) . And only in the case of successful realization of his potential and after achieving the recognition of important people for a person, he comes to confidence in himself and his abilities.

5. Self-realization (fifth step of the pyramid)

This stage is the last and it contains spiritual needs, expressed in the desire to develop as a person or a spiritual person, as well as to continue to realize one's potential. As a result - creative activity, attending cultural events, the desire to develop their talents and abilities. In addition, a person who has managed to satisfy the needs of the previous steps and “climbed” to the fifth one begins to actively seek the meaning of being, to study the world around him, to try to contribute to it; he may begin to form new attitudes and beliefs.

This is the description of basic human needs. To what extent these descriptions have a place to be, you can evaluate yourself, just by trying to look at yourself and your life from the outside. Surely, you can find a lot of evidence of their relevance. But it should be said, among other things, that there are several controversial points in Maslow's pyramid.

Authorship

Despite the fact that the authorship of the pyramid is officially attributed to Abraham Maslow, it has nothing to do with the version we have today. The fact is that in the form of a graph, the “Hierarchy of Needs” appeared in 1975 in the textbook of a certain W. Stopp, about whose personality there is practically no information, and Maslow died in 1970, and in his works, as already mentioned, there was not a single graphic arts.

Satisfied need ceases to motivate

The main issue here is the relevance of human needs. For example, a self-sufficient person who is indifferent to communication does not need it and will not strive for it. The one who feels protected will not become even more eager to protect himself. Simply put, a satisfied need loses its relevance and moves to another stage. And in order to determine the actual needs, it is enough just to identify the unmet ones.

Theory and practice

According to many modern psychologists, despite the fact that Maslow's pyramid is a clearly structured model, it is quite difficult to apply it in practice, and the scheme itself can lead to absolutely incorrect generalizations. If we put aside all the statistics, then a number of questions immediately arise. For example, how clouded is the existence of a person not recognized in society? Or, should a person who is systematically undernourished be considered completely hopeless? Indeed, in history you can find hundreds of examples of how people achieved great results in life precisely because their needs remained unsatisfied. Take, for example, poverty or unrequited love.

According to some reports, Abraham Maslow subsequently abandoned the theory he put forward, and in his subsequent works (“On the Psychology of Being” (1962), “The Far Limits of Human Nature” (1971)), the concept of personality motivation was significantly improved. And the pyramid, which many specialists in the field of psychology and marketing are trying to find application today, has generally lost all meaning.

Criticism

The main reason for criticism of Maslow's pyramid is its hierarchy, as well as the fact that needs cannot be completely satisfied. Some researchers interpret Maslow's theory in a generally not very personal way. According to their interpretation, the pyramid says that a person is an animal that constantly needs something. And others say that Maslow's theory cannot be applied in practice when it comes to business, marketing and advertising.

However, the author did not adjust his theory to business or advertising, but only tried to answer questions in which, for example, behaviorism or Freudianism came to a standstill. Maslow simply sought to give an idea of ​​the motives of human actions, and his work is more philosophical than methodological in nature.

Advantages and disadvantages

As you can easily see, the pyramid of needs is not just their classification, but displays a certain hierarchy: instinctive needs, basic, sublime. Each person experiences all these desires, but the following pattern comes into force here: basic needs are considered dominant, and higher-order needs are activated only when the basic ones are satisfied. But it should be understood that needs can be expressed in completely different ways for each person. And this happens at any level of the pyramid. For this reason, a person must correctly understand his desires, learn to interpret them and adequately satisfy them, otherwise he will constantly be in a state of dissatisfaction and disappointment. By the way, Abraham Maslow adhered to the position that only 2% of all people reach the fifth step.

Abraham Maslow is known as the founder of the humanistic direction in the field of psychology. In his work Motivation and Personality, he put forward the assertion that all human needs can be built into a hierarchical system. This theory is today visually represented in the form of a pyramid of 5 levels, although the psychologist himself did not create this scheme. He argued that this hierarchy cannot be strictly fixed and depends on the individual characteristics of the individual.

Needs table

Maslow's pyramid is divided into levels, from the simplest at its base to the needs of the highest order. According to the theory of A. Maslow, only after satisfying the lower needs a person can strive for higher ones.

1. Physiological (organic)

The most powerful and urgent. Their satisfaction is the main occupation of every person throughout life. That is why they stand at the base of the pyramid. Man, as a complex mammalian creature, has a need for sleep, oxygen, water and food. These needs help a person to survive in nature, to continue reproduction. If these needs are not met, the organism is destroyed.

2. Existential

This includes safety, stability, comfort and protection in all manifestations. This need arises in us from infancy. For young children, stability and protection are very important. In adulthood, the majority tries to adhere to this stability in the same way, however, the need for security is maximally activated only in critical situations (wars, crises, famine), when the whole organism begins to fight the threat. In everyday life, it manifests itself in a milder form, for example, when people save money "for a rainy day."

3. Social

All people have a need for communication, a desire to be accepted and loved.

This level of the pyramid includes three groups:

1. “For others” (willingness to make a sacrifice for the sake of another person, the ability to selflessly communicate and protect the weak);
2. “For oneself” (self-realization of a person as a person, self-affirmation, the need to have a worthy place in society, power; but can only be realized through the need “for others”);
3. "Together with others" (the united activity of people, the incentive for which was a weighty reason: war, revolution, natural disaster).

Satisfaction of social needs provides a person with a sense of self-worth. The inability to satisfy them contributes to the manifestation of aggression, deviant behavior.

High self-esteem, self-confidence, self-esteem - all this appears as a result of the achievement of social needs.

4. Prestigious

This point includes self-respect and respect for other "significant" people. A person wants to be recognized, achieve success and high results. Career growth, independence, status. Like social needs, prestige needs are secondary. If they are not implemented, there is no threat to human health and life. However, dissatisfaction with one's position in society entails a feeling of inferiority. Each of us fulfills this need in accordance with our own abilities. Someone enters the university, gains knowledge, applies it in work, achieving success and high status. And some are content with their average lifestyle, with a small salary, lack of career growth and development.
To achieve recognition and respect, a person must be confident in his abilities. This is the only way to achieve your goals.

5. Spiritual

The last stage includes the need for personal growth, knowledge, self-actualization. Everything that a person is capable of takes place at this level. He develops as a person, realizes his full potential. In life, this is manifested in creative activity, attending cultural events, and developing talents. Achieving the fifth degree indicates that a person begins to study the world around him, look for meaning, tries to bring something of his own into this world. Attitudes and beliefs are formed.

Types of needs

All of these needs are divided into:

• congenital (biological and existential);
• acquired (social, prestigious and spiritual).

In some works, A. Maslow divided the last stage into 3 levels: cognitive, aesthetic and the need for self-actualization. Therefore, the pyramid of 7 steps is also used in psychology.

The scientist noticed a pattern that when lower needs are satisfied, a person himself begins to reach for a higher level. However, there are exceptions when an individual stops at the level of lower needs. The reason for this may be neurosis or adverse external factors.

Maslow's theory has been criticized more than once, but continues to be applied in psychology, pedagogy and even economics (the theory of motivation and consumer behavior). At the same time, the work of the psychologist itself is more of a philosophical nature, and its main goal was to form an idea of ​​the motives of human actions.

Democritus called needs the main driving force, thanks to which humanity received the mind, language and thinking. Abraham Maslow packed all needs into a pyramid over half a century ago. Today, his theory is used in work, business and criticized at the same time. To learn how to use it to your advantage, you need to figure out how Maslow's pyramid works, what parts it consists of and why the steps are built in that sequence.

What is Maslow's pyramid

Maslow's pyramid is a schematic depiction of all human needs, from the simplest and most urgent to the most sublime. Back in 1943, the psychologist Abraham Maslow described the pyramid of values ​​with one goal in mind: to understand what motivates people to do certain things. Maslow himself only formulated this concept, and his students came up with a visual diagram.

Pyramid of Needs

American psychologist with Ukrainian roots Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was one of the first to study people's behavior from a positive point of view. Prior to this, all psychotherapy was reduced to the study of mental abnormalities or behavior outside the norm. Together with the founders of Gestalt therapy, Maslow formulated the main methods of psychoanalysis that psychotherapists use in their sessions.

What does Maslow's pyramid look like?

Usually the pyramid is depicted as a triangle:

• The lowest and widest part are the physiological needs of the body. Our body is historically programmed to satisfy the need for food, thirst, sleep, sex. If it wants to eat or go to the toilet, then the brain is not capable of thinking about anything else.
• Second step- the need for security. Like physiology, safety has been hardwired into our DNA since the time of the apes. The life tasks of our ancestors were simple and uncomplicated: 1. Eat. 2. Reproduce. 3. Avoid the danger of being eaten. They helped humanity survive, which is why the need for security is also called the physiological fight-or-flight response.
• Third step- the need for love and belonging to a group was also laid down in the days of cave dwellers, when it was simply impossible to survive alone. But it was precisely for life in a group that a person needed a new skill. This is will power. If you don’t connect it in time, you can easily be fined and be expelled from the cave or, in modern conditions, be blocked on a social network.
• Fourth and fifth- the need for respect and knowledge. They are so interconnected that they come together. Indeed, among scientists and inventors, for example, the need for knowledge is much stronger than for recognition. For example, Grigory Perelman spent his whole life proving and proving Poincaré's theory, and then refused the prize and all titles.
• Sixth step- aesthetic needs. These are museums, exhibitions, music, dances, hobbies, everything that brings pleasure to the soul and forms the intellect.
• seventh step- the need for self-actualization or the desire to reveal one's spiritual potential. Here, too, not everything is clear. According to the logic of the pyramid structure, this need must be realized last. But after all, monks achieve the realization of their spiritual potential precisely by subduing their other needs.

Controversy over Maslow's pyramid

Maslow's pyramid of needs is often mentioned today not in connection with psychology, but with trade. It is used by marketers and sales representatives of all ranks. On profile ones, they argue: if you “hit” the most basic needs of a person, you will surely be able to motivate him to purchase a product or service. But not everything is as simple as it seems.

The controversy over Maslow's pyramid of needs continues unabated. The first thing that makes this theory doubtful is the story of how Maslow himself selected people for research. At first he was looking for ideal people. But I didn't find it. After that, the harsh selection conditions were gradually softened, and a sufficient number of volunteers for testing were selected. But they were all close to the concept of "ideal man". In practice, there are few such people. Practice, as you know, is the criterion of truth.

The second thing that worries modern psychologists is “ inverted pyramid”, when self-improvement and self-actualization are at the forefront. When a person puts a certain ideal in front of him, strives for it and does not even understand why he needs all this. And the “medical reference book effect” also works: you read the reference book and immediately find all the diseases in yourself. Only today they read not reference books, but incredible stories of reincarnation, achievement, takeoff. And they seem to themselves imperfect, unworthy of something good. And only endless self-improvement will help correct the “non-ideality”.

Australian diplomat and scholar John Burton (1915-2010) developed and promoted Another Vision of Maslow's Pyramid. He considered a person as a whole person, for whom all needs are equally important. That is, none of the needs is considered lower or higher, needs cannot be excluded, ignored, be the subject of a deal or agreement.

But any theory is just a theory. The pyramid will remain a beautiful picture if it is not clear how to apply it in real life.

How to "apply" the pyramid of human needs in everyday life

Example 1. Advertising agent

Not only advertising agents can use the pyramid of needs. We ourselves can understand ourselves and understand why we make certain purchases. After all, we often buy not an iPhone, but the opportunity to join the “club of the elite” (belonging to a group), we dream not about a fur coat, but about the opportunity to be cooler than a rival (need for recognition). Such introspection will help not only to understand yourself, but also to learn to resist persistent advertising and unreasonable spending.

Example 2. Hungry husband

In fact, this scheme was described in fairy tales: “feed the good fellow, give him a drink, steam in the bathhouse, and then ask questions.” To paraphrase: satisfy the basic needs according to Maslow's pyramid and then already load your husband with smart conversations. But this rule applies not only during dinner. Often we work, forget about lunch and rest, start solving global problems with a headache, and then we are surprised “something does not boil our head”. Sometimes it’s enough just to have a snack or sleep for half an hour and the brain will reboot on its own.

Example 3: Career changes

Many stories are published on the net today about how important it is to fulfill oneself in the profession “at the call of the heart”. One gets the impression that it is worth abandoning the hated work and the soul will turn around, ideas will start to beat with a fountain. And here it is not. The network publishes only success stories, and most of the failure stories remain behind the scenes. People leave with the desire to change their lives. And a month later they face a problem: their favorite business does not bring the expected income and one day there is simply nothing to buy food. And then the panic begins. And in a panic to create somehow does not work. Therefore, career strategy consultants advise finding a job that will bring a stable income and leave time for what you love. To paraphrase: when there is nothing to eat (physiology) and nothing to pay for an apartment (security), then your favorite business is not happy.

Example 4. Difficult teenager

It is especially important for a teenager to feel belonging to a group. Therefore, all these teenage movements, online groups, correspondence, secret societies arise. Some parents act radically - forbid. But forbidding a child to communicate means depriving him of a basic need. Therefore, psychologists advise not to ban, but to replace groups. For example, instead of playing online, get a teenager interested in sports. Then one group will be replaced by another, and nothing will need to be banned.

Example 5. Ideal partner

On request in a search engine "How to choose a partner" the system offers hundreds of links for testing. Who makes these tests is not clear. But in the pyramid of needs, everything is simple and clear. At first, you can just look at it on your own and understand what you want from life. Then you can talk about the needs with the chosen one. Someone constantly wants to go to exhibitions and refresher courses, and someone wants to eat and sit in social networks. Maybe it's better to discuss the difference in tastes in the early stages than to be disappointed in relationships and family life later?

Conclusion: the Maslow pyramid is another way to understand the jungle of our desires and real needs.

When it comes to the pyramids, ancient structures located on the territory of Egypt and Mexico are drawn into the human mind. However, the topic of our conversation will be the term "pyramid", which is used in psychology. The American scientist Abraham Maslow introduced the pyramid of human needs in the middle of the twentieth century. Based on the biographical data of many historical figures, the scientist deduced certain patterns in human needs. This article will discuss Maslow's hierarchy of needs, as well as various aspects associated with this pyramid.

Maslow's pyramid is a special diagram in which all human needs are presented in a hierarchical order.

Before considering the needs of a person according to Maslow, it should be said that in the scientific world there is an opinion that the participation of the scientist himself in this matter was minimal. According to skeptics, only the foundations of this idea were put forward by scientists, which were later spread by his followers. According to the theory of human needs itself, according to this doctrine, each individual needs to satisfy the five main stimuli, which are characterized as steps.

At the first step of the pyramid are physiological stimuli, which are an integral part of human life. Human life itself depends on the satisfaction of these needs. This category of stimuli includes: eating, sleeping, breathing and, of course, reproductive functions. For some, this step of the pyramid may seem “low”, but all these needs are a fundamental component of human life.

According to scientists, the inability to satisfy the above incentives can lead to a reluctance to spiritual development. A person experiencing a feeling of hunger will not think about what subtext the musical composition carries and will never spend the last money to buy a ticket to the theater. These fundamental incentives force a person to carry out professional activities in order to spend the money earned to satisfy their desires.

The second step of the pyramid is the need to feel secure and stable. As an example of this stage, we will consider the behavior of newborns. Newborn babies, in addition to satisfying their need for food, crave protection from the world around them. Only this can explain that a prolonged hysteria can end in a few seconds after the child is in the arms of the mother. A similar need is observed in more mature years. It is important to note that the strength of the desire to feel protected depends on the mental stability of a particular individual. The stimulus for a sense of security is manifested in the form of installing locks on the doors in the apartment, obtaining insurance and other actions aimed at creating one's own security from the outside world.

Maslow's pyramid of needs consists of five steps, each of which has an important role to play. The middle of this pyramid is a symbol of social needs. The desire for sociality is expressed by the desire of human consciousness to become an integral part of any group. The thirst to receive and give our love makes each of us communicate with others, create families, give birth to children and even get pets. Communication connections allow a person to strengthen self-esteem through their own behavior in relation to other people.

According to scientists, a person has five basic needs

The fourth "floor" of the pyramid in question is the desire for recognition by society. Satisfaction of the above stimuli causes a person to turn his attention to other aspects of life. It is at this point that the individual feels the urgent need to be recognized as a leader or creator. The realization of one's own potential along with the recognition of the public allows one to strengthen self-esteem and increase the desire for spiritual development.

The tip of the iceberg is the desire to unleash the maximum creative potential. It is this desire that makes a person develop his own spirituality by attending various cultural events. Satisfaction of incentives that are located on lower levels makes a person think about the structure of this world, the meaning of life and justice.

Various nuances

The table, created by an American scientist, examines various aspects of the development of the human personality. However, the modern appearance of this pyramid is not the result of Maslow's research. The "Hierarchy of Human Needs" in its usual form was promulgated in 1975. Abraham Maslow died in the early seventies, so the scientist could not take part in the publication of his own work in the form of an information graph.

There are also many controversial issues regarding the theory itself. According to many experts, implemented incentives are not motivating. As an example, they argue that a person, having satisfied his need for food, will refuse to take part in a fight for food. A person seeking solitude will seek to avoid noisy companies and intrusive communication. People with a lack of desire for recognition of their own leadership qualities do not adjust their behavioral model in order to meet the requirements of society. According to experts, the relevance of the need determines the degree of its satisfaction. In order to determine the number of primary desires, it is enough to identify unsatisfied incentives.

Each rung of the pyramid represents one level of needs.

According to experts in the field of psychology, the classification of human needs according to Maslow's system has no practical application in modern realities. Opponents of the theory believe that this scheme is only inappropriate generalizations that have nothing to do with real life. Speaking of this, they cite as arguments the information that each person should be considered individually. Let's imagine the life of a person who is not satisfied with his own position in society. Only a small part of people living with such “problems” take significant steps to change their lives.

In addition, such a frequent phenomenon as unrequited love is not built into this pyramid.
Also, if we take this theory as the main model of human needs, it is difficult to attribute the fact that, being in detention, many revolutionaries continued their activities. The same model does not fit the facts that many poets and artists of the "golden age" spent their lives in poverty, however, despite all life's obstacles, they gave their art to their contemporaries.

According to unconfirmed data, the researcher himself eventually abandoned the needs model he created. Later works, published after the scientist's death, speak of a modified concept of personal incentives. Thus, Maslow independently recognized the incompleteness of the model, which has the form of a pyramid with several steps. But, despite this, it is this pyramid that is often used in the modern world by many marketers and psychologists.

Advantages and disadvantages

Maslow's pyramid of human needs is classified into several groups, which are built in a certain order. According to the hierarchy, all human stimuli are divided into two categories:

• basic (physiological);
• exalted (spiritual).

A person is inherent in the simultaneous desire to satisfy both types of needs, but the basic incentives are considered to be dominant. Based on this, we can say that a person begins to think about the "sublime" only after he is completely sated with lower stimuli.

Here, attention should be paid to the fact that the characteristics of the human personality are unique for each individual, which suggests that the degree of severity of needs for each person may vary. That is why some people are trying to take a place among the "powerful of this world", while others need only receive support from their loved ones. This breadth of the spectrum of human desires is an integral part of each level of the hierarchy.

In order to satisfy your own desires, you need not only to interpret them correctly, but also to find an adequate way for their fulfillment, otherwise, the achieved goal may bring disappointment.

Without satisfying (at least partially) basic needs, it is extremely difficult to move up the pyramid

Maslow's theory has many opponents who criticize not only the hierarchy of incentives, but also the fact that human desires cannot be satisfied once and for all. Opponents of Maslow say that, according to the scientist, a person is represented as an animal that constantly needs various stimuli. Many opponents of the pyramid in question speak of the inappropriateness of its use in real life.

Today, this pyramid is used as one of the main tools in marketing, advertising and business. However, in defense of the scientist, one can say that this model of human needs was created for a completely different purpose. As the psychologist himself said, his model was created in order to provide answers to those questions that cannot be solved by other methods. According to him, this table of needs, presented in the form of a pyramid, is only a representation of the motives for human actions that are performed by people throughout their lives.

Practical use of Maslow's pyramid

According to experts, most human needs are basic and never change. Only the ways to achieve what you want change. To date, Maslow's pyramid has found application in the following areas:

• management;
• analytics;
• marketing.

The first example of the scope of this infographic is significant. Personal motives and knowledge of one's own desires help not only to be successfully realized in the professional sphere, but also to avoid mistakes when choosing a field of activity. That is why a person should be able to understand their own motives and desires.

Also, the use of the hierarchy of needs has found its demand in the field of analytics, when creating a long-term strategy aimed at certain results. Knowledge of people's desires allows the analyst to make long-term forecasts that will be relevant even after a few years. Thus, companies engaged in the production of various goods are able to timely bring their own products to the market.

In marketing, the considered hierarchy of human incentives is used most often. According to scientists, the application of the theory makes it possible to understand what desires are more inherent in each representative of the social stratum. Thanks to this technique, companies that provide services or produce goods are able to track the dynamics of the market of desires. Here it is important to pay attention to the fact that the degree of importance of needs and the place in the hierarchy can change under the influence of various factors. These factors include the economic crisis.

According to Maslow, a person should ideally reach the highest level by about fifty years of age.

There are also "eternal" incentives, which are at the lowest level of the pyramid. That is why medical services and food stores will be in demand in any situation. In the case of technical fashion and clothing, the demand for such products depends on the financial well-being of a particular country. That is why many companies spend a lot of time analyzing human incentives and desire. The development of consumer demand allows you to increase or decrease the scale of production. In addition, careful analysis allows entrepreneurs to abandon low-profit activities in a timely manner.

Experts note that the technique in question is used exclusively in humans. It is not advisable to use this method as a tool for analyzing competitors, due to the complexity of the analysis and the possible wide structural division of the company in question.