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Winston-Salem State University

A Theory of Human Motivation.

By
Vernon Johnson

Instructor: Dr. Kamal


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The article that I am writing about is called A Theory of Human

Motivation. By Abraham H Maslow. Abraham H Maslow was an

American psychologist who is known for creating Maslows hierarchy of

needs. He was also a professor at multiple colleges and he taught

psychology. This novel discusses Maslows theory of a Hierarchy of

needs on a humans different emotions and human developemental

psychology. It also focuses on describing the stages of growth in

humans through a pyramid system. In order to gather this information

he studied people such as Albert Einstein, Elarnor Roosevelt, Frederick

Douglass and other brilliant minds at the time. He also studied the

healthiest 1 percent of the college student population. Essentialy the

author based on the evidence that is constructed explains what makes

a person act the way they do and how there brain responds when there

is a lack requirements is fulfilled.

Maslows hierarchy theory is in a pyramid of needs that a human

being goes through starting from top to bottom with more basic needs

at the bottom. The order of the hierarchy from bottom to top is

physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self actualization.

Based on the theory the most fundamental and basic four layers of the

pyramid contain what Maslow called deficiency needs. The four basic
layers are esteem, friendship and love, security, and physical needs. If

these needs arent met then the person will become anxious or tense.

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Based on the article the first layer of the pyramid is Physiological

needs and those are the physical requirements for human survival. It

then states that if the requirements are not met the human body will

not be able to function. An example from the article is the

consumption of Air, water and food. If a person doesnt consume these

things there body will begin to shut down. These are considered

metabolic requirements for survival. The same is applied when it

comes to shelter as well. People need to be protected from elements

scuh as being to hot or cold, protection from weather, even protection

from other animals. Physiological needs are thought to be the most

important and should always be met first.

The next layer to this pyramid based on the article is Safety

needs. The author states that a persons physiological needs are

realatively satisfied, their safety needs take precedence and dominate

behavior. When exposed to an absence of physical safety such as

family violence, childhood abuse, or even war people begin to

expierence post-traumatic stress disorders. Safety isnt just limited to

feeling physicaly self but mentally safe as well. The author says that
people need personal security, and financial security as well. Anotehr

safety that is often overlooked is job security. The way the world is set

up you have to have some sort of income in order to live. With that

being said peoples brains are programmed to have positive or negative

responces based on job security. When a person loses ther job there

brain automatically begins to reach a level of stress whether a person

realizes it or not. This is why people begin to suffer from depression

and not even realize it .

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The next step in the pyramid is Social belonging. The feeling of

belonging to someone is especially strong in a childhood stage and the

feeling of belongingness can override the need for safety and can

cloud a persons judgement. According to Maslow humans need to feel

a sense of belonging and acceptance whether is is from a large group

or a small group. Large social groups include clubs, co-workers,

professional organizations etc. Small social groups include mentors,

intimate parters, family members etc. Without these sources of

attention or feeling of having something to belong to you become

susceptible to loneliness and can become a social outcast.

Following that on the pyramid is Esteem or Self- esteem. From

the article you learn that all humans have a part in there brain that

makes a person want to be accepted or valued and it ties into self-


esteem. Physchological imbalances such as depression can become

revelant and can hinder a person from obtaining a higher level of self-

esteem or to even feel good about ones self. That ties into self

confidence which all people are born with but sometimes have trouble

accessing that. A deprivation of self-confidence, independence and

freedom can cause a person to get an inferiority complex, weakness,

and helplessness.

The last layer on his original pyramid is Self-actualization. He

starts this section off with What a man can be, he must be. The is

powerful and already gives us a sense of what his theory towards what

self-actualization is. The potential and the willingness to be the

greatest person that you can be. Maslow describes this

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level as the desire to accomplish everything that one can, to become

the most that one can be. Thoough we are all human we all differ in

this aspect because as individuals we all aspire to be different. We

have our indvidiualalitys and Maslow sates that it come form our early

expiernces and our brain takes a snap shot and remembers for the

future. For example when you see something on tv that interests you

whether you realize or not your mind keeps it tucked in the back of

your head. Once it becomes realitable in a persons mind they begin to

care about it more and want to accel in it. A way to thing about it is a
job vs a career. Often times a career is based off of something that you

want to do and excel in. A job is just used to survive and thats the

same way your brain thinks about it.

This article written by Maslow was very extensive and very

detailed. Though it was difficult to read at times and took a lot of re-

reading it gave me more then enough information to write this paper.

As far as the pyramid hierarchy I do agree with most of the information

that was given. What I dont agree with was how he only focused his

research on the brilliant minds of his time and the top 1 percent of

college students. I dont agree with it because that leave 99 percent of

people who he hasnt collected research from. If you only research a

certain group of people then some of the information wont be fully

correct. All and all this was a great topic and I was able to learn more

about the brain and how your body reacts to things that you wouldnt

even notice.

Bibliography
A theory of Human Motivation

American Psychological Association. American

Psychological Association, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

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