Abraham Malsow and the Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow was one of the founding fathers of humanistic psychology.  During his research, he developed a theory about personality development known as the Hierarchy of Needs. It is hard to say if his theory is accurate, however many people have faith in personality tests developed according to the theory.  Such a personality test may be able to determine where a person falls on the Hierarchy of Needs and how close he or she is to realizing self-actualization.

Abraham Maslow lived from 1908 until 1970.  One of the biggest contributions that he offered to the field of psychology is the Hierarchy of Needs theory.  This theory is based upon the idea that each individual has specific instinctual needs that must be fulfilled (Hergenhahn and Olson, 2007).  The needs are listed in a hierarchy fashion and one cannot get to the next level without fulfilling the level that he or she is on. 

The first level of needs are physiological ones.  This includes things such as air to breathe, food to eat, and water to drink.  Safety needs are next and include such things as feeling safe in one’s environment and having shelter.  Belongingness and love needs follow safety needs and include the feeling that one is appreciated and cared for by friends and family (Hergenhahn and Olson, 2007).  Esteem needs are next and include the feelings that a person holds about himself or herself.

The last level of needs is rarely achieved, according to Maslow.  Self-actualization is the feeling that one is being all that he or she is meant to be.  It is at the top and is unachievable if a person has not fulfilled the needs below it.  Self-actualization allows a person to see problems outside of him or herself (PBS.org, 1998).  Maslow believed that people were naturally good and that if more people fulfilled self-actualization, the world would be a much better place.

On the website, similarminds.org, Tim Flynn developed a personality test based upon Maslow’s theory of needs.  The test is made up of thirty-six questions that are used to determined where one’s needs lie on the hierarchy of needs ladder (Flynn, 2010).  The questions are answered as being very inaccurate to very accurate on a rating scale and users are instructed to be as honest as possible when answering the questions. 

Go to Similarminds.org to take the test yourself.  Come back here and tell me what you think about it.

While the accuracy of this test is not defined, it seems to be a good tool for determining needs based upon Maslow’s theory. For a person that takes the test as honestly as possible, he or she may get a good idea about what his or her needs are. If a person is aware of what needs they have, he or she may be willing to work on those needs so that self-actualization can occur. Being more aware of what is needed is a first step.