could do for the happy, healthy side of personality. “Freud supplied to us the
sick half of psychology, ”he wrote, “and we must now fill it out with the
healthy half ”(1968, p. 5). Maslow replaced Freud ’s pessimistic and dismal
view of human nature with an optimistic and uplifting portrayal. In addition,
although he acknowledged the existence of unconscious motives, Maslow fo-
cused his attention on the conscious aspects of personality.
Motivation and the Hierarchy of Needs
For a moment, contrast the concerns of the average middle-class American to-
day with those of the typical blue-collar worker during the Great Depression
of the 1930s. Today ’s financially secure professionals fret over their personal
relationships and their standing in the social community. Many are concerned
making a contribution with their lives. Some find satisfaction working in
community service projects and for charitable organizations. Others read no-vels, get involved with social causes, and take classes to develop their writing
skills or appreciation for the arts. But things were very different when nearly
a third of the workforce lost their jobs in the 1930s. Feeding oneself andone’s family became the dominant concern of many Americans. A job, any
job, was of primary importance. Spending time contemplating the directionof one ’s life and experimenting with various avenues to express one ’s poten-
tial were luxuries reserved for those who did not have to worry about day-
to-day existence.
The contrasting experiences of today’ s middle-class citizens and those of
Depression-era workers (and, sadly, those of many impoverished people
throughout the world today) illustrates a key aspect of Maslow ’s theory of
personality. Maslow identified two types of motives. Deficiency motives result
from a lack of some needed object. Basic needs such as hunger and thirst fallinto this category. Deficiency motives are satisfied, and for a period of time
stop directing behavior, once the needed object has been obtained. In con-
trast, growth needs are not satisfied once the object of the need is found.
Rather, satisfaction comes from expressing the motive. Growth needs include
the unselfish giving of love to others and the development of one ’s unique po-
tential. Satisfying a growth need may even lead to an increase in, rather than
a satiation of, the need.
Maslow identified five basic categories of needs —both deficiency and
growth —and arranged them in his well-known hierarchy of needs . As shown
in Figure 11.1, he placed the five kinds of needs into a hierarchy of promi-
nence. That is, some needs demand satisfaction before others. Although thereare exceptions, we typically attend to needs at the lower levels before focusing
on higher level needs. If you are hungry, your attention will be focused on ob-
taining food. Until this need is met, you won ’t be very concerned about mak-
ing new friends or developing a romantic relationship. Of course, once
satisfied, the lower need may return, causing you to divert your attention
again. But over the course of a lifetime, most of us progress up the hierarchy,until satisfying our need for self-actualization dominates our actions. Let ’sg o
through the hierarchy one step at a time.“I’m someone who
likes plowing new
ground then walkingaway from it. I get
bored. I like discov-
ery, not proving. ”
Abraham Maslow284 CHAPTER 11 The Humanistic Approach