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Maslow's hierarchy of needs
1943· Theory or model
Mixed evidenceSome support; effects smaller or less consistent than once thought.
Abraham Maslow's 1943 theory that people pursue needs in order, from survival up to fulfilling their potential.
See it on the Psychology map →What it says
In a 1943 paper Maslow ranked five kinds of needs: physiological (food, sleep), safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization, becoming all one can be. Lower needs, he argued, must be mostly met before higher ones motivate. He never drew a pyramid; management writers added that around 1960. Maslow said the order was flexible, and late in life added self-transcendence, serving something beyond oneself. It remains a staple of business, nursing and marketing courses.
Why it matters
It gave managers and the public a simple map of human needs and helped turn psychology toward growth and fulfillment, not just illness.
Think of it like
Maslow pictured needs like a building: foundation first, penthouse last. Real people renovate several floors at once.
The evidence
Status: mixed evidence. Studies confirm the needs are widespread, but not the strict order: a 2011 Gallup analysis across 123 countries found belonging and respect raised well-being even when basic needs were unmet.
Open questions
How much Maslow drew on his 1938 stay with the Siksika (Blackfoot) people in Alberta; some argue strongly, others see little direct influence.
Connections (3)
▸Humanistic psychology (Maslow, Rogers) is best known for Maslow's hierarchy of needsWell replicated
The connection
Maslow's 1943 hierarchy predated the movement but became its emblem. At Brandeis University from 1951 he expanded it in Motivation and Personality (1954), studying admired figures such as Lincoln, Einstein and Eleanor Roosevelt to describe 'self-actualizing' people. Its peak, realizing one's potential, captured the movement's core claim that psychology should study growth, not only illness.
Who showed it and when
Brandeis University, Massachusetts, 1951–1969. With Anthony Sutich, Maslow founded the Journal of Humanistic Psychology in 1961; Carl Rogers, Rollo May and others joined the movement's association.
The evidence
Maslow's books and the movement's founding documents. Textbooks routinely present the hierarchy as humanistic psychology's signature idea.
Open questions
Whether the pyramid's fame overshadowed the movement's more testable legacy, Carl Rogers's research on empathy and the therapist–client relationship.
▸Maslow's hierarchy of needs is the best-known model of MotivationMixed evidence
The connection
Maslow's ladder gave the public, and especially managers, a simple map of motivation: satisfied needs stop motivating, and the next level takes over. It shaped Douglas McGregor's Theory Y, which held that workers want responsibility and growth, and Frederick Herzberg's split between 'hygiene' factors like pay and true motivators like achievement. It remains the most taught motivation model.
Who showed it and when
Psychological Review, 1943; Motivation and Personality, 1954; McGregor's The Human Side of Enterprise, 1960; a pyramid drawing by consultant Charles McDermid in Business Horizons, 1960.
How solid is it?
Management textbooks and historians document its spread; a 2019 study traced the pyramid to consultants, not Maslow. Tests of the strict order largely failed.
Open questions
Why it stays so popular despite weak support; perhaps because it is simple and partly true at the extremes: starving people think about food.
▸Self-determination theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness) replaced much of Maslow's hierarchy of needsMixed evidence
The connection
Both theories name universal psychological needs, but self-determination theory drops the ladder: autonomy, competence and relatedness matter at once and can each be measured. A 2011 Gallup analysis supported that pattern, finding needs fed well-being independently rather than in sequence. In research, the newer theory largely displaced Maslow; in management courses, Maslow still dominates.
Who showed it and when
Deci and Ryan's 1985 book and 2000 paper; Louis Tay and Ed Diener's 2011 analysis of about 60,000 people in 123 countries.
How solid is it?
The newer theory's needs have validated questionnaires and experiments behind them; Maslow's ordering lacked support in tests from the 1970s on.
Open questions
Whether it is a replacement or a refinement, since relatedness resembles belonging and competence resembles esteem; and what becomes of self-actualization.