An Empirical Test of Maslow's Theory of Motivation

Abstract

Maslow's (1970) theory of motivation suggests that there are five basic classes of needs and that they are hierarchically organized as follows: physiological, security, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. Each need level is prepotent to the next higher need level. This means that an individual initially attempts to satisfy his or her physiological needs, and only when they are satisfied does the individual attempt to satisfy security needs. Once security needs are satisfied the individual attempts to satisfy belongingness needs and so on. Although a number of studies have shown that satisfaction of physiological (1940; 1942) facilitates self-actualization, there is no evidence demonstrating that these lower needs form the hierarchy specified by Maslow. The purpose of the study reported below was to test the hierarchical aspect of Maslow's theory of motivation.To accomplish this end, student subjects (36 males, 76 females) were given self-report inventories: the Security-Insecurity Scale of Maslow et al. (1952); a belongingness scale devised by the authors; Rosenberg's (1965) Self-Esteem Scale; and Shostrom's (1965) measure of self-actualization, the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI). Physiological need satisfaction was not measured because it was assumed that the subjects' physiological needs were satisfied.It was hypothesized that subjects scoring above the median on one of these measure of need satisfaction would obtain significantly higher average scores on all of the measures of need satisfaction further up the hierarchy than subjects scoring below the median. Specifically, three hypotheses were made: Hypothesis 1. Subjects scoring above the median on the measure of security need satisfaction would obtain significantly higher average belongingness satisfaction, esteem satisfaction, and self-actualization scores than subjects scoring below the median on the security measure. 1 The authors would like to thank Kay Hoyenga for her helpful comments concerning the manuscript.

Self-Concept Competency of National Aeronautics and Space Administration Research and Development Managers

“…The self-concept construclion of Lafferty departs from Maslow (1954) and other need theorists (Porter 1962(Porter , 1963aAlderfer 1972;Mitchell and Moudgill 1976;Mathes and Edwards 1978) in two important ways: ••• displaying a strong concern for security with respect to both people and task. Their primary style is Dependency, which is typical of the supervisory role.…”

“…ganizations and healthy for managers (ParLer 1962(ParLer , 1963aAlderfer 1972;Hall 1974aHall , 1974bMitchell and Mougdill 1976;Mathes and Edwards 1978;Lafferty 1980;Garfield 1906).…”

“…Mathes and Edwards (1978) found that Maslow's hierarchical theory of motivation should be modified to include…”

“…Further reproduction prohibited without permission. focusing thought on behaviors which are useful to organizations and healthy for managers (Porter 1962(Porter , 1963aAlderfer 1972;Mitchell and Mougdill 1976;Mathes and Edwards 1978;Lafferty 1980).7 How does the satisfaction concern of NASA 7See •.…”

Motivational assistance system design for industrial production: from motivation theories to design strategies

“…Expectancy for success combined with the subjective value of executing a task drive actions. Actions are influenced by the extent to which individuals feel a personal importance or intrinsic interest in doing the task and the extent to which they believe that the wanted result will follow if they try Maslow's Need Theory (Maslow 1954) Behavior is driven by the desire to satisfy eight hierarchically structured needs (physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, transcendence) Alderfer's Need Theory (Alderfer 1969) Satisfaction of the three basic needs for existence, relatedness, and growth; less strict on hierarchy Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci and Ryan 1985) Motivation continuum from motivation over extrinsic to intrinsic motivation. Four types of extrinsic motivation (external, introjected, identified, integrated).…”