Abraham Maslow Research Paper

About a half-century ago, Abraham Maslow proposed on of the most influential ideas ever to come out of psychology. This idea says, "that different motives have different priorities, based on a hierarchy of needs." But what about the artist who, in the flow state, disregards the need for food or warmth, sometimes for days at a time? And what about those "instincts" that drive animal migrations and, perhaps, some human behaviors, such as nursing in newborn infants? There are a few things wrong with Abraham Maslow's theory.

What happens when you must choose between meeting a biological need and fulfilling a desire? Abraham Maslow said that you usually act on your most pressing needs, which occur in a natural hierarchy or priority order, with biological needs taking precedence. Unlike other theories of motivation we have considered, Maslow's perspective attempts to span the whole gamut of human motivation from biological drives to social motives to creativity
For example, why you might miss a meal when you are absorbed in an interesting book or why sensation seekers would pursue risky interests, such as rock climbing. These examples override their safety needs. This theory also fails to explain the behavior of people who deliberately take their own lives. And it ignores the powerful sex drive.

In fairness to Maslow, however, we should note that he recognized that there could be cultural differences in motivation. And even the severest critics will acknowledge that, with all its flaws, Maslow's theory was an important step toward a comprehensive theory of motivation. In the face of such criticism, can we find something in Maslow's theory worth saving? Douglas Kenrick and his colleagues point to the idea of a motivational hierarchy as Maslow's singular great insight. But, they note, its major difficulty is that our motivational priorities are not rigidly fixed - as Maslow himself