Maslow’s Pyramid
What is Maslow's Pyramid?
Maslow's Pyramid, also referred to as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, is a motivational theory outlining five levels of human needs. From the most essential needs to the highest achievable, the needs are physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Basic needs must be fulfilled before higher needs can be addressed.
The Basic Idea
Maslow’s Pyramid, often referred to as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, is a popular theory of motivation, happiness, and survival. As complex beings, humans have a number of needs that vary in complexity. According to Maslow’s pyramid, humans are motivated by a hierarchy of needs; needs lower on the ranking system must be met before we can proceed to addressing more advanced needs.
For example, imagine you are starving. It would be very difficult to think of anything else when a physiological need like hunger is not being met. It is therefore unlikely that you would be motivated, or able, to engage in a need higher up on the pyramid, such as self-growth. According to Maslow, it is in the higher stages of the pyramid that true happiness can be found.
The pyramid is based on the idea that certain basic needs must be met before individuals can progress up the hierarchy to more complex needs.2 The hierarchy places physiological needs at the bottom, followed by safety, then belongingness and love, onto esteem, and lastly, self-actualization.3
If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days in your life.1
– Abraham Maslow
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
