Forums → WEPR → Maslow's theory of Human Motivation and Productivity

It was a quote :P

Humans are to enjoy their life as they live, work is not to be done so restrictions to opportunity of pleasure are decreased, but to ensure that the opportunities are always available.

Work is bad because you are doing it so you can live your own life. You work to "buys" you your life. You are born with nothing, and you must work to provide yourself.

It should be done for something you love...thus, shouldn't be payed for it. I wonder how many doctors chose the profession just because of high pay, and how many of the poor would love to be doctors because they really love the job.

This is a reason why I adore communism. (Sorry had to say it)

Jason, I didn't start reading these forums right away. I have always found Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs fascinating.

It dovetails rather neatly with Piaget's theories of cognitive development.

Before he died, he added another tier to the top of the pyramid: Self-Transcendance. You might want to check that out.

Self-transcendence - a transegoic level that emphasizes visionary intuition, altruism, and unity consciousness.

Transegoic means a higher, psychic, or spiritual state of development. The trans is related to transcendence, while the ego is based on Freud's work. We go from preEGOic levels to EGOic levels to transEGOic. The EGO in all three terms are used in the Jungian sense of consciousness as opposed to the unconscious. Ego equates with the personality.
In Maslow's model, the ultimate goal of life is self-actualization, which is almost never fully attained but rather is something to always strive towards. Peak experiences are temporary self-actualizations.

Maslow later theorized that this level does not stop, it goes on to self-transcendence, which carries us to the spiritual level, e.g. Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Dalai Lama, or even poets, such as Robert Frost. Maslow's self-transcendence level recognizes the human need for ethics, creativity, compassion and spirituality. Without this spiritual or transegoic sense, we are simply animals or machines.

In addition, just as there are peak experiences for temporary self-actualizations; there are also peak experiences for self-transcendence. These are our spiritual creative moments.

While the research of Maslow's theory has undergone limited empirical scrutiny, it still remains quite popular due to its simplicity and being the start of the movement away from a totally behaviorist/reductionistic/mechanistic approach to a more humanistic one. In addition, a lot of concerns are directed at his methodology: Pick a small number of people that he declares self-actualizing; read and talk about them; and come to the conclusion about self-actualization. However, he understood this, and thought of his work as simply a method of pointing the way, rather than being the final say. In addition, he hoped that others would take up the cause and complete what he had begun.

I dislike philosophers and theorists. I know what I know, and I know what I want to know. I don't need a "genius" telling me to question my life.

I dislike philosophers and theorists. I know what I know, and I know what I want to know. I don't need a "genius" telling me to question my life.

Everyone here seems to be focusing Maslow's theor into a workplace setting. This is not what he intended. He meant for it to be about improving your life, not just your job. Obviously there are some exceptions to specific things on each tier. One does not need to fulfill every single item on each tier to move on to the next one. By having so many on the bottom tier, Maslow was simply referring to the fact that if one was starving for food, they would not care to focus on anything else until the fulfilled that need. As previously stated, one does not need sex to move to the next tier, but I assure you, they need food.