Maslow's theory of motivation was formulated by V. What is Maslow's pyramid. Self-improvement as the top rung

November 15, 2013

Abraham Harold Maslow (1907-1970) was a representative of the behaviorists, one of the most prominent founders of humanistic psychology. The main book of Maslow's theory is Motivation and Personality, published in 1954. Later it was revised and supplemented by the author in 1970.

All human needs Maslow divided into five groups and called them basic needs. That is, according to Maslow's theory, people have a large number of very different needs, but also believed that they can be divided into five main categories.

In Maslow's theory famous pyramid needs shows that they are all satisfied by the individual in a hierarchical order: from the lowest to the highest, that is, from the base of the pyramid to its top.

Maslow's theory asserts that at any given moment in time a person will satisfy the need that is most important and strong for him. But when a person develops as a person, then his potential capabilities expand. Therefore, the highest need - the need for self-expression can never be fully satisfied. And if so, then the process of motivating a person through his needs is an endless process.

The needs of the first level according to Maslow's theory are physiological needs

These are the needs for food, sleep, shelter, etc. According to Maslow's theory, until a person satisfies these needs, he will not have new ones. From the point of view of labor motivation, these needs are material. These include the need for stable wages as well as other monetary rewards. The satisfaction of the needs of this group is possible by means of material incentives.

The second level in Maslow's theory is security needs.

That is, it is not just the need for food and shelter, but also the confidence that he will be able to satisfy this need every day. From point of view social and labor relations- this is pension and social security, which can be obtained on condition of good reliable work, social package, different kinds social insurance.

The third step according to Maslow's theory is social needs, the need for communication.

How fewer people communicates with his own kind, the more he degrades. And vice versa. And when a person communicates, he wants others to accept him, there is a feeling of social interaction, support.

These needs are expressed in the presence permanent place work, attachment to their team, warm relationships with colleagues at work. People get used to one job, and even having the opportunity to get a job at a higher-paying job, they still don't quit.

It makes sense for an employer to take action to satisfy social needs employees. For example, to meet the social needs of workers in the process of collective labor, the following activities should be carried out:

• to give employees such work that would provide them with the opportunity to communicate in the process of work;
• from time to time to hold business meetings with employees;
• try not to destroy the informal groups that have arisen, if they do not cause real damage to the enterprise;
• create conditions for social activity of employees of the organization outside of its framework;
• create a team spirit on the ground.

The fourth step in Maslow's theory is the need for respect, recognition.

This is, first of all, the need for self-respect, recognition from others, pride in their achievements. To meet the recognition needs of their employees, the manager can apply the following measures:

• offer employees work that emphasizes their value;
• ensure positive feedback with the results achieved (praise, certificates, prize competitions);
• highly evaluate and encourage the results of work achieved by subordinates;
• involve employees in making important decisions;
• delegate additional rights and powers to subordinates;
• provide training and retraining that increases the level of competence.

And the fifth, highest step according to Maslow's theory is the need for self-realization and personal growth.

According to Maslow's theory, only after satisfying the lower needs, a person begins personal growth, his formation as a person. To meet the self-expression needs of workers, you should:

• provide employees with training and development opportunities that would allow them to fully exploit their potential;
• delegate complex and important work which requires their full commitment and increases their importance;
• stimulate and create conditions for the development of employees' creative abilities.

It should be noted that in the process of creating his theory, Maslow came to many more conclusions. For example, Maslow concluded that business performance and personal development are not incompatible. In fact, the process of self-actualization leads to an increase in the productivity of each individual.

Application of Maslow's theory

Maslow's theory is widely used in management, but is also the subject of criticism.

First, Maslow's theory has been criticized for not taking into account the individual differences of people, as well as the preferences that they form on the basis of past experience.

Secondly, in fact, there is enough historical examples when a person turned out to be from physiological needs in favor of some high ones. For example, many Christians in ancient times accepted martyrdom for their religious values. Even animal studies have proven that physiological needs are not dominant in their decision making.

Maslow tried to give an answer to the inconsistency of the theory

Motivation theories analyze the factors affecting. To a large extent, their subject is concentrated on the analysis of needs and their impact on motivation. These theories describe the structure of needs, their content and how these needs are related to a person's motivation for activity. In these theories, an attempt is made to understand what prompts a person to act. Most known theories the motivations of this group are: A. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, ERG theory (needs for the existence of growth and connections), developed by K. Alderfer, D. McClelland's theory of acquired needs, F. Herzberg's theory of two factors, V. Vroom's theory of expectations, model Porter-Lauler.

Maslow's Needs Motivation Theory

Includes the following basic ideas and prerequisites for motivation:

• a person constantly feels some needs;
• a person experiences a certain set of strongly expressed needs that can be combined into certain groups;
• groups of needs are hierarchically located in relation to each other;
• needs, if they are not satisfied, induce a person to action; satisfied needs do not motivate people;
• if one need is satisfied, then another unmet need takes its place;
• usually a person feels several different needs complex interacting with each other;
• needs that are closer to the base of the "pyramid" require primary satisfaction; the needs of a higher level begin to actively act on a person after the needs of a lower level are basically satisfied;
• higher level needs can be met a large number ways than the needs of the lower level.

In his book Towards the Psychology of Being, Maslow later added a list of higher needs, which he designated as growth needs (existential values). However, Maslow notes that they are difficult to describe, since they are all interconnected and cannot be completely separated from each other, therefore, when defining one of them, it is necessary to refer to the other. The list of existential values, according to Maslow, includes: integrity, perfection, completeness, justice, vitality, richness of manifestations, simplicity, beauty, goodness, individual originality, truth, ease, inclination to play, honesty, self-sufficiency. According to Maslow, being values ​​are often a powerful motive. human activity and are part of the structure personal growth.

Alderfer's ERG theory

Just like Maslow, Clayton Alderfer in his theory proceeds from the fact that human needs can be combined into separate groups... But he believes that there are three groups of needs: 1) needs for existence, 2) needs for communication, 3) needs for growth.

The groups of needs in this theory quite clearly correlate with the groups of needs of Maslow's theory.

The needs of existence, as it were, include two groups of needs Maslow pyramids- security needs, excluding group security, and physiological needs. The group of communication needs clearly correspond to the group of needs of belonging and involvement.

The need for communication, according to Alderfer, reflects the social nature of a person, his desire to be a member of the family, to have colleagues, friends, enemies, bosses and subordinates. Therefore, this group can also include part of the needs for recognition and self-affirmation from the Maslow pyramid, which are associated with the desire of a person to occupy a certain position in the outside world, as well as that part of the security needs of the Maslow pyramid that are related to group security. Growth needs are similar to the needs of self-expression of Maslow's pyramid and also include those needs of the group of recognition and self-affirmation, which are associated with the desire to develop confidence, to self-improvement, etc. These three groups of needs, as in Maslow's concept, are hierarchical. However, there is one fundamental difference between the theories of Maslow and Alderfer: if Maslow believes that movement from need to need occurs mainly from the bottom up - from lower needs to higher needs, then, according to Alderfer, the movement occurs in both directions - up, if the need is not satisfied the lower level, and down, if the need of a higher level is not satisfied; at the same time, in case of dissatisfaction with the need of the upper level, the degree of action of the need of the lower level increases, which switches the person's attention to this level.

In accordance with Alderfer's theory, the hierarchy of needs reflects an ascent from more specific needs to less specific ones, and each time a need is not satisfied, a switch to a simpler need occurs. The process of moving up the levels of needs Alderfer calls the process of satisfying needs, and the process of moving down - the process of frustration. The presence of two directions of movement in meeting needs opens additional features in motivating a person. Alderfer's theory of needs is relatively young and lacks sufficient empirical confirmation of its correctness. However, knowledge of this theory is useful for management practice, as it opens up prospects for managers to search for effective forms of motivation, correlated with a lower level of needs, if it is not possible to create conditions for satisfying the needs of a higher level.

McClelland's acquired needs theory

Determines a person's motivation for activity and is associated with the study and description of the influence of complicity and the need to rule. According to McClelland, the needs of the lower levels (vital) in modern world, as a rule, are already satisfied, therefore attention should be paid to meeting the highest human needs. These needs, if they are clearly manifested in a person, have a noticeable effect on his behavior, forcing him to make efforts and take actions that should lead to the satisfaction of these needs. At the same time, McClelland considers these needs as acquired under the influence of life circumstances, experience and training.

The need to achieve manifests itself in the desire of a person to achieve the goals before him more effectively than he did before. A person with a high level of need for achievement prefers to set a goal for himself and usually chooses moderately difficult goals and objectives based on what he can achieve and what he can do. Such people like to make decisions and be responsible for them, they are obsessed with the tasks they solve, and they take personal responsibility.

On the basis of his studies, McClelland came to the conclusion that this need can characterize not only individuals, but also individual societies. Those societies where the need for achievement is high usually have a developed economy. On the contrary, in societies characterized by a weak need for achievement, the economy develops at a slow pace or does not develop at all.

Need for complicity manifests itself in the form of striving for friendly relations with others. People with a high need for complicity try to establish and maintain good relationships, gain the approval and support of others, and are concerned about what others think of them. The fact that someone needs them is very important to them.

The need to rule just like the previous two, it is acquired, develops on the basis of learning, life experience and consists in the fact that a person seeks to control the resources and processes occurring in his environment. The main focus of this need is the desire to control the actions of others, to influence their behavior, to take responsibility for their actions and behavior. The need to rule has two poles: firstly, the desire to have as much power as possible, to control everything and everyone, and secondly, the desire to completely abandon any claims to power, the desire to avoid situations and actions that are associated with the need to fulfill the imperious functions.

The needs of achievement, complicity, and dominion in McClelland's theory are not mutually exclusive and are not hierarchically arranged like Maslow's and Alderfer's. Moreover, the manifestation of the influence of these needs on human behavior depends on their mutual influence. For example, if an individual is in a leading position and has a high need for power, then for the successful implementation of management activities in accordance with the desire to satisfy this need, it is desirable that the need for participation is relatively weak. A combination of a strong need to achieve and a strong need to rule can also lead to a negative influence from the point of view of the manager's performance of his work, since the first need will always orient the power towards achieving the manager's personal interests. Apparently, it is impossible to make unambiguous conclusions about the direction in which the three named needs affect each other. However, it is quite obvious that it is necessary to take into account their mutual influence when analyzing human motivation and behavior and developing methods for managing the process of forming and satisfying needs.

Herzberg's two-factor theory

It lies in the fact that all needs are divided into hygienic factors and motivations. The presence of hygienic factors just does not allow the development of dissatisfaction with the conditions of life (work, place of residence, etc.). Motivations that roughly correspond to the higher-level needs described by Maslow and McClelland actively influence human behavior.

Vroom's expectation theory

Based on the position that the presence of an active need is not the only necessary condition motivating a person to achieve a specific goal. A person should also hope that the type of behavior chosen by him will really lead to satisfaction or the acquisition of what he wants, “... employees will be able to achieve the level of performance required to receive a valuable reward (the value for each person is only his, that is, individual, value - praise, work that you like, position in society, satisfaction of the need for self-expression), if the delegated level of authority, their professional skills are sufficient to complete the task, ”notes V. Vrum.

Porter-Lauler model

Leiman Porter and Edward Lauler developed a comprehensive procedural theory of motivation, including elements of the theory of expectation and. There are five variables in their model: effort expended, perception, results achieved, reward, and satisfaction.

According to the Porter-Lauler model, achieved results activities depend on the efforts, abilities and characteristic features the individual, as well as from his awareness of his role. The level of effort made is determined by the value of the reward and the degree of confidence that a given level of effort will indeed entail a well-defined level of reward. Moreover, this theory establishes a correspondence between reward and results, i.e. a person satisfies his needs through reward for the results achieved. Thus, productive work is rewarding. Porter and Lauler believe that a sense of work accomplishment leads to satisfaction and improves performance, which means that high performance is the cause of complete satisfaction, not a consequence of it.

Hedonic motivational theory

The hedonic motivational theory assumes that a person seeks to maximize pleasure, enjoyment and minimize displeasure, discomfort, pain, suffering. One of the developers of this theory is the American psychologist P. Jung. He believes that pleasure is the main factor that determines the activity, focus and organization of employee behavior. In Jung's theory, behavior is determined by the emotion that follows the behavior. If this emotion is positive, the action is repeated, if negative, it stalls. Proponents of the hedonic theory believe that emotional sensations are perceived as pleasure only up to a certain level. Then satiety sets in, and the same sensation is perceived as displeasure.

V recent times hedonic theory is called "two-dimensional" in connection with the allocation of two essential factors: the level of stimulation; a hedonic tone that has to do with subjective pleasure.

Psychoanalytic motivational theory

Psychoanalytic motivational theory was created and developed by the Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. It is an example of a psychodynamic approach to the study of human behavior. Freud's theory is based on the recognition of the existence of certain psychological forces that shape human behavior and are not always recognized by him. This can be interpreted as a response to the actions of various stimuli. Freud argued that the driving forces of human behavior are instincts:

• Erosa - the instinct of life;
• Thanatos - the instinct of aggression, destruction, death.

Instinct, according to Freud, has four main parameters - source, goal, object and stimulus.

Psychoanalytic theory considers a person as a unity of three structural components:

• "Ego" (I) - self-consciousness, personal certainty;
• “Id” (It) is a reservoir of instincts and impulses;
• "Superego" - the moral aspects of human behavior that surround the personality - the unconscious.

Drive theory

The theory of drives (attraction) is considered a kind of behaviorist model S- R, where S - stimulus, R- reaction. The creator of the motivational theory of drives is the American psychologist Karl Hull. According to this theory, the person tends to independently maintain his internal state, any change in the inner world personality leads to a certain reaction. First of all, a person tries to negate any changes. Drives (drives) are the elements of neutralization. New attempts that follow the reaction and reinforce the forces of this reaction are called reinforcement. Behavior that is reinforced by something is firmly entrenched in the psyche of the employee. In the organizations of countries with developed market economies, this system is used in the process of stimulating workers to work through monetary remuneration and various kinds of incentives. However, at the same time, an attitude is created in the psyche of the employee to expect reward: if you reinforce the not very productive work of the employee several times, he gets used to it and no longer thinks of work without additional reward.

Conditioned reflex theory

The theory of conditioned reflexes was developed by the great Russian scientist I.P. Pavlov. The basis of his theory is the body's reaction to external stimuli - conditioned and unconditioned reflexes, recognized as the foundation of motivation. Special attention Pavlov paid conditioned reflexes... The stereotype of thinking and behavior serves as the psychophysiological base of the attitude, which is the central component of the individual's motivational system.

McGregor's "X" and "Y" theories

A scientist known for his work in the field of leadership, called the premise of an authoritarian leader in relation to workers the "X" theory.

A democratic leader's ideas about workers are different from those of an authoritarian leader. McGregor called them the "Y" theory.

These theories create very different benchmarks for the implementation of the function of motivation. They appeal to different categories of human needs and motives.

As you can see, at different approaches all authors agree on the issue of motivation: motive is the cause, the stimulus of human activity. Due to the fact that the motives of each person are individual, due to the characteristics of his personality, the prevailing system value orientations, social environment, emerging situations, etc., then the ways of meeting needs are different. Motivational sphere dynamic and depends on many circumstances. But some motives are relatively stable and, subjugating other motives, become, as it were, the core of the entire sphere.

Differences in action different people under the same conditions, when achieving the same goals, they are explained by the fact that people differ in the degree of energy and perseverance, some respond to various situations with various actions, while others in the same situations act monotonously.

At the heart of any activity is a motive that prompts a person to it, but not always activity can fully satisfy the motive. In this case, a person, having completed one activity, turns to another. If the activity is long-term, then in its process the motive can change. So, good pencils, paints induce the desire to draw with them. However, after a while this lesson may bore the draftsman. Sometimes, on the contrary, while maintaining the motive, the performed activity can change. For example, being carried away first by drawing with watercolors, a person then begins to work in oils. Between the development of a motive and the development of an activity, "mismatches" often arise: the development of motives may outstrip the formation of activity, or may lag behind it, which affects the result of the activity.

Motivation determines the choice between different possible actions, regulating, directing the action to achieve specific target states for a given motive and supporting this orientation. In short, motivation explains the purposefulness of action.

Motivation is not a single process that permeates behavior evenly from beginning to end. It consists of heterogeneous processes that regulate behavior, primarily before and after an action. So, first, there is a process of weighing the possible outcomes of an action, evaluating their consequences. Despite the fact that the activity is motivated, i.e. is aimed at achieving the goal of the motive, it should not be confused with motivation. Activity consists of components such as skills, knowledge. Motivation determines how and in what direction different functional abilities will be used. Motivation explains the choice between different possible actions, different options perception and possible ways thinking, as well as the intensity and perseverance in the implementation of the chosen action and the achievement of its results.

Maslow's theory of motivation is one of the most complete methods classification of human needs. American Abraham Maslow offered his vision, according to which the quality of human life depends on how fully satisfied his needs in various spheres of existence. Today this theory is one of the most popular in management. Its meaningful moments are used by experts different countries when working with people.

Maslow pyramid

Maslow's theory is based on the pyramid of needs, which is essentially a display of the hierarchy necessary for a person of things.
Another name is Maslow's staircase, not by accident. According to the author's opinion, stated in the first edition of the theory, a person realizes his desires gradually - rising from one step to another. Until the "lower" row of needs is satisfied, go to more high level does not work.
An important point: Abraham Maslow himself has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that his theory reflects the development of the needs of people as a whole, as a society. But each person is individual, which means that there are no uniform rigid schemes that could be "applied" to all people without exception, simply do not exist.

Hierarchical essence

If we pay attention to the substantive moments of Maslow's theory, it becomes obvious that it, as it were, reflects the hierarchical system of building society in the modern world. Therefore, "Maslow's ladder" is clearly associated with the pyramid of power based on the presence of a certain amount of material values ​​in a particular person. The more values, the more power.

This feature explains why Maslow's theory is very popular among those with hierarchical thinking. She is popular with people who are convinced that human success is built on competition. The more actively and successfully he competes with other people, the higher he will be to the top of the pyramid. Accordingly, the happier one should feel. Most of our contemporaries live like this: ticking the boxes in their list of achievements. The checkmarks are generally accepted, commonplace: home, work, family, child, money ... Alas, few can call themselves happy, despite material well-being and a complete "list" of stereotypical things that are supposed to be happy.
Many modern theories human and societal development have outgrown this approach, believing that competition is an unproductive path. Society can develop much more efficiently if it refuses competition, puts in the foreground the uniqueness of each person, his ability to manifest his talents - the ability to create.

Spiritual development

Nevertheless, the theory of Abraham Maslow at one time made a significant, important contribution to the development of humanistic psychology in the years after the Second World War.
The merit of the scientist is that he was able to offer new meaningful theoretical and practical approaches who developed psychology in a different direction from psychoanalysis and behaviorism.
The theory of needs is based on the desire of people to grow spiritually, to develop their personality. His pyramid explains how different needs appear, how a person moves from one needs to another. This helps to understand the motives of a person's actions.

Physiology and spirituality

According to the theory proposed by Abraham Maslow, a person has several groups of needs: physiological and spiritual. Usually, the individual moves from simpler to more complex, sublime.

At the base of the pyramid are instinctive needs: to eat, drink, satisfy sexual desire, sleep.

The second level is safety (housing, clothing), order ... On the third rung of the ladder is the need to love and be loved.

The fourth level presupposes the realization of the desire to be recognized in society, to contribute something of our own to the development of civilization, to receive a reward for this. Finally, the fifth, highest level, involves the satisfaction of needs for self-actualization.

Translational motion

For example, if a person does not have enough food, he will not be able to think about self-respect and fulfillment in society. The fact is, the author believes, that in the absence of satisfaction of some need, the goal of satisfying it becomes dominant for a person. He may simply not notice his other needs, they are not yet interesting to him.

Having enough food, air, water and sex, a person begins to think about safety. This includes the desire for clothing to protect from the cold, as well as shelter to shelter from the weather. The desire to receive a good income, to accumulate money also belongs to the second level in Maslow's hierarchy. In fact, all of this serves to create and strengthen confidence that all the needs of the first level will be met consistently, constantly, as much as possible. long time... Hence - the desire for stability, some familiar routine that soothes.

Love and accept love

By going to new level, a person will strive to realize his desire to love and be loved. Now this target will capture him almost entirely. A person will forget that once, until his "lower" needs were realized, he looked at love as something optional and nonexistent at all.

He begins to seek mutual understanding with other people. Maslow thinks it wrong to mix this with sex drive. He suggests considering the desire to love and be loved as a need for acceptance. Here he is at odds with Sigmund Freud, who deduces love from sexual desire.
According to Abraham Maslow, if a person has not learned to love and accept love, it is difficult for him to develop as a person. He argues that a lack of love is tantamount to a lack of vitamins or minerals. Observations of young children prove how true this is.

The author offers his own view on different types of love. The first, deficit love, is guided by the desire to get something. It comes from selfish desires. The second type of love is giving love: it is based on an understanding of the value and uniqueness of each person. At the same time, there is no desire to use the other to satisfy their needs. The substantive aspects of love in the first and second cases are radically opposite.

Adequate self-esteem

Having learned to love and accept love, people want respect. It is divided into self-esteem and approval from other people.

Self-esteem includes self-confidence, competence, skill, adequacy, achievement, freedom.
When other people respect, it means gaining recognition and acceptance, attention, reputation, status.

It is interesting that in the presence of adequate self-esteem, a person is more confident in himself - he acts more productively in society than someone with low self-esteem.
When a person has realized self-esteem, he is confident, feels his usefulness.

Top level

The top rung of Maslow's ladder is self-actualization. The author offers such a definition of this concept - the desire to become what you can be. It is assumed that here all the abilities, talents, potential of the individual are fully realized.

Few people manage to reach the fifth level, Maslow says, because the overwhelming majority simply do not see their potential. People are afraid of their talents because they are afraid of their own success.

Another factor that hinders the development of abilities is the need to have an environment where you can manifest your full potential. It starts as early as childhood: if a child grows up in a safe, friendly environment, it is easier for him to develop.

Individual approach

Until the basic (those at the bottom of the pyramid) needs are not satisfied, a person is not up to "lofty" things - this is what the author of the theory thinks. He throws his energies into solving issues of providing himself and his family with food, housing, sex, and so on. According to Maslow, stated in the first versions of the theory, it is impossible to move higher without satisfying primary needs.
The process of progressive realization of human needs, says the author of the theory, can be violated. This is not so rare. Sometimes the satisfaction of the higher desires begins, when the lower ones have not yet been realized.

However, later Maslow noted more than once that needs can arise in parallel: for safety and love, for food and self-respect, and so on. In the modern world, not all people have all basic needs fully satisfied. Nevertheless, this does not prevent them from feeling the desire to love, to be useful to society... They just still have desires from the first steps of the staircase.

Focus on the task

By the mid-1950s, Maslow's theory was evolving. He divided all needs in two large groups: needs and self-actualization (development).
The scientist deduced several features of people who are already on the path of self-actualization:

• they perceive reality more adequately, feel more comfortable in it;
• accept themselves and others;
• act spontaneously, simply and naturally;
• focused on the task, not on themselves;
• need privacy;
• do not depend on the influence of society and culture;
• can give a fresh assessment of what is happening;
• possess mysticism, have the experience of being in higher states;
• feel a sense of belonging, unity with others;
• build deeper relationships;
• Democrats by nature;
• distinguish between means and ends, good and evil;
• show philosophical, kind humor;
• are engaged in creativity;
• resist culture.

At the same time, he abandoned the rigid hierarchy of needs, which was expressed in the fact that higher desires can appear only after the realization of lower ones.
Admitted that most of people are endowed with the ability to self-actualize. He called the experience of ecstasy a manifestation of self-actualization - in creativity, in love.

Follow your desires

The main condition for the manifestation of self-actualization is an understanding of oneself, one's nature, and one's abilities.

Plus the ability to follow your desires.
This is not always easy. A person who has embarked on the path of personal development often encounters a lack of understanding of other people, with various difficulties. Society strives to fit everyone into a clear template. If someone knocks out, he becomes an oppositionist.
Maslow is sure that you can overcome difficulties if you learn to build effective interaction with outside world while at the same time keeping some alienation within themselves.

Introduction

1. A. Maslow's theory

2. Hierarchy of needs

3. Characteristics of self-actualization

Conclusion

Bibliographic list

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), the founder and leader of the humanistic movement in post-war Western (primarily American) psychology, is rightfully considered not only one of the largest, but also one of the most interesting figures in the psychology of the 20th century.

Maslow is one of the founders of humanistic psychology. He made significant theoretical and practical contributions to the creation of alternatives to behaviorism and psychoanalysis, which sought to "explain before destruction" creativity, love, altruism and other great cultural, social and individual achievements of mankind. All my psychological work Maslow connected with the problems of personal growth and development, considering psychology as one of the means that contribute to social and psychological well-being. He insists that an adequate and viable theory of personality must address not only the depths, but also the heights that each individual is capable of reaching.

WITH light hand Abraham Maslow's concepts of motive and need, self-actualization and personal growth are among the key, even cult, in modern psychology.

The aim of this work is to study A. Maslow's theory of motivation.

The task of the work is to study the concepts: "motive", "need", as well as consideration of the hierarchy of needs, the theory of self-actualization; the essence of A. Maslow's theory and its significance for further development psychology and related sciences.

Abraham Maslow developed theory of motivation, at the base of which he put the pyramid needs... This theory explains how certain motives how and in what ways motives are put into action as carried out motivation .

A person's life is determined by him needs... Needs, both physiological, base, and spiritual, sublime. And in order to understand what goals the individual sets for himself and what he strives for, it is necessary to understand what needs and when the individual has or can have. This paradigm implements the systemic development principle, i.e. movement from bottom to top from simple to complex.

The starting point of Maslow's theory is the revision of the concept of instinct. Maslow replaces the concept of instinct with the concept basic needs (basicneeds) that have instinctual nature in the sense that they express the nature and specificity of man. Unlike instincts, they can remain undeveloped, since their innate instinctive component is weak and easily outweighed by other factors associated with external environmental (cultural) influences. Maslow identifies five groups of needs:

1) physiological (hunger, thirst, sexual desire, sleep, etc.);

2) security needs (confidence, security, order, etc.);

3) needs for contacts and love;

4) needs for recognition, appreciation, respect (including self-esteem) and

5) the need for self-actualization.

According to Maslow, “Human needs are arranged in a hierarchy. In other words, the appearance of one need is usually preceded by the satisfaction of another, more urgent one. Man is an animal constantly experiencing certain desires "... Maslow defines five sets of goals, which he calls basic needs. The hierarchical nature of these needs or goals means that “The dominant goal monopolizes consciousness and in a certain way stimulates and organizes the various abilities of the organism that are required to achieve it. Less urgent needs are minimized, or even forgotten, or denied. "

The lower needs - starting from the physiological ones - are simultaneously more urgent. If they are not satisfied, all activity is directed towards their satisfaction, while the rest of the needs simply do not exist for the individual in this moment... When the needs of the physiological level are satisfied, they cease to determine behavior; there comes a turn of needs for security, etc. In general, needs of a higher level can motivate behavior only on condition that the needs of the lower levels are satisfied.

Basic name only needs from physiological to respect and self-esteem, inclusive. The higher need together with new cognitive (cognition) and aesthetic needs in Maslow's system is called meta needs (psychological needs - cognitive and aesthetic and the needs of self-realization).

According to Maslow, some characteristic can be considered basic need if it meets the following conditions:

"1. Its absence leads to illness.

2. Its presence prevents disease.

3. Her recovery cures the disease.

4. In certain, very difficult, situations of free choice, the subject prefers the satisfaction of this particular need.

5. Have healthy person it may be passive, low-level or functionally absent. "

People may or may not know about their basic needs. "U average man, - writes Maslow, - they are much more often unaware than realized ... although the right techniques and sophisticated people can help to make them aware. " Behavior, as noted above, is the result of many forces. It can be the result of not only a few basic needs combined in some way, but also personal habits, past experiences, individual talents and abilities, and the external environment.

2. Hierarchy of needs

Now let's look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs in more detail:

· Physiological needs

The most basic, most powerful, most imperative of all human needs are those associated with physical survival: the needs for food, water, shelter, sexual gratification, sleep, and oxygen. A subject who lacks food, self-esteem and love will first of all demand food and, until this need is satisfied, will ignore or overshadow all other needs. Maslow writes:

« Physiological needs are directly related to the biological survival of a person and must be satisfied at some minimum level before any needs of a higher level become actual, i.e. a person who fails to satisfy these basic needs will not be interested for a long time in the needs that occupy the highest levels of the hierarchy, since it very quickly becomes so dominant that all other needs disappear or recede into the background.

For a person who is severely and dangerously hungry, there are no other interests besides food. He dreams of her, he remembers her, thinks about her, his feelings are devoted to her: only he perceives her and only wants her ... You can really say about such a person, but he is alive by bread alone ».

· Security and protection needs

This includes the following needs: needs for organization, stability, law and order, predictability of events and freedom from such threatening forces as disease, fear and chaos. Thus, these needs reflect an interest in long-term survival. The preference for a reliable job with a stable high income, the creation of savings accounts, the purchase of insurance can be seen as actions, in part motivated by the search for security.

Another manifestation of the need for security and protection can be seen when people are faced with real emergencies such as war, flood, earthquake, rebellion, civil unrest, etc.

Thus, under the need in safety we must understand the need to maintain and prolong the sustainable satisfaction of lower needs. In other words, if a person is well fed and warm at the moment, but has no one around and, no ruble in his pocket, no acquaintance in the city, or stays on desert island with a piece of bread and a bucket of water, then, first of all, he will think about what he will be provided with tomorrow. He will start looking for water, food, shelter for the night, etc. And his anxiety will not disappear until all problems, including protection from wild animals or dangerous people will not be resolved for the foreseeable future.

Child psychologists and teachers have found that children need a predictable world: the child prefers consistency, correctness, a certain routine. When these elements are missing, he begins to experience anxiety and insecurity. Therefore, freedom within certain limits is preferable to complete permissiveness: according to Maslow, it is this freedom that is necessary for the development of good adaptation in children to the world around them.

Insecure or neurotic adults behave much like insecure children. " Such a person- says Maslow, - behaves as if he is almost always in danger of a major catastrophe. He reacts to ordinary situations as if there were extraordinary events ... The adult neurotic seems to be afraid all the time that he will be spanked."An uncertain subject needs order and stability and strives in every possible way to avoid the strange and unexpected. A psychologically healthy subject also seeks order and stability, but for him, unlike a neurotic, this is not a matter of life and death. A mature individual, at the same time, shows interest in the new. and mysterious.

· Needs of belonging and love

When the physiological and security needs are met, the needs for love, affection, and dependence take over. As Maslow points out, the subject is now ".. will need emotional relationships with people, worthy place in his group, and he will intensively strive to achieve this goal. He will desire this more than anything in the world and may even forget that when he was hungry, he laughed at love as something unreal, unnecessary or unimportant. ".

We all know that the more our needs are fulfilled, the greater heights we can achieve in life. But the actual implementation of needs primarily depends on our motivation. There are many different motivational theories today. In this article, I would like to tell you about the most popular of them - Maslow's theory of motivation.

In 1943, the Psychological Review published an article by Abraham Maslow, published under the title The Theory of Individual Motivation. Within the boundaries of these reflections, Abraham Maslow tried to develop a formulation of the individual's motivation, which at the same time would be based on his needs. The difference between the theory of motivation of Abraham Maslow and the works of the famous specialists in that period in psychological sphere such as Skinner and Freud, whose conclusions were mostly speculative or based on the habits of animals, was that it was based on experiments with individuals in a hospital setting.

The basis of motivation according to Maslow is five basic needs. Maslow's pyramid of needs:

1. sexual and carnal - in motion, breathing, roof overhead, procreation, dress, rest, etc.
2. security needs - confidence in the future, security and stability in life, in the people around, the desire to prevent abuse, in guaranteed employment;
3. needs of a social nature - in interaction with society, in love, in being in a social group, in paying attention to oneself, making a contribution to general activities, caring for your neighbor;
4. self-esteem needs - the need to respect the "important others" social status, in career advancement, prestige and recognition;
5. moral needs (the need for expression through creativity), the embodiment of their skills and abilities.

According to Maslow's motivation model, the first pair of needs are primary (congenital), the remaining three are secondary, socially acquired. Maslow was of the opinion that needs are realized in stages - from lower to higher needs. Behavior will be motivated by the needs of a higher level only if the needs of a lower level are met. In his own model, Maslow gave rise to the principle of dominant or subordination, which significantly distinguishes his model from other similar ones. The intensity of a specific need depends on the place it occupies in the hierarchical structure.

Needs of a physiological nature are paramount and form a behavioral dominant. The actions and thoughts of an individual, whose physiological needs are not satisfied, will be entirely focused on their fulfillment. It turns out that the purpose of the existence of such an individual will be just this need. But when the fulfillment of the need occurs, there will be a shift in the goals of this individual to the fulfillment of a need of a more "higher" order ...

Next comes the need for security. As usual, their composition includes: the very need for the safety of the individual (protection from difficulties that depend on life activity), in the desire for a stable existence, the need for organization, structure, legality and others (based partly like the first group of needs - on the instincts of self-preservation ). These needs will prevail over all others only in extreme situations, when the individual is aware of great degree danger, on pain of death.

If the needs of a physiological nature and the needs for security are satisfied at the required level, the urgent need for love, affection becomes, and the next round begins with a motivational spiral. The individual begins to feel the absence of friends, girlfriend, lover or offspring in a way that he did not feel before. He wants to get friendly, close relationships, he needs social group, which could give him a similar relationship, a family in which he could feel himself. Just given goal turns into the most important for a person. Perhaps he had already forgotten that not so long ago, when he was in need and hungry, at the word "love" he only had a disapproving grin. And from that time on, he suffers from loneliness, he experiences his rejection with particular pain, searches for information about his ancestors, looks for a friend, a person with the same interests.

Recognition needs are of two types. The first includes aspirations that have a connection with the concept of "achievement". An individual needs to feel his omnipotence, competence, adequacy, he needs a feeling of self-sufficiency, confidence. Another type of needs includes the need for reputation, the need to gain attention, status, recognition.

Against the background of the embodiment of the needs for respect, prestige, the individual has a feeling of self-confidence, a feeling self-importance, its correspondence to the surrounding world, the feeling that it is useful and necessary for this world. Not embodied need, on the contrary, causes in a person a feeling of humiliation, worthlessness, which, for their part, are a reason for despondency, neurotic and compensatory processes arise against their background.

Let all the specified needs of the individual be satisfied, one can expect that after some time he will again face dissatisfaction with the fact that his occupation is not at all what his purpose is. It is clear that a musician needs to get carried away with music, a painter - writing portraits, and a poet - writing poems if they want to live in unity with themselves. This need can be called the need for self-actualization. A person begins to search for that area and that activity in which he will be able to show all his abilities, which differ from the skills of other individuals.

This can happen in different ways for each person. Some want to reach transcendental heights, while someone has small ambitions and is content with little. A definite connection can be seen with intellectual abilities the individual himself. The higher the intelligence of a person, the more demanding his desires are, the more individual needs for self-actualization.

Maslow came to the conclusion that the needs of a lower level are equally valid for all people, and higher ones in varying degrees. For this reason, it is precisely the higher needs that differentiate individuals to a large extent. At the same time, the higher the level of needs, the more important is the role of the individual himself in their conscious education. An individual driven by needs, in turn, creates their content. All needs act cyclically, thus in again are repeated, however at a higher level.

Activate your motivation:

• You need to determine (just honestly) your own motivation for each area of ​​your life (work, love, etc.). Where are you now? Is there something to strive for?
• If your needs are still on the lowest level, brainwash, maybe this is so against the background of insufficient satisfaction within this degree; Or are you really stagnant, and this level has ceased to meet the requirements of your current status?
• Constantly tell yourself about your next task, for example: "In my career I want to achieve success and prestige."
• Don't lie to yourself. You cannot give yourself indulgence, objectively assess your own abilities.
• Post the definition of the desired level of claims somewhere prominently.
• Repeat to yourself from time to time: "I am doing this in order to …………………….".
• Perhaps the understanding of the need for promotion will not arise immediately. But try to prove it to yourself every day for a long time.

Meanwhile, we are convinced that a huge number of individuals stop moving further when succeed, prestige, recognition. Having achieved a specific status in a certain area, people often prove to themselves that they already have everything they needed (after all, some time ago this was a cherished dream). Only after a while, they begin to realize that they stopped moving in vain, and the current situation no longer meets their requirements. but Lost time gone irrevocably.

You should not stop moving at the initial stages of the embodiment of needs - the fullness of existence is to constantly improve yourself and environment... Otherwise, your life will be inconspicuous, boring and gloomy, it will be taken for granted.

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