Maslow's theory of needs. The essence of motivation theory A


Theories of motivation analyze the factors influencing . Much of their subject matter is focused 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 to act. In these theories, an attempt is made to understand what motivates a person to act. The most famous theories of motivation of this group are: the theory of the hierarchy of needs by A. Maslow, the theory of ERG (needs for the existence of growth and connections), developed by C. Alderfer, the theory of acquired needs by D. McClelland, the theory of two factors by F. Herzberg, the theory of expectations by V. Vroom, Porter-Lowler model.

Maslow's needs motivation theory

Includes the following basic ideas and premises of motivation:

  • a person constantly feels some kind of need;
  • a person experiences a certain set of strongly expressed needs that can be combined into certain groups;
  • groups of needs are hierarchically arranged 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 unsatisfied need takes its place;
  • usually a person feels several different needs at the same time, complexly interacting with each other;
  • needs closer to the base of the "pyramid" require primary satisfaction; higher-level needs begin to actively act on a person after the lower-level needs are basically satisfied;
  • higher level needs can be met a large number ways than the needs of the lower level.

In Towards a Psychology of Being, Maslow later added a list of higher needs, which he labeled as growth needs (being values). However, Maslow notes that they are difficult to describe, since they are all interconnected and cannot be completely separated from each other, therefore, 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, kindness, individual originality, truth, ease, propensity to play, honesty, self-sufficiency. According to Maslow, existential values ​​are often a powerful motive for human activity and are included in 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) the needs of existence, 2) the needs of communication, 3) the needs of growth.

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

The needs of existence, as it were, include two groups of needs of Maslow's pyramid - the needs of security, with the exception of group security, and physiological needs. The group of connection needs clearly corresponds to the group of needs of belonging and belonging.

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

According to Alderfer's theory, the hierarchy of needs reflects the 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 satisfaction of needs, and the process of moving down - the process of frustration. The presence of two directions of movement in meeting needs opens up additional opportunities for motivating a person. Alderfer's theory of needs is relatively "young" and lacks sufficient empirical support for its correctness. However, knowledge of this theory is useful for management practice, as it opens up prospects for managers to search effective forms motivation, correlated with a lower level of needs, if it is not possible to create conditions for meeting the needs of a higher level.

McClelland's theory of acquired needs

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 the modern world, as a rule, have already been satisfied, so attention should be paid to satisfying the highest human needs. These needs, if they are sufficiently 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.

Need for Achievement It is manifested in the desire of a person to achieve his goals more effectively than he did before. A person with a high need for achievement prefers to set goals 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 take personal responsibility.

On the basis of his research, 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 developed economies. 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.

The Need for Participation manifests itself in the form of a desire for friendly relations with others. People with a high need for participation tend to establish and maintain a good relationship, get the approval and support of others, are concerned about what others think of them. For them, the fact that someone needs them is very important.

The need to rule just like the two previous ones, it is acquired, develops on the basis of learning, life experience and lies 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 renounce any claims to power, the desire to avoid such situations and actions that are associated with the need to fulfill powerful functions.

The needs of achievement, participation and domination in McClelland's theory are not mutually exclusive and are not arranged hierarchically, like Maslow's concepts and Alderfer's theories. 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 leadership position and has a high need for power, then for the successful implementation of managerial activities in accordance with the desire to satisfy this need, it is desirable that the need for participation be relatively weakly expressed in him. A combination of a strong need for achievement and a strong need for domination 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 dominance towards achieving the manager's personal interests. Apparently, it is impossible to draw 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 motivation and human behavior and developing methods for managing the process of formation and satisfaction of needs.

Herzberg's two-factor theory

It lies in the fact that all needs are divided into hygiene factors and motivations. The presence of hygienic factors only prevents 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 expectancy theory

It is based on the position that the presence of an active need is not the only necessary condition for motivating a person to achieve a specific goal. A person should also hope that the type of behavior he has chosen will actually lead to satisfaction or the acquisition of the desired, “... employees will be able to achieve the level of performance required to receive a valuable reward (the value for each person is only his, i.e. individual, value is praise, work that one likes, position in society, satisfaction of the need for self-expression), if the level of authority delegated to them, their professional skills are sufficient to complete the task,” notes V. Vroom.

Porter-Lauler Model

Leiman Porter and Edward Lauler developed a comprehensive process theory motivation, including elements of the theory of expectations and . Five variables appear in their model: effort expended, perception, results obtained, reward, degree of satisfaction.

According to the Porter-Lowler model, results achieved activities depend on the efforts, abilities and characteristic features individual, as well as from his awareness of his role. The level of effort expended is determined by the value of the reward and the degree of confidence that a given level of effort will actually result in a well-defined level of reward. Moreover, in this theory, a correspondence is established between reward and results, i.e. a person satisfies his needs through rewards for the results achieved. Thus, productive work gives satisfaction. Porter and Lauler believe that a sense of accomplishment leads to satisfaction and enhances performance, so high performance is the cause of overall satisfaction, not the consequence of it.

hedonic motivational theory

Hedonic motivational theory believes that a person strives 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, orientation and organization of the behavior of workers. In Jung's theory, behavior is determined by the emotion that follows the behavior. If this emotion is positive, the action is repeated, if it is negative, it stops. 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 feeling is perceived as displeasure.

Recently, the hedonic theory has been called "two-dimensional" in connection with the identification of two significant factors: the level of stimulation; hedonistic 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 aware of it. This can be interpreted as a response to the actions of various stimuli. Freud argued that the driving forces of human behavior are instincts:

  • Eros - 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) - consciousness of oneself, personal certainty;
  • "Id" (It) - a reservoir of instincts and impulses;
  • "Superego" - the moral aspects of human behavior surrounding 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 Carl Hull. According to this theory, a person tends to independently maintain his internal state, any change in the inner world of a person leads to a certain reaction. First of all, a person tries to negate any changes. The elements of neutralization are drives (desires). The new attempts that follow the reaction and reinforce the forces of this reaction are called reinforcement. Behavior reinforced by something is firmly fixed in the psyche of the worker. In organizations of countries with developed market economies, this system is used in the process of stimulating employees for labor activity through monetary rewards and various incentives. However, at the same time, a mood is created in the employee’s psyche to expect a reward: if the employee’s not very productive work is reinforced several times, he gets used to it and no longer thinks of work without additional remuneration.

Theory of conditioned reflexes

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

McGregor's Theories "X" and "Y"

Scientist, known for works in the field of leadership, called the prerequisites of an authoritarian leader in relation to employees as Theory X.

The ideas of a democratic leader about employees are different from those of an authoritarian leader. McGregor called them Theory Y.

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

As you can see, with different approaches to the issue of motivation, all authors agree on one thing: the 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 of value orientations, the social environment, emerging situations, etc., then the ways to satisfy needs are different. The motivational sphere is dynamic and depends on many circumstances. But some motives are relatively stable and, subordinating other motives, become, as it were, the core of the entire sphere.

Differences in actions different people under the same conditions, while 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 a variety of actions, while others act in the same situations in the same way.

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

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

Motivation is not a single process, uniformly penetrating behavior from beginning to end. It consists of heterogeneous processes that regulate behavior, primarily before and after the action. So, in the beginning 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. aimed at achieving the goal of the motive, it should not be confused with motivation. Activity consists of such components as skills, abilities, knowledge. Motivation determines how and in what direction various functional abilities will be used. Motivation explains the choice between different possible actions, various options perception and possible ways of thinking, as well as the intensity and perseverance in the implementation of the chosen action and the achievement of its results.

Abraham Maslow recognized that people have many different needs, but he also believed that these needs can be divided into five main categories:

        Physiological needs that are necessary for survival - the needs for food, water, shelter, rest and sexual needs.

        Needs for security and confidence in the future- the need for protection from physical and psychological dangers from the outside world and the confidence that physiological needs will be satisfied in the future. A manifestation of the need for confidence in the future is the purchase of an insurance policy or the search for a secure job with good retirement prospects.

    Social needs, sometimes called needs for belonging - a sense of belonging to something or someone, a feeling of being accepted by others, feelings of social interaction, affection and support.

    Esteem Needs- the need for self-esteem, personal achievement, competence, respect from others, recognition.

    Needs of self-expression- the need to realize their potential and grow as a person.

Maslow's system of needs is hierarchical, that is, the needs of lower levels require satisfaction and, therefore, affect a person's behavior before the needs of higher levels begin to affect motivation. At each particular moment in time, a person will strive to satisfy the need that is more important or strong for him. Before the next level need becomes the most powerful determinant of human behavior, the lower level need must be satisfied.

Since with the development of a person as a person his potentialities expand, the need for self-expression can never be fully satisfied. Therefore, the process of motivating behavior through needs is endless.

For example, a person who is hungry will first try to find food and only after eating will he try to build a shelter. Living in comfort and security, a person will first be motivated to activity by the need for social contacts, and then will begin to actively seek respect from others. Only after a person feels inner satisfaction and respect from others, his most important needs will begin to grow in accordance with his potential. But if the situation changes radically, then the most important needs can change dramatically.

In order for the next, higher level of the hierarchy of needs to begin to influence human behavior, it is not necessary to satisfy the need of a lower level completely. Thus, hierarchical levels are not discrete steps. For example, people usually start looking for their place in some community long before their security needs are provided or their physiological needs are completely satisfied. This thesis may well be illustrated by the great importance which rituals and social intercourse have for the primitive cultures of the jungles of the Amazon and parts of Africa, though hunger and danger are always present there.

Application of Maslow's theory

In order to motivate a particular person, the manager must enable him to satisfy his most important needs through a course of action that contributes to the achievement of the goals of the entire organization. Not so long ago, managers could motivate subordinates almost exclusively with economic incentives, since people's behavior was determined mainly by their needs at lower levels. Today, even people at the bottom of an organization's hierarchical ladder are relatively high up in Maslow's hierarchy.

The manager must carefully observe his subordinates in order to decide what active needs drive them. Since these needs change over time, it is impossible to expect that the motivation that worked once will work effectively all the time.

Managers need to know what each employee prefers in the reward system, and what makes one of your subordinates refuse to work with others. Different people like different things, and if a leader wants to effectively motivate his subordinates, he must feel their individual needs.

The main criticism of Maslow's theory was that she failed to take into account the individual differences of people.

For example, many people in modern Russia were so shocked by the "default" of 1998 that after that (although they managed to "stand on their feet") the need for security remains dominant in them.

Methods for meeting the needs of higher levels

Social needs

    Give employees a job that allows them to communicate

    Create team spirit in the workplace

    Hold periodic meetings with subordinates

    Do not try to destroy the emerging informal groups, if they do not cause real damage to the organization

    Create conditions for social activity of members of the organization outside of its framework

Esteem Needs

    Offer subordinates more meaningful work

    Provide them with positive feedback on the results achieved

    Appreciate and reward the results achieved by subordinates

    Involve subordinates in setting goals and making decisions

    Delegate additional rights and powers to subordinates

    Promote subordinates through the ranks

    Provide training and retraining that increases competency

Needs for self-expression

    Provide subordinates with learning and development opportunities that enable them to reach their full potential

    Give subordinates difficult and important work that requires their full dedication

    Encourage and develop creative abilities in subordinates Herzberg's two-factor theory

Herzberg showed that people's activities are influenced by 2 groups of factors, which he called hygienic and motivating.

Group of factors

Impact on people's activities

Hygienic

(related to working conditions)

earnings,

working conditions,

relationships with other employees

administration activities

Even with full satisfaction, they are not motivated to increase labor efficiency

Motivating

(related to the content of the work, with the evaluation of the results by management)

feeling of success

career advancement,

recognition from others

responsibility

Motivate to increase productivity, efficiency, quality of work

Hygienic factors do not motivate employees, but only prevent the feeling of job dissatisfaction from developing.

Application of Herzberg's theory

In order to achieve motivation, the leader must ensure the presence of not only hygienic, but also motivating factors. Many organizations have attempted to implement these theoretical insights through work enrichment programs.

During the implementation of the program of "enrichment" of work, the work is restructured and expanded in such a way as to bring more satisfaction and rewards to its direct executor. The "enrichment" of labor is aimed at structuring labor activity in such a way as to make the performer feel the complexity and significance of the task entrusted to him, independence in the choice of decisions, the absence of monotony and routine operations, responsibility for this task, the feeling that a person is performing a separate and completely independent work. . Among the several hundred firms that use enrichment programs to counteract the negative effects of fatigue and the resulting decline in productivity are large companies such as American Airlines and Texas Instrumente. Although the concept of “enrichment” of work has been used very successfully in many situations, it is not suitable for motivating all people.

In order to use Herzberg's theory effectively, it is necessary to draw up a list of hygiene and, especially, motivating factors and give employees the opportunity to determine and indicate what they prefer.

The same factor can cause job satisfaction in one person and dissatisfaction in another, and vice versa. Thus, both hygiene factors and motivating factors can be a source of motivation and it depends on the needs of specific people. Since different people have different needs, different people will be motivated by different factors.

For example, a person may love his job because he considers his colleagues friends and, by communicating with them, he satisfies his social needs. At the same time, such a person may consider chatting with colleagues more important than doing the work assigned to him. Thus, despite a high degree job satisfaction, performance may be low.

Due to the fact that social needs play a very important role, the introduction of motivating factors such as increased responsibility for the assigned task may not have a motivating effect and may not lead to an increase in productivity. This will be exactly the case, especially if other workers perceive the increase in the productivity of this worker as a violation of the tacitly established production standards.

The history of science knows many attempts to substantiate certain motives of human activity, it seems that this question should generally be considered in the context of "eternal" questions, and put on a par with such as "who am I", "what am I for", "what I can" and so on. Among modern concepts that aim to answer the question of the motives of human activity, one can cite Alderfer's theory of growth, the doctrine of acquired needs, the developer of which is McClelland, the concept of Herzberg's two factors, and a number of others.

In the mid-fifties of the last century, the theory of Maslow's motivation, which the scientist developed, initially focusing on the need to form modern systems for managing socio-economic behavior in

As the starting points of his doctrine, A. Maslow proceeded from the adoption of such provisions, which then became the prerequisites for formulating the main ideas of the theory of motivation.

So, Maslow argued that human needs are an objective fact, while, on various stages of his existence, he can experience first one of them, then others. Moreover, some of them may be inherent throughout life, while others - episodically. On this basis, the scientist concludes that there is a certain hierarchy in and, consequently, about the motives that they form. According to Maslow's theory of motivation, in the course of life, needs that are not satisfied induce activities aimed at satisfying them.

Further, if some of them are already satisfied, then they, in turn, form the motives for "taking" a higher level. Based on this ranking, A. Maslow's classification took the form of a pyramid, at the base of which he put needs, the satisfaction of which is a priority. These are physiological: in food, rest, sleep and other factors of the elementary physical life support of the individual. According to Maslow, needs that are already satisfied do not induce a person to be active, and, moreover, their structure is dynamic - one that is already satisfied is replaced by others that are unsatisfied.

According to A. Maslow, it contains five levels (or steps).

At the first stage are those that provide a person with an elementary survival in the natural environment as a biological being. These are the needs for a clean atmosphere, water, shelter, food, rest, and so on.

The second stage is occupied by needs, on the basis of which motives for ensuring one's own security are formed, and here Maslow's motivation includes not only aspects of a physical nature, but also social ones - these are motives that encourage good work in order to have higher earnings, live more comfortably, receive medical care, etc.

Most ordinary person- in recognition, in communication, maintaining partnerships and friendships, in organizing and maintaining collective forms of life are located in the middle of A. Maslow's pyramid.

At the fourth stage, Maslow's theory of motivation provides for the location of needs that mediate and determine the motives of a high social level - inducing activities that provide social recognition, the achievement of power statuses, claims for public recognition of a person's merits to society.

The fifth stage is occupied by needs that initiate motives of personal social significance. Here a person is motivated to achieve high creative performance and their recognition by society.

Since Maslow's theory of motivation suggests that the connections in the pyramid are dynamic, that is, the achievement of one need forms a new one, and then a motive, to its satisfaction, it is important to imagine and be able to answer the question of what happens when a person reaches the fifth, the last, top step?

A. Maslow answers this question in such a way that reaching such a level does not mean at all that there is a disappearance or some weakening of the effect of needs on the formation of motives for activity.

Nowadays various methods personal development is extremely popular. This, on the one hand, is due to the development and availability of psychological knowledge, and on the other hand, the demand for such products scientific research encourages this research. Among them, various theories of motivation play an important role, helping to effectively achieve their goals.

Motivation

Every person has certain needs. The latter can represent both various individual needs and basic needs laid down in us by nature or social conditions. Psychologists diligently study these things, because the awareness of their needs and the correct allocation of resources to achieve them is the foundation of effective activity. This raises the question of motivation - factors that stimulate a person to strive with varying degrees to satisfy their needs.

Abraham Maslow's Theory of Motivation

Among all motivational theories, there is perhaps no one as popular today as the theory of the American psychology researcher Abraham Maslow. For the first time his idea saw the light in 1943 in the work "The Theory of Motivation of the Individual". According to Maslow's theory of motivation, human needs are the fundamental basis of motivation. He subdivides the latter into five groups, which he arranges in a hierarchical order.

Maslow's pyramid of needs

At the bottom of this ladder are the most mundane, biological needs - food, drink, breath, sex and sleep. Next comes the security needs. For a person, this means not only the need for personal integrity, but also the need for financial stability, social security, confidence in others. By the way, this is what Maslow's concept of motivation stands out from among other motivational theories of his time, which considers a person as a social phenomenon, and not just as a biological being.

The next stage of needs includes just the most socially significant needs - communication, love relationships, involvement in certain social groups, the desire to be needed by someone and feel attention.

The fourth step combines the needs of the individual in self-affirmation. Here is the need for public recognition, and authority among others, in the desire to move up the career ladder and the like.

Finally, the fifth stage is characterized by the most noble aspirations of the individual. The range of these needs includes the desire for self-realization, the thirst for creativity, the whole spectrum of spiritual values.

Differentiation of the pyramid of needs

According to Maslow's theory of motivation, all five steps of the pyramid are combined into two groups as follows: the first two steps make up the dyad of the so-called innate, basic, paramount human needs. The rest make up a triad of secondary, socially determined needs. Such an assessment does not speak about the actual importance of certain needs for a person as a social phenomenon, but only about their importance for life support. In other words, for biological existence, it is sufficient to satisfy only the first two, or even only the very first stage of needs. But without meeting these needs, it is impossible to reach higher levels, without which, in principle, one can live.

Realization of needs

As far as how needs are met in a person's life, Maslow's model of motivation suggests a bottom-up step by step. That is, the needs higher in the hierarchy are actualized and can be satisfied only after the person has dealt with the lower levels. Therefore, there is no universal motivation for people - it entirely depends on what level of development this or that person is at. This aspect of Maslow's theory of motivation also significantly distinguishes it from other motivational models proposed by various authors.

Physiological Needs

The needs of the first stage, called physiological, as already mentioned, are the primary needs of a person. This is a dominant that completely captures the attention and efforts of a person, if the circle of her needs remains unsatisfied. At the moment when the needs of this order are fully (or at least sufficient) achieved, there will be an automatic shift of needs to a higher level.

Security Needs

Security is the common denominator for the needs of the second step of Maslow's pyramid. The theory of human motivation also refers this level to the primary needs. It is important to understand that security is understood not only as such environmental conditions when nothing threatens the physical health and life of a person, but also concern for the preservation of these conditions in the future. Moreover, this level takes into account the need for material and financial security - the need for money, housing, freedom, security before the law. This group of needs also requires long-term stability.

Needs for socialization

When the first two steps are sufficiently satisfied, then motivation, according to Maslow, shifts its focus of attention higher to the third step of the pyramid, which contains a wide range of needs for socialization and communication. First of all, this, of course, is the need for friendship, romantic relationships and family ties. A person needs some social community where he can feel at home. He also experiences a strong need for love, which would surpass in content only a sexual relationship. These needs form kinship ties, families, stable social groups.

Needs for self-assertion

As for the fourth group, Maslow's theory of needs motivation divides them into two categories.

  1. The first group is somehow associated with the concept of "achievement". These are aspirations that make a person feel their strength, influence, self-sufficiency, independence, and so on.
  2. In addition to striving for achievement, the needs associated with the concept of "prestige" are also identified. This is the second subgroup of the fourth stage, which is distinguished by Abraham Maslow. Motivation and the personality in general are here in conjunction with such things that provide a good reputation, social status, public authority and weight in the eyes of other people.

Remaining insufficiently satisfied, these four groups of needs contribute to the emergence and development of depression and neurotic processes in a person. A person begins to feel like a failure, worthless and unadapted to the world. Conversely, satisfied needs make a person feel useful and important, which is the key to psychological comfort and mental health of the individual.

Needs for self-realization

In a situation where the first four groups of needs do not cause problems, a person can still feel the need for something higher - in harmony with himself, with the world. This range of needs makes the poet write poetry, the sculptor - to sculpt, and the artist - to paint canvases. At this stage, a person needs self-realization, that is, the actualization of his inner potential, the fulfillment of his destiny. This range of needs includes art, religion, mystical practices, philanthropy, charity, etc. Motivation, according to Maslow, is characterized here by a certain relationship between the content of the needs of a given level and the intellectual abilities of the individual. The higher the intellect is developed, the more serious and deep the needs are at the top of the pyramid.

Features of Maslow's theory of motivation

When studying and, even more so, applying Maslow's developments in practice, it is important to remember that some steps of the pyramid can change places in the hierarchical ladder from individual to individual. Another feature is that the ladder of needs is cyclical. That is, according to Maslow, the theory of human motivation involves the repeated passage of the entire hierarchy of needs - each time at a higher level with more significant and serious requirements.

Maslow's theory and management

In various business training programs, Maslow's pyramid has found wide application as a good motivation for staff. Maslow is given the role of a pioneer and an authoritative researcher in this field. However, in fact, his hypothesis is somewhat more complicated than it might seem at first glance. And there is no famous pyramid as such in his works at all. It first appears in 1970 in one of the German adaptations of his most important work in the field (Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 1954).

Criticism of the pyramid of needs

A number of scientists deny that there are serious grounds for accepting Maslow's pyramid of needs as a working theory. First, they emphasize that Maslow did not support his arguments with experiments. And secondly, those people whom he nevertheless studied belonged to the ideal categories of the so-called lucky ones, in whom all needs were satisfied at the right time. Thus, the famous psychologist remained far from the real life of most people in his works. Nevertheless, in terms of its significance and practical usefulness (this has been shown by the experience of its use), Maslow's hypothesis is a rather meaningful theory of motivation. Maslow is still one of the most influential theorists of personal development in terms of motivational technologies.

INTRODUCTION
In this chapter I will attempt to formulate a positive theory of motivation that satisfies the theoretical requirements and at the same time is consistent with the empirical evidence already available, both clinical and experimental. My theory is largely based on clinical experience, but at the same time, it seems to me, a worthy continuation of the functionalist tradition of James and Dewey; in addition, it absorbed the best features of the holism of Wertheimer, Goldstein and Gestalt psychology, as well as the dynamic approach of Freud, Fromm, Horney, Reich, Jung and Adler. I am inclined to call this theory holistic-dynamic after the names of the approaches integrated in it.

BASIC NEEDS
physiological needs. The starting point for the creation of motivational theory is usually taken to be specific needs, which are usually called physiological urges (drives). At present, we are faced with the need to reconsider the established understanding of these needs, and this need is dictated by the results of recent research conducted in two directions. We are talking here, firstly, about studies within the concept of homeostasis, and, secondly, about studies on the problem of appetite (the preference for one food over another), which showed us that appetite can be considered as an indicator of actual need, as evidence of or other deficiency in the body.

The concept of homeostasis suggests that the body automatically makes certain efforts aimed at maintaining the constancy of the internal environment, the normal composition of the blood. Cannon described this process in terms of: 1) blood water content, 2) salt balance, 3) sugar content, 4) protein balance, 5) fat content, 6) calcium content, 7) oxygen content, 8) pH (acidity). -alkaline balance) and 9) constancy of blood temperature. Obviously, this list can be expanded to include other minerals, hormones, vitamins, etc.

Young's research is devoted to the problem of appetite, he tried to connect appetite with somatic needs. In his opinion, if the body feels a lack of some chemical substances, then the individual will feel a peculiar, partial hunger for the missing element, or, in other words, a specific appetite.

Again and again we are convinced of the impossibility and senselessness of creating lists of fundamental physiological needs; it is quite obvious that the range and number of needs included in one or another list depends only on the tendentiousness and scrupulousness of its compiler. So far, we have no reason to classify all physiological needs as homeostatic. We do not have reliable data that would convincingly prove to us that sexual desire, hibernation, the need for movement and maternal behavior observed in animals are in any way related to homeostasis. Moreover, when creating such a list, we leave out of cataloging a wide range of needs associated with sensual pleasures (with taste sensations, smells, touches, strokes), which are also probably physiological in nature and each of which can be the goal of a motivated behavior. So far, no explanation has been found for the paradoxical fact that the body has both a tendency to inertia, laziness, minimal effort, and a need for activity, stimulation, and excitement.

The physiological need, or urge, cannot be regarded as a model of need or motive, it does not reflect the laws that govern needs, but rather serves as an exception to the rule. The urge is specific and has a well-defined somatic localization. Urges almost do not interact with each other, with other motives and with the organism as a whole. Although the latter statement cannot be extended to all physiological urges (the exceptions in this case are fatigue, craving for sleep, maternal reactions), but it is undeniable in relation to the classic varieties of urges, such as hunger, thirst, sexual urge.

I consider it necessary to emphasize again that any physiological need and any act of consummatory behavior associated with it can be used to satisfy any other need. So, a person may feel hungry, but, in fact, it may not be so much a need for protein or vitamins, but a desire for comfort, for safety. And vice versa, it is no secret that a glass of water and a couple of cigarettes can drown out the feeling of hunger for a while.

It is unlikely that anyone will undertake to dispute the fact that physiological needs are the most urgent, the most powerful of all needs, that they are prepotent in relation to all other needs. In practice, this means that a person living in extreme need, a person deprived of all the joys of life, will be driven, first of all, by the needs of the physiological level. If a person has nothing to eat and if at the same time he lacks love and respect, then nevertheless, first of all, he will strive to satisfy his physical hunger, and not emotional.

If all the needs of the individual are not satisfied, if physiological urges dominate in the body, then all other needs may not even be felt by the person; in this case, to characterize such a person, it will be enough to say that he is hungry, because his consciousness is almost completely captured by hunger. In such a situation, the body directs all its forces and capabilities to satisfy hunger; the structure and interaction of the possibilities of an organism are determined by a single goal. His receptors and effectors, his mind, memory, habits - everything turns into a tool to satisfy hunger. Those abilities of the body that do not bring it closer to the desired goal, for the time being dormant or die. The desire to write poetry, to buy a car, an interest in native history, a passion for yellow shoes - all these interests and desires either fade or disappear altogether. A person who feels mortal hunger will not be interested in anything but food. He only dreams about food, he only remembers food, he only thinks about food, he can only perceive the sight of food and can only listen to talk about food, he only reacts to food, he only craves food. Habits and preferences, selectivity and fastidiousness, usually accompanying physiological urges, giving individual coloring to a person’s eating and sexual behavior, are so suppressed, muffled that in this case (but only in this particular case) one can speak of a naked food urge and a purely food urge. behavior that pursues a single goal - the goal of getting rid of hunger.

As another specific characteristic of an organism subject to a single need, one can name a specific change in the personal philosophy of the future. To a man tormented by hunger, a paradise will seem like a place where you can eat to satiety. It seems to him that if he could not think about his daily bread, then he would be completely happy and would not wish for anything else. He thinks of life itself in terms of food, everything else that is not related to the object of his desires is perceived by him as insignificant, secondary. He considers such things as love, freedom, brotherhood, respect to be nonsense, his philosophy is extremely simple and is expressed by the saying: "You will not be full of love." It is impossible to say about a hungry person: “Man does not live by bread alone,” because a hungry person lives precisely by bread and only by bread.

The example I have given, of course, belongs to the category of extreme ones, and although it is not without reality, it is still the exception rather than the rule. In a peaceful life, in a normally functioning society, extreme conditions are, by their very definition, a rarity. Despite the banality of this provision, I consider it necessary to dwell on it especially, if only because there are two reasons that push us to forget it. The first reason has to do with rats. Physiological motivation in rats is presented very clearly, and since most of the experiments on the study of motivation are carried out on these animals, the researcher is sometimes unable to resist the temptation of scientific generalization. Thus, the conclusions drawn by rat experts are transferred to humans. The second reason is related to the misunderstanding of the fact that culture itself is an instrument of adaptation, and that one of its main functions is to create such conditions under which the individual would experience extreme physiological urges less and less. In most cultures known to us, chronic, extreme hunger is more of a rarity than a pattern. In any case, what has been said is true for the United States of America. If we hear from the average American "I'm hungry", then we understand that he is more likely to feel appetite than hunger. He can experience real hunger only in some extreme, emergency circumstances, no more than two or three times in his entire life.

If, when studying human motivation, we limit ourselves to extreme manifestations of the actualization of physiological urges, then we run the risk of ignoring the highest human motives, which will inevitably give rise to a one-sided idea of ​​​​human capabilities and his nature. Blind is the researcher who, speaking about human goals and desires, bases his arguments only on observations of human behavior under conditions of extreme physiological deprivation and considers this behavior as typical. To paraphrase the saying already mentioned, we can say that a person really lives on bread alone, but only when he does not have this bread. But what happens to his desires when he has plenty of bread, when he is full, when his stomach does not require food?

What happens is that a person immediately discovers other (higher) needs, and already these needs take possession of his consciousness, taking the place of physical hunger. As soon as he satisfies these needs, their place is immediately occupied by new (even higher) needs, and so on ad infinitum. This is what I mean when I say that human needs are organized hierarchically.

Such a formulation of the question has far-reaching consequences. Having accepted our view of things, the theory of motivation is entitled to use, along with the concept of deprivation, an equally convincing concept of satisfaction. In accordance with this concept, the satisfaction of a need frees the body from the oppression of the needs of the physiological level and opens the way for the needs of the social level. If physiological needs are constantly and regularly satisfied, if the achievement of the partial goals associated with them does not pose a problem for the organism, then these needs cease to actively influence human behavior. They move into the category of potential, reserving the right to return, but only if there is a threat to their satisfaction. Satisfied passion ceases to be passion. Only an unsatisfied desire, an unsatisfied need possesses energy. For example, the satisfied need for food, satisfied hunger no longer plays any role in the current dynamics of the individual's behavior.

This thesis is based to some extent on the hypothesis, the essence of which is that the degree of individual resistance to deprivation of a particular need depends on the completeness and regularity of satisfaction of this need in the past.

The need for security. After satisfaction of physiological needs, their place in the motivational life of an individual is occupied by needs of another level, which in the most general form can be combined into the category of security (the need for security; for stability; for dependence; for protection; for freedom from fear, anxiety and chaos; the need for structure, order, law, restrictions; other needs). Almost everything that has been said above about physiological urges can be applied to these needs or desires. Like physiological needs, these desires can also dominate the body. They can usurp the right to organize behavior by subordinating to their will all the possibilities of the organism and aiming them at achieving security, in which case we can rightfully consider the organism as an instrument for ensuring security. Just as in the case of the physiological urge, we can say that the receptors, effectors, mind, memory, and all other faculties of the individual in this situation are turned into a security tool. Just like in the case of a hungry man, the main objective not only determines the perception of the individual, but also predetermines his philosophy of the future, the philosophy of values. For such a person, there is no more urgent need than the need for security (sometimes even physiological needs, if they are satisfied, are regarded by him as secondary, insignificant). If this condition is gaining extreme strength or becomes chronic, then we say that the person thinks only about safety.

Although we intend to discuss the motivation of an adult, it seems to me that in order to better understand the need for security, it makes sense to observe children in whom the needs of this circle manifest themselves more simply and clearly. The infant reacts to threat much more directly than the adult, and has not yet been taught by upbringing and cultural influences to suppress and restrain his reactions. An adult, even feeling threatened, can hide his feelings, soften their manifestations so much that they go unnoticed by an outside observer. The reaction of the infant is holistic, he reacts with his whole being to a sudden threat - to noise, bright light, rough touch, loss of mother and other sharp sensory stimulation.

The need for security in children is also manifested in their craving for constancy, for ordering Everyday life. The child is clearly more to his taste when the world around him is predictable, measured, organized. Any injustice or manifestation of inconsistency, inconstancy on the part of the parents causes anxiety and anxiety in the child. Contrary to the popular belief that the child strives for unlimited freedom, permissiveness, child psychologists, teachers and psychotherapists constantly discover that certain limits, certain restrictions are internally necessary for the child, that he needs them. Or, to formulate this conclusion more correctly, the child prefers to live in an orderly and structured world, he is oppressed by unpredictability.

The startle reaction in properly cared for children occurs only as a result of a collision with such objects and situations that are dangerous even for an adult.

The need for security of a healthy and successful member of our culture is usually satisfied. In a normal society, in healthy people, the need for security manifests itself only in mild forms, for example, in the form of a desire to get a job in a company that provides its employees with social guarantees, in attempts to save money for a "rainy day", in the very existence of various types of insurance (medical, insurance against job loss or disability, pension insurance).

The need for security and stability also reveals itself in conservative behavior, in its most general form. Most people tend to prefer familiar and familiar things. It seems to me that the craving for security to some extent also explains the exclusively human need for religion, for worldview, the human desire to explain the principles of the universe and determine one's place in the universe. It can be assumed that science and philosophy as such are to some extent motivated by the need for security (later we will talk about other motives that underlie scientific, philosophical and religious quests).

The need for security rarely acts as an active force; it dominates only in critical, extreme situations, prompting the body to mobilize all its forces to fight the threat. Critical or extreme situations we call wars, diseases, natural disasters, outbreaks of crime, social crises, neurosis, brain damage, as well as situations characterized by chronically unfavorable, threatening conditions.

Some adult neurotics in their desire for security are likened to small children, although the external manifestations of this need in them are somewhat different from those of children. Everything unknown, everything unexpected causes them a reaction of fear, and this fear is not due to physical, but psychological threat. The neurotic perceives the world as dangerous, threatening, hostile. The neurotic lives in an unrelenting foreboding of catastrophe, he sees danger in any surprise. The inescapable desire for security makes him look for a protector, strong personality, on which he could rely, in which he could completely trust or even obey, like a messiah, a leader, a Fuhrer.

It would be logical to assume that the unexpected threat of chaos in most people causes a regression of motivation from its highest levels to the level of security. The natural and predictable reaction of society to such situations are calls to restore order, and at any cost, even at the cost of dictatorship and violence.

The need for belonging and love. After the needs of the physiological level and the needs of the security level are sufficiently satisfied, the need for love, affection, belonging is actualized, and the motivational spiral begins a new round. A person, as never before, acutely begins to feel the lack of friends, the absence of a loved one, a wife or children. He longs for warm, friendly relations, he needs social group who would provide him with such a relationship, a family that would accept him as their own. It is this goal that becomes the most significant and most important for a person. He may no longer remember that once, when he was in need and was constantly hungry, the very concept of “love” did not cause him anything but a contemptuous smile. Now he is tormented by a feeling of loneliness, painfully experiencing his rejection, looking for his roots, soul mate, friend.

We have to admit that we have very little scientific data on this need, although it is precisely this need that appears as a central theme of novels, autobiographical sketches, poetry, dramaturgy, and also the latest sociological literature. These sources give us the most general idea of ​​the destructive influence on the child's psyche of such factors as frequent family moves from one place of residence to another; industrialization and the resulting general hypermobility of the population; lack of roots or loss of roots; loss of a sense of home, separation from family, friends, neighbors; a constant feeling of being in the role of a visitor, an alien, a stranger. We are not yet accustomed to the idea that it is extremely important for a person to know that he lives in his homeland, at home, next to people close and understandable to him, that he is surrounded by “his own”, that he belongs to a certain clan, group, collective, class.

I think that the rapid development of so-called meetup groups and other personal growth groups, as well as interest clubs, is to some extent dictated by the unquenched thirst for communication, the need for closeness, belonging, the desire to overcome feelings of loneliness. I get the impression that the cementing part of the teenage gangs - I don’t know how many of them and what percentage they make up of the total number - became an unquenched thirst for communication, a desire for unity in the face of an enemy, and it doesn’t matter which enemy. The very existence of the image of the enemy, the very threat that this image contains, contributes to the cohesion of the group.

The inability to satisfy the need for love and belonging, as a rule, leads to maladjustment, and sometimes to a more serious pathology. Our society has developed an ambivalent attitude towards love and tenderness, and especially towards the sexual ways of expressing these feelings; almost always, the manifestation of love and tenderness comes up against one or another taboo or restriction. Almost all theorists of psychopathology agree that adaptation disorders are based on an unsatisfied need for love and affection. Numerous clinical studies have been devoted to this topic, as a result of which we know more about this need than about any other, except perhaps for the needs of the physiological level. I have to make a reservation that in our understanding "love" is not a synonym for "sex". As such, we analyze the sexual drive in terms of physiological urges. However, when it comes to sexual behavior, we must emphasize that it is determined not only by sexual desire, but also by a number of other needs, and the need for love and affection is the first among them. In addition, we should not forget that the need for love has two sides: a person wants to love and be loved.

Need for recognition. Each person (with rare exceptions associated with pathology) constantly needs recognition, a stable and, as a rule, high assessment of his own merits, each of us needs respect for the people around us, and the opportunity to respect ourselves. The needs of this level are divided into two classes. The first includes desires and aspirations associated with the concept of "achievement". A person needs a sense of his own power, adequacy, competence, he needs a sense of confidence, independence and freedom. In the second class of needs, we include the need for reputation or prestige (we define these concepts as respect for others), the need to gain status, attention, recognition, fame. The question of these needs is only indirectly raised in the writings of Alfred Adler and his followers, and hardly touched upon in the works of Freud. Today, however, psychoanalysts and clinical psychologists tend to attribute greater value the needs of this class.

Satisfying the need for evaluation, respect gives the individual a sense of self-confidence, a sense of self-worth, strength, adequacy, a feeling that he is useful and necessary in this world. An unsatisfied need, on the contrary, causes him a feeling of humiliation, weakness, helplessness, which, in turn, serve as the basis for despondency, trigger compensatory and neurotic mechanisms.

The need for self-actualization. Even if all the above needs of a person are satisfied, we have the right to expect that he will soon again feel dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction because he is doing something completely different from what he is predisposed to. It is clear that a musician must make music, an artist must paint pictures, and a poet must compose poetry, if, of course, they want to live in peace with themselves. Man must be what he can be. Man feels that he must conform to his own nature. This need can be called the need for self-actualization.

The term "self-actualization", coined by Kurt Goldstein, is used in a somewhat narrower, more specific sense. Speaking of self-actualization, I mean the desire of a person for self-embodiment, for the actualization of the potentialities inherent in him. This desire can be called the desire for idiosyncrasy, for identity.

Obviously, different people express this need in different ways. One person wants to become an ideal parent, another strives to achieve sports heights, the third tries to create or invent. It seems that at this level of motivation it is almost impossible to delineate the limits of individual differences.

As a rule, a person begins to feel the need for self-actualization only after he has satisfied the needs of the lower levels.

Prerequisites for meeting basic needs. You can name a number of social conditions necessary to meet basic needs; improper fulfillment of these conditions can directly prevent the satisfaction of basic needs. Among these conditions are: freedom of speech, freedom of choice of activity (that is, a person is free to do whatever he wants, as long as his actions do not harm other people), freedom of expression, the right to research activity and information, the right to self-defense, as well as a social order characterized by justice, honesty and order. Failure to comply with these conditions, violation of rights and freedoms is perceived by a person as a personal threat. These conditions cannot be classified as final goals, but people often put them on a par with basic needs, which have the exclusive right to this proud title. People fight fiercely for these rights and freedoms precisely because, having lost them, they risk losing the opportunity to satisfy their basic needs.

If we remember that cognitive abilities (perceptual, intellectual, learning ability) not only help a person in adaptation, but also serve to satisfy his basic needs, then it becomes clear that the impossibility of realizing these abilities, any deprivation of them or a ban on them automatically threatens to satisfy basic needs. Only by agreeing with such a formulation of the question, we can come closer to understanding the origins of human curiosity, the inexhaustible desire for knowledge, wisdom, the discovery of truth, the inescapable zeal in resolving the mysteries of eternity and being. Concealment of the truth, censorship, lack of truthful information, prohibition of communication threaten the satisfaction of all basic needs.

Need for knowledge and understanding. We know little about cognitive impulses, and mainly because they are not very noticeable in the clinical picture of psychopathology, they simply have no place in the clinic, at least in a clinic that professes a medical-therapeutic approach, where all the forces of the staff are thrown into the fight against the disease. . In cognitive urges there is not that quirkiness and passion, that intrigue that distinguishes neurotic symptoms. Cognitive psychopathology is inexpressive, barely perceptible, it often manages to elude exposure and present itself as the norm. She doesn't call for help.

So far, we have only casually mentioned cognitive needs. The desire for knowledge of the universe and its systematization was considered by us either as a means of achieving a basic sense of security, or as a kind of need for self-actualization, which is characteristic of smart, educated people. Discussing the prerequisites necessary to meet basic needs, among other rights and freedoms, we spoke about the human right to information and freedom of expression. But everything that we have said so far does not yet allow us to judge what place curiosity, the need for knowledge, the craving for philosophy and experiment, etc., occupies in the general structure of motivation, all our judgments about cognitive needs, voiced earlier, at best, can be considered a hint at the existence of a problem.

We have enough reason to say that the human desire for knowledge is based not only on negative determinants (anxiety and fear), but also on positive impulses, impulses per se, the need for knowledge, curiosity, the need for interpretation and understanding.

1. A phenomenon similar to human curiosity can also be observed in higher animals. The monkey, having discovered an object unknown to it, tries to take it apart, sticks its finger into all the holes and cracks - in a word, it demonstrates a pattern of exploratory behavior that is not associated with either physiological urges, or fear, or the search for comfort. Harlow's experiments can also be considered an argument in favor of our thesis, quite convincing and quite correct from an empirical point of view.

2. The history of mankind knows many examples of a selfless striving for truth, which encounters misunderstanding of others, attacks, and even a real threat to life. God knows how many people have repeated the fate of Galileo.

3. All psychologically healthy people are united by one common feature: they are all attracted towards chaos, towards the mysterious, unknown, unexplained. It is these characteristics that constitute the essence of attractiveness for them; any area, any phenomenon that possesses them is of interest to these people. And vice versa - everything known, sorted out, interpreted causes boredom in them.

4. Extrapolations from the field of psychopathology can give us a lot of valuable information. Compulsive-obsessional neurotics (as well as neurotics in general), soldiers with traumatic brain injuries described by Goldstein, Mayer's experiments with rats - in all cases we are dealing with an obsessive, anxious craving for everything familiar and a horror of the unfamiliar, unknown, unexpected, unusual, unstructured.

5. One gets the impression that the frustration of cognitive needs can cause serious psychopathology. This is also evidenced by a number of clinical observations.

6. In my practice, there were several cases when I had to admit that pathological symptoms (apathy, loss of the meaning of life, dissatisfaction with oneself, general somatic depression, intellectual degradation, degradation of tastes, etc.) in people with a sufficiently developed intellect were caused solely by the mere need to vegetate in a boring, stupid job. Several times I tried appropriate cognitive therapy methods (I advised the patient to apply for a correspondence course at the university or change jobs), and, imagine, it helped.

I had to deal with many smart and wealthy women who were not busy with any business, as a result of which their intellect was gradually destroyed. I usually told them to do something, and if they followed my advice, I saw them improve or even recover completely, which again convinces me that cognitive needs exist.

7. The need to know and understand is already evident in late infancy. In a child, it is expressed, perhaps, even more clearly than in an adult. Children don't need to be taught to be curious. Children can be weaned from curiosity, and it seems to me that this tragedy is unfolding in our kindergartens and schools.

8. And, finally, the satisfaction of cognitive needs brings a person - forgive me this tautology! - a feeling of deepest satisfaction, it becomes a source of higher, ultimate experiences. Very often, when discussing cognition, we do not distinguish this process from the learning process, and as a result, we evaluate it only from the point of view of the result, completely forgetting about the feelings associated with comprehension, insight, insight. Meanwhile, the real happiness of a person is associated precisely with these moments of participation in the highest truth. I dare to say that it is these bright, emotionally saturated moments that only have the right to be called the best moments of human life.

aesthetic needs. We know less about these needs than about any others, but this uncomfortable (for the natural scientist) topic does not allow us to ignore the convincing arguments in favor of its significance, which are generously provided to us by the history of mankind, ethnographic data and observations of people who are called aesthetes. I have made several attempts to examine these needs in the clinic, on individuals, and I can say that some people do have these needs, some people actually have them. Such people, deprived of aesthetic pleasures surrounded by ugly things and people, literally fall ill, and this disease is very specific. Beauty is the best cure for it. Such people look exhausted, and only beauty can cure their infirmity. Aesthetic needs are found in almost any healthy child. One or another evidence of their existence can be found in any culture, at any stage of human development, starting with primitive man.

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF BASIC NEEDS
A measure of the rigidity of a hierarchical structure. When we talk about the hierarchy of prepotency, one might get the impression that we are talking about some kind of rigidly fixed structure of needs. But in reality, the hierarchy of needs is not at all as stable as it might seem at first glance. The basic needs of most of the people we studied, in general terms, obeyed the described order, but there were exceptions to this rule.

1. For some people, for example, the need for self-affirmation manifests itself as more urgent than the need for love. This is the most common case of reversion and is based on the idea that strong, powerful people, people who inspire respect and even fear, people who are self-confident, behave offensively and aggressively, deserve more love, or at least , with great right enjoy its fruits. It is precisely because of this notion that a person who lacks love and who is looking for it can demonstrate self-confident, aggressive behavior. But in this case, self-respect is not the ultimate goal, it acts as a means of satisfying another need. Such people take an active, offensive position, not for the sake of self-affirmation as such, but in order to achieve love.

2. The creative needs of people with a pronounced creative potential seem to be more important, more significant than any others. We must pay tribute to such people - the need they feel to actualize their creative potential is not always caused by the saturation of basic needs, very often they create in spite of dissatisfaction.

3. A person can forever remain at one, rather low level of motivational life, he can put up with his "earthly" needs, forget about the very existence of higher goals of human existence or refuse them. For example, a person who once suffered hardships, for example, a former unemployed person, until the end of his days can only rejoice that he is full.

4. The psychopath is another example of the loss of the need for love. As clinical studies show, a psychopath who experienced a lack of love in early childhood permanently loses the desire and ability to receive and give love (just as sucking and pecking reflexes fade in animals if they do not receive sufficient reinforcement in the first days of life).

5. Another example of the substitution of needs can be found in those cases when a person, without encountering any obstacles in the way of satisfying his desires, does not comprehend the full value of what is given to him. People who do not know what hunger is, how severely ordeals a hungry person undergoes, with all conviction consider food to be something unimportant, insignificant.

6. It may very well be that the appearance of reversion arises also because we are trying to talk about the hierarchy of prepotency in terms of conscious desires and aspirations rather than in terms of behavior. It is known that behavior does not always reflect the motives behind it. Speaking of the hierarchy of needs, we are only arguing that a person who has two needs not satisfied will prefer to first satisfy a more basic, and therefore more urgent need. But this in no way means that the behavior of this person will be determined precisely by this need. I consider it necessary to emphasize once again that the needs and desires of a person are not the only determinants of his behavior.

7. Of all the cases of reversion, perhaps the most valuable are those associated with higher social norms with the highest ideals and values. People who are devoted to such ideals and values ​​are ready to endure hardships, torment and even death for their sake. We can better understand the feelings of these people if we agree with the underlying concept (or hypothesis), which, in summary, is as follows: the satisfaction of basic needs in early childhood lays the foundation for increased frustration tolerance. It can be assumed that people who have been satisfied in their basic needs for most of their lives, and especially in early childhood, develop a special immunity to the possible frustration of these needs.

A measure of the satisfaction of a need. I am afraid that our reasoning may push the reader's thoughts in the wrong direction. It may seem that the hierarchy of the five groups of needs described by us indicates a specific dependence - it is worth, they say, to satisfy one need, as another immediately takes its place. From this, the following erroneous conclusion may follow - the emergence of a need is possible only after one hundred percent satisfaction of the underlying need. In fact, almost any healthy member of our society can be said to be both satisfied and unsatisfied in all of their basic needs. Our understanding of the hierarchy of needs will be more realistic if we introduce the concept of a measure of satisfaction of needs and say that lower needs are always satisfied to a greater extent than higher ones. If, for the sake of clarity, we use specific figures, albeit conditional, it turns out that the average citizen has physiological needs satisfied, for example, by 85%, the need for security is satisfied by 70%, the need for love - by 50%, the need for self-esteem - by 40%, and the need for self-actualization - by 10%.

The term "need satisfaction measure" allows us to better understand the thesis about the actualization of a higher need after satisfaction of a lower one. It should be especially emphasized that the process of actualization of needs is not sudden, not explosive, but rather one should speak of a gradual actualization of higher needs, of a slow awakening and activation. For example, if need A is satisfied only by 10%, then need B may not be detected at all. However, if need A is satisfied by 25%, then need B is “awakened” by 5%, and when need A receives 75% satisfaction, then need B can reveal itself by all 50% and so on.

The unconscious nature of needs. It is impossible to say unequivocally about basic needs that they are unconscious or, conversely, conscious. However, as a rule, in the average person they still have an unconscious nature. I do not think it would be reasonable to present here all the huge amount of clinical data that testifies to the extremely important role of unconscious motivation. The needs that we call basic are either not realized at all or are partially realized by the majority of people, although, of course, especially refined, especially sensitive people are capable of full awareness. There are a number of special techniques designed specifically to help a person become aware of their unconscious needs.

Needs and culture, general and particular. The classification proposed above is based on the idea of ​​the universal nature of basic needs and is an attempt to overcome those visible, superficial differences that are found in the specific desires of representatives of different cultures.

Our classification of basic needs is due to the desire to find something in common that unites all people, regardless of their skin color, nationality, lifestyle, habits, demeanor, and other external things. We are not ready to state with all certainty that our classification is the ultimate truth, that it is universal for absolutely all cultures. We are only arguing that basic needs are a much more universal characteristic of man than his conscious desires.

Multiple motivation behavior. None of the needs we have mentioned almost ever becomes the only, all-consuming motive for human behavior. This can be confirmed by studies of such forms of behavior that are commonly called physiologically motivated, for example, studies of eating or sexual behavior. Clinical psychologists have long known that a variety of impulses can be expressed through the same behavioral act. In other words, almost any behavioral act is determined by a variety of motives. If we talk about motivational determinants, then behavior, as a rule, is determined not by one single need, but by a combination of several or all basic needs. If we are faced with a behavioral act in which we can identify the only determinant, the only motive, then we must understand that we are dealing with an exception. A person eats in order to get rid of the feeling of emptiness in the stomach, but this is not the only reason. A person also eats because he strives for comfort, for safety, or in this way he tries to satisfy his other needs. A person makes love not only under the influence of sexual desire. For one, sexual intercourse serves as a way of male self-affirmation, for another it is an opportunity to dominate, to feel strong, the third, making love, is looking for warmth and sympathy.

Multiple determination of behavior. Basic needs do not predetermine all human behavior. It can even be said that not every behavioral act necessarily has some kind of motive. There are other, besides motives, determinants of behavior. One of the most important determinants is the external environment, or the so-called field. All human behavior can, at least theoretically, be determined by the influences of the environment or even by some one, specific, isolated external stimulus, and we call such behavior as associative or conditioned reflex. If, in response to the stimulus word "table," a picture of a table or a chair instantly appears in my head, then, obviously, this reaction has nothing to do with my basic needs.

It is also necessary to take into account the differences between expressive and functional (or goal-directed) behavior. Expressive behavior has no purpose, it is nothing more than a reflection of personality, individuality. A fool behaves foolishly not because he wants to look like a fool or tries to act so, but simply because he is what he is. The same can be said for a singer who sings with a bass rather than a tenor or soprano. Spontaneous movements of a healthy child, a smile that illuminates the face of a happy person, a cheerful, springy gait of a young, healthy man, his always straightened shoulders - all these are examples of expressive, non-functional behavior. General style, manner of behavior, both motivated and unmotivated, can themselves be considered expressive behavior.

Anthropocentrism versus zoocentrism. As a starting point in this theory of motivation, we took a person, and not some lower, simpler animal. We did so because too many of the conclusions drawn from animal experiments, indisputable in relation to animals, turn out to be completely unacceptable when we try to extend them to man. I don't understand why so many researchers who want to investigate human motivation start with animal experiments. Moreover, the logic, or rather the illogicality of this general pursuit of pseudo-simplicity, is imposed on us not only by natural scientists, it is often followed by philosophers and logicians. If we agree that the study of man must necessarily be preceded by the study of animals, then it is not difficult to take the next step and declare that, before undertaking psychology, one must thoroughly study, for example, mathematics.

MOTIVATION AND THEORY OF PSYCHOPATHOGENESIS

So, we evaluate the content of conscious motivation as more or less important, depending on the extent to which it is related to basic goals. The desire to eat ice cream can be an indirect expression of the need for love, in which case it is an extremely important motivation. But if the reason for your need for ice cream is purely external, if you are hot and you simply want something cool, or if you suddenly have an appetite, then this desire can be classified as insignificant. I urge you to treat everyday conscious desires only as symptoms, as external manifestations of other, more basic needs and desires. If, however, we take them at face value, if we begin to evaluate the motivational life of an individual by these external, superficial symptoms, if we are too lazy to look for their background, we can be very much mistaken.

Barriers that stand in the way of satisfying external, insignificant desires do not threaten a person with anything significant, but if important, basic needs turn out to be unsatisfied, he is threatened by psychopathology. Therefore, any theory of psychopathogenesis must be based on the correct theory of motivation. Conflict or frustration do not necessarily lead to pathology, but they become serious pathogenic factors when they threaten the satisfaction of basic needs or those partial desires that are closely related to basic needs.

WHAT IS REMAINING OF THE NEEDS AFTER ITS SATISFACTION
I'm almost ready to argue that a person, having satisfied his basic need, whether it be the need for love, security or self-respect, loses it. If we assume this need behind him, then it is no more than in a metaphysical sense, in the same sense in which a well-fed person is hungry, and a bottle filled with wine is empty. If we are interested in what really drives a person, and not in what he was, will be or can be moved, then we must recognize that a satisfied need cannot be considered as a motive. From a practical point of view, it would be correct to consider that this need no longer exists, that it has died out. I consider it necessary to emphasize this point, since in all the theories of motivation known to me it is either bypassed or interpreted in a completely different way.

Based on the foregoing, I declare with all frankness and sharpness that a person who is unsatisfied in any of the basic needs, we must consider as a sick or at least "subhuman" person. Nothing stops us when we call sick people suffering from a lack of vitamins and microelements. But who said that the lack of love is less harmful to the body than the lack of vitamins? Knowing about the pathogenic effect of unrequited love on the body, who will undertake to accuse me of being unscientific on the sole ground that I am trying to introduce into the sphere of scientific consideration such an “unscientific” problem as the problem of values? The therapist, faced with scurvy or pellagra, talks about the role of vitamins, with the same right the psychologist talks about values. Following this analogy, we can say that the main driving force of a healthy person is the need to develop and fully actualize the abilities inherent in him.

If a person constantly feels the influence of another need, he cannot be considered a healthy person. He is sick, and this disease is as serious as a violation of the salt or calcium balance.

This statement may seem paradoxical to you. In that case, I hasten to assure you that this paradox is only one of many that await us as we explore the depths of human motivation. It is impossible to understand the essence of a person without asking himself the question: “What does this person need from life, what is he looking for in it?”

FUNCTIONAL AUTONOMY
Gordon Allport formulated and introduced into scientific use the principle that the means to achieve the goal can replace the goal and in itself become a source of satisfaction, that is, it can become an end in itself in the mind of the individual. This principle once again convinces us that learning plays a crucial role in human motivation. But this is not essential, but the fact that it forces us to reconsider all the laws of human motivation outlined above. Allport's paradox in no way contradicts them, it complements and develops them. The question of how appropriate it is to consider these means-ends as basic needs and to what extent they satisfy the criteria put forward above for classifying needs as basic needs remains open and requires special studies.

Be that as it may, we have already seen that for basic needs that are satisfied quite constantly and enough long time, no longer have such a significant impact neither the conditions necessary for their satisfaction, nor the very fact of their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. If a person in early childhood was surrounded by love, attention and care of loved ones, if his needs for security, belonging and love were satisfied, then, as an adult, he will be more independent of these needs than the average person. I am inclined to believe that so-called strong character is the most important consequence of functional autonomy. A strong, healthy, autonomous person is not afraid of the judgment of other people, he does not seek their love and does not curry favor with them, and this ability is due to a sense of basic satisfaction. His sense of security and belonging, his love and self-respect, are functionally autonomous or, in other words, independent of the fact that the underlying need has been satisfied.

Literature

1. Allport, G., Pattern and Growth in Personality, New York: Holt, Rinehart Winston. 1961.
2. Allport, G., Personality and Social Encounter, Boston: Beacon, 1960.
3. Allport, G., and Vemon, P. E., Studies in the Expressive Movement, New York: Macmillan, 1933.
4. Cannon, W.G. Wisdom of the Body. New York: Norton, 1932.
5. Goldfarb, W., Psychological privation in infancy and subsequent adjustment. Am. J. Orthopsychiat., 1945, 15, 247-255.
6. Goldstein, K., The Organism, New York: American Book, 1939.
7. Harlow.H.F., Leaming motivated by a manipulation drive. J. exptl. Psychol., 1950 40, 228-234.
8. Honey, K., The Neurotic Personality of Our Time, New York: Norton, 1937.
9. Honey, K., Neurosis and Human Growth, New York: Norton, 1950.
10. Maier, N.R.F., Studies of Abnormal Behavior in the Rat, New York: Harper & Row, 1939.
11. Maslow, A.H., Toward a Psychology of Being, 2nd ed., New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968.
12. Maslow, A.H., The influence of familiarization on preference, J. Exptl. Psychol. 1937, 21, 162-180,
13. Maslow, A. H., A theory of metamotivation: the biological rooting of the value-life, J. humanistic Psychol, 1967, 7, 93-127.
14. Rand, A., The Fountainhead, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1943.
15. Wolff, W., The Expression of Personality, New York: Harper & Row, 1943.
16. Young, R.T., Appetite, palatability and feeding habit; a critical review, Psychol. Bull., 1948, 45, 289-320.
17. Young, P. T., The experimental analysis of appetite, Psychol. Bull., 1941, 38, 129-164.

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