Understanding Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Expectancy Theory

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Individuals desire stable jobs, savings, insurance accounts, and religions or philosophies to organize their lives. Following these, the needs for affection, intimacy, and belonging emerge. People seek to love and be loved by family, friends, and partners.

Once the needs for affection are satisfied, the desire to be approved, recognized, and valued by oneself and the community becomes dominant. Finally, people seek self-actualization or growth, striving to develop their potential and achieve their ideals. Maslow argued that these needs are dominant in healthy adults.

The Five Levels of Needs

• Physiological needs: Hunger, thirst, air, and sleep.
• Safety needs: The absence of danger and the need for security.
• Love or social needs: Includes membership, acceptance, and belonging.
• Needs of recognition or value: Refers to achievement, approval, competence, and recognition.
• Need for self-actualization: Realizing individual potential.

Expectancy Theory of Motivation

Motivation is determined by expectations—the belief that current actions will yield specific results in the future. This theory suggests that motivation is not driven from within by emergencies, but is attracted from the outside by the expectation of desired results. These results, known as incentives, can be anything we value, such as money, status, power, or the admiration of others.

Why do people engage in complex, difficult, or painful behaviors—such as working long hours, exercising, or studying late at night? Expectancy theory posits that individuals perform these actions because they believe they will achieve the desired results. In summary, our motivation to engage in activities increases when we expect to receive a valued reward in return.

A. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1970)

What motives or needs influence behavior at any given time? Are some motives more basic than others? Maslow suggests that there is a hierarchy of motives, where it is necessary to satisfy lower-level needs before addressing higher-level ones.

The theory begins with survival needs, which are the strongest and most urgent. These correspond to physiological requirements: food, water, oxygen, sleep, sex, protection from extreme temperatures, sensory stimulation, and activity. These must be met to some extent before other needs emerge; if one remains unsatisfied, it can dominate all others.

Once physiological needs are met, the need to feel safe and secure arises. Children desire routines they can depend on, while adults seek stability and security.