Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Updated for the 21st century | Scott Barry Kaufman | Big Think

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Updated for the 21st century
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When we imagine Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs, we visualize a pyramid. This is all wrong, says humanistic psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman.

This is because life isn't a video game, where you unlock new levels until you reach the final prize of self-actualization. In fact, Maslow viewed human development as a two steps forward, one step back dynamic.

Kaufman rebuilt Maslow's hierarchy of needs, updating it for the 21st century with a solid scientific foundation. And a better metaphor for this is a sailboat.
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SCOTT BARRY KAUFMAN:

Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., is scientific director of the Imagination Institute in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he investigates the measurement and development of intelligence, imagination, and creativity. He has written or edited six previous books, including Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. He is also co-founder of The Creativity Post, host of The Psychology Podcast, and he writes the blog Beautiful Minds for Scientific American. Kaufman lives in Philadelphia and completed his doctorate in cognitive psychology from Yale University in 2009 and received his masters degree in experimental psychology from Cambridge University in 2005, where he was a Gates Cambridge Scholar.

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TRANSCRIPT:

SCOTT BARRY KAUFMAN: People get a lot of things wrong about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. First of all, Maslow never even drew a pyramid. A lot of people might not know that as you're probably very used to seeing a diagram on Facebook or in your introductory psychology class or management class. So you see this pyramid with self-actualization at the top and different needs. I looked through Maslow's writings, and he never actually drew a pyramid to represent his theory. He actually viewed human – it was very clear to Maslow that life is not a video game. It's not as though you reach some level in life like safety needs and then you reach the safety needs and you get a certain number of that and then some voice from above is like congrats, you've unlocked connection. And then you go do, do, do, do, do and you move up to connection. It's not how life works. And Maslow is very clear about that. In a lot of ways Maslow was a developmental psychologist at heart. He really believed that human development was constantly this two steps forward, one step back dynamic.

We're constantly choosing the growth option, and then we're failing in some way or we have some struggle which is an inevitable part of life. And then we continue forward. Life is not some trek up a mountain and then you reach self-actualization as though you've achieved self-actualization and the final credits come on. Again, continuing the video game metaphor. Life is not like that. Self-development is a process. It's constantly in a form of development and we are constantly becoming, our being in the world is constantly becoming. And Maslow is very clear about that.

Abraham Maslow made it very clear that self-actualization is not the same as achievement. A lot of people in fact may achieve quite a bit in their lives and may be on the cover of magazines, may have all the awards, the whole trophy shelf of their house that they show off and still feel deeply, deeply unfulfilled. We feel much more fulfilled when we actualize our potentialities, our deepest potentials, the things that make us unique, the things that we can uniquely contribute to the world in ways that have a positive impact on the world. Just realizing your talents without the context of the meaning behind it is a recipe for a lot of talented people to live a very unfulfilled life.

So, Maslow defines self-actualization as becoming everything that you're capable of becoming and that you're most uniquely capable of becoming. So we have a lot of things, a lot of potentials that we share with other humans. We have the need for safety. We have the need for connection. We have the need for respect and a certain level of feeling worthy or self-esteem. We share that with others, but Maslow thought of self-actualization as those potentialities within you that, if grown to full heights, will have the biggest impact on the world uniquely. What do you most uniquely have to contribute to this world? I think that's how Maslow really thought about self-actualization. That's how I tend to think about self-actualization...

[jacklu]

"Just realizing your talent without the context of the meaning behind it is a recipe for a lot of talented people to live an unfulfilled life." - SB Kaufman

[MrTwillert]

I’ve always thought of the pyramid as a representation of levels of importance. I’ve never thought of it as levels of achievement. When the needs at the bottom are not met the human mind will automatically concentrate on those needs over the higher needs. For instance when someone is starving they might be more willing to steal than they would if social acceptance was at the forefront of their problems instead of starvation.

[reachsuccessredlyrics]

I have followed Big Think for a long time and I can only say that this channel is AWSOME! This channel have inspired me to start my own channel, I have gotten great response on my videos and I get really happy every time I see that my channel has got a new subscriber

[almostpsych]

What timing! I just submitted an assessment yesterday using his paper as a reference!!! Thank you for sharing!

[PetarStamenkovic]

Lies are evil. Transcendence doesn't make you any less susceptible to being deceived, willfully or otherwise. It's a humbling struggle towards the truth, with love for the good, the true way and life.

[mocurio]

Okay. With due respect, I agree with Mr. Kaufman that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs pyramid is not a perfect tool for human development. Honestly, I don't judge tools like Maslow's Needs Hierarchy pyramid for perfection; I judge them for USEFULNESS. Maslow's Needs Hierarchy pyramid, though not a perfect tool, is a USEFUL TOOL. I'm sure lots of you have books, cartoons, fairy tales, TV shows, & movies that, though are not perfect, are USEFUL to you. (FYI: Disney's cartoon Lion King is a PERFECT & USEFUL tool.)


Let's be clear & honest with ourselves & each other! If you can't eat, how can you work? If you don't have warm housing, how can you work &/or study? If you're sick, how can you go anywhere, or do anything? IF YOU CAN'T SURVIVE (have food, drink, warm housing), YOUR HEALTH DROPS & SAFETY WON'T MATTER! THAT'S WHY people will sell their bodies, or work under slavery (inhumane conditions), just to survive. If you can't survive, how can you think about anything else, let alone safety, relationships, self-esteem & self-actualization?


THEREFORE, IN THIS TIME, Maslow's Needs Hierarchy pyramid is the MOST USEFUL TOOL we have now. THEREFORE, Let's focus on getting the MOST HEALTHY foods & drinks for ourselves & EVERYONE NOW! Let's provide warm safe shelters for EVERYONE NOW! Let's keep ALL environments CLEAN & NEAT, so we saty healthy & LIVE FREE & LIVE WELL, NOW & ALWAYS (ALL THE TIME)!

[azdjedi]

I can't hear anything without a giant white background.

[agodfortheatheistnow]

I call it self ascendancy to differentiate between trying to be being better than others as
Opposed to being the best we can be.

[TheAppledance]

“While safety is important, we must not neglect our higher possibilities in life”

[rosariacaporrimo]

He did draw a pyramid to visualize the hierarchy of needs. It is plain, black and white, and doesn't resemble the "fancy" and colorful diagram with which we are more familiar. It appeared in his 1943 paper, A Theory of Human Motivation.
You're welcome, Dr. Rosaria Caporrimo

[DubTurd]

For those confused about the transcendence part, why are you confused? He basically says that everyone is a bit of everyone. Once you deeply realize this you will understand both the serial killer and the benefactor, your selfishness and your selflessness.

[Brainhoneywalker]

This may be one of the most important things I’ve heard in my entire life. Thank you for this profound and penetrating post!

[gotime]

if your audience are only people in developed countries then the hierarchy is about fulfillment but what about oppressed people in north korea or a starving child in africa? then the hierarchy is about lack of opportunities and they're stuck at trying to get food and shelter

[lauriegonsalves]

You made an entire video to say nothing, although Maslow didn’t use a pyramid what him and other psychologists are trying to state is that if there is a severely developmental issue in any of the stages that’s where an issue with self acutualozation happens. Even false senses of self-actualization because of the damage done in prior stages. Can one heal up and down the pyramid ? Absolutely but in the grand scheme of things and children develop naturally with all these needs met, they have an easier transition to a true sense of self-actualization. Being on the cover of a magazine as self-actualization is feeding ego and screams that somewhere along the way there was damage done to a need maybe abandoned or bullied or constantly ignored felt invisible, neglected hence the jaded perception of self-actualization and the need to feed ego “see world here I am successful, look at me”

[selfelements]

4:41 "There is no wrong, there is no right, the circle only has one side." :)

[BrainsApplied]

Well, this guy is better at explaining things and more interesting than most people on this channel.

[StockInvestmentAnalysis]

Interesting reexamination of Maslow's theory. Your argument certainly makes sense.

[idan]

I like the boat metaphor. It's beautiful!

[DonReedy]

...."What is good for oneself is automatically good for others...."

This seems on its face to be quite the opposite of what Maslow teaches us. In fact, it's a GIANT leap. While transcendence is worthwhile, perhaps ultimately so, it is not, has never been the essence of human existence. What Maslow has right is that we must walk before we run, be safe before we venture out and explore ourselves in context of others. But saying that what's good for one is a ditto for others is simply not logical. Humans are selfish from the womb....and even if you've forgotten your own childhood, just look around at any family for proof of this fact. And if we are born selfish (and I do not mean a moral selfishness, but merely a condition where self is all we know and what we have to feed to grow and survive), then as we temper that selfishness as Maslow concludes in our attempt to move up the hierarchy, it does not follow that what is good for me is good for others. You use the term "uniquely becoming"...and for good reason. Our uniqueness is that which is on display in Maslow's hierarchy. It is not our transcendence.

Sorry, but I appreciate the attempt to expound upon Maslow's concepts, but you've done him no service or favor. And certainly with regard to the value his theory provides in terms of a tool to analyze and move forward in a world where we move in and out of fellowship with other humans, it is best to leave what he created to be used in that manner rather than changing the model to fit another theory.

[cmsegos]

Self-actualization is one's inner potential grown to its full extent. From here, one can have a unique impact on the world.