Works
- A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50(4), 1943
- Motivation and Personality, Harper, 1954
In Thinking Tools
Known for
A psychologist who proposed a hierarchy of needs, physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization, in which lower needs generally take priority until they are largely met. He described the shift as gradual, and the familiar pyramid is a later drawing, not his.
Caveat: Reviews of the research, beginning with Wahba and Bridwell in 1976, found little support for a fixed ranking of needs, and the ordering has been criticized as culturally specific.