Basically, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a myth, and everyone would be better off forgetting about it entirely.
Not necessarily; it depends on what one’s default or alternative theory would be. Let’s be Bayesian, after all.
As I interpret it, “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs” is little more than the claim that people’s goals depend on their internal sense of security and status (in addition to whatever else they might depend on).
When I speak about it, I’m usually talking about something like a spectrum of exogenous vs. endogenous motivation: at one end you have someone being chased by a wild animal (thus maximally influenced by the environment), and at the other, the Nietzschean “superhuman” who lives only according to their own values, rather than channeling or being a tool of anyone or anything else (thus minimally influenced by the environment in some sense, although obviously everything is ultimately a product of some external force).
Not necessarily; it depends on what one’s default or alternative theory would be.
Self-determination theory is the standard alternative theory I usually point to (which also incorporates the spectrum of exogenous vs. endogenous motivation, but which I don’t think the hierarchy of needs as usually conceived does).
Thanks for the link; that’ll be useful to refer to.
Of course, I on the contrary do think the hierarchy of needs is suggestive of this, as evidenced by the fact that I specifically interpreted it that way!
Not necessarily; it depends on what one’s default or alternative theory would be. Let’s be Bayesian, after all.
As I interpret it, “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs” is little more than the claim that people’s goals depend on their internal sense of security and status (in addition to whatever else they might depend on).
When I speak about it, I’m usually talking about something like a spectrum of exogenous vs. endogenous motivation: at one end you have someone being chased by a wild animal (thus maximally influenced by the environment), and at the other, the Nietzschean “superhuman” who lives only according to their own values, rather than channeling or being a tool of anyone or anything else (thus minimally influenced by the environment in some sense, although obviously everything is ultimately a product of some external force).
Self-determination theory is the standard alternative theory I usually point to (which also incorporates the spectrum of exogenous vs. endogenous motivation, but which I don’t think the hierarchy of needs as usually conceived does).
Thanks for the link; that’ll be useful to refer to.
Of course, I on the contrary do think the hierarchy of needs is suggestive of this, as evidenced by the fact that I specifically interpreted it that way!