The Humanistic Approach to Motivation

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) devised a useful though controversial hierarchy
of needs required to satisfy human potential. These needs proceed from
low-level physiological needs such as hunger, thirst, sex, and comfort,
through such other needs as safety, love, and esteem, finally reaching the
highest level, self-actualization. According to Maslow, human beings progress
sequentially through this hierarchy as they develop. Each category of
needs proceeds from the preceding category, and no category is omitted as
the human develops, although the final and highest category, self-actualization,
which includes curiosity, creative living, and fulfilling work, is not necessarily
attained or attainable by all humans.
The humanists stipulate that people’s primary motives are those that lead
toward self-actualization, those that capitalize on the unique potential of
each individual. In educational terms, this means that for education to be effective,
it must emphasize exploration and discovery over memorization
and the rote learning of a set body of material. It must also be highly individualized,
although this does not imply a one-on-one relationship between students
and their teachers. Rather than acting as fonts of knowledge, teachers
become facilitators of learning, directing their students individually to
achieve the actualization of the personal goals that best suit them.
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) traced much psychopathology to conflicts between
people’s inherent understanding of what they require to move toward
self-actualization and society’s expectations, which may run counter to individual
needs. In other words, as many people develop and pass through the
educational system, they may be encouraged or required to adopt goals that
are opposed to those that are most realistic for them. Humanistic views of
human development run counter to the views of most of the psychodynamic
and behaviorist psychologists concerned with learning theory and motivation
as it relates to such theory.