To reach any conclusion as to the merits of the Pyramid Builder we must begin with the well-accepted motivational theories of A. H. Maslow and his groundbreaking Hierarchy of Needs.

Abraham Harold Maslow (1908–1970) received his PhD in 1934 from the University of Wisconsin and served as the chair of the Psychology Department at Brandeis University from 1951 to 1969. Maslow is recognized as one of the greatest influences on contemporary psychology and one of the founders of humanistic psychology. His work focused on positive mental health and laid the foundation for the human side of management. In 1943, he wrote a seminal research paper entitled, “A Theory of Human Motivation.” In this paper he presented his “Hierarchy of Needs,” for which he is most noted. He postulated that there are five distinct needs or drives that motivate all individuals (subsequently, in 1970, Maslow added two additional needs). His theory states that all humans begin at the first need and rise to the higher needs as the previous ones are satisfied. He also taught that one could not jump a need and that it was possible to fall back to a lower need if disequilibrium occurred, for example, the loss of one’s job. In addition, he theorized that fewer and fewer people reach the higher needs and that very few actually attain “self-actualization” (he postulated less than 2% of the population).

Need 1 – Physiological Needs

These needs are most commonly food, water, and clothing. Maslow wrote that these are the most dominant and that an individual can think of nothing else unless these basic needs are satisfied.

Need 2 – Safety Needs

These needs include a home, a job, adequate fire and police protection, a functioning national defense. Maslow states, “All that has been said of the physiological needs is equally true, although to a lesser degree, of these desires.”

Need 3 – Belongingness and Love Needs

These needs are love, affection, and belonging. If both the physiological and the safety needs are met, then the individual will seek to satisfy these third needs. Maslow states, “Now the person will feel keenly, as never before, the absence of friends, or a sweetheart, or a wife, or children. He will hunger for affectionate relations with people in general, namely, for a place in his group, and he will strive with great intensity to achieve this goal.

Need 4 – Esteem Needs

These needs are self-confidence, worth, self-esteem, and the esteem of others. Maslow noted that, “…these needs may be classified into two subsidiary sets. These are first, the desire for strength, for achievement, for adequacy, for confidence in the face of the world, and for independence of freedom. Secondly, we have what we may call the desire for reputation or prestige (defining it as respect or prestige from other people), recognition, attention, importance, or appreciation… Satisfaction of the self-esteem needs leads to feelings of self-confidence, worth, strength, capability, and adequacy of being useful and necessary in the world.”

Need 5 – Cognitive Needs

These needs are the desires to know and to understand. As Maslow noted, “they include curiosity, learning, philosophy, experimenting, etc.” Maslow stated further, “…there are some reasonable grounds for postulating positive per se impulses to satisfy curiosity, to know, to explain, and to understand.

Need 6 – Aesthetic Needs

These needs are the need for order, structure, balance, symmetry, and beauty. They encompass what the classic arts have provided for centuries.

Need 7 – Need for Self-Actualization

Even if all the preceding needs are satisfied, Maslow believed, “that a new discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he is fitted for.” This term, “self-actualization”, refers to self-fulfillment and the desire to become more like what one is capable of becoming. “The clear emergence of this need rests upon prior satisfaction of the [other] needs. We shall call people who are satisfied in these needs, basically satisfied people, and it is from these that we may expect the fullest (and healthiest) creatures.” Maslow goes on to say, “The specific form that these needs will take will of course vary greatly from person to person. In one individual it may take the form of the desire to be an ideal mother, in another it may be expressed athletically, and in still another it may be expressed in painting pictures or in inventions. At this level, individual differences are greatest.”

It should be noted that towards the end of his life, Maslow expanded his definition of self-actualization to include what he called “transcendence.” This is the need or desire to help others reach self-actualization and the need to connect spiritually with a greater being and a greater common good. He believed that this spiritual need occurred in those self-actualizers that had “peak experiences” on a frequent basis.

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