Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

cognitive approaches to motivation
Theories suggesting that motivation 
is a product of people’s thoughts, ex-
pectations, and goals—their cognitions.
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314 Chapter 
10 
Motivation and Emotion
Only after meeting the basic lower-order needs can a person consider fulfi lling 
higher-order needs, such as the needs for love and a sense of belonging, esteem, and 
self-actualization. Love and belongingness needs include the needs to obtain and give 
affection and to be a contributing member of some group or society. After fulfi lling 
these needs, a person strives for esteem. In Maslow’s thinking, esteem relates to the 
need to develop a sense of self-worth by recognizing that others know and value 
one’s competence. 
Once these four sets of needs are fulfi lled—no easy task—a person is able to 
strive for the highest-level need, self-actualization.  Self-actualization  is a state of 
self-fulfi llment in which people realize their highest potentials in their own unique 
way. Although Maslow fi rst suggested that self-actualization occurred in only a few 
famous individuals, he later expanded the concept to encompass everyday people. 
For example, a parent with excellent nurturing skills who raises a family, a teacher 
who year after year creates an environment that maximizes students’ opportunities 
for success, and an artist who realizes his creative potential all may be self-actualized. 
The important thing is that people feel at ease with themselves and satisfi ed that 
they are using their talents to the fullest. In a sense, achieving self-actualization 
reduces the striving and yearning for greater fulfi llment that mark most people’s 
lives and instead provides a sense of satisfaction with the current state of affairs 
(Piechowski, 2003; Reiss & Havercamp, 2005; Laas, 2006).
Although research has been unable to validate the specifi c ordering of Maslow’s 
stages, and it is diffi cult to measure self-actualization objectively, Maslow’s hierarchy 
of needs is important for two reasons: It highlights the complexity of human needs, 
and it emphasizes the idea that until more basic biological needs are met, people will 
be relatively unconcerned with higher-order needs. For example, if people are hun-
gry, their fi rst interest will be in obtaining food; they will not be concerned with 
needs such as love and self-esteem (Hanley & Abell, 2002; Samantaray, Srivastava, 
& Mishra, 2002; Ojha & Pramanick, 2009).