Maslow's hierarchy & self-actualization

It's the most famous pyramid in psychology, and the NCE tests it relentlessly. Abraham Maslow, a founder of humanistic psychology, argued that human motivation is organized into a hierarchy of needs: lower needs generally must be reasonably satisfied before higher ones become the dominant motivator.

From the base up, the classic five levels are: Physiological (food, water, sleep, air), Safety (security, stability, shelter), Love/Belonging (friendship, intimacy, connection), Esteem (respect, recognition, competence, self-worth), and at the peak, Self-Actualization (realizing one's full potential, becoming all one can be). A hungry, unsafe person is preoccupied with survival, not self-fulfillment — that ordering is the point.

The crucial exam distinction is deficiency needs versus growth needs. The bottom four levels are deficiency needs (D-needs): they arise from lack, and satisfying them reduces the tension (you eat, hunger fades). Self-actualization is a growth need (B-need, or being-need): it's never fully "filled" — pursuing it tends to increase engagement rather than turn it off. Maslow described self-actualized people (studying figures like Lincoln and Einstein) as having qualities like autonomy, acceptance of self and others, spontaneity, deep relationships, and frequent peak experiences. Later, Maslow added self-transcendence above self-actualization in some writings, but the classic tested pyramid is the five-level version.

One nuance examiners like: the hierarchy is not rigidly rigid — needs can overlap, and people may pursue higher needs before lower ones are perfectly met.

Clinical Pearl: Memorize the order bottom-to-top (Physiological → Safety → Love/Belonging → Esteem → Self-Actualization) and the key split: the bottom four are deficiency needs; only self-actualization is a growth (being) need.