spurious...
A search for "Maslow is wrong" turns up this post on the
homepage of Keith Lynch, written by Scott Badger in 1998:
"The most recently touted research in personality was
conducted by Dr. Reiss at The Ohio State University.
3500 subjects completed a 350 item survey (Psychological
Assessments, June 1998). He factor analyzed the results
and came up with 15 relatively distinct motivators (or
what others would simply call needs).
"I suspect that to the degree that one can satisfy this
mix of needs in any given environment over time, one
"feels good". Some have conflicting needs however and
will find it more difficult than others whose needs are
more congruent. Reiss believes the strength [of] these
needs are at least partially determined through genetics.
He also stated, interestingly enough, that Maslow's
hierarchy of needs theory was never supported by research
and his study suggests that Maslow is wrong. Reiss further
claims that the profiles generated by his instrument are
highly predictive of behavior. An article appears in the
08/03/98 edition of the Dallas Morning News for those who
have an interest."
http://keithlynch.net/cryonet/101/80.html
If you explore the links given by pinkfreud-ga, you will
see that Maslow, himself, noted that his findings had
not been supported by subsequent independent research:
"Indeed, Maslow himself wrote in his journal in 1962 that
'My motivation theory was published 20 years ago, & in
all that time nobody repeated it, or tested it, or
really analyzed it or criticized it. They just used it,
swallowed it whole with only the most minor modifications'"
http://www.ualberta.ca/~holson/589/cullen/maslow.htm
The other link which resulted from the search for "Maslow
is wrong" led to a citation of an empirical study by
Grahm & Ballow (1973), which is summarized as saying
"Maslow is wrong w/ hierarchy of needs
Higher on the scale = less important
Scale needs a flipper-roo"
http://homepage.mac.com/stray/ib/psych/emperical_studies.html
The above is from the website of a Software Engineering
student, Matthew Sheppard, at the University of Australia,
and are notes from his classes. As I said, a search for
that study did not produce results.
I was able to use the Dallas Morning News link:
http://www.dallasnews.com
...to track down the full name of Dr. Reiss, which is
Dr. Steven Reiss. The article in question was not
available for perusal without a subscription, though
you can view the first couple of paragraphs in the
last article cited on this page:
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DM&p_theme=dm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=Steven%20Reiss&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(%22Steven%20Reiss%22)&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no
Searching for:
"June 15, 1998" "Ohio State University" "Steven Reiss" maslow
produced 2 results.
The first is from the website of Joe Vitale, who writes:
"On June 15, 1998, Ohio State University professor and
psychologist Steven Reiss issued a press release
announcing his latest research results. The story
made headlines around the world. It caused
controversy and turned heads upside down."
"It could very well change your life.
What was his disturbing news?"
"Reiss discovered that Maslow---and everyone else who
thought they understood human behavior---was wrong."
"Reiss discovered there are 16, and only 16, basic
desires that motivate our actions and define our
personalities."
"And it's a list no one had ever seen before."
http://www.mrfire.com/archive/oct00.html
The other link is for the book itself, available, used,
on Amazon.com, for as little as $2.42:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/158542045X/104-3784817-5285566?vi=glance
The book is titled 'Who Am I?: The 16 Basic Desires
That Motivate Our Behavior and Define Our Personality'
by Steven Reiss Ph.D.
The review I paraphrased in my clarification, from
Publisher's Weekly, says, in part:
"In 1998, Ohio State University psychology professor
Reiss developed the "Reissprofile," which plotted 16
basic desires that he claims motivate everyone's
choices, actions and attitudes. Eschewing Erickson's
stages of life and Maslow's pyramid of needs, Reiss
surveyed over 6,000 people to identify the 16 factors
that provide a more personalized 'desires profile.'
Scoring high, low or average for each of the desires
creates a unique description of an individual's
sometimes hidden motivations."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/158542045X/104-3784817-5285566?vi=glance
"Steven Reiss, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology
and psychiatry at Ohio State University and the
director of the Nisonger Center for Mental
Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, the
world's leading facility in this area. According
to the Social Science Citation Index, he ranks in
the upper three percent of all psychology professors
worldwide in terms of the impact of his work."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/158542045X/reviews/104-3784817-5285566
According to a 1998 news release by Ohio State University:
"At least 12 of the 15 fundamental desires seem to have
a genetic basis, Reiss said. Only the desires for
citizenship, independence and fear of rejection don’t
appear to have a genetic component. 'Most of these
desires are similar to those seen in animals, and seem
to have some survival value,' Reiss said. 'This
indicates they are genetic in origin.'"
The following is the original list of 15 desires, which
seems to have been expanded to 16 in the book:
"15 Fundamental Human Desires and Values
-Curiosity, desire to learn
-Food, desire to eat
-Honor, (morality) desire to behave in accordance with
code of conduct
-Rejection, fear of social rejection
-Sex, desire for sexual behavior and fantasies
-Physical exercise, desire for physical activity
-Order, desired amount of organization in daily life
-Independence, desire to make own decisions
-Vengeance, desire to retaliate when offended
-Social Contact, desire to be in the company of others
-Family, desire to spend time with own family
-Social Prestige, desire for prestige and positive attention
-Aversive Sensations, aversion to pain and anxiety
-Citizenship, desire for public service and social justice
-Power, desire to influence people"
Contact information for Dr. Reiss is also given at the
bottom of the page from which the above is cited:
http://www.acs.ohio-state.edu/units/research/archive/goals.htm
I have not read the book myself, but it seems clear that
more than one reviewer feels that Dr Reiss proves Maslow
wrong, even if the good doctor does not, himself, make
this claim in the book (although that may actually be the
case).
Naturally, there is much more information available at
the links from which I quoted, above.
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by means of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.
sublime1-ga
Searches done, via Google:
"Maslow is wrong"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22Maslow+is+wrong%22
"June 15, 1998" "Ohio State University" "Steven Reiss" maslow
://www.google.com/search?q=%22June+15%2C+1998%22+%22Ohio+State+University%22+%22Steven+Reiss%22+maslow
Grahm & Ballow (1973)
://www.google.com/search?q=Grahm+%26+Ballow+%281973%29 |
