VIEW OF MOTIVATION

• First, Maslow (1970) adopted a holistic approach to motivation: That is, the whole person, not any single part or function, is motivated.
• Second, motivation is usually complex, meaning that a person’s behavior may spring from several separate motives.
• A third assumption is that people are continually motivated by one need or another. When one need is satisfied, it ordinarily loses its motivational power and is then replaced by another need.
• Another assumption is that all people everywhere are motivated by the same basic needs. The manner in which people in different cultures obtain food, build shelters, express friendship, and so forth may vary widely, but the fundamental needs for food, safety, and friendship are common to the entire species.
• A final assumption concerning motivation is that needs can be arranged on a hierarchy (Maslow, 1943, 1970). Although the most common visual representation of the hierarchy is a pyramid, it is worth noting that Maslow himself never created or argued for a pyramid.