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Maslow 's Hierarchy Of Needs

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Kendall Smith Mrs. Payton 2: Lens 1st Draft 24 September 2014 Abraham Maslow was an American philosopher who was born in the early 1990 's in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the leading theorists that promoted humanistic psychology during his era. Maslow sought to understand what motivates and inspires individuals. He theorized that individuals possess and hold a group of motivation and incentive systems not related to plunder or insensible desires. Maslow declared that people are motivated and provoked to attain certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. The earliest version of Maslow 's hierarchy of needs includes five motivational needs, often viewed as hierarchical levels inside a pyramid. The five stage representation can be separated into basic needs and growth needs. The deficiency or basic needs are said to motivate and stimulate individuals when they are unmet and not fully attained. Also, the desire to fulfill and accomplish such wants and needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. Once these needs have been relatively satisfied, an individual may be capable of reaching the highest level of the pyramid called self-actualization. Maslow though that self actualization is a state that exists when an individual is acting in harmony with his or her full capabilities. In Cormac McCarthy 's novel, The Road, we will examine the character 's physical journey towards self-actualization on Maslow

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