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Maslow 's Theories Of The Hierarchy Of Basic Human Needs And Self Actualization Essay

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This article, appeared in the Atlantic in 2011, features the Gallup World Poll made on well-being, and ducted by Ed Diener, psychologist at the University of Illinois, researcher and author of psychology oriented and analysis books and reviews, and Louis Tay, also psychologist at the same University. Ducted over 5 years, from 2005 to 2010, on 60 865 participants of 123 countries, this investigation is making its mark as the first survey to be considered as globally representative. This survey had the objective of confirming or dismissing Maslow’s famous theories of the hierarchy of basic human needs and self-actualization. Maslow’s theory, whether one believes it or not, is still a theory that is debated by psychologists. This article argues that Maslow’s theory features many flaws, such as its fuzziness when it came the main concept of self-actualization and stipulate that the main disagreement reported towards it by psychologists is the fact that it somehow assumes that there are no innate reactions because everything is thought to be exclusively learned through personal experience in a social environment (p.418). Not only it criticizes the idea of self-actualization, it also points out the way-too general categories of needs that Maslow’s theory features such as psychological needs (food, sex, sleep, etc.) and the need for security of the body and resources, pointing out the lack of flexibility in terms of the degree these needs are expressed and nuances. This same

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