Abraham Maslow's Four Stages

There are many theorists and theories in the world that had given answers to our usual questions, especially on what a person wants to achieve in life and how can they get it. If I were to be asked who is my favorite theorist, out of all the theorist,it would be Abraham Maslow. “Abraham Maslow was a 20th century psychologist who developed a humanistic approach to psychology. He is best known for his hierarchy of needs” (GoodTherapy.org, n.d.). Maslow believes that every person has their desire of achieving things by using their full potential. Maslow chose to focus on researching about the emotional developments of a healthy person as opposed to Freud’s research that is focusing on the sick people and how to treat it.
Maslow’s hierarchy of

On the other hand, he added a new stage which is known as the Cognitive needs. A person cannot live a life with only love and not thinking of what the future holds. The purpose of this stage is for you to strive harder so you can have enough “knowledge and understanding, curiosity, exploration, and need for meaning and predictability” (McLeod, 2016). A person is born with his natural skills and abilities that should be nurtured and enhanced with the help of the people around him. Not only did Maslow wanted a person to be aware of what is happening in their surroundings, but he also wanted him or her to appreciate and search for the true beauty, form, and balance of life. This sixth stage is called the Aesthetic needs. This stage was added in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because Maslow wanted to show what the world has to offer and how can we preserve all of those good things. Now that the world is full of challenges and hardships, most people focuses on the negative things instead of appreciating the positive things. That is why Maslow added this two stages to make every person become more concern of things around him or her and learn to appreciate it

After a person reaches self-fulfillment, the next thing he needs to do is to help others to achieve self actualization. The main goal of this last stage is to share what you have learned and accomplished, so that you can touch other’s lives. Reaching your goals in life is the sweet fruit of your success, but helping other to reach their own goals is the sweetest fruit of you and other’s success. Although Maslow’s theory had received some negative feedbacks, it remains as a theory that a person can either follow or not. Most people say that Maslow’s assumption that “the lower needs must be satisfied before a person can achieve their potential and self-actualize, is not always the case.” (McLeod, 2016). However, Maslow wanted to point out on his assumption is that he wanted to help other people succeed in life by taking things slowly. It is best if a person prioritizes their important needs first, before anything