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# Maslow's Hierarchy of Bunkum
- URL: https://onemanandhisblog.com/2013/09/maslow-hierarchy-disproven-experimentally/
- Published: 2013-09-02T13:52:01.000Z
- Updated: 2020-02-14T10:57:04.000Z
- Description: Don't believe the cod-scientific management nonsense.
- Author: Adam Tinworth
- Tags: community, community management, motivation, theory

The very first time I saw someone use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in a corporate presentation, I was impressed. It tied the pyramid neatly to reasons for doing social activity around a magazine brand. It was clever, and gave intellectual weight to the presentation.

And then I saw it in another one.

And another.

And another.

And then I started getting suspicious. It was all too neat, too convenient. Human needs, all parcelled up in a tidy pattern of ascending importance. Simple.

But people aren’t simple, are they? And the more I looked at it, the less evidence there seemed to be to support that pyramid. The [BBC have just taken a closer look](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23902918?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) and – surprise, surprise, it’s bunkum:

> However, after Maslow’s death in 1970, researchers did undertake a more detailed investigation, with attitude-based surveys and field studies testing out the Hierarchy of Needs.
> 
> “When you analyse them, the five needs just don’t drop out,” says Hodgkinson. “The actual structure of motivation doesn’t fit the theory. And that led to a lot of discussion and debate, and new theories evolved as a consequence.”

So, next time you see that pyramid in a PowerPoint, remember that the speaker hasn’t done their research.