The history of science knows many attempts to justify certain motives of human activity, it seems that this question should generally be considered in the context of “eternal” questions, and put on a par with such as “who am I”, “for what I”, “what I can "and so on. Among modern concepts aimed at answering the question of the motives of human activity, one can cite Alderfer's growth theory, the doctrine of acquired needs, developed by McClelland, the concept of two Herzberg factors, and several others.
In the mid-fifties of the last century, a significant resonance in the scientific world was caused by Maslow's theory of motivation, which the scientist developed, initially focusing on the need for the formation of modern management systems for socio-economic behavior in a post-industrial society.
As starting points of his doctrine, A. Maslow proceeded from the adoption of such provisions, which then became the prerequisites for the formulation of the main ideas of the theory of motivation.
So, Maslow argued that human needs are an objective fact, and at the same time, at various stages of his existence, he may experience one of them or the other. Moreover, some of them may be inherent throughout life, while others may occur sporadically. On this basis, the scientist concludes that there is a certain hierarchy in the needs of a person, and, therefore, about the motives that they form. According to the theory Maslow's motivations, in the course of life, the needs that are not met, encourage the activity aimed at their satisfaction.
Further, if some of them are already being satisfied, then they, in turn, form the motives for “taking” a higher level. Based on this ranking, the classification of A. Maslow took the form of a pyramid, at the base of which he put needs, the satisfaction of which is a priority. These are physiological: in food, rest, sleep, and other factors of an individual’s basic physical life support. According to Maslow’s theory of motivation , needs that are already satisfied do not prompt a person to be active, and, moreover, their structure is dynamic — one that is already satisfied is replaced by others that are unsatisfied.
The pyramid of needs according to A. Maslow, contains five levels (or steps).
At the first stage are those that provide man with elementary survival in the natural environment as a biological being. These are the needs for a clean atmosphere, water, housing, food, relaxation and so on.
The second stage is occupied by needs, on the basis of which motives are formed in ensuring their own security, and here, according to Maslow, motivation involves not only physical, but also social aspects - these are motives that encourage good work in order to have higher earnings, live more comfortably, receive more medical care, etc.
The most common social needs of a person - in recognition, in communication, in maintaining partnerships and friendships, in organizing and maintaining collective life forms are located in the middle of the pyramid of A. Maslow.
At the fourth stage, Maslow’s theory of motivation provides for the arrangement of needs that mediate and determine motives of a high social level - inducing activities that ensure social recognition, achievement of power status, claims to public recognition of a person’s merits to society.
The fifth step is occupied by needs that initiate motives of personal social significance. Here, a person is motivated to achieve high creative indicators and their recognition by society.
Since Maslow’s theory of motivation assumes that the connections in the pyramid are dynamic, that is, the achievement of one need, forms a new, and then the motive, to its satisfaction, it is important to imagine and be able to answer the question of what happens when a person reaches fifth, last, top step?
A. Maslow answers this question in such a way that the achievement of such a level does not mean at all that there is a disappearance or some weakening of the action of needs on the formation of motives for activity.