Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Tiers & Modern Critiques

You know that pyramid with five levels you saw in a Psych 101 textbook? It’s been taught for decades, but it’s also been picked apart by researchers, reimagined by modern psychologists, and quietly used by companies to understand what drives their employees.

Original publication year: 1943 ·
Number of tiers in original model: 5 ·
Later expanded tiers: 8 ·
Estimated self-actualized individuals: < 2% of population ·
Google Scholar citations of original paper: Over 10,000 ·
Year hierarchy first appeared in textbook: 1954

Quick snapshot

1Confirmed facts

Maslow proposed a five-tier hierarchy in 1943 (Verywell Mind (health and psychology publisher))
The hierarchy is widely taught in psychology textbooks (Simply Psychology (psychology education resource))
Maslow was agnostic in later life (Medical News Today (health news outlet))
The model has been criticized for lack of empirical validity (HPT by DTS (organizational psychology blog))

2What’s unclear

Whether the hierarchy ordering is universal across cultures (Verywell Mind)
Whether self-actualization is attainable for most people (Reddit r/AskSocialScience (community forum))
Whether lower