Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, And Cognitive Theories

According to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, learning occurs in four

stages for children. His idea focuses on understanding the nature of intelligence as well
as how children gain knowledge.

The Piaget stages are:

 Sensorimotor stage: Birth to 2 years

 Preoperational stage: Ages 2 to 7
 Concrete operational stage: Ages 7 to 11
 Formal operational stage: Ages 12 and up

According to Jean Piaget, children's and adults' cognitive capacities differ. According to
his theory, kids go through sequential, intrinsic, universal cognitive stages that are
fundamentally distinct from one another as they develop. In order to explain how this
evolution was place, Piaget alluded to the idea of plans. Schemes indicated particular
behavioral patterns at each developmental stage, progressing from tangible to abstract
levels. Additionally, this theory includes the ideas of accommodation, which is the act of
altering current thinking in response to a new occurrence, and assimilation, which is the
process of applying existing thinking to new observations. So, according to Piaget's
hypothesis, a child is born with the genetic predispositions necessary for normal
cognitive development.
Piaget insisted that the stages of development were universal, however this method has
come under scrutiny. First of all, the stages might differ from person to person and are
not always the same. Second, the biological basis for these stages' determination
eliminates the need for any further developmental factors. Finally, Piaget appears to
separate the process of personal growth from how the environment and, more
specifically, other people, might impact it. Lev Vygotsky's theory addressed these
concerns.
Piaget thought that children actively participate in their education, functioning somewhat
like young scientists as they conduct experiments, record observations, and gain
knowledge of the outside world. Children constantly gain new knowledge, expand upon
current knowledge, and modify long-held beliefs to account for new information as they
interact with the world around them.
Piaget developed a Cognitive Development theory that focused on how children move
through developmental stages. These stages represent how children progress by what
knowledge they will make based on their experiences and their level of maturation.
Piaget assumed several things about the learning processes of children.

1. Acquiring knowledge is a continuous process.

2. Children will construct their own ideas based on their already knowledge upon
which they can build. Children use schema.
3. Children acquire and invent knowledge through interactions with the
environment. Children are active learners who learn by doing.
4. Children's knowledge and development occur in stages.

Piaget vs. Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky, another key contributor in the field of child development, varies with
Piaget's theory in a number of significant respects. Although Vygotsky recognized the
importance of curiosity and participation in learning, he placed more emphasis on
society and culture. Based on the idea that children learn through the social, linguistic,
and cultural interactions in their experiences, Vygotsky developed the sociocultural
theory. According to Vygotsky, children need social interactions to develop language
processes, and it is via these language processes that they create the cognitive abilities
necessary for learning. Social norms have an impact on what kids learn and how they
grow. Children's cognitive processes will also be impacted by cultural factors.
Vygotsky thought that people (such as parents, caretakers, and peers) and external
elements (such as culture) have a bigger role in development than Piaget did. Piaget
believed that development is mostly driven from within.
Piaget's observations of his own niece and daughter greatly influenced his interest in
the cognitive growth of kids. These findings supported his tentative theory that kids'
minds weren't just baby versions of adults' thoughts.
According to Piaget, intelligence progresses through various phases as it develops.
Children who are older than those who are younger do not just think faster. Instead,
there are distinctions between the thinking of early children and older children on both a
qualitative and quantitative level. He came to the conclusion that children are not less
intellectual than adults; rather, they simply think in different ways. Piaget's discovery
was described by Albert Einstein as "so simple only a genius could have thought of it."
The stages of a child's cognitive development are described by Piaget. Changes to the
cognitive process and abilities occur during cognitive growth. According to Piaget, early
cognitive development entails action-based processes that subsequently lead to
modifications in mental processes.
Important Concepts

The fact that Piaget did not see children's intellectual development as a quantitative
process should not be overlooked. In other words, as they grow older, children do not
just add to their previous knowledge.
Instead, Piaget proposed that as children progress through these four stages, there is a
qualitative shift in how they think.4 At age 7, children don't only know more about the
world than they did at age 2, there is also a fundamental shift in how they think about it.
Piaget proposed a number of variables that affect how kids learn and develop.
Schemas

A schema summarizes the mental and physical processes necessary for

comprehension and knowledge. Schemas are categories of knowledge that aid in our
interpretation and comprehension of reality.
According to Piaget, a schema comprises both a category of knowledge and the method
by which that knowledge is acquired3. As experiences are had, new information is used
to alter, supplement, or replace preexisting schemas.
Assimilation
Assimilation is the process of incorporating new information into our preexisting
schemas. Because we frequently alter experiences and information to suit with our
preexisting beliefs, the process is partly subjective. Assimilation of the animal into the
child's dog schema occurs in the aforementioned example when the toddler sees a dog
and calls it a "dog."

Accommodation
The capacity to modify preexisting schemas in light of new information is another aspect
of adaptation; this procedure is referred to as accommodation. This method may also
result in the creation of new schemas.

Equilibration
It's crucial to strike a balance as children advance through the phases of cognitive
development between assimilation—applying prior knowledge—and adaptation—
adjusting behavior (accommodation).

According to Piaget, every kid tries to find a happy medium between assimilation and
accommodation through a process he dubbed equilibration. Equilibration explains how
kids can progress from one level of thought to another.
Final Statement
Piaget and Vygotsky produced numerous hypotheses about cognitive development.
Because their full potential has not yet been realized, both strategies continue to spark
intense discussion. Arguments center on how similar the theories are to one another
and whether it is possible to combine their most advantageous aspects into a single,
workable strategy. Although Piaget's theory is excellent, it overemphasizes a person's
solitary growth, in contrast to Vygotsky, who emphasizes the importance of both
children's and adults' collaborative learning.
The creation of knowledge and intelligence is an essentially active process, according to
Piaget's theory, which is one of its key themes.
In his essay, Piaget stated, "I find myself opposed to the idea of knowledge as a passive
duplicate of reality." Knowing an item, in my opinion, entails acting on it, creating
systems of transformations that may be used with or on it, just as knowing reality entails
creating systems of transformations that more or less adequately reflect reality.
Our knowledge of children's intellectual development has been aided by Piaget's theory
of cognitive development. It also emphasized the fact that kids weren't just passive
sponges for information. Instead, as they develop their awareness of how the world
functions, children are continually trying and discovering.

Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, And Behaviorism

According to behaviorism theory, conditioning is the sole factor that can account for
both human and animal behavior. The focus of psychology, according to behaviorists,
should be on quantifiable, observable bodily actions and how alterations in the
environment might influence these behaviors. In contrast to other psychological
theories, the behaviorist approach does not allow for thoughts or emotions.
Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that focuses on how behavior is affected by
controlled environmental changes. Behavioristic teaching techniques aim to alter a
subject's environment, whether it be a human or an animal, in an effort to alter the
subject's perceptible behavior. According to behaviorist theory, this modification in the
subject's visible behavior serves as the sole measure of learning. In the learning
process, the subject's job is to be acted upon by the environment; the subject makes
connections between stimuli and modifies behavior as a result of those connections.
The teacher's job is to influence the environment in an effort to promote the necessary
behavioral modifications. The foundational ideas of behaviorism did not emerge
immediately but rather over time as a result of the efforts of numerous psychologists.
Some behaviorist assumptions have been abandoned or replaced as psychologists'
understanding of learning has developed over time, while others have remained valid
and in use.

History of Behaviorism

A basic understanding of behaviorism can be gained by examining the history of four of

the most influential psychologists who contributed to the behaviorism: Ivan Pavlov,
Edward Thorndike, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner. These four did not each develop
principles of behaviorism in isolation, but rather built upon each other’s work.

Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov is perhaps most known for his work training dogs to salivate when they hear
a tone after repeatedly associating food with the sound. According to the notion of
classical conditioning, which holds that the brain can learn new responses by
associating stimuli together, Pavlov's research is recognized as the first to investigate
this idea. He also looked at how particular factors, including the interval between two
stimuli, altered these linkages in the brain. Future research in the study of human and
animal behavior were built on his investigation of the stimulus-response model, the
linkages made in the brain, and the effects of specific factors on generating new
behaviors.

When doing his most well-known experiment, Pavlov first looked at how much saliva
was produced by various dog breeds during digesting. He soon realized, though, that
the dogs would begin salivating before being given food. He later understood that the
dogs had learned to associate his sound as he descended the stairs with the arrival of
food. He then put this idea to the test by playing a tone while the dogs were being fed.
Over time, the canines learnt to salivate at the sound of a tone even when no food was
being given. Through stimulus association, the dogs picked up a novel reaction to an
established stimulus. The learnt response was referred to as a conditional reflex by
Pavlov. In multiple iterations of this experiment, Pavlov tested whether or not
randomization—playing the tone occasionally when feeding the dogs but not other times
—had any impact on the outcome. He also tested how frequently he could play the tone
before the dogs lost their association with food.
Pavlov’s work with conditional reflexes was extremely influential in the field of
behaviorism. His experiments demonstrate three major tenets of the field of
behaviorism:
 1. Behavior is learned from the environment. The dogs learned to salivate at the
sound of a tone after their environment presented the tone along with food
multiple times.
2. Behavior must be observable. Pavlov concluded that learning was taking place
because he observed the dogs salivating in response to the sound of a tone.
3. All behaviors are a product of the formula stimulus-response. The sound of a
tone caused no response until it was associated with the presentation of food, to
which the dogs naturally responded with increased saliva production.

These principles formed a foundation of behaviorism on which future scientists would

build.

Edward Thorndike

It is believed that Edward Lee Thorndike was the first to research operant conditioning,
or learning through the results of actions. He gave an example of this idea by observing
how long it took various animals to press a lever in exchange for food after completing a
riddle. Additionally, he developed the law of effect, a theory that explains how behavior
is taught and reinforced.

The puzzle box experiment, which is comparable to the well-known "rat in the labyrinth"
experiment, was one of Thorndike's experiments. In this experiment, Thorndike put a
cat in a box with a piece of food on the outside and timed how long the cat needed to
press the lever to open the box and retrieve the meal. The time it took to open the box
was somewhat consistent for the first two or three times each cat was placed inside, but
later studies revealed a significant decrease in time as each cat became accustomed to
using the same lever to open the box.

Thorndike's work in developing the law of effect is a second significant contribution he

made to the discipline. According to this rule, any conduct that produces favorable
results will probably be repeated, but any behavior that produces negative effects will
eventually stop. This idea was backed by Thorndike's puzzle box experiments: animals
were trained to frequently carry out tasks that resulted in rewards.

The two main hypotheses of Thorndike still serve as the foundation for a large portion of
animal behaviorism and psychology research. He established the present basis for the
presumption that animal responses and human reactions are similar by showing that
animals can learn to press levers and buttons to acquire food. His findings supported
numerous sorts of animal experiments studying other behaviors.

Thorndike developed the discipline of educational psychology and published one of the
first books on the subject, Educational Psychology, in 1903 in addition to his work with
animals. His subsequent career was mostly devoted to revolutionizing the teaching
profession by putting his theories on the law of effect into practice and refuting outdated
notions of generalized learning and corporal punishment in the classroom. In teaching
colleges all throughout the world, his theories and body of work are taught.

John B. Watson

John Broadus Watson was a trailblazing psychologist who is often regarded as the first
to unify the several subfields of psychology under the label of behaviorism. Watson's
behaviorism is based on the idea that since consciousness, or introspective thoughts
and feelings, cannot be observed or managed by scientific means, it should be
disregarded when examining behavior. He argued that psychology ought to be wholly
objective, concentrating only on foreseeing and managing observed behavior, excluding
any attempt to explain subjective experience. Watson concludes that learning is a
modification in perceptible behavior. Watson described behaviorism as "a purely
objective experimental branch of natural science" that "recognizes no dividing line
between man and brute" in his 1913 article "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It."
Watson's behaviorism is solely concerned with observing and forecasting how subjects
outwardly respond to external stimuli.

John Watson is credited as being the first psychologist to conduct studies on classical
conditioning using human test subjects. He gained notoriety for the Little Albert
experiment, in which he used Pavlov's concepts of classical conditioning to educate a
baby to be scared of a rat. The nine-month-old baby Albert was exposed to a variety of
novel stimuli before the trial, including a white rat, a bunny, a dog, a monkey, masks
with and without hair, cotton wool, burning newspapers, etc. He responded with no sign
of dread. Through more testing, scientists learned that Albert reacted fearfully when a
steel bar was hammered with a hammer to make a sharp sound.

Albert was exposed to the white rat during the trial, which had never before caused him
to experience dread. Every time Albert touched the rodent, the steel bar smacked,
causing him to fall forward and start whimpering. Albert developed a fear of the rat and
learned to be cautious around it. Albert began to whine and crawl away when he saw
the rat. Watson came to the conclusion that Albert had developed a fear of the rat.

The Little Albert experiment is seen as unethical and scientifically ineffective by modern
standards. The experiment, according to critics, "reveals scant evidence either that
Albert developed a rat phobia or even that animals consistently aroused his fear (or
anxiety)" The experiment, however, sheds light on Watson's definition of behaviorism
because Albert was taught by Watson through manipulating Albert's surroundings, and
Albert's altered behavior led researchers to believe that learning had taken place.

B. F. Skinner

Behaviorism was further developed under the influence of psychologist Skinner. His
definition of operant conditioning and introduction of the concept of radical behaviorism
were his two most significant achievements.
In contrast to Watson, Skinner claimed that interior factors like thoughts and emotions
should be taken into account while examining behavior. Radical behaviorism combines
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. He held the view that outside factors might influence
internal processes, such as observable behavior, allowing for scientific analysis. Applied
behavior analysis is the practice of using radical behaviorist principles.

The Behavior of Organisms, a book written by Skinner in 1938, presents the concepts of
operant conditioning and how they apply to both human and animal behavior. Similar to
Thorndike's law of effect, the fundamental idea of operant conditioning is the interaction
between rewards and punishments: Rewarded behaviors are more likely to be
repeated, whereas penalized actions are less likely to be repeated. Skinner elaborated
on Thorndike's law of impact by classifying rewards and penalties into five distinct
groups.

 Positive reinforcement is adding a positive stimulus to encourage behavior.

 Escape is removing a negative stimulus to encourage behavior.
 Active avoidance is preventing a negative stimulus to encourage behavior.
 Positive punishment is adding a negative stimulus to discourage behavior.
 Negative punishment is removing a positive stimulus to discourage behavior.

Reinforcement encourages behavior, while punishment discourages behavior. Those

who use operant conditioning use reinforcement and punishment in an effort to modify
the subject’s behavior.

Positive and negative reinforcements can be given according to different types of

schedules. Skinner developed five schedules of reinforcement:

 When a student receives reinforcement for every specific action they take, this is
known as continuous reinforcement. For each insightful statement a student makes, the
teacher can, as an example, award the student with a sticker.
 When the learner receives reinforcement after a predetermined period of time, this
technique is known as fixed interval reinforcement. For instance, a teacher might award
stickers to pupils each Friday for their comments from the previous week.

 When the learner receives reward after a random interval of time has elapsed, this is
known as variable interval reinforcement. For instance, a teacher might award stickers
to students who have contributed significantly to class discussion on a random day each
week.

 When the learner receives reinforcement when the behavior occurs a predetermined
number of times, it is known as fixed ratio reinforcement. For instance, a teacher might
give a pupil a sticker when they make five insightful comments.

 When the learner receives reinforcement when the behavior occurs a random
number of times, this is known as variable ratio reinforcement. For instance, a teacher
might give a student a sticker after they make three to ten thoughtful comments.

Different reinforcement schedules were tested by Skinner in order to determine which

schedules worked best under various conditions. He discovered that the variable ratio
reinforcement plan is the most successful because ratio schedules are often more
resistant to extinction than interval schedules and variable schedules are more resistant
than fixed schedules.

Skinner was a fervent advocate for education and had a significant impact on numerous
educational ideals. He thought that there were two purposes for education: to teach
both verbal and nonverbal behavior, and to motivate students to keep learning. Based
on his theory of reinforcement, Skinner advocated those students should actively
participate in the learning process rather than simply be passive recipients of
instruction. According to his theory, kids who are educated through punishment only
learn how to escape punishment. Punishment still plays a significant role in the
educational system despite Skinner's skepticism about it. Finding other forms of
discipline is exceedingly challenging.

According to Skinner, instructors need to receive better training in teaching and learning
techniques (Skinner, 1968). He discusses the key causes of learning failure. The two
main reasons teachers fall short of educating their students are that they solely teach by
example and don't provide them enough feedback. In order to teach effectively,
teachers should follow the stages Skinner outlined. Some of these actions consist of the
following:

1. Ensure the learner clearly understands the action or performance.

2. Separate the task into small steps starting at simple and working up to complex.
3. Let the learner perform each step, reinforcing correct actions.
4. Regulate so that the learner is always successful until finally the goal is reached.
5. Change to random reinforcement to maintain the learner’s performance (Skinner,
1968).
Criticisms and Limitations

Although some aspects of behaviorism are still recognized and used, there are
drawbacks and restrictions to the theory. Although behaviorism may oversimplify the
complexity of human learning, its principles can help us understand how humans are
influenced by linked stimuli, rewards, and punishments. Assuming that people are
similar to animals, behaviorism ignores the fundamental cognitive processes that
underpin behavior and only focuses on changes in outwardly visible behavior.
According to a behaviorist viewpoint, the environment that the instructor controls should
be used to influence the learner's behavior. In order to influence behavior, the teacher's
job is to change the environment. As a result, the student is not a participant in the
learning process but rather an animal that responds to its surroundings in an innate
manner. The instructor offers input (stimuli) and anticipates predictable results (the
desired change in behavior). Constructivism is one of the more contemporary learning
theories that places a lot more emphasis on the student's active construction of
knowledge.
Additionally, internal cognitive processes like thoughts and emotions are disregarded by
behaviorism. While taking into account some of these processes to the extent that they
can be assessed, Skinner's radical behaviorism does not genuinely attempt to
comprehend or explain the depth of human emotion. Without a desire to comprehend
the motivation behind the behavior, learning is reduced to the stimulus-response
paradigm and the behavior is not understood in a deeper context. The underlying
cognitive processes that underlie the observed behavior are not fully understood. The
student's thoughts, feelings, consciousness, social interactions, prior knowledge,
previous experiences, and moral code are not taken into consideration. In actuality, all
of these components are variables that must be taken into consideration in order to
effectively predict and comprehend human behavior. The roles of emotion, social
interaction, prior knowledge, and personal experience in the learning process are more
heavily emphasized in more recent learning theories, such as cognitivism.

Conclusion

The study of behaviorism examines how carefully planned modifications to a subject's

surroundings impact the subject's observable behavior. In an effort to promote the
desired behaviors in the subject, teachers manipulate the environment and employ a
system of incentives and penalties. The environment has an impact on learners,
causing them to make connections between stimuli and alter their behavior as a result.
The use of rewards and punishments to modify behavior is one of the behaviorist ideas
that is still acknowledged and used today. Behaviorism, on the other hand, may
oversimplify the complexity of human learning, minimize the student's contribution to the
learning process, ignore emotion, thoughts, and inner processes, and see people as
being as simple as animals.
Bloom`s Taxonomy

We know from our own experiences as learners that some learning tasks are more
challenging than others. A teacher could evaluate our knowledge and skills in either of
these types of thinking by asking us to demonstrate those skills in action, that is, by
doing something that is observable and measurable. To give an example from
elementary school, knowing our multiplication tables by rote requires a qualitatively
different type of thinking than does applying our multiplication skills through solving
"word problems."
The six types of cognitive abilities in Bloom's taxonomy range from lower-order skills,
which require less cognitive processing, to higher-order skills, which demand more in-
depth learning and cognitive processing. Higher-order and lower-order skill groups
developed later; Bloom himself did not use these labels.
Knowledge, which refers to the retention of particular, discrete items of information like
facts and definitions or procedures like the order of events in a step-by-step process, is
the fundamental cognitive talent. Health professionals must have a command of a great
deal of knowledge, such as protocols, interactions, and medical terminology, which are
committed to memory, but simple recall of facts does not provide evidence of
comprehension, which is the next higher level. Knowledge can be assessed by
straightforward methods, such as multiple choice or short-answer questions that require
the retrieval or recognition of information, such as "Name five sources of drug
information."
By classifying items into groups, comparing and contrasting items with other
comparable entities, or expressing a concept to others, learners demonstrate their
understanding of the significance of the information they encounter. A learner's
comprehension of information sources, for instance, might be tested by a librarian
asking them to compare and contrast the data they contain. Learning objectives that
focus on comprehension will aid students in beginning to incorporate knowledge into
their pre-existing cognitive schemas by which they interpret the world. Comprehension
needs more cognitive processing than merely recalling information.
The learning objectives for analysis are the next set of learning objectives we encounter
as we move up the taxonomy. This is when the abilities that we typically associate with
critical thinking come into play. Analysis is required for separating fact from opinion,
determining the statements that support an argument, and dissecting an information
demand into its component pieces to determine the best search keywords.
The level of synthesis comes after analysis and comprises developing a novel product
for a particular application. Formulating a well-built clinical query after assessing a
clinician's information gaps is an example of an evidence-based medicine-related task
requiring synthesis. Another therapeutic job requiring synthesis is the creation of a
management strategy for a particular patient.
Evaluation, the highest level in Bloom's taxonomy and a crucial component of critical
thinking, comes last. When teachers reflect on a lesson and rate the lesson's worth
based on student feedback and test results, they are evaluating. Evaluative abilities are
also needed for critically assessing a clinical study's reliability and determining how
applicable its findings are to a particular patient. It is crucial to understand that many
lower-level talents are also included in higher-level skills in the taxonomy: To critically
evaluate the medical literature, one needs to understand different study designs, apply
that understanding to a particular published study to identify the study design that was
used, and then analyze that study to separate out the various internal validity
components, such as blinding and randomization.

Changes in Bloom`s Taxonomy

A later modification of the taxonomy alters the nomenclature and chronological
sequence of the cognitive processes in the original version in light of developments in
cognitive research after the original publication. The levels are recall, comprehend,
apply, analyze, evaluate, and create in this updated edition. The talent of synthesis is
now positioned at the top of the hierarchy rather than evaluation. Additionally, this
redesign gives all six cognitive processes a fresh perspective. It lists the four categories
of knowledge that could be covered by a learning activity: factual (terminology and
discrete facts); conceptual (categories, theories, principles, and models); procedural
(knowledge of a technique, process, or methodology); and metacognitive (knowledge of
one's own thinking processes) (including self-assessment ability and knowledge of
various learning skills and techniques).

Remarks
It is significant to highlight that cognitive learning skills—rather than psychomotor or
affective abilities, two areas that are essential to the success of health professionals—
are the emphasis of Bloom's taxonomy in its most prevalent application. The ability to tie
knots in surgery and have empathy for patients are examples of psychomotor and
affective skills, respectively.
The skills and abilities that information professionals who teach or instruct others want
their students to achieve and exhibit can be described in learning objectives using
Bloom's taxonomy.
The taxonomy is beneficial in two key respects. The taxonomy encourages instructors
to consider learning objectives in terms of what the learner can do as a result of the
lesson by encouraging them to utilize behavioral language. The most effective way to
evaluate the skills and knowledge given will be indicated by a learning objective stated
using action verbs. The Internet is a great resource for finding lists of action verbs that
are appropriate for learning objectives at each level of Bloom's taxonomy. The
requirement for including learning objectives that call for higher levels of cognitive skills
that result in deeper learning and transfer of information and skills to a broader variety
of tasks and situations is highlighted by secondly thinking about learning goals in light of
Bloom's taxonomy.

Maslow Motivation Theory

The hierarchy of needs

One of the most well-known and important theories on workplace motivation is the
Maslow hypothesis of motivation. This page from our Manage in a Minute series
provides a brief overview of the fundamentals of this well-known theory.
In the 1940s, psychologist Abraham Maslow originally formulated his well-known theory
of personal growth and motivation. He asserted that there is a hierarchy of demands in
humans. That is, all people act in a way that first satisfies their basic needs before going
on to other, supposedly higher-level requirements.
Maslow designed a hierarchical triangle to express this theory. This demonstrates how
fundamental needs must be satisfied before one may "climb" the hierarchy and take
care of more complicated demands. For instance, one must first satisfy the
physiologically necessary needs for food, water, and warmth. The need to be safe
would then come into emphasis, followed by the need to fit in with other people and so
on up the hierarchy.
The claim made by Maslow that one's sense of well-being is crucial to understand. i.e.,
as the higher-level wants are satisfied, the "feel-good factor" rises.
Maslow Motivation Theory: The Hierarchy of Needs

The Maslow motivation theory is typically represented by 5 steps:

 Physiological needs – such as hunger, thirst and sleep

 Safety needs – such as security, protection from danger and freedom from pain.
 Social needs – sometimes also referred to as love needs such as friendship,
giving and receiving love, engaging in social activities and group membership.
 Esteem needs – these include both self-respect and the esteem of others. For
example, the desire for self-confidence and achievement, and recognition and
appreciation.
  Self-actualization – This is about the desire to develop and realize your full
potential. To become everything, you can be.

Transcending Maslow’s Original Theory

Maslow discussed transcendence as an additional motivational need later in his life.

This enhanced or improved the self-actualization level of his hierarchy in some
respects. Being one’s, best selves is important, but transcendence refers to personal
fulfillment. It results from dedication to causes other than one's own. For instance,
through spirituality, involvement in the community, charitable work, or anything else
motivated by altruism.
Critiques of Maslow’s Theory

The theory has drawn a lot of academic criticism. These are mostly based on the
relatively limited scope of his original research findings and perhaps subjective sample
selection. Only 1% of the population, healthy college students, served as the basis for
Maslow's original research.
The hypothesis has also come under fire for ignoring cultural considerations. The fixed
rankings of a universal human hierarchy of wants can't be inferred from his research
because it ignores a variety of societal elements that set people apart around the world.
In our motivational stories, particularly in our piece on the advantages of time
management, we have provided numerous illustrations of this.
Last but not least, detractors claim that Maslow's theory does not take into account
changes in a person's circumstances or opinions. These could be brought on by
adjustments or pressures from any outside causes, which are frequently categorized in
the PESTLE tool. For instance, the economics of a recession or the hardships of war
may very well affect one's view of the significance of a motivating element.

The Covid-19 pandemic's effects will undoubtedly have altered peoples' perspectives of
what's significant in life. And potentially, the numerous instances of individuals putting
others' needs ahead of their own well-being or financial security may cause us to
reconsider the rigid hierarchy of the paradigm.

Intrinsic or Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is the desire to engage in a particular activity simply for the
enjoyment of learning. The mastery or reward of the skill or activity is more important to
those who are intrinsically motivated. People who are intrinsically motivated are driven
by incentives or admiration from the outside world. One is not classified as having solely
internal or external motivations. Different people can be motivated by various activities
either inwardly or externally. Self-determination theory is one of the theories that
pertains to intrinsic motivation.
Contextual and dynamic, intrinsic motivation can vary over time. The same event that
might have served as an intrinsic motivator one day might serve as an extrinsic
motivator the next. It is frequently believed that extrinsic motivation decreases as
internal motivation increases. That is not the situation. Depending on the activity,
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can differ. Therefore, it is a strength that one can still
retain some internal motivation. A person who is highly extrinsically motivated may
become intrinsically motivated if given the correct assignment.

WHICH IS BETTER – INTRINSIC OR EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Despite the fact that types of motivation might lead to the same conduct, they can have
a significant impact on the action's quality. According to research, people perform better
over the long term, especially when they are intrinsically motivated, as seen by the
higher quality of their actions. They are more fervent and have a greater feeling of
dedication to themselves. When faced with challenges, they are more tenacious.
Additionally, those people are more inventive and more likely to generate original ideas
and solutions.
Extrinsic motivation occasionally behaves like its intrinsic equivalent, despite the fact
that intrinsic motivation generally seems to be superior to extrinsic motivation. When a
person's actions are motivated by reasons that are consistent with their own values,
they are able to internalize those reasons.