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Arizona State University issued the following news release:
If you have ever felt that your children are your life's work, then you may in fact be recognizing a high-level psychological need. Caring for your children, feeding them, nurturing them, educating them and making sure they get off on the right foot in life - all of the things that make parenting successful - may actually be deep-rooted psychological urges that we fulfill as part of being human.
This is according to a team of psychologists who have updated a cornerstone of modern psychology - Abraham Maslow's pyramid of needs. Maslow's pyramid describes human motivations from the most basic to the most advanced. But Maslow's time-tested pyramid, first proposed in the 1940s, had begun to look a bit weathered and outdated.
So a team of psychologists, including two from Arizona State University, recast the pyramid. In doing so, they have taken on one of psychology's iconic symbols and have generated some controversy along the way.
The revamp of Maslow's pyramid reflects new findings and theory from fields like neuroscience, developmental psychology and evolutionary psychology, said Douglas Kenrick, an ASU professor of psychology and lead author of the paper, "Renovating the pyramid of needs: Contemporary extensions built upon ancient foundations." The paper was published in the March issue of Perspectives on Psychological Sciences.
Despite being one of psychology's most memorable images, Maslow's pyramid hasn't always been supported by empirical research, said Steven Neuberg, an ASU Foundation professor and co-author of...