Motivation, Maslow, and Gifted Children

Erin Morris Miller, PhD

(This blog was originally posted on the discontinued site, thegiftedscholar.com.)

This blog was prompted by psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman’s work connecting Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation to more recent theories of personality and well-being. Maslow’s hierarchical description of the factors that motivation human beings is well known both in psychology circles and among individuals in general. Often it is presented as a pyramid, although Maslow did not originally present it in this way. Maslow’s factors can be divided into aspects related to deficiency needs such as the physiological (food, water, heat), safety, social, and esteem. Growth needs involve self-actualization and self-transcendence.

Maslow’s theory applies to all individuals, but it is interesting to think about how motivation and the pursuit of well-being may manifest itself differently in gifted children and adults. It seems evident that all individuals need to fulfill the initial physiological needs of food, water, warmth, and rest. Gifted children are no different. Their talents will develop as long as their physiological needs are met. There are certainly situations in which malnutrition can inhibit intellectual development. But there is no evidence to suggest that a particular diet will result in a special level of development. No amount of nutritional supplements will enhance development, all that is required is a basically healthy diet.

Basic needs also include safety and security. Humans need to feel that they are physically safe from harm. Most children live in homes and neighborhoods that are safe. Yet, there are groups who live uncertainty. Poverty has a detrimental effect on intellectual and socio-emotional development.

Children who grow up under the threat of racism, xenophobia, or other forms of discrimination often fail to achieve optimal intellectual development. Their potential is truncated by their environment.

Maslow also includes the psychological needs of belongingness, love, and esteem. Although all humans are motivated to pursue these goals the attainment can be complicated for gifted children. First, they must understand and embrace their own identity. They need to understand themselves and how they are cognitively different from many of their same age peers. Parents may be reluctant to discuss cognitive differences because they fear that their children may feel they are even more of an outsider. But this is shortsighted as it is important to have self-understanding and acceptance.

My son pretending to read as a baby.

Belongingness begins at home. There are many different configurations of family. I and my children were lucky to be born into a large family where multiple different family members were cognitively, creativity, and/or artistically gifted. I grew up in a family that could casually meet my intellectual needs. Reading at 3? Your Dad did that, it’s cool. Read all the time? Yep, we do that in this family. Want to learn about the botany? Well your grandmother D. knows every plant in the forest. What to learn to draw and paint? Your grandmother C. can teach you. I thought every kid wrote and performed plays for their parents, put out a newspaper, and grew tadpoles to frogs in Mason jars beside their bed. But no, many kids feel like outsiders in their own homes.

Being so very different from one’s family members is terribly difficult. You love your parents and other members of your family, but you do not feel like you truly belong. In that case, you must find a sense of belonging by seeking intellectual peers. Belongingness requires a group of similar peers with whom to belong. This can be a challenge if there is not a critical mass of other academically advanced or creative children with whom to befriend. Of course, kids can have a variety of friends who share their interests, but cognitive ability is a vivid characteristic. It cannot be easily hidden. And although children can have many friends, gifted children really need cognitive ability peers.

Esteem needs are also possibly more complex for individuals with advanced academic abilities. It can be difficult to know how high one’s goals need to be to feel a sense of accomplishment. When one has the potential for high achievement it is unclear what would be sufficient to engender a feeling of self-esteem. And when one does accomplish something there can be an uncomfortable sense of being an imposter. Achievement can be uncoupled from effort. This can be particularly difficult when one receives praise for work that is just part of your standard modus operandi. And some gifted adults struggle with angst over whether they are fulfilling their potential. (What does that even mean, really?) An inside joke among GenXers who participated in programs for the gifted is asking each other whether we have cured cancer. We had all been told repeatedly that we might be the ones to cure cancer.

Hopefully, one is able to get past the angst and develop sufficient self-understanding and acceptance to make progress towards self-actualization. Just as wrote the previous sentence I heard singing from the other room. It was Mama Odie from the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog began singing, Dig a Little Deeper.

"You got to dig a little deeper

Find out who you are

You got to dig a little deeper

It really ain't that far

When you find out who you are

You'll find out what you need

Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed"

When you find out who you are, you’ll find out what you need. Self-actualization is when you become the best version of yourself you are capable of being. Scott Barry Kaufman’s new scale to measure self-actualization has ten components: Continued freshness of appreciation, Acceptance, Authenticity, Equanimity, Purpose, Efficient Perception of Reality, Humanitarianism, Peak Experiences, Good moral intuition, and Creative spirit. All components combine to result in self-actualization. These characteristics are unlikely to be different between gifted and average cognitive ability individuals beyond the fact that the gifted individual will have likely applied their abilities to more complex and challenging areas. It is the road to this point that is more likely to have specific challenges. 

In addition to self-actualization there is the possibility of self-transcendence where there is a focus understanding and relating to others in a way that is beyond the self. I find the verses of the song “I Am Light” by India.Arie to provide a good message regarding the characteristics of self-transcendence.

Golden lights generate a cozy, dreamlike ambiance against a rich, softly blurred background.

I am not the things my family did

I am not the voices in my head

I am not the pieces of the brokenness inside,

I am light

I am light

I'm not the mistakes that I have made

Or any of the things that caused me pain

I am not the pieces of the dream I left behind

I am light, I am light, I am light, I am light

I am not the color of my eyes

I am not the skin on the outside

I am not my age, I am not my race

My soul inside is all light

All light, all light, yeah

All light

Much less has been written about self-transcendence. It certainly is not limited to any one group, it is a path that is open to almost all. For some there will be a connection to spirituality as one ponders their place in the greater cosmos. One possible difference that is experienced by cognitively advanced individuals it that they begin thinking about the nature of human experience early and more often, even if they are no more likely to grow towards self-transcendence.

Maslow’s theory of motivation applies universally to human development. Although many individuals are drawn towards alternative models of development, Maslow’s theory is well validated by research and supported by most scientists in the area of positive psychology. Gifted children and adults are motivated by the deficiency and growth needs described by Maslow but might experience these needs in a different way. Understanding this is part of understanding how to guide the gifted.

Grandmother collecting nature "specimens" with preschool and primary age grandchildren.