Maslow’s Hierarchy is wrong. Dead wrong. So wrong that even Maslow started backtracking by the end.
Poor people smoke. Rich people intentionally starve themselves. And everyone in the middle would rather die than have to talk to the GP receptionist to get an appointment about that thing. The compulsion to linear ascension of the pyramid is just wrong.
The problem is that these theories are so compelling. They’re simple. They’re how we’d like to think human needs and behaviours work.
The same goes for other popular ideas:
- Learning Styles Theory
- Left-Brain / Right-Brain Dominance Theory
- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The truth is infinitely complex and infinitely boring. I wrote an entire thesis on Self-Determination Theory, and let me tell you, it’s a snooze fest.
And yet, I see these theories trotted out by marketing professionals who have fallen victim to their own magic trick: the story more compelling than the truth. Hoisted with their own petard.
We need to stop putting this nonsense in audience personas. It’s not a good vibe.