Clayton Alderfer

Clayton Paul Alderfer (September 1, 1940 - October 30, 2015) was an American psychologist, and consultant, known for further developing Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Biography

Born in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, Alderfer obtained his BA in psychology in 1962 at Yale University, where he also obtained his PhD in psychology 1966. In 1977 he also obtained certification by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP).

After graduation Alderfer started his academic career at the Cornell University in 1966. In 1968 he returned to Yale, where he was researcher, lecturer and program director in the Department of Administrative Sciences until 1992. In 1992 he moved to Rutgers University, where he acted as the program director for the Organizational Psychology department at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology for 12 years. In the new millennium he started his own consultancy firm. d

Work

Alderfer further developed Maslow's hierarchy of needs by categorizing the hierarchy into his ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness and Growth).

ERG theory

ERG theory is a theory in psychology proposed by Clayton Alderfer.

Alderfer further developed Maslow's hierarchy of needs by categorizing the hierarchy into his ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness and Growth). The existence group is concerned with providing the basic material existence requirements of humans. They include the items that Maslow considered to be physiological and safety needs. The second group of needs is those of relatedness – the desire people have for maintaining important interpersonal relationships. These social and status desires require interaction with others if they are to be satisfied, and they align with Maslow's social need and the external component of Maslow's esteem classification. Finally, Alderfer isolates growth needs: an intrinsic desire for personal development. These include the intrinsic component from Maslow's esteem category and the characteristics included under self-actualization.

Alderfer categorized the lower order needs (Physiological and Safety) into the Existence category. He fit Maslow's interpersonal love and esteem needs into the Relatedness category. The Growth category contained the self-actualization and self-esteem needs. Alderfer also proposed a regression theory to go along with the ERG theory. He said that when needs in a higher category are not met then individuals redouble the efforts invested in a lower category need. For example if self-actualization or self-esteem is not met then individuals will invest more effort in the relatedness category in the hopes of achieving the higher need.