dykewasp:

catididnt:

sioltach:

Transcript:

“Most of what you think you know about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is wrong.

This is the model that we all learned in psych 101 is wrong [image of Maslow’s pyramid is shown] where our basic physiological needs are at the bottom of the pyramid and achieving one’s full individual potential is at the apex.

What you may not have known is that Maslow spent 6 weeks with the Blackfoot First Nation in the summer of 1938. He learned about their worldview and the Blackfoot Tipi, appropriated and misrepresented their perspective to establish his own Maslow’s hierarchy, and then didn’t give them credit.

[Image of Maslow’s pyramid and Blackfoot tipi shown, described below]

According to the Blackfoot Tipi, self-actualization is at the bottom of the pyramid. In the middle we have belonging and community actualization, where people take care of each other and help each other with their basic needs. And at the top, we have cultural perpetuity, which is teaching each other how to live in harmony with the land and achieve community actualization through generations.

It makes so much sense, right? Taking care of oneself is not enough. We need to take care of each other and our community.

This is why we need to decolonize psychology.”

I found this really interesting, so here are some articles I found that explain this in more depth:

https://lincolnmichel.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/maslows-hierarchy-connected-to-blackfoot-beliefs/ <- Article by Karen Lincoln Michel, a Ho-Chunk writer

https://www.blackfootdigitallibrary.com/digital/collection/bdl/id/1296/rec/1 <- Presentation by Ryan Heavy Head and Narcisse Blood at the University of Montana, hosted by the Blackfoot Digital Library