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Maslow focused on what made people exceptional. He realized this could only happen when human needs were organized by a hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy became symbolic of the universal applicably of psychological thought, often transcending any specific theoretical orientation.

The attainment of higher states of consciousness were contingent on meeting the basic lower level physiological and safety needs. The need for safety could only be satisfied after the need for food, health, and rest had been met. After achieving physiological needs, the psychological needs of love and belonging needed to be satisfied. These included feelings of affection, intimacy, friendship, and being part of a community. Only after meeting the needs of love and belonging could the need for self esteem be addressed. Self Esteem resulted from personal feelings of accomplishment and personal value as well as socially acknowledged contributions to the well-being of others. Satisfactorily meeting self esteem needs provided movement to the top of the pyramid and made it possible to achieve self-fulfillment and become a fully self-actualized human being.