Since the very beginning of human nature, people had significantly evolved in most parts of their lives. However, with the physical and mental evolution, their wishes and preferences were nonetheless influencing their living. As a result, one of the most recognized and powerful psychologists, Abraham Maslow, introduced the conception of the “Hierarchy of Needs,” which was tightly connected with A Theory of Human Motivation (Cacioppo et al., 2018). In this essay, an analysis of one of the most influential sportsmen in the world, Kobe Bryant, will be provided with the help of Maslow’s theories.
First and foremost, the basketball star was one of the biggest motivational icons in any sphere of life. Moreover, Bryant himself introduced and described the main principles of his both internal and external motivation, which is called “Mamba mentality” (Bryant et al., 2018). To be more specific, the main mental principle that created the base of the sportsman’s success is pursuing the work on oneself regularly to see the significant changes in the future.
Secondly, turning to Maslow’s analysis involves physiological, and safety needs at the two fundamental stages. As a successful person, Bryant satisfied these needs as soon as he became the world-recognized basketball player. When it comes to the third stage, he did not experience the love and genuine belonging at the very beginning of the playing in the “Los Angeles Lakers” basketball club, but when he married and cemented his relations with team colleagues, such as Shaquille O’Neal, he understood how important it is to have somebody to “love and be loved by somebody” at the same time. Self-esteem, the fourth stage of Maslow’s pyramid of needs, was not satisfied by Koby Bryant himself.
More specifically, even if the world society recognized his value in basketball, his motivational settling named “mamba mentality” did not allow him to stop training and forced him to analyze each of his games critically. Finally, Bryant overcame the last stage of the pyramid named “self-actualization” due to the highest importance for every person. Playing basketball on the world level, starting a multi-millionaire business, and raising children were those factors that established the climb to the last rung of Kobe Bryant’s pyramid of needs.
References
Bryant, K., Gasol, P., Jackson, P., & Bernstein, A. D. (2018). The Mamba Mentality: How I Play (1st ed., Vol. 1). MCD.
Cacioppo, J. T., & Freberg, L. (2018). Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind (3rd ed.). Cengage Learning.