Careful there. It is true that Maslow did not have as much data as he should have (and would've liked). He admits it as much, and repeatedly warns in his book

Careful there. It is true that Maslow did not have as much data as he should have (and would've liked). He admits it as much, and repeatedly warns in his books that "more data is needed". That said, on your point (2), he explicitly says in his paper (A Theory of Human Motivation) that the "hierarchy" is not absolutely universal: "No claim is made that it is ultimate or universal for all cultures. The claim is made only that it is relatively more ultimate, more universal, more basic, than the superficial conscious desires from culture to culture [...]" (Where "it" == Maslow's classification of basic needs.) * * * A counter-point to Maslow's model is the "self-determination theory"[1]. It is "a meta-theory that consists of several mini-theories". [1] https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/ https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/