Modifying Methods For College Students’ Incentive Education: From The Perspective Of Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs Theory

As successors and builders of socialism, young college students should be nurtured into all-round elites by strengthening their ideological and political education (IPE), which is required by both our country’s socialist nature, and the nature of students’own growth and well-being. For this reason, IPE is of great significance to the development of our country and the renaissance of our nation. Incentive education (IE)is one of the basic methods to pursue IPE. However, it is not effectively functioned due to many problems in its processing.How to scientifically put IE into full play so as to develop college students’ initiatives and potentials is a major task the ideological and political educators in colleges are facing at the present. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, incentives "should be based on needs", which can well fit in with the ignorance of needs in present educational system. Based on Maslow’s Needs Theory and analyses on the needs of college students, this paper put forward a modified method to carry out IE, aiming to enhance the practical value of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory in this field, so that IE can function better and college students can get a all-round development with their potentials being better mobilized, inspired, and developed.This paper consists of four parts:In the first part, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory is introduced, including its main idea, features, and functions.In the second part, IE is illustrated, including its concept, elements, and its operational principles.In the third part, the possibility for modifying IE in light of Maslow’s Needs Theory is discussed. Firstly, the scientific nature of Maslow’s theory is proved. Secondly, from the perspective of Maslow’s theory, the theoretical foundation for college students’IE is discussed. Thirdly, also from the same perspective, the practical basis for modifying IE is analyzed.In the fourth part, by following Maslow’s Theory, and based on college students’ present needs situation, it explores the ways to modify IE from four aspects, namely the changes of "incentive" concept, the choice and enrichment of incentive content, the development of incentive method, and the building of incentive environment.