Aronoff (1967) - Job demands and the hierarchy of needs
Method: Aronoff compared people in two jobs in the British West Indies - fishermen and cane cutters. Cane cutters got paid according to how much cane was cut by the whole group, even when they were off sick. SO they had high job security, although wages were low. In contrast, fishermen worked alone, doing much more challenging work. So they were less secure in their job, although they earned more overall. Both groups of people were assessed to see which level they were at on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Results: More cane cutters were at the lower levels of the hierarchy, still trying to achieve safety and security than fishermen, many of whom had satisfied the lower levels of the hierarchy.
Conclusion: Only those men who had satisfied lower levels of they pyramid would choose to become fishermen, allowing them to develop high self-esteem. This suggests that people cannot reach the higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy until they have satisfied the lower levels.
Evaluation: The study supports Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, and it has high ecological validity as it studied people in their natural environment. However, it only studied people from one culture, so the results can't be generalised to the wider population.