Maslow's perception of Human Nature

According to Maslow, people appear to be something other than good or decent because they react to stress, pain or deprivation of basic human needs such as security,love and self-esteem.

I tried to remember some of my own experiences which can be examples of Maslow's theory. I inquired myself, when is the time I do actually cannot think properly and lose self-control? when do I become a monster? When do I appear to be something other than good?

Then, I remembered a situation which I have lived at least twice, the circumstances were the following: I was not only hungry but starving, a meal to prepare for others and myself, and on top of that, I did have some sort of time limitations (work related). Then, my bad side emerged, or as Maslow would say, I appeared to be something other than good or decent. The results were that I was answering harshly to others or simply not answering, and even worst, I started to give much more importance to things before I never complained about, but that at that specific moment, I wrongly decided to complain. Then, of course the environment became uneasy, not just for myself, but for the others sharing the same space. Uffff!!! Fortunately, I survived!!

On the extreme side, I thought of criminals, killers, people who are being labeled as "evil". I found a video which talks about the research work of the psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis [here], who has devoted herself to understand killers. She thinks murderers are made not born, and that they become violent because they are damaged then sick. Through all her investigation, She found that most of her study cases (violent criminals) suffer from brain damage, were mentally and physically tortured (a history of abuse), and suffer of mental illnesses. She believes this is a recipe for human brutality.

Then, perhaps Maslow is right, although we are capable of being "evil", it is not what we humans beings fundamentally are.