I did some reading, after hearing said soundbites. In fact lots of it, including reading most of the A-level psychology textbook, and digging on the internet. The only thing they seem to show is a few correlations. Same as any other social science.
You're being vague, dear, which makes sense, as you're also misinformed. I'd need to know the soundbited, the textbook, and the stuff you found on the internet to be certain that you're full of shit to set my level of certainty at α=.001, but I'm comfortable right now with a certainty of α=.05, which is standard.
Does the pyramid shape represent anything?
Or is it just 'pretty'?
Maslow's hierarchy of needs.