Maslow's hierarchy of needs


Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a conceptualisation of the needs that motivate human behaviour, which was proposed by the American psychologist Abraham Maslow.
According to Maslow's original formulation, there are five sets of basic needs that are related to each other in a hierarchy of prepotency. Typically, the hierarchy is depicted in the form of a pyramid although Maslow himself was not responsible for the iconic diagram. The pyramid begins at the bottom with physiological needs and culminates at the top with self-actualization needs. In his later writings, Maslow added a sixth level of "meta-needs" and metamotivation.
The hierarchy of needs developed by Maslow is one of his most enduring contributions to psychology. The hierarchy of needs remains a popular framework and tool in higher education, business and management training, sociology research, healthcare, counselling and social work. Although widely used and researched, the hierarchy of needs has been criticized for its lack of conclusive supporting evidence and its validity remains contested.

Historical development

Maslow proposed his hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in the journal Psychological Review. The theory is a classification system intended to reflect the universal needs of society as its base, then proceeding to more acquired emotions. The hierarchy is split between deficiency needs and growth needs, with two key themes involved within the theory being individualism and the prioritization of needs.
According to Maslow's original formulation, there are five sets of basic needs: physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization. These needs are related to each other in a hierarchy of prepotency beginning with the physiological needs that are the most prepotent of all. If the physiological needs are fulfilled, a new set of safety needs emerges. If both the physiological and safety needs are fairly well gratified, the prepotent need of love then emerges. The next need is esteem, and finally self-actualization. Maslow also coined the term "metamotivation" to describe the motivation of people who go beyond the scope of basic needs and strive for constant betterment.
The hierarchy suggests a rigid separation of needs, but Maslow stressed that a need does not require being satisfied 100% before the next need emerges. Instead, “a more realistic description of the hierarchy would be in terms of decreasing percentages of satisfaction as we go up the hierarchy of prepotency”.

Pyramid

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the largest, most fundamental needs at the bottom, and the need for self-actualization and transcendence at the top. However, Maslow himself never created a pyramid to represent the hierarchy of needs. The first depiction of the iconic pyramid was due to Charles McDermid, an American consulting psychologist. In an article in the journal Business Horizons, McDermid asserts that Maslow’s theory of motivation provides better insight into the dynamics underlying human behaviour. More specifically, he states, "the hierarchy of needs is arranged in a pyramid of five levels, from basic physiological drives at the bottom to the desire for self-realisation, the highest expression of the human spirit, at the apex”.
The most fundamental four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "d-needs": esteem, friendship and love, security, and physical needs. If these "deficiency needs" are not met – except for the most fundamental need – there may not be a physical indication, but the individual will feel anxious and tense. Deprivation is what causes deficiency, so when one has unmet needs, this motivates them to fulfill what they are being denied.
The human brain is a complex system and has parallel processes running at the same time, thus many different motivations from various levels of Maslow's hierarchy can occur at the same time. Maslow spoke clearly about these levels and their satisfaction in terms such as "relative", "general", and "primarily". Instead of stating that the individual focuses on a certain need at any given time, Maslow stated that a certain need "dominates" the human organism. Thus Maslow acknowledged the likelihood that the different levels of motivation could occur at any time in the human mind, but he focused on identifying the basic types of motivation and the order in which they would tend to be met. In addition to his anthropological studies, Maslow drew on animal data that "studied and observed monkeys noticing their unusual pattern of behavior that addressed priorities based on individual needs".

Alternative illustrations of hierarchy

In contrast to the well-known pyramid, a number of alternative schematic illustrations of the hierarchy of needs have been developed. One of the earliest, in 1962, shows a more dynamic hierarchy in terms of 'waves' of different needs overlapping at the same time. As illustrated, the peak of an earlier main set of needs must be passed before the next 'higher' need can begin to assume a dominant role.
Other schematic illustrations of the hierarchy use overlapping triangles to depict the interaction of the different needs. One such updated hierarchy proposes that self-actualization is removed from its privileged place atop the pyramid because it is largely subsumed within status and mating-related motives in the new framework.

Needs

Physiological needs

Physiological needs are the base of the hierarchy. These needs are the biological component for human survival. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, physiological needs are factored into internal motivation. According to Maslow's theory, humans are compelled to satisfy physiological needs first to pursue higher levels of intrinsic satisfaction. To advance to higher-level needs in Maslow's hierarchy, physiological needs must be met first. This means that if a person is struggling to meet their physiological needs, they are unwilling to seek safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization on their own.
Physiological needs include: air, water, food, heat, clothes, reproduction, shelter and sleep. Many of these physiological needs must be met for the human body to remain in homeostasis. Air, for example, is a physiological need; a human being requires air more urgently than higher-level needs, such as a sense of social belonging. Physiological needs are critical to "meet the very basic essentials of life". This allows for cravings such as hunger and thirst to be satisfied and not disrupt the regulation of the body.

Safety needs

Once a person's physiological needs are satisfied, their safety needs take precedence and dominate behavior. In the absence of physical safety – due to war, natural disaster, family violence, childhood abuse, etc. and/or in the absence of economic safety – these safety needs manifest themselves in ways such as a preference for job security, grievance procedures for protecting the individual from unilateral authority, savings accounts, insurance policies, disability accommodations, etc. This level is more likely to predominate in children as they generally have a greater need to feel safe – especially children who have disabilities. Adults are also impacted by this, typically in economic matters; "adults are not immune to the need of safety". It includes shelter, job security, health, and safe environments. If a person does not feel safe in an environment, they will seek safety before attempting to meet any higher level of survival. This is why the "goal of consistently meeting the need for safety is to have stability in one's life", stability brings back the concept of homeostasis for humans which our bodies need.
Safety needs include:
After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third level of human needs is interpersonal and involves feelings of belongingness. According to Maslow, humans possess an effective need for a sense of belonging and acceptance among social groups, regardless of whether these groups are large or small; being a part of a group is crucial, regardless if it is work, sports, friends or family. The sense of belongingness is "being comfortable with and connection to others that results from receiving acceptance, respect, and love." For example, some large social groups may include clubs, co-workers, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs or online communities. Some examples of small social connections include family members, intimate partners, mentors, colleagues, and confidants. Humans need to love and be loved – both sexually and non-sexually – by others according to Maslow. Many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression in the absence of this love or belonging element. This need is especially strong in childhood and it can override the need for safety as witnessed in children who cling to abusive parents. Deficiencies due to hospitalism, neglect, shunning, ostracism, etc. can adversely affect the individual's ability to form and maintain emotionally significant relationships in general.
Mental health can be a huge factor when it comes to an individual's needs and development. When an individual's needs are not met, it can cause depression during adolescence. When an individual grows up in a higher-income family, it is much more likely that they will have a lower rate of depression. This is because all of their basic needs are met. Studies have shown that when a family goes through financial stress for a prolonged time, depression rates are higher, not only because their basic needs are not being met, but because this stress strains the parent-child relationship. The parent is stressed about providing for their children, and they are also likely to spend less time at home because they are working more to make more money and provide for their family.
Social belonging needs include:
In certain situations, the need for belonging may overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure.