Abraham Maslow

 

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

 

Five Levels of the Hierarchy of Needs

 

1. Physiological Needs

These include the most basic needs that are vital to survival, such as the need for water, air, food, and sleep.

Maslow believed that these needs are the most basic and instinctive needs in the hierarchy because all needs

become secondary until these physiological needs are meet. 

2. Security Needs

These include needs for safty and security. security needs are important for survival, but they are not as

demanding as the physiological needs. Examples of security needs include a desire for a steady employment,

health care, safe neighborhoods, and shelter form the environment.

3. Social Needs

These included needs for belonging, love, and affection. Maslow describes these needs as less basic than

physiological and security needs. Relationships such as friendships, romantic attachments, and families help

fulfill this need for companionship and acceptance, as does involvement in social, community, or religious

groups.

4. Esteem Needs

After the first three needs have been satisfied, esteem needs becomes increasingly important. These include the

ned for things that reflect on self=esteem, personal worth, social recognition, and accomplishment.

5. Self-actualizing Needs

This is the highest level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned

with personal growth, less concerned the the opinion of others, and interested in fulfilling their potential.

 

Self-actualization

personal growth and fulfilment

 

Esteem needs

achievement, status, responsibility, reputation

 

Belongingness and Love needs

family, affection, relationships, work group

 

Safety needs

protection, security, order, law, limits, stability

 

Biological and Physiological needs

basic life needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep

 

 

Self-Actualization

 ABRAHAM MASLOW has proposed a model of the full-functioning, mentally and  emotionally healthy selfhood. In this model, Maslow suggests that – in contrast to “ordinary” or even “neurotic” living – a person striving to be self-actualizing:  

 

1.  has a more efficient and accurate perception of reality, and is more comfortable with it; is not  anxious or fearful; does less dichotomizing; tolerates and even enjoys ambiguity.  

2.  has a greater acceptance of self, others, and nature as they are; acknowledges and appreciates her/his animal nature and her/his continuity with nature; knows less shame or disgust; is seldom defensive; feels normal remorse about improvable faults, but not “neurotically guilty” about them. SELF-ACCEPTANCE is fundamental.  

3.  is able to behave spontaneously, does not need ritual or pattern; dislikes conventions in which she/he finds little real or personal meaning.  

4.   focuses on problems outside of him-/herself; sets realistic (though often extremely high) goals; has a sense of purpose or mission about her/his life; is interested in improving the quality of human life and living.  

5.   can be comfortably detached, enjoying his/her privacy; attains an inner calm and centeredness.  

6.  is autonomous, i.e., relatively independent of culture and environment; is GROWTH-motivated (or BEING-motivated), not DEFICIENCY-motivated; going forward from where they are; is intra-individual, finding satisfactions within her-/himself, and in others like her/him.

7.  has a continuing freshness of appreciation; each enjoyable experience brings him/her delight and he/she seeks more of it; enjoys her/his own subjective experiences.  

8.  has periodic PEAK (or OCEANIC) experiences; these combine transcendence and at the same time a total immersion of him-/herself in his/her life experiences. Peak experiences are sometimes similar to mystical experiences, though the person may not be mystical in the conventional or religious sense. It involves a passionate flooding of enjoyable feelings, a unification and merging of the person with LIFE.  

9.  has a heightened feeling for humankind; they identify with (without leaning upon) other people, feeling oneness with them, though sometimes their recognition of the problems of others cause S–A people to feel an “older brother (or sister)” relationship with other people.

10. has deeper or more profound inter-personal relations; can show greater acceptance, caring, love and empathy, and do it more easily. This means S-A people have a small and select circle of intimate relations and friendships. S-A people can be kinder and more understanding, though not everyone can tolerate this in S-A people, so it is, of necessity, a small circle.

11. is democratic in her/his character-structure, making her/him unaware of surface differences in people (like race, ethnicity, sex, religion, politics, or appearance); the S–A person can and will learn from anyone who can provide insight or wisdom; his/her knowledge often makes him/her even more aware of how much more there is yet to learn; will not destroy the self-respect of anyone.  

12. makes discrimination between “ends” and “means”, but can enjoy “the journey” as much as “the arriving”; Life is a whole, and ends may become means to other ends. LIFE GOES ON.  

13. has a philosophical, unhostile sense of humor, both about him-/herself, and about life in general; never laughs at others or finds such humor to be “funny” or fair.  

14. displays generally more originality, creativeness, and inventiveness than do ordinary people.  

15. resists total enculturation; has good personal adjustment, though his/her apparent “social” adjustment may not always please the “adjusters” of society. This healthy individuality (or individuation) is for him/herself, but not against any other person.  

16. her/his value system results from her/his acceptance of self and others, therefore she/he may be both “selfish” and “unselfish” at the same time; the S–A person can make his/her work into play.  

17. Warnings about Self-Actualizing people: They may expect too much of people they care about; they may attract neurotic and overly-dependent people; they may be absent-minded about the social niceties; they may relate to, and even marry, out of compassion, pity, or “older sibling” concern; they may allow others to occasionally take advantage of, or exploit, them (not out of masochism, but out of caring); being human, they are never totally free of anxiety, guilt, sadness, and internal strife, though these feelings are more reality-based and not nearly as neurotic; this sadness may be like the Weldschmerz of the philosopher.  

THE ABOVE are my reworking of Maslow’s model, found originally in his Motivation and Personality, and elaborated in the later book, Toward a Psychology of Being, and later works. 

Since the lower needs of people must be met before the higher needs can, it is unlikely that most people will reach the fullest experience of self-actualization, but S–A people still manage to strive toward such goals, while working to finish the “unfinished business” of the lower needs (found below).  

S–A represents a healthward, holistic movement and, therefore, a movement away from mental illness. It is a goal toward which the human species seems to be slowly progressing, therefore a goal toward which the individual may attempt to progress. It is defined as “becoming what you were intended to be; to fulfill to the utmost your potentiality; to become what you ARE.”