Individuals exhibit varied wants ranging from the fundamentals to needs that imply self-actualization. The nature of human needs is such that they cannot be fully satisfied and attainment of one set of needs leads to an individual wanting to attain another set of needs. According to scholars, human beings attain happiness and success when they meet a certain set of needs that they deem as fundamental (Hattie, 2014). The hierarchy of human needs was successfully constructed by Maslow providing a classification of the needs that a human being may want. According to Maslow’s studies, human beings gain motivation and desire to fulfill their needs thus determining the actions and choices that an individual makes for satisfying those needs.
Physiological needs
According to Maslow, the most basic needs of a human being are the deficiency needs (Hattie, 2014). The deficiency needs as postulated by Maslow when not met do not necessarily show any physical conditions but will have a psychological effect on the individual. As such, Maslow termed the most basic needs as physiological needs. The physiological needs of a human being are such that they are the basic requirements for any individual to survive. The physiological needs encompass food, water, clothing, sleep, and shelter. The basic needs as defined by Maslow portray themselves as the most important, and therefore they should be met first before any other need is satisfied. Before the physiological needs are met all other needs are secondary since if not met the physiological requirements can lead to death.
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Studies by Hattie (2014), the physiological needs press individuals in varying circumstances. The need for sex, unlike other physiological needs, cannot possibly lead to death if not satisfied. According to Maslow, a need like air is in abundant supply since it surrounds all human beings thus it is easily and regularly satisfied in normal human beings (Lester, 2013). As postulated by Maslow, the need for air at times may not even be evident unless a human being is deprived of the basic requirement.
According to Lester (2013), human needs such as shelter and clothing unlike air do not have an immediate threat to life nevertheless have a more pressing urgency and more recurrent. A requirement like food cannot be easily met making human beings learn means of how to provide themselves with the necessity.
Safety needs
When an individual’s physiological needs are met, there is a tendency to want higher needs and mostly the safety needs. Safety needs as postulated by Maslow revolve around the human requirements for security, shelter, safety, and warmth (Markus, & Oyserman, 2014). Safety needs, unlike the physiological needs, are exhibited when not satisfied. Human beings desire for safety when physiological needs are met. Unlike all the physiological needs which can be earned or given, safety needs are described as a state of mind.
According to Maslow’s needs in Markus and Oyserman (2014), human beings have a desire for security and safety. It may be of concern that an individual tries to learn some skills that make them feel safe. In many cases skills such as learning how to make money to purchase a house makes an individual gain a sense of security that the need for shelter is guaranteed. According to psychology scholars, the factor of fear makes individuals feel insecure therefore when they learn how to overcome fear their need for security and safety is guaranteed.
Security needs range from emotional security, financial, personal and health security. Studies by Maslow indicate that when an individual’s economic safety is not guaranteed possibly due to inadequate work opportunities and economic crisis, the individual will manifest the need for security by initiating a savings plan, insurance policies and seeking job security.
Social belonging
The feeling of belonging form the next level of human needs usually the social belonging needs. The failure to achieve social belonging needs, an individual may develop adverse effects to maintain and form relationships since it affects the individual’s emotions (Kaplan, 2016). According to Maslow, the nature of humans is to seek a sense of acceptance and to belong mainly among social groups however small the groups may be. Social groups like clubs, sports teams, online communities, religious groups and professional organizations form part aspects that provide an individual with a sense of belonging.
Belongingness, friendship, family, and intimacy form the core of the social belonging category of needs. According to Maslow, the desire to belong is a strong, inherent and strong feeling manifested in human nature (Markus, & Oyserman, 2014). The desire of having some social belonging is so strong that individuals suffer the consequences of not gaining the sense of belonging.
Usually, human beings as indicated by continuous studies crave for social connections from family members, mentors, intimate partners, confidants, and colleagues. As such it is necessary for human beings to seek love both non-sexual and sexual since lacking the acceptance or belonging element may result in clinical depression, social anxiety, and loneliness. In numerous cases, the need for social belonging may manifest itself as being stronger than security and physiological needs depending on how strong peer pressures from social groups is. Individuals who have a strong desire to belong will seek opinions from other individuals about services and products with a tendency to want to influence the opinions of others.
Esteem
The needs or esteem are indicated by Maslow as ego needs or the desire to attain status, recognition, respect, and importance (Ümmet, 2015). Human beings have a desire to gain a feeling of being respected. The human need for esteem is shown by Maslow as a typical desire for all human beings to feel valued and accepted by other people. The need for acceptance and respect from other individuals is portrayed as being secondary when compared to the safety, physiological and social belonging needs.
In Maslow’s studies, human beings will seek to attain acceptance and esteem from other individuals by engaging in a hobby or profession (Kaplan, 2016). Maslow further postulates that failing to achieve esteem needs by an individual may result to inferiority complex or low self-esteem. Individuals seeking to boost their esteem may be hindered from attaining it by not accepting who they are consequently leading to depression.
Self-actualization
The need to achieve self-actualization by human beings is defined by Maslow as an inherent desire to realize the full potential of an individual. According to Maslow, the need for self-actualization is embedded in an individual’s ability to achieve and master all the other levels of needs (Kaplan, 2016).
The need for self-actualization is viewed differently among human beings given that different people have a varied definition of their full potential and in many cases, the potentials differ from an individual to the other. For example, an individual may exhibit an unyielding desire to become an ideal employee. According to varied views from psychology scholars and Maslow, self-actualization may mean the desire for spiritual enlightenment, expressing creativity, pursuing knowledge and the unbeatable desire to change society.
Maslow in his studies postulated that it might be rare for human beings to achieve self-actualization. Consequently, individuals who do not attain self-actualization are depicted as being less happy since they are living differently from their real capability and nature. However, Maslow later wrote about a self-transcendence level of human needs criticizing his earlier research on self-actualization. In his later work, Maslow tried to prove self-actualization as trying to seek an infinite state.
Conclusion
Maslow’s theory presents a psychological study of human needs that yield varied motivations in a quest to fulfill the needs. The most basic needs forming physiological needs have to be satisfied first since failure to attain them may be life-threatening. Since human wants are numerous and are not fully satiable, achieving one set of needs leads to human beings wanting to achieve the next level of needs. The apex of Maslow’s hierarchy constitutes self-actualization needs that vary among individuals since different human beings have their definition of self-actualization. As postulated by Maslow, attaining self-actualization requires that all other needs be fulfilled.
References
Hattie, J. (2014). Self-concept . Psychology Press.
Kaplan, S. (2016). Cognitive maps, human needs and the designed environment 5.4. Environmental Design Research: Volume one selected papers , 275.
Lester, D. (2013). Measuring Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Psychological Reports , 113 (1), 15-17.
Markus, H. R., & Oyserman, D. (2014). The sociocultural self. In Psychological Perspectives on the Self, Volume 4 (pp. 199-232). Psychology Press.
Ümmet, D. (2015). Self esteem among college students: a study of satisfaction of basic psychological needs and some variables. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences , 174 , 1623-1629.
