Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

The Hierarchy of Needs is a theory developed by the American psychologist Abraham Maslow, first published in 1943 in an article entitled "Theory of Human Motivation". Maslow, as a humanist, focused his studies on what motivates people's behavior. For him, there are 5 correlated needs that people need to fulfill to achieve self-actualization. He designed his hierarchy of needs in a pyramid form, as you see below.

To better understand each section:

1. Physiological: The most basic needs of a human body. Without them, you can not survive.
2. Safety: People need to feel safe in their lives, through financial security, health care, and saving accounting.
3. Love and Belonging: The third level is related to social needs. People need to be part of a group and family. The need for emotional relationships drives human behavior.
4.  Esteem: Appreciation and respect of others. The lack of self-esteem can develop a feeling of inferiority.
5. Self-actualization: There is a Maslow's quote that describes perfectly this level: "What a man can be, he must be". At this level, people are able to achieve their full potential as human beings. 

The four first sections (physiological, safety, belonging and esteem) are considered the human being basic needs and the top one (self-actualization) is considered by Maslow as the highest level of a human need. Needs lower in the hierarchy must be satisfied before people can attend to needs higher up. But, this is not rigid, even if you do not fulfill some basic needs section you can achieve levels up. As well as individuals who have different needs. For example, the necessity to be esteem could be strongest than the belonging need.

The pyramid is also divided into two categories, Deficiency Needs, and Growth Needs. Deficiency Needs emerge due to the lack of some of the first four basic levels of need. For example, the longer a person goes without water, the more thirsty they will become. The Growth Need or Self-actualization emerges from the human desire to grow as a person and achieve a higher potential.

References: 

• Hoffman, E. (1988). The right to be human: A biography of Abraham Maslow. Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.
• McLeod, S.A. (2018, May 21). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html