Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human
Motivation, which he subsequently extended. His theory contends that as humans meet 'basic needs', they seek to satisfy
successively 'higher needs' that occupy a set hierarchy. Maslow studied exemplary people such as Albert Einstein, Jane Addams,
Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglass rather than mentally ill or neurotic people, writing that "the study of crippled, stunted,
immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy." (Motivation and Personality,
1987)

Diagram of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

5. Actualization
4. Status (esteem)
3. Love/belonging
2. Safety
1. Physiological (biological needs)

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as
deficiency needs associated with physiological needs, while the top level is termed growth needs associated with psychological
needs. While our deficiency needs must be met, our being needs are continually shaping our behaviour. The basic concept is that
the higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely
satisfied. Growth forces create upward movement in the hierarchy, whereas regressive forces push prepotent needs further down
the hierarchy.

Deficiency needs

The deficiency needs (also termed 'D-needs' by Maslow) are:

Physiological needs

The physiological needs of the organism, those enabling homeostasis, take first precedence. These consist mainly of:

 the need to breathe  the need to eat

 the need to regulate body temperature  the need to dispose of bodily wastes
 the need for water  the need for sex
 the need for sleep

If some of the needs are unmet, a human's physiological needs take the highest priority. As a result of the prepotency of
physiological needs, an individual will deprioritize all other desires and capacities. Physiological needs can control thoughts and
behaviors, and can cause people to feel sickness, pain, and discomfort.

Maslow also places sexual activity in this category, as well as bodily comfort, activity, exercise, et-cetera. While several of these
activities are important, many are not essential to survive.

Safety needs

When the physiological needs are met, the need for safety will emerge. Safety and security rank above all other desires. These
include:

 Physical security - safety from violence,  Security of revenues and resources

delinquency, aggressions  Moral and physiological security
 Security of employment  Familial security
  Security of health  Security of personal property against crime

A properly-functioning society tends to provide a degree of security to its members. Sometimes the desire for safety outweighs the
requirement to satisfy physiological needs completely.

Love/Belonging needs

After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs is social. This involves emotionally-based
relationships in general, such as:

 friendship
 sexual intimacy
 having a supportive and communicative family

Humans generally need to feel belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social group (clubs, office culture,
religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs) or small social connections (family members, intimate partners,
mentors, close colleagues, confidants). They need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. In the absence of
these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and depression. A lack of love and belonging is also
beginning to be associated with physical illnesses such as heart disease (external source: heart disease).

Status (Esteem needs)

According to Maslow, all humans have a need to be respected, to have self-respect, and to respect others. People need to engage
themselves in order to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution and self-value,
be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem, inferiority complexes, an inflated sense of
self-importance or snobbishness. There are two levels to Esteem needs. The lower of the levels relates to elements like fame,
respect, and glory. The higher level is contingent to concepts like confidence, competence, and achievement. The lower level is
generally considered poor. It is dependent upon other people, or someone who needs to be reassured because of lower esteem.
People with low esteem need respect from others. They may seek fame or glory, which again are dependent on others. However
confidence, competence and achievement only need one person and everyone else is inconsequential to ones own success.

Being needs

Though the deficiency needs may be seen as "basic", and can be met and neutralized (i.e. they stop being motivators in one's life),
self-actualization and transcendence are "being" or "growth needs" (also termed "B-needs"), i.e. they are enduring motivations or
drivers of behaviour.

Self-actualization

Self-actualization (a term originated by Kurt Goldstein) is the instinctual need of humans to make the most of their unique abilities
and to strive to be the best they can be. Maslow describes self-actualization as follows:

Self Actualization is the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is.
(Psychological Review, 1949)

Maslow writes the following of self-actualizing people:

 They embrace the facts and realities of the world (including themselves) rather than denying or avoiding them.
 They are spontaneous in their ideas and actions.
 They are creative.
 They are interested in solving problems; this often includes the problems of others. Solving these problems is often a key
focus in their lives.
 They feel a closeness to other people, and generally appreciate life.
 They have a system of morality that is fully internalized and independent of external authority.
 They judge others without prejudice, in a way that can be termed objective.

In short, self-actualization is reaching one's fullest potential.

Self-transcendence

At the top of the triangle, self-transcendence is also sometimes referred to as spiritual needs.

Viktor Frankl expresses the relationship between self-actualization and self-transcendence in Man's Search for Meaning. He
writes:

The true meaning of life is to be found in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed
system....Human experience is essentially self-transcendence rather than self-actualization. Self-actualization is not a
possible aim at all, for the simple reason that the more a man would strive for it, the more he would miss it.... In other
words, self-actualization cannot be attained if it is made an end in itself, but only as a side effect of self-transcendence.
(p.175)

Maslow believes that we should study and cultivate peak experiences as a way of providing a route to achieve personal growth,
integration, and fulfillment. Peak experiences are unifying, and ego-transcending, bringing a sense of purpose to the individual and
a sense of integration. Individuals most likely to have peak experiences are self-actualized, mature, healthy, and self-fulfilled. All
individuals are capable of peak experiences. Those who do not have them somehow depress or deny them.

Maslow originally found the occurrence of peak experiences in individuals who were self-actualized, but later found that peak
experiences happened to non-actualizers as well but not as often. In his The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York, 1971)
he writes:

I have recently found it more and more useful to differentiate between two kinds of self-actualizing people, those who
were clearly healthy, but with little or no experiences of transcendence, and those in whom transcendent experiencing was
important and even central … It is unfortunate that I can no longer be theoretically neat at this level. I find not only self-
actualizing persons who transcend, but also nonhealthy people, non-self-actualizers who have important transcendent
experiences. It seems to me that I have found some degree of transcendence in many people other than self-actualizing
ones as I have defined this term …

Ken Wilber, a theorist and integral psychologist who was highly influenced by Maslow, later argued that a peak experience could
occur at any stage of development and that "the way in which those states or realms are experienced and interpreted depends to
some degree on the stage of development of the person having the peak experience." Wilber is in agreement with Maslow about
the positive values of peak experiences saying, "In order for higher development to occur, those temporary states must become
permanent traits." Wilber was, in his early career, a leader in Transpersonal psychology, a distinct school of psychology that is
interested in studying human experiences which transcend the traditional boundaries of the ego.

In 1969, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich were the initiators behind the publication of the first issue of the
Journal of Transpersonal Psychology

Counterpositions

While Maslow's theory was regarded as an improvement over previous theories of personality and motivation, it has its detractors.
For example, in their extensive review of research that is dependent on Maslow's theory, Wahba and Bridwell (1976) found little
evidence for the ranking of needs that Maslow described, or even for the existence of a definite hierarchy at all. For example, less
individualistic forms of society than described by Maslow in this theory, might value their social relationships (e.g. family, clan or
group) higher than their own physiological needs.

The concept of self-actualization is considered vague and psychobabble by some behaviourist psychologists. The concept is based
on an Aristotelian notion of human nature that assumes we have an optimum role or purpose.[citation needed] Self actualization is a
difficult construct for researchers to operationalize, and this in turn makes it difficult to test Maslow's theory. Even if self-
actualization is a useful concept, there is no proof that every individual has this capacity or even the goal to achieve it.

Other counterpositions suggest that not everyone ultimately seeks the self-actualization that a strict (and possibly naive) reading of
Maslow's hierarchy of needs appears to imply:
  Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning describes his psychotherapeutic method (logotherapy) of finding purpose
in life.
 Albert Einstein was actually drawn toward the sense of mystery in life. See Abraham Pais' Subtle is the Lord.
 Others seek to perform good works.
 Others are drawn toward the dark side of the human condition.

One could counter this argument by citing these as examples of ways people self-actualize. Hence, the ambiguity of the term.

Transcendence has been discounted by secular psychologists because they feel it belongs to the domain of religious belief. But
Maslow himself believed that science and religion were both too narrowly conceived, too dichotomized, and too separated from
each other. Non-peakers, as he would call them, characteristically think in logical, rational terms and look down on extreme
spirituality as "insanity" (p. 22) because it entails a loss of control and deviation from what is socially acceptable. They may even
try to avoid such experiences because they are not materially productive—they "earn no money, bake no bread, and chop no
wood" (p. 23). Other non-peakers have the problem of immaturity in spiritual matters, and hence tend to view holy rituals and
events in their most crude, external form, not appreciating them for any underlying spiritual implications. Maslow despised such
people because they form a sort of idolatry that hinders religions (p. 24). This creates a divide in every religion and social
institution. (Maslow. "The 'Core-Religious' or 'Transcendent,' Experience.") It is important to note, however, that Maslow
considered himself to be an atheist--thus, by his conceptualization of transcendence, any individual can have such experiences
(Hoffman, E. 1999. The right to be human: A biography of Abraham Maslow).

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who published in his book Motivation and Personality (1943) his famous
Hierarchy of Needs.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

 Self Actualization Needs (full potential)

 Ego Needs (self respect, personal worth, autonomy)
 Social Needs (love, friendship, comradeship)
 Security Needs (protection from danger)
 Physiological Needs (warmth, shelter, food)

To describe self actualization, Maslow pointed out that these people had virtues he called B-Values:

Maslow's B Values
 Truth  Uniqueness
 Goodness  Perfection
 Beauty  Justice
 Unity  Order
 Transcendence  Simplicity
 Aliveness

Maslow's introduction of B-values and related concepts changed psychology forever. Maslow elevated psychology to study a
deeper and more complex man. Instead of sick-man study, Maslow did great-man study. In studied the great and famous people in
history and cataloged what they had in common.

Maslow created five needs and used a pyramid to illustrate that one grows based on the lower
needs. Thus we have his famous Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid shown in the white background in
the figure below. The yellow triangle, is my addition, and is not included in Maslow’s original
pyramid.

-Modified Pyramid-

Spiritual Needs are redundant and differ from mere self actualization. We need a higher form
of love than we find from fellow humans. This Love is part of the natural Law of the universe.
Body (Physiological) Needs such as air, warmth, food, sleep, stimulation and activity. This need concerns biological balance and
stable equilibrium (homeostasis). These needs can be very strong because if deprived over time, the person will die.

Security (Safety) Needs such as living in a safe area away from threats. This level is more likely to be found in children as they
have a greater need to feel safe

Social (Love and Belongingness) Needs such as the love of family and friends.

Ego (Self esteem) Needs such as healthy pride The Ego needs focus on our need for self-respect, and respect from others.

Self Actualization (Fulfillment) Needs such as purpose, personal growth and realization of potentials. This is the point where
people become fully functional, acting purely on their own volition and having a healthy personality.

Perhaps a better name for Spiritual Needs might be God Actualization

The spiritual needs restrict one's options in life, but at the same time provide a direction that leads from the trivial and the
confusion to a much more fulfilling path.

Spiritual Needs

 Love and direction  Justice, search for truth, orderliness, oughtness -this
 Wholeness, unity integration, oneness -this is part is part of spirituality
of the spiritual experience  Need to feel close to God
 Perfection, just rightness - this is taught in classes  Need to Prayer
in spirituality  Need to Meditate
 Completion, ending, destiny, fate -fate is not taught  Need of Purity
in classes on spirituality.