Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Explaination

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Explained In Simple Terms

You must have seen many motivational quotes while going through the internet asking you to follow your dreams or do your best. However, do you know how science describes motivation and how its effects are seen in studies? Well, there have been many such research papers on the motivations and related to it. Among the many theories that explain human motivation one of the most popular ones is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Through this theory, we can understand what actually drives humans towards their goals and what motivates them the most. Understanding this is vital not only for students of psychology but also for students of other streams. Here we will look through this theory to gain a comprehensive understanding of it. But before all that let’s take a look at what it is.

What is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?

Back in 1943, Abraham Maslow an American Psychologist explained the reasonings behind human motivations. His theory became the bridge that guided people of all walks of life to a better understanding of their own motivations. Whether it be business decision-making or self-fulfilment, everything is based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. According to this theory, these needs are divided into the five levels of a pyramid with the basic needs making the first level. It goes from psychological needs at the bottom of the pyramid being the first then safety, love, esteem and finally self-actualisation at the top.

What Are the 5 Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs? [2024 Update]

Now let's go through these 5 Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to understand each of them in depth. Here we will first look at the basic needs that make up the bottom of the structure and then move up to the advanced needs of the people.

Psychological Needs

The first in the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is the psychological needs of human. This means it constitutes the need for air, food, water, clothing, housing and such. And it's pretty obvious is it not? Imagine a person who hasn't eaten anything for 2-3 days and is given a choice between food, horse or even influence. His instant reaction would be to go for the food. This means unless these basic needs of a human are satisfied, their biggest motivation would be to satisfy them.

Physiological Needs (Basic Survival) include

• Food
• Water
• Air
• Shelter
• Sleep

Safety Needs

Once a person's Psychological needs have been satisfied they will be motivated to pursue the next one in the Maslow Hierarchy of needs. It's the need for safety that comes next for the people. Safety from theft, violence, and emotional stability, are the normal ones among these. Other than these there is also the need for health safety and financial safety through employment and such.

Safety Needs (Security and Protection) include

• Personal security(feeling safe from physical harm)
• Financial security
• Health and well-being
• Safety nets(insurance, savings)

Love and Belonging Needs

Humans are social animals which also refer to our needs. The third level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs refers to the need for love and belonging through relationships. Acceptance in a group or making friends could all count towards this need for love and belonging. It then transcends to the need for both emotional and physical love with a partner. Whether it be the sexual or emotional bonding attached it earns a person an elevated feeling of kinship. This makes it the third most required in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

. Love and Belongingness Needs (Social Connections) includes

• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Romantic attachments
• Community and social groups

Esteem Needs

Starting from this one, it's where the needs start stemming from the ego instead. According to Maslow the fourth need for esteem is what drives humans to aim for emotional stability more than anything. Here Maslow divided the Esteem into two parts them being self-respect and self-esteem. The first one is about confidence in your self-value, in the belief that you are deserving of dignity. The second one is confidence in your growth and belief that you can contribute to others in society too. This defines the need for self-esteem which according to the Psychologist in question, Maslow brings humans an emotional fulfilment.

Esteem Needs (Self-Worth and Recognition)divided into two categories:

• Self-esteem (confidence, achievement, independence)
• Recognition from others(respect, status, prestige)

Self-Actualization

Lastly, the peak of Maslow’s five needs is occupied by the need for self-Actualization. This is the need for self-satisfaction, a belief that we are living up to our peak potential, the very limit that we can do so. The way everyone achieves this self-Actualization is different for everyone. Some are satisfied by helping others, some feel fulfilled by researching while some aim for their physical growth to reach their limits. All the varied paths lead to one end result and that is self-Actualization. In the most simple terms, it is the need to do what you believe you should be doing.

Self-Actualization (Achieving Full Potential) Includes

• Pursuing personal growth
• Creative expression
• Solving complex problems
• Contributing to society

Deficiency Needs vs Growth Needs: What are they?

In the pyramid of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the starting three namely the Psychological, Safety and need for love and belonging are considered as the deficiency needs. The top two needs for self-esteem and self-actualisation are the so-called growth needs. So what difference do these two have? Well, for starters Deficiency Needs are called so because they fulfil the deficiency of an important aspect of life. Whether it be the psychological need for food and such, safety needs or even the need for love all are essential for a person. In the absence of any of these three, the people would be harmed. It can go from starvation, and illness to social isolation and depression. Hence the first needs are essential others would result in deficiencies.

The need for self-esteem and self-actualisation, are based more on the emotional satisfaction of a person. Since the journey to these needs essentially includes the growth of the person, they are considered to be growth needs. A person can live their life without these two needs and still be satisfied but the same can't be said for the absence of the deficiency need. As such they are referred to in this way by Maslow.

The applications of Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs

Now the reason why Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is considered so important is because of its varied applications. This theory, seemingly simply has long-lasting effects on many varied fields. Here we have talked about the main application of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Business

Every business wishes to retain its employees and make sure they are motivated too. After all, the efficiency of a motivated individual is assuredly higher than that of a normal one. Hence comes the role of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Team leaders basically use Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to understand what their team members might be lacking and what they are worried about. For most businesses, their employees aren't able to satisfy their growth needs which results in them feeling resentful. In some cases, it might be due to employees not feeling safe due to the workplace's nature too. Overall with such information, the management can understand where they can improve upon and suitable steps.

Medical

Maslow was a psychologist so it's obvious his published theory should be useful for the medical field. According to Maslow, this theory can help psychologists understand the needs of their patients to provide them with the best possible assistance that would be most suitable according to their needs. Say a person feels anxious and worried all the time without understanding the reasons behind it, then using this theory the reasons can be ruled out. If the said patients' psychological needs are being fulfilled then it might be due to the need for safety or belongingness that they might be feeling such. Just like this other patients' need for assistance can be judged based on this theory and worked on.

Education

After its publication in 1943, many schools started to adopt Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in their education institutions. Using this they can recognise the trouble students might be having and take further steps to improve upon it. For example, if a student is hungry during their classes, they won't be able to focus completely on their class. In such situations, their Psychological needs are not being fulfilled so the steps would be to improve upon them. In case the student feels unsafe then it might be due to the bullying and such situations, so that too is a reason to improve upon. And if there is a motivated student whose need for self-actualisation is satisfied through assisting others then they can be given resources and authority to do so too.

Criticisms and Modern Interpretations of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Although there is considerable support for Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory, there are also several criticisms of it. One such issue with the theory was that it lacked empirical support as it lacked research-based evidence. Then there is also the issue with how Maslow’s chart seems rigid and shows the needs going from bottom to top. However, it is very much possible that a person who has high self-esteem and has already satisfied other needs starts to feel a need for security after a traumatic experience. Similarly, some cultures place more importance on the social good than personal esteem or self-actualisation. These made the theory more focused on Western ideologies or individualism which was a big criticism too.

There have been many modern interpretations of Maslow’s Theory that were aimed to improve further upon it. One such improvement was from Maslow himself who added Cognitive, Aesthetic and Transcendence needs to the already existing ones. Some psychologists believe that human needs are non-linear. It means that in some situations self-esteem might be given more value than the need for security or love while the opposite is also true. Then there is also the fact that the context and situations could also affect the sequence of needs for the people.

Conclusions

All in all, it could be said that while Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs isn't a perfect model for representing human needs, it is one of the best. Many of the modern interpretations of the theory still use the Maslow model as their base. All of these are enough to explain how important Maslow’s Hierarchy is for understanding the varied needs of the people. However, understanding all the complexities of the human brain would require more than just Maslow's hierarchy of needs. We hope that this article by new assignment help australia website psychology assignment experts was able to enhance your understanding of the subject. We will bring more such informative posts to you so be sure to follow along.