Maslow's Human Needs Pyramid

Maslow’s Human Needs Pyramid

Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in 1943. This hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more advanced needs.

As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social. Soon, the need for love, friendship, and intimacy become important. Further up the pyramid, the need for personal esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority. Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person in order to achieve individual potential.

This hierarchy is most often displayed as a pyramid, as shown below. The lowest levels of the pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at the top of the pyramid. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep, and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Types of Needs

Maslow believed that these needs are similar to instincts and play a major role in motivating behavior. Physiological, security, social, and esteem needs are deficiency needs (also known as D-needs), meaning that these needs arise due to deprivation. Satisfying these lower-level needs is important in order to avoid unpleasant feelings or consequences.

Maslow termed the highest-level of the pyramid as growth needs (also known as being needs or B-needs). Growth needs do not stem from a lack of something, but rather from a desire to grow as a person.

Five Levels of the Hierarchy of Needs

There are five different levels in Maslow’s 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 met.

 

2.    Security Needs
These include needs for safety 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 steady employment, health insurance, safe neighborhoods, and shelter from the environment.

 

3.    Social Needs
These include needs for belonging, love, and affection. Maslow considered these needs to be less basic than physiological and security needs. Relationships such as friendships, romantic attachments, and families help fulfill this need for companionship and acceptance, as doe’s 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 need 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 with the opinions of others, and interested fulfilling their potential.

Human Needs Activity 1:

 

List the levels and specific Maslow’s human needs required by the following cases

 

Case	Level	Specific needs at each level
A child in a hospital	1	Physiological Food, water, sleep, breathing , health
A physically disabled person	1,2,4 and 4	Physiological , Water Safety, Love , Friendship
A lonely poor old lady in Sri Lanka	1,4	Physiological Food Esteem, respect of and by others
A shy rich widow who has a loving family and friends but has not achieved much in life	1,2	Physiological . health Safety , Body , Property
A family trapped underground because of a bomb shell	1,2	Physiological, Water, Food Safety , Morality , Health, Resources
An orphaned child who was forced to work to make a living	1,2 and 3	Physiological , Sleep , breathing Safety , Body , Property , Health Belonging , affection
Physically and mentally abused person	1,2 and 4	Physiologial , Food , Health Safety , Employment , Morality Esteem , Confidence
A father who lost his job and has a family to support	2,3 and 4	Safety , Body , Health Love , Social Interaction Esteem , Self-esteem

 

Human Needs Activity 1/2:

 

 

Match the specific needs with the five levels by writing the level number in front of each need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human Needs Activity 2:

 

Working in groups, discuss and answer the following questions:

 

1. Does every human being have the right to reach the top of the Maslow pyramid?
    
   ________Yes, because we all human, so we are same.

 

 

1. Does every human being have the capability of reaching that level?
   ___ No, No one can be perfect and can have everything.

 

 

1. What are the opportunities are needed to get to the higher level?
   _____ Food, Water, Employment, respect of and by others, Social interaction and confidence.
    

 

1. What are the obstacles could stand in the way of reaching these levels?
   _____ Food, Water, sleep, breathing and health.
    
    
2. What could you do to help others to reach the higher levels?
   _____ To help them with a Food and Water, because it’s the most important things.

 

You – Tube:

 

3 min - basic  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH04OsNuvcw

 

NEW:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM8SwZkvCIY 

 

Movie – stop 6.40’ 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQ9vrvTAtk