Maslow's hierarchy of needs ..

[cooljat]

Hi All,

While discussing about human relationships with one of my friend yesterday, she introduced me to this wonderful and pragmatic theory known as 'Maslow's hierarchy of needs' ... I did some research and found out in detail about it, its indeed a good theory and best part is self actualization & peak experiences. You can read more about it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

Even before reading it I always used to believe that needs are integral part of any Relationship, be it emotional or any other we all seek, n I always say 'Its all about give n take' and thats the way things work out! Selfishness creeps in when u only demand and not willing to contribute in return. Harmony is crucial in any short of relationships !

I wish some one like Dr Neelam, who has expertise in this field come forward and shed some more light on this very topic ! :)


Rock on
Jit

[anilsinghd]

'Maslow's hierarchy of needs'
I wish some one like Dr Neelam, who has expertise in this field come forward and shed some more light on this very topic ! :)



Seems like Neelam ji is in demand , i myself was looking to talk to her though on a more personal question ! :)


Well Jit , I am not an expert like Neelam but I have had the privilige of reading about human motivation and needs in my 2nd year course titled "Organisation Psychology". As i have mentioned previously in my posts as well , this course is surely among the best I did and among the ones from which i learnt most about life.
Pshychology has always fascinated me so i did go beyond what the course had to tell and at time did some good personal research on this , Infact once i did take a guest lecture on this very topic for an MBA class at a management school! :)


The theory you ar e talking about is surely one of the simplest yet powerful for everyone and it's a must for all to at least ponder upon.
What i am sure about is that it covers at least most of the bulk and the fat tails of the plethora of human needs. The criticism of the theory (also mentioned in the link you gave ) ar e obvious :
1) It does not talk about co-existence of all these needs ( Though a modification of aslow's version does talk about that ).
2) The hierarchy mentioned may not be universally applicable!

There is not a lot i can talk about other than advising people to try and correlate this with your actions and try and find the applicability of this theory in your life and thoughts. One obvious lesson from this is to also try and stive to move up the hierarchy and not get bogged down in any level.

An interesting aspect of the theory is that things like morality , acceptance of facts , respect of others are classified as needs and are given the top place. What that tells us that it is not the "needs" in the literal or the common sensical version of the word.
Being good should not be looked as an attribute of greatness , superiority but it should be looked upon as the core of needs and we must all s trive for that. As I always mentioned , any good thing should not be looked as a leisure but should be viewed as an "RESPONSIBILITY".

fore those interested read ERG theory which explands the Maslow's version.



By the way , one should always look at these texts and while applying look for the context as well. One cannot indiscriminately apply this to all the individuals , for example : it is a bit childish to think of someone born in a very influential and rich family to be sensitive of the lower order needs of survival. Similary it wil be immature to think of someone who is fighting hard to survive to consider the self-esteem and actualisation needs.

Also very important lesson that i tell with experience is that beware of fat tails! What i mean is the always think of the impossible in any analysis you do , may be it does not help a lot , but it prevents you from being overly shocked with horror when you see the truth ! :)
PS : Happy to give my viewpoints if anybody has any questions ?

[anilsinghd]

I was wondering yesterday whether our senior members can put forward their views on this.

Kind of a knowledge sharing and guidance exercise. They have been a major chunk of their life and must have faced situations in which their needs and priorities were tested.

Would be very interested to know what their needs were at a certain age and how that evolved over time. Do they agree to Maslow's classification and heirarchy ?


Let's have a practical reality test of the theory! :)

DD sir , Satyepal Sir , BLS sir , Dahiya sirand all other senior members are requested to ple ase pour in with incidents and events and opinions which can go a long way in helping out the "young" and budding JLers ... :)


Regards,
Anil


PS: Admins ,
Also got an idea in which a member can request certain members to see the thread or post he/she wishes. Just like a facility of notify certain users , know that it can be misused but if used rationally could be a great tool in inviting opinion of a particular group.
In practical sense , i would love to have an option of selecting 10 users lets say of my choice and click Notify and it sends them a message saying Anil has reque sted your opinion on ABC thread on XYZ post. Would be great! :)

[cooljat]

.
Anil, Thanks for ur inputs ... its quite informative to read your views, always ! :)

[neels]

sorry Jit, I am checking this thread very late..... nyway finally here to reply. Well Maslow's theory is one of very positive theory of Personality n Motivation... I always liked this one.. but I love Roger's more than this... may be some day I ll write about that. well I wrote about Peak Experiences once ,,which you can check in this thread after few posts...http://www.jatland.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19433Indirectly I ve used the term self actualization also some times.. but not directly i guess... can write about it, if you need to know more about it in applied terms.
Maslow n Rogers were Humanistic theorists... who gave importance to the human being and his free will and consious rather than deterministic or teleological aspects and role of uncoscious described by Psychoanalysts.

[neels]

I was wondering yesterday whether our senior members can put forward their views on this.

Kind of a knowledge sharing and guidance exercise. They have been a major chunk of their life and must have faced situations in which their needs and priorities were tested.

Would be very interested to know what their needs were at a certain age and how that evolved over time. Do they agree to Maslow's classification and heirarchy ?


Let's have a practical reality test of the theory! :)

DD sir , Satyepal Sir , BLS sir , Dahiya sirand all other senior members are requested to ple ase pour in with incidents and events and opinions which can go a long way in helping out the "young" and budding JLers ... :)


Regards,
Anil


PS: Admins ,
Also got an idea in which a member can request certain members to see the thread or post he/she wishes. Just like a facility of notify certain users , know that it can be misused but if used rationally could be a great tool in inviting opinion of a particular group.
In practical sense , i would love to have an option of selecting 10 users lets say of my choice and click Notify and it sends them a message saying Anil has reque sted your opinion on ABC thread on XYZ post. Would be great! :)

ANil Your Idea to notify is Superb. :) I second it.Well as far as the hierarchy of needs by Maslow is concerned.. its not about hierarchy as with increasing age..it is about need or can say based on fulfillment of needs. the physilogical needs are basic ones... untill unless these are nt satisfied, one can not desire for anything else.. like safety or esteem...!! and you see this is not related to age... the one who is busy making his both ends meet.... is still struggling to satisfy the lowest level needs in this hierarchy.

[vijay]

Abraham Maslow introduced a very positive trend in the study of Psychology. Before Maslow, generally, psychological research were conducted on abnormal, disturbed and mentally disordered people to bring forward some theory, law or counclusion on human behaviour. Abraham Maslow's study is based upon happy, contented, healthy and normal people which automatically brought some fruitful conclusions. Psychological study started working towards the positive traits of human being instead of negative traits.

In 1954, when five layered model of "Maslow's hierarchy of needs" was published in Motivation and Personality it was described as a revolutionary work in the field of Human Behaviour and was widely accepted by scholars and readers. The original model published by Maslow consists of Five layes only :

1. Biological and Physiological needs -
Air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs -
Protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs -
Work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs -
Self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Self-Actualization needs -
Realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

According to Maslow, Every human being tries to fulfill his basic needs starting from the basic one (Physiological) i.e. survival needs which are necessary for every human being. When these needs are fulfilled, one tried to achieve the next level of needs. It is mandatory to fulfill the needs of lower level to step up onto next higher level. In this manner, one must try to achieve the highest level of Self-Actualization.

It is interesting to note that, if someone achieved the needs of some level and risen up to higher level that doesn’t mean that he is done with that lower level. At any stage of life, one is forced to move back if certain needs of lower levels are swept away by any reason. At this point he is no more concerned about the present level and retreats back to the lower level to fulfill the needs of that level first. So, no level can be spared once the needs of that level are satisfied but have to keep a check every time on the needs of each and every level he achieved and working upon. For example, even in self-actualization level one must still care about food, shelter, sleep etc.

B and D Needs

Maslow said that only a few people can achieve Self-actualization. He invented two terms B-needs and D-needs. B-needs are knows as Being needs or Growth Motivation while D-needs are knows as Deficit Needs or Deficit Motivation. For Self-actualization, one must fulfill B-needs after fulfilling the D-needs

[vijay]

In 1970, The Maslow’s Model was upgraded to the 7 level hierarchy of needs :

1. Biological and Physiological needs –
Air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs –
Protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs –
Work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs –
Self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs –
Knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs –
Appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualization needs –
Realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences


This model was just an enhancement of the original model by Maslow with further addition of two levels which were supposed to achieve before the self-Actualization level.



Further in 1990, One another level was introduced in the 1970 Model:

1. Biological and Physiological needs –
Air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs –
Protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs –
Work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs –
Self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs –
Knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs –
Appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualization needs –
Realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences

8. Transcendence needs –
Helping others to achieve self actualization.

Though last three levels i.e. 6,,7, and 8 were added on the basis of Maslow’s work later on and consists of the basic needs of the 5th level of the Maslow’s Model. In other words, it can be considered as that “self-actualization” level of Maslow’s Model is further divided into four levels (Cognitive, Aesthetic, Self-Actualization, Transcendence) as Self-Actualization is a very subjective and vast area and people have different perception and different areas of self-actualization. But still, the original five layered Model by Maslow is most classic representation of all the Models for human motivation.

[vijay]

A Contrast to the Maslow's Model :)

Compare the two attachments ....

[vijay]

Maslow's Model and helping others

Generally, we feel that selflessly helping others, is a form of personal growth and motivation, This is an essential part of self-actualization.

This concept can be as an effective way to help people deal with depression, low self-esteem, poor life circumstances. By helping others, a person helps themselves to improve and develop too.

This Model can beautifully applied in development of the disaffected and neglected children, who need acceptance and belongingness. Ultimately, this helps those children to achieve belongingness, self esteem and self-actualization.

[bls31]

During a conflict situation such as during the Sino Indan conflict of 1962 and the 1971 operation of Bangladesh liberation the basic needs, those forming the base of the pyramid of needs: of safety ,food, shelter, sleep and problems of the family back home; the aged parents , the young wife or the little child get placed on the back burner. The soldier even in normal times faces the conflict between duty responsibility and desire while in the actual battle situation every thing except the immediate task in hand becomes the need and priority of the moment.

Possibly a read of my book can throw more light on the factors effecting the basic need of a soldier and how he resolves them.

The pyramid in case of soldiers has a diffrent shape unlike the one drawn by Moslaow
BLS31

[vijay]

During a conflict situation such as during the Sino Indan conflict of 1962 and the 1971 operation of Bangladesh liberation the basic needs, those forming the base of the pyramid of needs: of safety ,food, shelter, sleep and problems of the family back home; the aged parents , the young wife or the little child get placed on the back burner. The soldier even in normal times faces the conflict between duty responsibility and desire while in the actual battle situation every thing except the immediate task in hand becomes the need and priority of the moment.

Possibly a read of my book can throw more light on the factors effecting the basic need of a soldier and how he resolves them.

The pyramid in case of soldiers has a diffrent shape unlike the one drawn by Moslaow


Totally agree with you Sir :) Duty always comes first and everything else left behind.

This is Psychological law based upon human behaviour of normal people in normal circumstances. Above all, all the laws related to human behaviour are generalized rather than personalized. Abnormality acquires the biggest space in the generalization of human behaviour.

[anilsinghd]

Thank you Vijay for sharing the information. I have had read it all once but i am pretty sure other memebrs would ahve benefitted from that.

BLS sir , thanks first of all for contributing and its a good thing to realise that there may be exception to the theory like you just mentioned.

I would still request other senior members to please share similar experiences in favour/against the model! :)


Please pour in!

Thanks,
anil

[vijay]

Thank you Vijay for sharing the information. I have had read it all once but i am pretty sure other memebrs would ahve benefitted from that.


I devoted quite a time to read the theory and about Maslow and tried to summarize the postulates and significance of the theory in my own words for a layman.

It is quite obvious that so many members either don't want to go through the whole theory at once or they don't have much time to do it. In both cases, this information would surely help to the member to know about the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.


I also request to all the senior and experianced members to share their views on the topic. :)