At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs I found the following explanation of
Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslowin his 1943 paper
A Theory of Human Motivation. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations
of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human developmental psychology,
all of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the largest and most fundamental
levels of needs at the bottom, and the need for self- actualization at the top
The most fundamental and basic four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs"
or "d-needs": esteem , friendship and love, security, and physical needs.
With the exception of the most fundamental (physiological) needs, if these "deficiency needs" are not met,
the individual feels anxious and tense. Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must
be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher level needs.
Maslow also coined the term metamotivation to describe the motivation of people who go beyond the scope
of the basic needs and strive for constant betterment. Metamotivated people are driven by B-needs (Being Needs),
instead of deficiency needs (D-Needs).
Physiological needs
For the most part, physiological needs are obvious - they are the literal requirements for human survival.
If these requirements are not met, the human body simply cannot continue to function.
Safety needs
With their physical needs relatively satisfied, the individual's safety needs take precedence and dominate behavior.
These needs have to do with people's yearning for a predictable orderly world in which perceived unfairness and
inconsistency are under control, the familiar frequent and the unfamiliar rare
Safety and Security needs include:
Personal security
Financial security
Health and well-being
Safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts
Love and belonging
fter physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs are social and involve
A feelings of belongingness. This aspect of Maslow's hierarchy involves emotionally based relationships in general, such as:
Friendship
Intimacy
Family
Esteem
All humans have a need to be respected and to have self-esteem and self-respect. Also known as the belonging need,
esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People need to engage themselves
to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution,
to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession or hobby.
Maslow noted two versions of esteem needs, a lower one and a higher one.The lower one is the need for the respect of others,
the need for status, recognition, fame, prestige, and attention. The higher one is the need for self-respect,
the need for strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence and freedom.
The latter one ranks higher because it rests more on inner competence won through experience.
Deprivation of these needs can lead to an inferiority complex, weakness and helplessness.
Self-actualization
"What a man can be, he must be". This forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization.
This level of need pertains to what a person's full potential is and realizing that potential.
Maslow describes this desire as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one
is capable of becoming. This is a broad definition of the need for self-actualization, but when applied
to individuals the need is specific. For example one individual may have the strong desire to become an ideal parent,
in another it may be expressed athletically, and in another it may be expressed in painting,
pictures, or inventions. As mentioned before, in order to reach a clear understanding of this level of need one must
first not only achieve the previous needs, physiological, safety, love, and esteem, but master these needs.
Self-transcendence
Maslow later added Self-trancedence.
Criticisms
In their extensive review of research based on Maslow's theory, Wahba and Bridgewell found little evidence
for the ranking of needs Maslow described, or even for the existence of a definite hierarchy at all.
Chilean economist and philosopher Manfred Max-Neef has also argued fundamental needs are non-hierarchical,
and are universal and invariant in nature-part of the condition of being human.
The order in which the hierarchy is arranged (with self-actualization as the highest order need) has been
criticised as being ethnocentric by Geert Hofstede. Hofstede's criticism of Maslow's pyramid as ethnocentric
may stem from the fact that Maslow's hierarchy of needs neglects to illustrate and expand upon the difference between
the social and intellectual needs of those raised in individualistic societies and those raised in collectivist societies.
Maslow created his hierarchy of needs from an individualistic perspective, being that he was from the United States,
a highly individualistic nation.