Excerpt from What Is It That You Really Need? Sometimes it seems as if we never get what we want. But sometimes when we do get what we want, we realize that it's not what we really
want. That's because our wants don't always match our needs. The solution to this problem is to try to understand and satisfy our real needs.
Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and human and animal behavior. A lot of psychological research has been done about
human needs and how they should be satisfied. Studies have shown that humans have basic needs that must be consistently met. Studies have
also shown that there is an order of importance in which these needs must be satisfied. An individual's basic functional needs must be satisfied
before he or she can go on and meet other more creative and self-fulfilling needs.
Abraham Harold Maslow (1908-1970) was an important psychologist who became famous
for his studies regarding human needs and wants. He wrote two major works, Motivation
and Personalityand Toward a Psychology of Being. Maslow stressed that basic needs must
first be satisfied before a person is able to be creative or function independently. He
created his famous hierarchy of needs theory, which separates human needs into five
layers. Each layer in the hierarchy must be satisfied before a person can proceed to the
next layer. The five layers of human needs, according to Maslow, are as follows:
THE NEED
TOE DIVELOPMENT
CREATIVITY, RENT
THE NEED
FOR SELF-ESTEEM
POWER CONTROL, RECOGNITION
.
INI TER
FOR LON, BELONGINE
INCLUSION
1. the physiological needs
2. the safety and security needs
3. the love and belonging needs
4. the esteem needs
5. self-actualization
THE NIIS TART, STABILITY
THE STAR 10 BAR HEALTH
The Physiological Needs
The physiological needs include the basic requirements for physical survival, such as oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar, minerals, and vitamins.
Other physiological needs include a proper body temperature and pH balance, physical activity, a lack of pain, and adequate sleep.