Psychological Needs Paper

Psychological Needs Paper
Danielle Church
PSY/211
April 09, 2014
Claudia Daniel
Psychological Needs Paper
Maslow proposed that there are five levels of needs, the pyramid often used to explain his concept is to show that you must progress through the basic primary needs before you can reach the top, which leads ultimately to self actualization. This is called Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The needs are the following Physiological needs, Security needs, Social needs, Esteem needs, and Self actualizing needs. Physiological needs; is water and food and air to breathe. It goes without saying one cannot occupy oneself with thoughts of purpose or desire when survivability is dire. Security needs is maintenance of stage one. So protection is key here. This exemplifies itself in the form of shelter from the environment, the same reason we have bank accounts and locks on our front doors. And if you were an American citizen, a .44 magnum tucked away in a box in the bedroom closet. As this world runs on money and the phrase ‘there's no such thing as a free lunch' becomes increasingly relevant to our current poor economic climate, it is important one has a reliable source of income, so the security of a full time job. Social needs is need to belong, and for companionship. Many go through depression in their teenage years because the feelings of not fitting in can be acute and overwhelming. These needs can be fulfilled through joining clubs or just in the company of good friends. Sometimes good friends are hard to come by, but with the internet at our fingertips the increased use of dating sites and forum inputs such as sites like yahoo an show our need to interact, Esteem needs is once the bare necessities have been addressed we humans as apparently social creatures have needs that address our self worth. That feed our ego. We form friendships and relationships with the people that make us feel good about ourselves. It’s a selfish form of self enhancement. I for one cast a wary eye on this supposed need for I believe seeking self worth through other's means a negligence of one’s own opinion. However, regardless it is apparent we all desire to be valued in another person's eyes. We all desire confirmation of the good we see in ourselves or the dispelling of our darkest thoughts. I personally find this the most challenging, I suffer from low self esteem and I struggle with the concept of relying on my own judgment. This became apparent when I received an average grade for a piece of work I did. I could not separate my own appraisal of the effort and thought I put in to it from the grade it received. At the time I felt it necessary to let society dictate my success and my failings without any evaluation from myself which was separate to what they thought. Self actualizing needs is less reliance on what other people think. 'What a man can be, he must be' which is another way of saying fulfilling ones potential. What puzzles me about this concept is that everything is subject to change. How can one say they are 'self actualized' when it’s like climbing to the top of a mountain only to overseer a bigger one to climb. I struggle with this one but I do not find it as challenging as the Esteem needs. I do not know my passion in life and this plagues me, I feel lost without it. However I simply accept that right now, I am unaware. Accepting ones reality lends space around the problem not to permeate by angst. And this works for me. Maslow wanted to understand what motivates people. He believed that individuals possess a set of motivation systems unrelated to rewards or unconscious. Maslow stated that people are

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