Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Essay

Motivation is having a reason or reasons to act/behave in a particular way. It creates “drive” in people whether it is in pursuit of a goal, or the need to complete an activity. It produces enthusiasm and a willingness to achieve in both a work environment and in your personal life. Motivation can be increased and decreased in line with the incentives on offer.

Motivation is the force that makes us do things: this is a result of our individual needs being satisfied (or met) so that we have inspiration to complete the task.

As it was mentioned before, the key idea of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory relates to the existence of several sets of motivation and needs that govern human behavior. Hence, the major concepts of this theory include certain needs that are grouped into sets based on their place within the hierarchy of all the needs. The first version of the theory has five needs, which are divided into

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs teaches us that the human condition requires that certain needs be met such as our physical needs, our safety needs, our belongingness and love needs, our esteem needs, and our self-actualization needs. According to Maslow, it is when these needs are met that we become whole people. Ethan Frome is a book that centers on the needs of a man and his family. The author, Edith Wharton, shows a range of characters that are at times at various levels of the needs that Maslow explains in his hierarchy. What we humans need to fulfill our own self-actualization is often times shown in Wharton’s work. It is the building of one such character that mirrors the belongingness and love needs that is of particular interest because of her evolvement throughout the book. The character of Frome’s wife, Zeena, suffers from hypochondria who seems to be in search of something just out of her reach. The character is filled with illnesses that seem to trouble her on a daily basis with each one seemingly more significant than the other that leads the reader to understand just how manipulative she is. It is as if the character needs attention in order to participate in life. Edith Wharton creates a character in Zeena that fakes her illness because it parallels the relationship

To achieve self-actualization, or in easier term: happiness, one must go up the five stages of “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” by Abraham Maslow. The challenges society faces to be successful today are similar to the struggles of the characters in Mary Shelley’s, “Frankenstein.” Everyone has a common goal: prosperity. In Victor Frankenstein’s case, first he accomplishes the first stage of the pyramid by meeting his physiological needs thanks to his father’s wealth. Then, he completes the second stage of safety and stability through schooling and his pursuit of knowledge. Victor has also met the third stage of belonging and love with the help of four important beings in his life. When it was time to reach the fourth stage and accomplish something worthy of recognition, Victor crosses paths with failure. This failure destroys Victor and his ambition, causing him to take a U-turn down the mountain of success. Although Victor Frankenstein lived an eventful life, he could not manage to fully climb up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs because failure to achieve the next stage can result in descending the pyramid and having to start all over again due to discouragement.

The bottom of the pyramid of the human needs hierarchy is basic needs or physiological needs.

Maslow's foundation tier, the one upon which all others are built upon, is the physiological need. Air to breathe, food and water, and adequate sleep are all basic biological needs that the individual must have met. Not only to be motivated by the next level of need in the hierarchy, but to survive. The body's biological drives to fulfill these needs will predominate all other activities, as the very life of the organism is at stake. ( Boeree 1998, 2006)

Physiological needs, such as food and shelter, are followed by needs related to safety. Next, there are needs of love and belonging. Fourth, humans have needs of esteem, such as the need for being respected. The final need in the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization (fulfilling one's potential). The hierarchy suggests that basic needs must be met prior to less basic needs; for example, a starving person will seek food before self-actualization.”(Maslow,

Physiological needs exist at the base and exist as hunger or thirst. The next need refers to safety needs. Those refer to the feelings of safety, security, and stability. Order and law well exemplify safety needs. The next section of the pyramid, belongingness and love needs, discusses humans need for love, belonging, and acceptance. Friendships exemplify this level of belongingness and love needs. Esteem needs, self-actualization needs, and self-transcendence needs make up the top three sections of the pyramid. Esteem needs refer to the need for self-esteem. Self-respect and respect from others exemplify esteem needs. Self-actualization needs discuss living up to one’s capabilities in life. Fulfilling one’s potential in life exemplifies self-actualization needs. Finally, self-transcendence needs refer to one’s need for identity outside of themselves. For example, this can occur

After Abraham Maslow met Kurt Goldstein, who originated the concept of self-actualization, he began his movement for humanistic psychology. Early in his career Maslow worked with monkeys and he noticed that some needs took precedence over others. Maslow took this observation and created the theory of the Hierarchy of Needs. These needs were considered current motivations if they were not actualized. These needs are the Physiological Needs, the Safety and Security Needs, the Love and Belonging Needs, the Need for Self Esteem and the Need for Self Actualization (Boeree, 2006). As we consider the practical use of the Psychology of Personality in the workplace, fulfilling the needs of an employee as

Maslow hierarchy of needs identifies different levels of human needs. There are five levels of needs: physiological needs - these are basic needs; they include both needs necessary for survival and needs that are basic, but not mandatory for survival. Safety needs - the things we need to give us a sense of security; your property, your well-being, and your family all provide you with your safety needs. Love/Belonging needs - your need to feel like you fit in. Esteem needs - the things that add to your ego. Self-actualization - the highest level of the hierarchy; insight that is complete when you reach your full prospective and your ability to distinguish your full prospective.

Abraham Maslow foster the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50s USA, and the Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development. Indeed, Maslow 's ideas surrounding the Hierarchy of Needs toward the responsibility of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and ability of employees to carry out their own unique potential (self-actualization) are today more related than ever. Abraham Maslow 's book Motivation and Personality, establish in 1954 ,second edition released in 1970 ,introduced the Hierarchy of Needs, and Maslow extended his ideas in other work, notably his later book Toward A Psychology Of Being, a

'It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s

The first is Physiological needs. This lowest level consists of the most basic needs that are essential to survival, such as the need for oxygen (breathing), water, food, sleep, and sex. These needs are believed to be the most basic and instinctive in the hierarchy because if we do not satisfy physiological needs first, we will not be able to survive. All other needs become secondary until these needs are satisfied These needs can and tend to drive one’s behavior. For example, when one is thirsty, one does not usually care about any other things that one could or should do but the need to drink.

PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS: The physiological needs are at the top of the hierarchy because they tend to have the highest strength until these are reasonably satisfied.