Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the Road to Self-Actualization

Abraham Maslow focused on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals. Throughout his study of Humanism, he created what is known as the “Hierarchy of Human Needs.” This hierarchy places the needs of humans in an ordered fashion based on their level of importance. At the bottom of the pyramid is a person’s physiological needs, then their safety needs, sense of love and belonging, self-esteem, and then at the final tier of the hierarchy is self-actualization. Maslow claimed

Abraham Maslow was an American philosopher who was born in the early 1990 's in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the leading theorists that promoted humanistic psychology during his era. Maslow sought to understand what motivates and inspires individuals. He theorized that individuals possess and hold a group of motivation and incentive systems not related to plunder or insensible desires. Maslow declared that people are motivated and provoked to attain certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. The earliest version of Maslow 's hierarchy of needs includes five motivational needs, often viewed as hierarchical levels inside a pyramid. The five stage representation can be separated into basic needs and growth needs. The deficiency or basic needs are said to motivate and stimulate individuals when they are unmet and not fully attained. Also, the desire to fulfill and accomplish such wants and needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. Once these needs have been relatively satisfied, an individual may be capable of reaching the highest level of the pyramid called self-actualization. Maslow though that self actualization is a state that exists when an individual is acting in harmony with his or her full capabilities. In Cormac McCarthy 's novel, The Road, we will examine the character 's physical journey towards self-actualization on Maslow

Humanistic conceptions of personality focus on our own natural progression towards achieving one’s full potential, having a holistic approach. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) believes that growth and behaviour is motivated by a number of needs ranging from basic to psychological needs. He uses a hierarchy, commonly depicted as a five-tier pyramid in which the bottom 4 levels represent our deficit needs, shown in figure 1 below. Once the individual’s physiological needs are met, they may move to the next and so on. After all deficit needs have been met, an individual is capable of achieving self-actualisation. According to Maslow, fulfilling this need means reaching one’s highest potential and truly understanding one’s self.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow created Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a list of necessary needs in order to live with healthy mental. The levels are physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. Physiological deals with survival needs which include food, shelter, and water. Safety is the need to be secure from danger, a shelter or safe environment. Love is the is need for affection and belongingness, friends and family. Esteem is the personal worth, success and achievements. Self-actualization is actualizing one’s potential and what you are capable of. According to Maslow, the most important level is physiological and is needed for survival.

Throughout history, many have contributed to psychology and have made an impact and developed innovative theories and ideas. Two contributors who have influenced the treatment of patients and even helped innovate a new school of thought are Abraham Maslow and Dorothea L Dix. Their contributions drew attention to some problems that were present at the time and helped society realize the importance of mental health and ethical ways of treating patients.

(Cherry, Page 1)Maslow’s work during this time brought about his theories and during his early career he studied monkeys. (Boeree, Page 1) He found out in his studies with monkeys that they take care of some needs before others such as if they were hungry or thirsty they would tend to drink first because you can go many weeks without food but when it comes to water you can only go a couple of days without it.(Boeree, Page 1) He also found out that if you are thirsty but someone has put a choke hold on you than you are probably going to get air before you try to get a drink. (Boeree, Page 1)

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.

Abraham Maslow theorized the concept of self-actualization which is the term used to describe the state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest potentials in their own unique way. Maslow’s theory includes sublevels that must be achieved before reaching self-actualization. In this paper, I will explain how each of his previous levels have affected my life, and give an idea of when I may hope to achieve self-actualization. Self-actualization is the term that Abraham Maslow used to describe the state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest potentials in their own unique way. The personal reflections accommodate to my perspective of the Maslow’s Theory.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is used to analyze motivation of consumers, which are composed of 5 five stages. From the lowest level to the highest one respectively are physiological, safety, belongingness, ego needs, and self-actualization. (Solomon and Barmossy et al., 2006)

Throughout life, one’s personality is a very important aspect of that individual’s wellbeing. Such characteristics are not only used by others in attempts to understand their peers, but also determine one’s own satisfaction and view of themselves. People are always attempting to change who they are for the better, in efforts to live a more satisfying and self-fulfilling life through achieving higher personal needs. With that said, when studying the psychological basis behind one’s development and change in personality, one specific theory and stance seems to explain this phenomenon of bettering one’s self; that of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

The experience convinced him that there is so much that can be learned by studying people of different cultures daily lives. It also convinced him that people around the world have more similarities than differences, and that we all share certain human needs and drives. These findings helped guide his research on emotional security as an attribute that profoundly impacts our social relations. Maslow did not know how to organize all of these observations into a consistent conception of personality. While trying organize his findings, Maslow studied the literature of a few European psychological thinkers: Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, Karen Horny and Max

Abraham Maslow proposed Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in 1943. Within this theory he stated that people must achieve certain needs and that some of those needs take priority over others. He also went on to state that you must satisfy your lower level needs before you can meet higher-level growth needs. There are five stages to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs starting from physiological needs, safety, love/belonging, esteem and finally, self-actualization. Health is considered a safety need, which is the second stage of needs that must be met after the physiological needs (Werby, 2013). Aboriginals across Canada have poor access to health care, which hinders the growth and development of future populations. This paper will compare the Aboriginal and Western approach to medicine, the lack of representation from Aboriginal communities on health surveys and censuses and the effects of the social determinants of health on Aboriginal communities.

In social and political turmoil, certain human rights and needs are argued in the name of progress. There are debates of the necessity of freedom versus safety for people, such as long lines at airport security, seemingly tedious, but protecting from threats unseen by the public. One such person who discussed these needs was H.L. Menchen, a journalist and critic of the popular American life. He once said “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe,” which highlights both his argument and the discussion itself, while launching new tangents of debate. Despite the call and thirst for freedom reflected in media and revolutions throughout the world and history, Menchen’s claims about the human need for safety are true, because despite the constant promotion of freedom in society, to survive one must have safety.

braham Harold Maslow (1908-1970), the 77th president of the American Psychological Association, was widely known for his Hierarchy of Needs, a theory of human needs that begins at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active. The first section of the research paper explores Abraham Maslow’s early life: his childhood experience, his college study, and his academic career. The second section examines some of Abraham Maslow’s key publications, in order to acquire a comprehensive understanding of his theory. And lastly, Maslow’s contribution to the psychology field is discussed, as his works signified the advancement of 1960’s humanistic psychology and served as a complement to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism.