Variations on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Published at Mar 11, 2024
Human needs and motivations are to some extent the secret to living a good life. The most famous map of human motivation is Maslow’s Hieratchy of Needs (henceforth MHNs). MHNs separate human needs into 5 categories each predicated on the last, there are:
Self-Actualisation Needs
Self-actualisation refers to the desire for personal growth, self-fulfilment, and realising one's full potential. Yes, it is pretty poorly defined, I think of it as eudaimonia.
Esteem Needs
This category involves the need for self-respect, self-esteem, and the esteem of others, including recognition, status, and prestige.
Love and Belonging Needs
These include the desire for interpersonal relationships, friendship, intimacy, and a sense of connection with others.
Safety Needs:
This level involves the need for personal security, stability, and protection from harm. In essence the basic needs of a human being to live in a society beyond the necessities of survival (job, security (no one trying to kill you))
Physiological needs
These include the most basic requirements for survival, such as food, water, sleep, and shelter. He originally includes reproduction in here but that is slightly contentious and can be debated whether it belongs to a higher level.
This is pretty intuitive, however before printing it out and putting in on my wall I decided to poke around and see what other philosophers (and their intellectual offspring sociologists and psychologists) have to say about MHNs. The standard issues of psychology once again formed the main critques. MHNs was formed observations (not empirically/scientifically tested), meaning it is subject to researcher and cultural bias. Other’s said the model is an oversimplification, saying that human motivation is too amorphous and complex issue that words and models could never fully encapsulate; a fine but lazy critique. The other main critique was the static nature of the model, as each of these levels are not necessarily predicated on each other. There are starving artists who achieve self actualisation and esteem, unemployed and unhoused with legendary love stories and so on. While critiquing the rigidity of the model is fair, I think he does, in general, give a good layout for how most people do approach their human needs. The Academic community, including Maslow,heard these critiques are slotted in 3 more levels to his hierachy, cognitive, asthetic and transcendental turining it MHNs into:
Transcendence Needs
Added by Maslow later in his life, transcendence involves moving beyond individual needs to connect with something greater than oneself. This can include helping others, having spiritual experiences, serving a higher purpose, and feeling a sense of unity with others and the world.
Self-Actualisation Needs
Self-actualisation refers to the desire for personal growth, self-fulfilment, and realising one's full potential. Yes, it is pretty poorly defined, I think of it as eudaimonia.
Aesthetic Needs
The need to appreciate beauty, balance, form, and creativity. This can include the desire to create or experience art, music, dance, or other forms of creative expression. Aesthetics bring a sense of pleasure and fulfilment.
Cognitive Needs
The need for knowledge, meaning, and self-awareness. People have a natural curiosity to learn, explore, and understand the world around them and make sense of their experiences and find meaning in their lives.
Esteem Needs
This category involves the need for self-respect, self-esteem, and the esteem of others, including recognition, status, and prestige.
Love and Belonging Needs
These include the desire for interpersonal relationships, friendship, intimacy, and a sense of connection with others.
Safety Needs:
This level involves the need for personal security, stability, and protection from harm. In essence the basic needs of a human being to live in a society beyond the necessities of survival (job, security (no one trying to kill you))
Physiological needs
These include the most basic requirements for survival, such as food, water, sleep, and shelter. He originally includes reproduction in here but that is slightly contentious and can be debated whether it belongs to a higher level.
Growth
Self-actualisation refers to the desire for personal growth, self-fulfilment, and realising one’s full potential. MHNs equivalent is Self actualisation.
Relatedness
Interpersonal relationships, friendship, intimacy, and a sense of connection with others. The need for self-respect, self-esteem, and the esteem of others, including recognition, status, and prestige. MHNs equivalent is Love and belonging and Esteem
Existence
Basic requirements for survival, such as food, water, sleep, and shelter. As well as personal security, stability, and protection from harm. MHNs equivalent is psychological needs and safety needs
While there are other’s that form turn this hierarchy into more complex matrices, I think this general model stands as quite a good guide for human nature.
Agian sorry for the poor writing I am in a rush to get the weekly in.
