Real and imaginary human needs. Needs: an example of human needs
The concept and nature of human needs.
Need- this is a state of a person that develops on the basis of a contradiction between what is available and what is necessary (or what seems necessary to a person) and encourages him to work to eliminate this contradiction
Personality is formed in the process of active interaction with the outside world, which is made possible through activity. To identify the causes of this activity, its psychological forms and manifestations means to characterize the personality from the side of its orientation and the most important life relationships.
Freud argued that a person is active as a result of the fact that he has instinctive urges inherited from animal ancestors, and, above all, the sexual instinct and the instinct of self-preservation. However, in society, instincts cannot reveal themselves as freely as in the animal world, society imposes many restrictions on a person, subjects his instincts or drives to “censorship”, which forces a person to suppress, slow them down. Instinctive drives are thus forced out of the conscious life of the individual as shameful, unacceptable, compromising and pass into the subconscious, go underground, but do not disappear. While retaining their energy charge, they continue to control the behavior of the individual, reincarnating into various products of human activity.
The needs of people are constantly evolving, the satisfaction of some needs and desires causes the appearance of others. With the growth of the diversity of production and the life of society in general, needs change. An important role in this process is played not only by technical and social progress, but also fashion.
The development of human needs is closely related to the nature of human abilities. People are able to produce beneficial effects in the processing of the substance of nature, the use of energy and the receipt of information. The person is curious and therefore the need for constant development of knowledge about the world around us and oneself. A person is able to create something new, he is a creative being, and therefore he needs freedom for his activities, resources for various forms of creativity, and social support for other members of society.
Human needs are public-private character. This finds expression, firstly, in the fact that the results of the social division of labor are used even to satisfy needs that seem to have a narrowly personal character.
Secondly, in order to satisfy needs, a person uses the methods and techniques that have historically developed in a given social environment, and needs certain conditions.
And, thirdly, a lot of human needs are expressed not so much by his narrow-minded needs as by the needs of society, the collective, the group to which the person belongs, with which he works - the needs of the team acquire the character of the needs of the individual.
Explaining needs through the concept of motive
Satisfaction of needs is connected with the motives of human activity. in scientific theory, the concept of need denotes not a need experienced by a person, but a constant contradiction between the current situation and the necessary conditions for human life and development (for example, quenching one’s thirst with a glass of water does not eliminate a person’s need for water, without which his normal life activity is impossible). Therefore, needs act as a constant internal stimulus for any activity (including human activity). This thesis is also associated with the 4th stage of the implementation of the motive - consolidation (when repeated repetition leads to the transformation of the motive into a character trait, into a constant motivating potency).
Classification of needs
Biological (nutrition, water, movement, procreation).
Social (work, social activity, self-realization and self-affirmation in society).
Spiritual (knowledge, knowledge).
Such a variety of needs reflects the complex essence of man as a biosocio-spiritual being. The unity of the various aspects of human existence is expressed in the close interconnection, interdependence and interdependence of its needs. Biological human needs for drink, food, sleep are satisfied in social forms. In turn, the satisfaction of spiritual needs (for example, in knowledge) often serves as a means of realizing social needs (getting a profession, changing one's own social status). Sexual attraction develops into one of the most subtle and sublime spiritual needs - the need for individual love.
Psychologists distinguish needs authentic(reasonable) and imaginary(unreasonable, false). Satisfaction of only imaginary needs leads to physical and spiritual degradation of the individual and society, damages nature and society. Genuine needs encourage a person to an active, prudent, socially useful life, contribute to the physical and spiritual improvement of the individual without harming nature and other people.
The problem of needs among thinkers of antiquity The first Greek philosophers sought to build a harmonious relationship between man and the world. They viewed man as a microcosm - a miniature copy of the vast cosmos (macrocosm), in which all the forces of the universe are represented. There is a certain harmony between nature, man and the social world, and the satisfaction of needs should not violate it. So, the first Greek philosopher - Thales of Miletus(c. 625 - c. 547 BC) said that happy is the one who is “healthy in body, rich in kind, well-educated in soul”. From other statements of Thales it can be seen that he sought to teach the individual reasonable behavior in the human community, the ability to combine personal and public interests, not satisfy individual needs to the detriment of fellow citizens.
The thinkers of ancient Greece identified the main worldview problems that arise in the formation of needs. The founder of the materialistic trend in Western philosophy Democritus drew attention to the growth of needs, the existence of reasonable and unreasonable needs. “How much smarter than a man is an animal that, having a need, knows its size! he exclaimed. - Man does not know the limits of his needs". Here, the rise of needs is clearly seen as a lack of man. Democritus was one of the first to prove that in order to achieve happiness, it is not an unbridled pursuit of pleasures that is necessary, but control over one’s needs, a reasonable restriction of desires: “If you go beyond the measure, then the most pleasant will become the most unpleasant”, “Immeasurable desire is characteristic of a child, not a mature husband”, “Strong desires, aimed at achieving one thing, make the soul blind in relation to everything else.” The Greek philosopher offers a way to counteract the destruction of the human personality that arises from the dissatisfaction (or from the feeling of dissatisfaction) of material needs. Ancient thinkers countered the immoderate pursuit of material goods with the desire for spiritual goods. “People should take more care of the soul than of the body,” Democritus argued. According to surviving evidence, he highly valued the need for knowledge and argued that he would rather "prefer to find one causal explanation than to acquire the Persian throne." Ancient thinkers considered material needs less important than spiritual ones. This also applied to material labor activity - the emerging engineering, technical creativity. Material labor was considered the lot of slaves - the lowest class of society, which cannot be compared with free aristocrats.
Greek philosopher Xenophon wrote: “People can be made obedient with a word, indicating that obedience is useful for them. For slaves, even such an education, which seems purely animal, is very suitable to teach them to obey. For by catering to the inclinations of their stomach, much can be gained from them. Praise works well on ambitious natures, since some crave praise no less than others for food and drink. Satisfaction of the simplest physiological needs was considered as the main form of remuneration for slave labor: “For a slave, the food he receives is a reward”, “Slaves assigned to more noble occupations need to be given attention, and slaves engaged in low labor should be fed enough”, “Hunting for labor can also be called for by a freer regime, a freer measure of food and clothing”, “Leaders should be encouraged with rewards and try to have slaves for cohabitation, from whom they would have children.” Thus, dosing the degree of satisfaction of biological and social needs served under conditions of slavery as an effective mechanism for managing labor. The first classification of human needs was given by a follower of Democritus - the ancient Greek atomist Epicurus“It must be taken into account,” he wrote, “that desires are one - natural, others - empty, and of the natural ones, some are necessary, while others are only natural; and of the necessary ones, some are necessary for happiness, others for the tranquility of the body, and still others for life itself. A similar classification is actually used by modern scientists. In fact, Epicurus first divides all needs (which he calls "desires") into reasonable ("natural") and unreasonable ("empty"). Then reasonable are divided into necessary and not necessary. Necessary, in turn, are divided into those necessary for happiness, necessary for a person as a living organism (body) and, finally, essential (i.e. absolutely necessary, without the satisfaction of which life is basically impossible). This classification basically corresponds to the modern doctrine of needs, which are usually divided into essential (necessary for life itself) and non-essential (necessary for happiness and necessary for the body).
Needs and abilities
Needs
The words "need" and "ability" are known to everyone. Now we understand what is behind them. At the everyday level, a need is what a person wants, and an ability is what he can. In science, it is somewhat more complicated, but also simple. Need is a constant contradiction between the existing situation and the constant need of a person for something. (For example, a person wants to sleep, he needs sleep now - and he slept. At this particular moment, the need is satisfied, but the potential need for sleep remains - the person still wants to sleep). In order to satisfy any need, a person must do something. It follows from this that Need is a constant internal stimulus of a person to action, that is, to activity.
What is a motive?
motive(from lat. moveo - I move) - 1) a motive, a reason for some action; 2) a material or ideal object, the achievement of which is the meaning of activity.
motive- one of the concepts that describe the scope of the subject's motivation for activity - along with needs, interests, attitudes, ideals, beliefs, drives, emotions, instincts.
Needs
Need- this is a need experienced and realized by a person for what is necessary to maintain his body and develop his personality.
The need is usually directed to some object.
Classification of needs.
Classification #1:
1) biological needs (the need for breathing, nutrition, water, normal heat exchange, movement, self-preservation, the preservation of the species and other needs associated with the biological organization of a person);
2) social needs (the need of the individual in diverse relationships with other people, in self-realization, self-affirmation, public recognition of its merits);
3) ideal needs (knowledge of the surrounding world as a whole and in its particulars, awareness of one's place in this world, search for the meaning of one's existence).
Classification No. 2. Maslow's pyramid.
The American psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) identified the following basic needs:
I. Primary (congenital they are also called vital, material, biological, organic):
1) physiological (the need for breathing, nutrition, water, normal heat exchange, movement, self-preservation, the preservation of the species and other needs associated with the biological organization of a person);
2) existential (examples: the need for security, comfort, stability, protection, freedom from fear, anxiety and chaos; the need for structure, order, law, restrictions);
II. Secondary (acquired):
1) social (examples: the need to create a family, the need for friendship, love, the need to be involved in joint activities);
2) prestigious (examples: the need for career growth, for gaining status, attention, recognition, fame, the need for respect from other people, for self-respect);
3) spiritual, cognitive and aesthetic.
The needs of each subsequent level become urgent when the previous ones are satisfied.
Needs are unsatisfied- needs, the desire to satisfy which has no clearly defined limit (for example, the need for knowledge).
Among social needs, the needs “for oneself” (defending one’s rights) and “for others” (the need to fulfill one’s duties) are distinguished.
Basically biological needs in humans, unlike animals, become social.
False and true needs
False, imaginary needs- needs, the satisfaction of which leads to the physical and spiritual degradation of the individual, damages nature and society.
Examples of false needs: needs for alcohol, drugs, smoking, etc.
Herbert Marcuse:
“We must distinguish between true and false needs. "False" are those that are imposed on the individual by special social interests in the process of his suppression: these are needs that reinforce hard work, aggressiveness, poverty and injustice. Their satisfaction can bring considerable satisfaction to the individual, but this is not a happiness that should be protected and protected, because it (both in this and in other individuals) inhibits the development of the ability to recognize the ailment of the whole and find ways to cure it.The result is euphoria in the face of adversity.Most of the prevailing needs (to relax, have fun, consume and behave in accordance with advertising models love and hate what others love and hate) belong to this category of false needs.
What is the source of false needs?
Karl Marx:
"Alienation is the process of transforming people's activities and their results into an independent force that dominates them and is hostile to them"
Erich Fromm:
"Under alienation, I understand this type of life experience when a person becomes a stranger to himself. He is, as it were, "detached", separated from himself. He ceases to be the center of his own world, the master of his actions; on the contrary, these actions and their consequences subordinate him to themselves, he obeys them and sometimes even turns them into a kind of cult.
In today's society, this alienation is becoming almost all-encompassing. It permeates the attitude of a person to his work, to the objects that he uses, extends to the state, to the people around him, to himself.
The main reasons for alienation: 1) total distribution of private property; 2) robotization and computerization of production; 3) the omnipotence of the bureaucracy; 4) social inequality and exploitation; 5) absolutization of the spiritual forces of man.
Interests
Interest(from Latin interest - matters, important) - 1) in sociology - the real reason for social actions, which underlies the immediate motives - motives, ideas, etc. - of the individuals participating in them, social groups; 2) in psychology - the attitude of a person to an object as to something valuable, attractive for her.
The interests of people are based on their needs, but are directed not so much to the objects of needs, but to those social conditions that make these objects more or less accessible. Interests depend on the position in society of certain groups of the population.
By orientation, interests are divided into economic, social, political, spiritual.
attraction
attraction- an instinctive desire that prompts the individual to act in the direction of satisfying this desire. A mental state that expresses the unconscious need of the subject, already having an emotional coloring, but not yet associated with the promotion of conscious goals.
Attraction is characterized by four aspects: source, purpose, object and force (energy).
Freud identifies the following attraction types:
1) attraction to life - life-affirming; their goal is the preservation and development of life in all its aspects; this includes the sexual drives and the drive for self-preservation; 2) attraction to death, aggression, destruction; they are understood as inherent in the individual, usually unconscious, tendencies to self-destruction and return to an inorganic state.
A different classification of human needs was proposed by the American psychologist A. Maslow. In his opinion, all people are characterized by some hierarchized system of basic (basic) needs. Maslow distinguished primary (innate) needs from secondary (acquired) needs. The first group Maslow attributed the needs:
a) physiological (needs for the reproduction of the species, food, breathing, clothing, housing, rest, etc.);
b) existential (needs for the security of one's existence, comfort, confidence in the future, job security, etc.)
Secondary needs include:
a) social (needs for social connections, communication, participation in joint activities with other people);
b) prestigious (needs for self-respect, respect from others, achievement of success, career growth, etc.);
c) spiritual (needs for self-expression).
According to Maslow, the needs of each next level become urgent when the previous ones are satisfied.
Psychologists also distinguish between genuine (reasonable) and imaginary (unreasonable, false) needs. Satisfaction of imaginary needs leads to the physical and spiritual degradation of the individual, damages nature and society. Genuine needs encourage a person to an active, prudent, socially useful life, contribute to the physical and spiritual improvement of the individual without harming nature and other people.
Needs should be distinguished from the interests of people. Interest - this is such a conscious need that characterizes the attitude of people to objects and phenomena of reality that have important social significance for them, attractiveness. Interest is based on the understanding of the need for any action to achieve a conscious goal, that is, a conscious need. However, the interest of a person is directed not to the immediate object of need, but to those social conditions that make this object accessible. Interests depend on the position of a person in society, on his belonging to a particular social group. They are more or less realized by people and are powerful incentives for various activities. Interests differ in the degree of generality (individual, group, public), in the sphere of orientation (economic, political, social, spiritual), in the degree of awareness (acting spontaneously or on the basis of a developed program of activities), in the possibilities of implementation (real and imaginary).
Directed by the action of needs, human activity is carried out due to the presence in the individual of the richest complex of abilities. Under the abilities understand the individual characteristics of a person, on which the success of a certain type of activity depends. Abilities are not limited to the knowledge, skills and abilities that an individual has. They are found in the speed, depth and strength of mastering the methods and techniques of some activity.
In the history of philosophy, abilities have long been interpreted as properties of the soul, special powers that are inherited and originally inherent in the individual. In modern times, D. Locke and French materialists formulated the thesis about the complete dependence of a person's abilities on the external conditions of his life. Modern science considers the formation and development of abilities through the prism of the organic unity of biological and social. The biological principle in abilities is presented in the form of certain genetic programs of behavior encoded in DNA molecules. Thanks to their action, a person has abilities that are potentially inherent in each individual (upright walking, articulate speech, etc.). Hereditary programs can also affect the level of development of the corresponding ability in an individual. This partly explains the differences in the development of musical ear, the volume and speed of memory, and physical strength. However, the development of any ability largely depends on the action of various social factors: for example, for the development of musical abilities, in addition to having an ear for music, a musical instrument, systematic musical education, constant practice, etc. are necessary.
The criterion for the typology of abilities is usually the differences in the main activities. On this basis, scientific, artistic, engineering and other abilities are distinguished. Modern psychology also identifies general abilities that meet the requirements of not one, but many different types of activity. At the same time, a number of psychologists postulate the existence of a general intellect - an unchanging all-round mental giftedness.
The qualitative level of development of abilities is expressed in terms of talent and genius. Talent is such a set of abilities that allows you to get a product of activity that is distinguished by novelty, high perfection and social significance. Genius - the highest stage of talent development, which allows to carry out fundamental changes in a particular field of activity.
3. Human activity and its diversity
All living beings interact with the environment. Outwardly, this manifests itself in physical activity. Adapting to the environment, animals can use natural objects as tools and even make them. But only man is inherent in activity, which in the social sciences is understood as a form of activity aimed at transforming the surrounding world.
In the structure of any activity, it is customary to single out the object, subject, goal, means of achieving it and the result. An object is what is giventh activity is directed; subject - the one who implements it. Before starting to act, a person determines the purpose of the activity, that is, forms in his mind an ideal image of the result that he seeks to achieve. Then, when the goal is defined, the individual decides what means he needs to use to achieve it. If the means are chosen correctly, then the result of the activity will be obtaining exactly the result that the subject was striving for.
The main motive that motivates a person to activity is his desire to satisfy his needs. These needs can be physiological, social and ideal. Realized by people in one way or another, they become the main source of their activity. A huge role is played by people's beliefs about the goals to be achieved, and the main ways and means leading to them. Sometimes, in choosing the latter, people are guided by stereotypes that have developed in society, that is, by some general, simplified ideas about some social process (specifically, about the process of activity). Unchanging motivation tends to reproduce similar actions of people and, as a result, a similar social reality.
The basic unit of activity is action: any activity appears to us as a chain of actions. The action includes both setting a goal (an act of consciousness) and an outwardly expressed act of behavior. The specific way(s) of performing an action is called an operation. The nature of the operations depends on the objective conditions in which the action is performed, and the person's experience - operations are usually little or not at all conscious of the person (performed at the level of automatic skills).
Distinguish between practical and spiritual activities. The first is aimed at transforming the objects of nature and society that exist in reality. Varieties of practical activity are material production (transformation of nature) and social production (transformation of society). The content of spiritual activity is associated with a change in people's consciousness. It includes: cognitive, value-oriented and prognostic activity.
Another classification distinguishes labor, educational, leisure activities. Depending on the results obtained, the activity can be characterized as destructive or constructive.
Read the information.
Need - the need experienced and realized by a person for what is necessary for the maintenance of the body and the development of his personality.
There are various classifications of human needs. In fact, they can be grouped into three groups:
- biological(natural, innate, physiological, organic, natural) - needs that are associated with the biological (physiological) nature of man, i.e. with everything that is necessary for existence, development and reproduction.
- social- needs that are associated with the public (social) nature of man, i.e. determined by a person's belonging to society.
- spiritual(ideal, cognitive, cultural) - needs that are associated with the knowledge of the surrounding world, oneself and the meaning of one's existence, i.e. in everything that is necessary for spiritual development.
1. All human needs are interconnected. For example, while satisfying hunger, a person takes care of the aesthetics of the table, the variety of dishes, the cleanliness and beauty of dishes, pleasant company, etc. The satisfaction of biological needs acquires many social facets in a person: culinary subtleties, the decor, the table setting, the quality of the dishes, the design of the dish, and the pleasant company that shares his meal are important.
2. not all human needs can be satisfied.
3. needs should not contradict the moral standards of society.
Genuine(reasonable) needs- needs that help develop in a person his truly human qualities: the desire for truth, beauty, knowledge, the desire to bring good to people, etc.
Imaginary(irrational, false) needs- needs, the satisfaction of which leads to the physical and spiritual degradation of the individual, damages nature and society.
4. inexhaustibility, infinity, an infinite number of needs.
- describing human needs, the American psychologist A. described man as a "desiring being", which rarely reaches a state of complete, complete satisfaction.
- Russian psychologist and philosopher S.L. spoke of the insatiability of human needs.
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Need group | |
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Biological |
Satisfying hunger, thirst, the desire to protect themselves from the cold, breathe fresh air, housing, clothing, food, sleep, rest, etc. |
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Social |
Social ties, communication, affection, caring for another person, attention to oneself, participation in joint activities, belonging to a social group, social recognition, labor activity, creation, creativity, social activity, friendship, love, etc. |
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Spiritual |
Self-expression, self-affirmation, knowledge of the surrounding world and one's place in it, the meaning of one's existence, and many others. others |
Additionally consider information about what underlies the classification of needs from the point of view of well-known psychologists.
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