Needs highlighted in oil. Needs

Motivation: hierarchy of needs

The question of motivation is perhaps the most important in all of personology. Maslow (Maslow, 1968, 1987) believed that people are motivated to seek personal goals, and this makes their life significant and meaningful. Really, motivational processes are the core of the humanistic theory of personality. Maslow described man as a "desiring being" who rarely achieves a state of complete, complete satisfaction. The complete absence of desires and needs, when (and if) it exists, is short-lived at best. If one need is satisfied, another one rises to the surface and directs the person's attention and effort. When a person satisfies her, another noisily demands satisfaction. Human life is characterized by the fact that people almost always want something.

Maslow suggested that all human needs congenital, or instinctoid, and that they are organized in a hierarchical system of priority or dominance. On fig. Figure 10-1 is a schematic representation of this concept of a hierarchy of human motivational needs. Needs in order of priority:

Physiological needs;

Security and protection needs;

Needs of belonging and love;

self-esteem needs;

Needs of self-actualization, or needs of personal improvement.

Rice. 10-1. Schematic representation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

This scheme is based on the assumption that the dominant lower needs must be more or less satisfied before a person can become aware of and be motivated by the higher needs. Therefore, the needs of one type must be fully satisfied before another, located above, the need manifests itself and becomes effective. Satisfying the needs located at the bottom of the hierarchy makes it possible to recognize the needs located higher in the hierarchy and their participation in motivation. Thus, physiological needs must be sufficiently satisfied before safety needs arise; physiological needs and the needs for security and protection must be satisfied to some extent before the needs of belonging and love can arise and require satisfaction. According to Maslow, this sequential arrangement of basic needs in a hierarchy is the main principle underlying the organization of human motivation. He proceeded from the fact that the hierarchy of needs applies to all people and that the higher a person can rise in this hierarchy, the more individuality, human qualities and mental health he will demonstrate.

Maslow allowed that there might be exceptions to this hierarchical arrangement of motives. He recognized that some creative people can develop and express their talent, despite serious difficulties and social problems. There are also people whose values and ideals are so strong that they would rather endure hunger and thirst or even die than give them up. For example, social and political activists in South Africa, the Baltic States and Eastern European countries continue their struggle despite fatigue, imprisonment, physical deprivation and the threat of death. The hunger strike organized by hundreds of Chinese students in Tiananmen Square is another example. Finally, Maslow suggested that some people can create their own hierarchy of needs due to the characteristics of their biography. For example, people may prioritize the needs of respect over the needs of love and belonging. Such people are more interested in prestige and promotion than in intimate relationships or family. In general, however, the lower the need for hierarchy is, the stronger and more prioritized it is.

The key point in Maslow's hierarchy of needs concept is that needs are never met on an all-or-nothing basis. Needs partially coincide, and a person can be motivated at two or more levels of needs at the same time. Maslow suggested that the average person satisfies his needs approximately as follows: 85% physiological, 70% security and protection, 50% love and belonging, 40% self-respect, and 10% self-actualization (Maslow, 1970). In addition, the needs that appear in the hierarchy arise gradually. People do not just satisfy one need after another, but at the same time partially satisfy and partially dissatisfied. It should also be noted that it does not matter how far a person has advanced in the hierarchy of needs: if the needs are more low level cease to be satisfied, the person will return to given level and will remain there until these needs are adequately met.

Now let's look at Maslow's categories of needs and find out what each of them includes.

Physiological Needs

The most basic, strongest, and most urgent of all human needs are those essential to physical survival. This group includes needs for food, drink, oxygen, physical activity, sleep, protection from extreme temperatures, and sensory stimulation. These physiological needs are directly related to human biological survival and must be satisfied at some minimum level before any higher level needs become relevant. In other words, a person who fails to satisfy these basic needs will not be interested in the needs that occupy the highest levels of the hierarchy for a long time.

Of course, the social and physical environment in American culture provides for the satisfaction of basic needs for most people. However, if one of these needs remains unsatisfied in a person, it very quickly becomes so dominant that all other needs disappear or fade into the background. A chronically hungry person is unlikely to aspire to compose music, build a career, or build a brave new world. Such a person is too busy looking for any food.

Life-sustaining needs are crucial to understanding human behavior. The devastating effect that a lack of food or water has on behavior has been described in numerous experiments and autobiographies. One example of how hunger can dominate human behavior comes from a study of men who refused military service during World War II for religious or other reasons. They agreed to participate in an experiment in which they were put on a semi-starvation diet to study the effect of food deprivation on behavior (Keys et al., 1950). During the study, as the men began to lose weight, they became indifferent to almost everything except food. They constantly talked about food, and cookbooks became their favorite reading. Many of the men have even lost interest in their girls! This and many other recorded cases show how attention tends to shift from higher needs to lower ones when the latter are no longer satisfied.

Security and Protection Needs

When physiological needs are sufficiently satisfied, other needs, often called security and protection needs. These include needs for organization, stability, law and order, predictability of events, and freedom from threatening forces such as disease, fear, and chaos. Thus, these needs reflect an interest in long-term survival.

Maslow suggested that the manifestation of safety and protection needs is most easily observed in infants and young children due to their relative helplessness and dependence on adults. Babies, for example, exhibit a startle response if they are suddenly dropped or startled by a loud noise or flash of light. The need for safety is also evident when children become ill. A child with a broken leg may experience fears, suffer from nightmares, and show a need for protection and comfort that was not very apparent before the accident.

Another indicator of the need for security is the child's preference for a certain kind of dependency, a stable routine. According to Maslow, young children function most effectively in a family where, at least to a certain extent, a clear regime and discipline are established. If these elements are absent in the environment, the child does not feel safe, he becomes anxious, distrustful and begins to look for more stable living territories. Maslow further noted that parents who raise their children in an unrestricted and all-permissive way do not satisfy their need for security and protection. If the child is not required to go to bed at a certain time or eat at regular intervals, this will only cause confusion and fear. In this case, the child will not have anything stable in the environment on which to depend. Maslow viewed parental quarrels, physical abuse, separation, divorce, and death in the family as particularly detrimental to a child's well-being. These factors make his environment unstable, unpredictable and therefore unreliable.

The needs for security and protection also greatly influence the behavior of people who have left childhood. The preference for a secure job with a stable high income, the creation of savings accounts, the purchase of insurance (for example, medical and unemployment) can be seen as actions partly motivated by the search for security. To some extent, a system of religious or philosophical beliefs allows a person to organize his world and the people around him into a single, meaningful whole, thus giving him the opportunity to feel “safe”. Another manifestation of the need for security and protection can be seen when people face real emergencies such as wars, floods, earthquakes, uprisings, civil unrest, and the like.

Maslow suggested that certain types neurotic adults (especially the obsessive-compulsive type) are mainly motivated by the search for safety. Some neurotic patients behave as if a great catastrophe is imminent, frantically trying to organize their world into a reliable, stable, well-organized structure, where new unforeseen circumstances could not appear. The neurotic's need for security "often finds specific expression in the search for a protector: a stronger person or system on which he can depend" (Maslow, 1987, p. 19).

Needs of belonging and love

The third row in Maslow's pyramid is needs of belonging and love. These needs come into play when the physiological needs and the needs for safety and protection are satisfied. At this level, people tend to establish attachment relationships with others, in their family and/or in a group. Group membership becomes the dominant goal for the individual. Consequently, the person will keenly feel the pangs of loneliness, social ostracism, lack of friendship and rejection, especially when they are caused by the absence of friends and loved ones. Students who study far from home fall prey to the need to belong, craving to be recognized and accepted in their peer group.

The needs of belonging and love play a significant role in our lives. The child passionately wants to live in an atmosphere of love and care, in which all his needs are met, and he receives a lot of affection. Adolescents seeking to find love in the form of respect and recognition of their independence and independence tend to participate in religious, musical, sports, academic or other close-knit groups. Young people experience a need for love in the form of sexual intimacy, that is, unusual experiences with a person of the opposite sex. The words of popular songs are proof enough of the powerful influence of the needs of belonging and love in this period of life.

<Привязанность к родителю удовлетворяет потребность ребенка в принадлежности и любви.>

Maslow defined two types of adult love: deficient, or D-love, And existential, or B-love(Maslow, 1968). D-love is based on a scarce need - it is love that comes from the desire to get what we lack, say, self-respect, sex, or the company of someone with whom we do not feel alone. For example, a relationship may satisfy our need for comfort and protection - whether it be a long-term relationship, living together or marriage. Thus, it is selfish love that takes rather than gives. B-love, on the contrary, is based on the realization of the human value of the other, without any desire to change or use it. Maslow defined this love as the love of "being" another, despite its imperfections. It is non-possessive, non-intrusive, and is mainly about encouraging the other person to have a positive self-image, self-acceptance, a sense of the value of love - everything that allows a person to grow. Moreover, Maslow rejected Freud's idea that love and affection are derived from sublimated sexual instincts; For Maslow, love is not synonymous with sex. Rather, he insisted that mature love meant a healthy, tender relationship between two people based on mutual respect, admiration, and trust. Being loved and recognized is essential to a healthy sense of worth. When you are not loved, there is emptiness and hostility.

Despite the paucity of empirical evidence regarding the needs of belonging and love, Maslow insisted that their effect on behavior is potentially devastating in a society as changing and fluid as the United States. America has become a land of nomads (according to the census, about one-fifth of the population changes addresses at least once a year), a nation without roots, aloof, indifferent to the problems of home and community, struck by the superficiality of human relations. Despite the fact that people live in densely populated areas, they often do not socialize. Many hardly know the names and faces of people in the neighborhood, do not enter into conversations with them. In general, one cannot avoid the conclusion that the search for intimate relationships is one of the most widespread social needs of mankind.

It was Maslow who argued that the needs of belonging and love are often not met by American society, resulting in maladjustment and pathology. Many people are reluctant to open themselves up to intimate relationships because they are afraid of being rejected. Maslow concluded that there is evidence of a significant correlation between happy childhood and health in adulthood. Such data, from his point of view, support the thesis that love is the main prerequisite for healthy human development.

Self Esteem Needs

When our need to love and be loved by others is sufficiently satisfied, its influence on behavior diminishes, opening the way. self-esteem needs. Maslow divided them into two main types: self-respect and respect by others. The first includes such concepts as competence, confidence, achievement, independence and freedom. A person needs to know that he is a worthy person, that he can cope with the tasks and demands that life makes. Respect by others includes concepts such as prestige, recognition, reputation, status, appreciation, and acceptance. In this case, a person needs to know that what he does is recognized and appreciated by significant others.

Satisfying the needs of self-esteem generates a sense of self-confidence, dignity and the realization that you are useful and needed in the world. On the contrary, the frustration of these needs leads to feelings of inferiority, meaninglessness, weakness, passivity and dependence. This negative self-perception, in turn, can cause significant difficulties, feelings of emptiness and helplessness in facing the demands of life and low score yourself compared to others. Children whose need for respect and recognition is denied are especially likely to have low self-esteem (Coopersmith, 1967).

Maslow stressed that healthy self-respect is based on earned respect from others, not fame. social status or flattery. Therefore, it is rather risky to build the satisfaction of the need for respect on the opinions of others, and not on one's own abilities, achievements and authenticity. If our self-respect depends on extraneous evaluation, we are in psychological danger. To be enduring, self-respect must be based on our valid significance, not external factors outside of our control.

It is obvious that the needs of respect in life are expressed in many different ways. Peer approval, the quintessence of respect for a teenager, is expressed in the fact that he is popular and invited to parties, and an adult is usually respected for having a family and children, a well-paid job and merits in the activities of civil organizations. Maslow suggested that esteem needs reach a maximum level and stop growing in adulthood, and then, in middle years, their intensity decreases (Maslow, 1987). There are two reasons for this. First, adults usually acquire a more realistic appreciation of their true worth and worth, so the need for respect is no longer the driving force in their lives. Second, most adults have already had a history of respect and recognition, which allows them to move to higher levels of growing motivation. These statements may partly explain Maslow's claim that true self-actualization occurs only after reaching adulthood.

Reflection and thoughts regarding human needs were expounded by Democritus of Abdera (ancient Greek philosopher, 400 BC). He considered needs to be the basis of everything we have: intelligence, strength, development. Only many centuries later, Maslow decided to understand in more detail what was behind what. Why do we do what we do. What drives us and what we strive for.

1. What is Maslow's pyramid of needs

Maslow's pyramid of needs is a theory that describes human needs in the form of levels of hierarchy (from primitive to spiritual). main idea in that a person cannot experience higher level needs until the basic (physical) ones are satisfied. Initially, this hierarchy was called "motivation theory" or "hierarchy theory" (English hierarchy theory)

American psychologist Abraham Maslow(1908-1970) developed his theory in 1950 ( latest version was written in the book Motivation and Personality, 1954). But the broad masses started talking about it only in the 1970s. At the same time, the author himself did not present his theory in the form of a "pyramid".

Since then, many marketing publications have cited Maslow's research.

Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs to deal with the different motives for human actions. Moreover, these explanations are more philosophical than practical. On the basis of Maslow's theory, little has been implemented in practice in business (although he did not develop his explanation for this direction).

Maslow's pyramid itself has a stepped structure, thereby reflecting a hierarchy. After satisfying the next step, a person has new needs and tasks. This makes it impossible to jump from one level to another. However, in reverse side you can go down from high to low.

Note

There is an exception when people are ready to be creative when they have no other needs. There are very few of them.

This theory has not gained practical application. Only some conclusions can be drawn, but nothing more.

2. Maslow's pyramid needs levels

1 Physiological Needs . These include: food, sleep, sex, oxygen, water, toilet, health. Everything that is necessary for human existence. It is believed that until these basic needs are provided, a person is not able to think about anything else.

2 Security . A person is afraid of many things: cold, wild animals, fire. Therefore, we must feel secure in order to live normally. Examples might be: a baby who, after feeding, wants to snuggle up to his mother, because he is afraid in this new world.

3 Love, society. Everyone strives to be loved by someone. Also, we must be in society, otherwise our mental condition will be on the brink of collapse. All people are social. Therefore, we must join some community, a group of people.

4 Recognition . The next step is recognition in society of its importance. Each takes his own role and follows certain rules of society in order not to be ostracized. Someone is a leader, someone is a performer, someone is a revolutionary, someone just stands aside and moves by the inertia of the "crowd".

5 Self-improvement, self-actualization. When a person understands why he came to this world and what his purpose is. It can also include some outstanding achievements, discoveries.

Only 2% of the population reach the last stage (Maslow's data).

3. A more complete version of Maslow's pyramid

Later, a second version of Maslow's pyramid appeared, in which there are two more levels. Its author is unknown. The modified pyramid more clearly reflects the stages of needs.

Physiological needs (food, water, sleep, sex)
Need for security (security, confidence, comfort)
Social belongings (communication, attention, care, support)
Needs for respect and recognition (necessity, significance, recognition, self-esteem)
Creative needs (creativity, creation, discovery)
Aesthetic needs (love, joy, beauty)
Spiritual (personality development, self-actualization)

4. Criticism of Maslow's pyramid

The considered hierarchy represents only theoretical basis aspirations of most of us. There are exceptions to every theory, and Maslow's pyramid is no exception.

Surely you yourself have met people who are very successful in career growth, successful, rich, but lonely. The thing is that for them the value is personal growth, than love and attention. They passed this stage, although the theory did not provide for such a situation.

A person's need ceases to be one as soon as he is saturated with it. For example, if we are full, then we are unlikely to want to eat again. Similarly with communication, care, love, safety. A person complains about what he does not have without noticing what he already has.

There have been many controversies and critics of this theory. It has never found practical application among the general public. Yes, and Maslow himself in his last writings abandoned his own theory.

Scientist John Burton (1915-2010) said that for a person all needs are equally important. Such an opinion also holds true for certain citizens, such an approach even more accurately describes their aspirations and values.

5. Pros and Cons of Hierarchy of Needs

Helps to understand your thoughts, values, to understand at what stage you are now
Setting values in life
Choice of direction of activity
better understanding other people in society

It's just a theory that's hard to put into practice.
There are always exceptions
There are other visions of the pyramid of values

See also the video about Maslow's pyramid of needs:

Introduction

Abraham Maslow was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1908. He studied at Faculty of Psychology University of Wisconsin and became first a Carnegie Scholar at a college that trained college teachers, then an adjunct professor of psychology at Brooklyn College. In the mid-thirties, he began work on what would become his life's work, Motivation and Personality, published in 1954. As Maslow himself writes, "I wanted to synthesize holistic, dynamic and cultural approaches that were so popular with young psychologists of the day. I felt a deep connection between these approaches and perceived them as certain aspects one all-encompassing whole" (Maslow, 1954, ix). Maslow began serious preparations for this synthesis: he studied Gestalt psychology with Karl Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka at the New School for Social Research and studied psychoanalysis, including with Erich Fromm. Having become acquainted with psychoanalysis, he continued his study of psychology under the guidance of Alfred Adler. He studied anthropology with Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead and participated in an expedition to study the Northern Blackfoot Indian tribe, one of the Algonquian tribes.

In 1943, he published two works: "A Preface to Motivation Theory" ("Introduction to the Theory of Motivation") and "A Theory of Human Motivation" ("The Theory of Human Motivation"), where he formulated a positive theory of motivation, defined by him as "generalized dynamic". Between 1947 and 1949 Maslow left his academic career and formed the Maslow Cooperage Corporation, deciding to go into business of his own. However, he retained his academic connections and continued to publish articles in scientific periodicals during this period as well. Returning to academia, he became first an adjunct professor, then a full professor and head of department at Brandeis University of Massachusetts. Maslow's later work becomes increasingly utopian and even mystical. Abraham Maslow died in 1970.

1. The essence of the theory of the hierarchy of needs A. Maslow

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, sometimes referred to as Maslow's "pyramid" or "ladder", is fundamental theory recognized by management experts all over the world. In his theory, Maslow divided human needs into five main levels according to a hierarchical principle, which means that a person, when satisfying his needs, moves like a ladder, moving from a lower level to a higher one (Fig. 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Hierarchy of needs (Maslow's pyramid)

According to Maslow, “Human needs are arranged in a hierarchy. In other words, the appearance of one need is usually preceded by the satisfaction of another, more urgent one. Man is an animal that constantly experiences this or that desire” (Maslow, 1943, p. 370). Maslow defines five sets of goals, which he calls basic needs. These include: physiological needs, the need for security, the need for love, the need to satisfy self-esteem and, finally, the need for self-actualization. The hierarchical nature of these needs or goals means that “the dominant goal monopolizes consciousness and in a certain way stimulates and organizes various abilities organisms needed to achieve it. Less pressing needs are minimized, or even forgotten or denied” (Maslow, 1943, pp. 394–395). The basis of this hierarchy Maslow considers physiological needs and, above all, the need for food. Here is what he writes:

Without a doubt, physiological needs are the most pressing of all needs. First of all, this means that for a human being who has nothing at all, the basis of motivation will be precisely physiological needs, and nothing else. A person deprived of food, security, love and respect will naturally seek food first. Craving for writing poetry, desire to buy a car, interest in American history, the desire to buy new shoes in an emergency is completely forgotten or becomes secondary. For a person experiencing a strong sense of hunger, there is no other interest than food. He dreams and thinks about her, he remembers her and strives to find her... Freedom, love, a sense of community, respect - all of them are swept aside like tinsel, because they cannot fill the stomach. Truly such a person lives only by bread alone. (Maslow, 1943, pp. 373–374)

Maslow writes that in the United States and other developed societies, such chronic acute hunger is a rare occurrence. However, he notes that people often mistake a healthy appetite for hunger.

Indeed, in developed societies such difficult living conditions and starvation can most likely be only a consequence of some emergency. Naturally, other physiological needs must also be satisfied, such as, for example, the need for air or water.

Maslow writes:

When there is no bread, a person really lives by bread alone. But what happens to human desires when he does not lack bread? Other (more “higher”) needs immediately arise, which replace the physiological needs and become dominant. When they are satisfied, new (and again "higher") needs arise, and so on. This is what we mean when we say that basic human needs form a hierarchy of relative dominance… Only unsatisfied needs are dominant for an organism and its behavior. If hunger is satisfied, the feeling of hunger loses its significance in the system of personality activity factors. (Maslow, 1943, p. 375)

If physiological needs are satisfied, then, according to Maslow, new needs will arise, in this case, security needs. He believes that “everything that has been said about physiological needs can be - albeit to a somewhat lesser extent - applied to desires of this kind. The body can only be covered by them. They can act as almost the only principles that determine behavior, subordinating all the abilities of the organism to themselves, which allows us in this case to represent the organism as a mechanism striving for gaining security” (Maslow, 1943, p. 376). Maslow illustrates his idea of the need for security by considering the child's desire for security and the behavior of neurotic or near-neurotic adults, who in many cases behave in the same way as a child who does not feel safe. Just as in the case of physiological needs, he believes that “the needs of a healthy, normal, successful adult for safety within our culture find sufficient satisfaction ... as a result of which such needs do not play an active motivational role. Just as a well-fed person does not feel hungry, a person who is safe does not feel much anxiety in this sense” (Maslow, 1943, pp. 378-379). If both physiological needs and the need for security are sufficiently satisfied, then, according to Maslow, there is a need for love, affection and a sense of belonging to a certain community of people, and the whole cycle described in relation to physiological needs and the need for security is repeated. . So, “a person begins to feel especially keenly the absence of friends, lover, wife or children. He longs for sensual relationships with other people, he tries to take a certain place in a certain group and actively strives to achieve this goal. He wants it more than anything and usually completely forgets that when he was hungry, love made him smile” (Maslow, 1943, pp. 380-381). Unlike the need for security and physiological needs, the need for love, affection, and belonging to certain group it is much more difficult to satisfy people in modern society. As Maslow points out, "the inability to meet these needs is usually the cause of all sorts of disorders and more serious mental pathologies" (Maslow, 1943, p. 381). Once again, when these needs are sufficiently satisfied, needs of a different kind arise. Maslow writes:

All people in our society (with the exception of pathological cases) have a need for stable, solid (and usually high) self-esteem, self-esteem or self-esteem, which must be supported by respect from other people. Under the solidity of self-esteem, we mean the feeling that some real achievements and the corresponding respectful attitude of others cause ... Satisfaction of the need for self-esteem leads to a feeling of self-confidence, dignity, a sense own strength, capacity, usefulness and necessity in this world. The impossibility of satisfying these needs results in the emergence of feelings of inferiority, weakness and helplessness. (Maslow, 1943, pp. 382–383)

Maslow considered self-realization, self-actualization, to be the last and highest stage in the hierarchy of needs. If physiological needs and needs for security, love and respect are sufficiently satisfied, “we can expect that a person will have (this does not always happen) a new need, unless he is already doing what he thinks he wants to do. he is called. A musician must create music, an artist must paint pictures, a poet must write poetry, otherwise they will not feel happy people. Man must become what he can become. This need we call self-actualization ... it consists in the desire to become more and more what you are, to become everything that is determined by your ability to become ”(Maslow, 1943, p. 382). Maslow readily agrees that this need can vary greatly from person to person. He again emphasizes that the prerequisite for the emergence of the need for self-actualization is the satisfaction of physiological needs, for safety, love and respect. He writes: “People who have satisfied these needs [of the first four levels] we can call “generally satisfied people”; and it follows that we can expect from them the most complete (and healthy) creativity. Because "mostly satisfied people" are the exception in our society, we are not familiar, both experimentally and clinically, with the phenomenon of self-actualization. His research is a matter for the future” (Maslow, 1943, p. 385).

« Maslow's pyramid "- the informal name of the theory of motivation, developed in the 1950s of the twentieth century by the prominent American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow.

At the core Maslow's theory of motivation (pyramids) lies the thesis that human behavior is determined by a number of basic needs that can be built in a certain hierarchy. From Maslow's point of view, these needs are universal, that is, they unite all people, regardless of skin color, nationality, lifestyle, habits, demeanor, and other external manifestations.
Abraham Maslow recognized that people have many different needs, but also believed that these needs can be divided into five main categories

Physiological: hunger, thirst, sex drive etc. Existential: security of existence, comfort, constancy of living conditions. Social: social connections, communication, affection, concern for the other and attention to oneself, Team work. Prestigious: self-respect, respect from others, recognition, achievement of success and appreciation, promotion. Spiritual: knowledge, self-actualization, self-expression, self-identification.

1. Physiological Needs The most urgent, most powerful of all needs. A person living in extreme need, deprived of all the joys of life, according to Maslow's theory of motivation, will be driven, first of all, by the needs of the physiological level. If a person has nothing to eat and if he lacks love and respect, he will first of all seek to satisfy his physical, not emotional hunger. According to Maslow, if physiological urges dominate in the body, then all other needs may not even be felt by a person. The desire to write poetry, to buy a car, an interest in native history, passion for yellow shoes against the background of physiological needs, all these interests and desires either fade or disappear altogether, because a person who feels mortal hunger will not be interested in anything but food.

2. The need for security After satisfaction of physiological needs, their place in the motivational life of the individual is occupied by needs that are in the very general view can be combined into the category of security (the need for stability, protection, freedom from fear, anxiety and chaos, in order, law, restrictions). According to Maslow's theory of motivation, these desires can also dominate the body and usurp the right to organize human behavior. As Maslow notes, the need for security of a healthy and successful member of our culture is usually satisfied. In a normal society, healthy people the need for security is manifested only in soft forms, for example, in the form of a desire to get a job in a company that provides its employees with social guarantees, etc. In the most general form, the need for security and stability also manifests itself in conservative behavior (most people tend to give preference to familiar and familiar things). In turn, as Maslow points out, the unexpected threat of chaos in most people causes a regression of motivation from its higher levels to the level of security. The natural and predictable reaction of society to such situations are calls to restore order, and at any cost, even at the cost of dictatorship and violence.

3. The need for belonging and love After the needs of the physiological level and the needs of the security level are satisfied, according to Maslow's theory of motivation, the need for love, affection, belonging is actualized. A person, as never before, acutely begins to feel the lack of friends, the absence of a loved one, a wife or children, and longs for warm, friendly relations. He needs social group, which would provide him with such a relationship. It is this goal that becomes the most significant and most important for a person. Rapid development in modern world various groups of personal growth, as well as interest clubs, according to Maslow, to some extent dictated by the unquenched thirst for communication, the need for intimacy, belonging, the desire to overcome the feeling of loneliness. The inability to satisfy the need for love and belonging, according to Maslow, as a rule, leads to maladjustment, and sometimes to more serious pathology.

4. The need for recognition Every person, according to Maslow, (with rare exceptions related to pathology) constantly needs recognition, stable and, as a rule, high evaluation. self-worth. Each of us needs both the respect of the people around us and the opportunity to respect ourselves. Maslow divided the needs of this level into two classes. The first class includes desires and aspirations associated with the concept of "achievement". A person needs a sense of his own power, adequacy, competence, he needs a sense of confidence, independence and freedom. In the second class of needs, the author included the need for reputation or prestige, i.e., to gain status, attention, recognition, fame. Satisfaction of all these needs, according to Maslow's theory of motivation, creates in the individual a sense of self-confidence, self-worth and strength. An unsatisfied need, on the contrary, causes a feeling of humiliation, weakness, helplessness, which, in turn, serve as the basis for despondency, trigger compensatory and neurotic mechanisms.

5. The need for self-actualization (self-realization) Even if all of the above needs are satisfied, according to Maslow, a person will soon feel dissatisfied again because he is not doing what he is predisposed to. If a person wants to live in peace with himself, he must be what he can be. Maslow called this need the need for self-actualization. In Maslow's understanding, self-actualization is a person's desire for self-embodiment, for the actualization of the potentialities inherent in him. This desire can be called the desire for idiosyncrasy, for identity. This is the highest human need, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. As a rule, a person begins to feel the need for self-actualization only after he has satisfied the needs of all lower levels.

There is also a more detailed classification. There are seven main levels (priorities) in the system: (lowest) Physiological needs: hunger, thirst, sexual desire, etc. Need for security: a sense of confidence, getting rid of fear and failure. The need for belonging and love. The need for respect: achievement of success, approval, recognition. Cognitive needs: to know, to be able, to explore. Aesthetic needs: harmony, order, beauty. (higher) The need for self-actualization: the realization of one's goals, abilities, the development of one's own personality.

In his later work, published in the 1960s and 70s, Maslow refers the need for self-actualization not to basic needs, but to more high category needs, which he described as "needs for (personal) growth" (also called "value" or "existential needs" or "meta-needs"). This list also includes the need for understanding and cognition (cognitive need) and the need for beauty ( aesthetic need) that were previously mentioned outside of the main hierarchy, as well as the need for a game.

As the lower needs are satisfied, the needs of a higher level become more and more urgent, but this does not mean at all that the place of the previous need is occupied by a new one only when the former is fully satisfied. Also, the needs are not in an inseparable sequence and do not have fixed positions, as shown in the diagram. This pattern takes place as the most stable, but in different people mutual arrangement needs may vary.

Maslow notes that the hierarchy of needs is not at all as stable as it might seem at first glance. The basic needs of most people, in general, follow the order described, but there are exceptions. For some people, for example, the need for self-affirmation manifests itself as more urgent than the need for love. This is the most common case of reversion.

And was there a pyramid The image of the pyramid, widely used throughout the world to illustrate Maslow's theory of motivation, is in fact far from indisputable. !!! Maslow himself does not mention the pyramid in his works (neither in verbal nor in pictorial form) !!! On the contrary, in the works of Maslow there is a different visual image of the spiral (Maslow writes this about the transition of the individual to the needs of a higher level: “the motivational spiral begins new round"). The image of the spiral, of course, better reflects the basic postulates of Maslow's theory of motivation: dynamism, development, smooth "flow" from one level to another (as opposed to the static and strict hierarchy of the pyramid).

Internet resources: company-vils1991.narod formatta.ru/pages/id/319 http://mirfinance.biz/finansovaya-gramotnost/psixologiya-denezhnyx-trat/ http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ www, psychoanalyst.ru/depression/hierarchy.ht m www. psychologos.ru/articles/view/piramida_po trebnostey_maslou

When it comes to the pyramids, ancient structures located on the territory of Egypt and Mexico are drawn into the human mind. However, the topic of our conversation will be the term "pyramid", which is used in psychology. The American scientist Abraham Maslow presented a pyramid in the middle of the twentieth century. human needs. Based on the biographical data of many historical figures, the scientist deduced certain patterns in human needs. This article will discuss Maslow's hierarchy of needs, as well as various aspects associated with this pyramid.

Maslow's pyramid is a special diagram in which all human needs are presented in a hierarchical order.

Before considering the needs of a person according to Maslow, it should be said that in scientific world there is an opinion that the participation of the scientist himself in this issue was minimal. According to skeptics, only the foundations of this idea were put forward by scientists, which were later spread by his followers. According to the theory of human needs itself, according to this doctrine, each individual needs to satisfy the five main stimuli, which are characterized as steps.

At the first step of the pyramid are physiological stimuli, which are an integral part of human life. The satisfaction of these needs depends on human life. This category of stimuli includes: eating, sleeping, breathing and, of course, reproductive functions. For some, this step of the pyramid may seem “low”, but all these needs are a fundamental component of human life.

According to scientists, the inability to satisfy the above incentives can lead to a reluctance to spiritual development. A person experiencing a feeling of hunger will not think about what subtext carries musical composition and will never spend the last money to buy a ticket to the theater. These fundamental incentives make a person perform professional activity, in order to spend the earned money to satisfy their desires.

The second step of the pyramid is the need to feel secure and stable. As an example of this stage, we will consider the behavior of newborns. Newborn babies, in addition to satisfying their need for food, crave protection from the world around them. Only this can explain that a prolonged hysteria can end in a few seconds after the child is in the arms of the mother. A similar need is observed in more mature years. It is important to note that the strength of the desire to feel protected depends on the mental stability of a particular individual. The stimulus of a sense of security is manifested in the form of installing locks on the doors in the apartment, obtaining insurance and other actions aimed at creating one's own security from the outside world.

Maslow's pyramid of needs consists of five steps, each of which has an important role to play. The middle of this pyramid is a symbol of social needs. The desire for sociality is expressed by a thirst human consciousness become an integral part of any group. The thirst to receive and give our love makes each of us communicate with others, create families, give birth to children and even get pets. Communication connections allow a person to strengthen self-esteem through their own behavior in relation to other people.

According to scientists, a person has five basic needs

The fourth "floor" of the pyramid in question is the desire for recognition by society. Satisfaction of the above stimuli causes a person to turn his attention to other aspects of life. It is at this point that the individual feels an urgent need to be recognized as a leader or creator. The realization of one's own potential along with the recognition of the public allows one to strengthen self-esteem and increase the desire for spiritual development.

The tip of the iceberg is the desire to unleash the maximum creative potential. It is this desire that makes a person develop his own spirituality by attending various cultural events. Satisfaction of incentives that are located on lower levels makes a person think about the structure of this world, the meaning of life and justice.

Various nuances

The table, created by an American scientist, examines various aspects of the development of the human personality. However modern look this pyramid is not the result of Maslow's research. The "Hierarchy of Human Needs" in its usual form was promulgated in 1975. Abraham Maslow died in the early seventies, so the scientist could not take part in the publication of his own work in the form of an information graph.

There are also many contentious issues about the theory itself. According to many experts, implemented incentives are not motivating. As an example, they argue that a person, having satisfied his need for food, will refuse to take part in a fight for food. A person seeking solitude will seek to avoid noisy companies and intrusive communication. People with a lack of desire for recognition of their own leadership qualities, do not adjust their behavioral model in order to meet the requirements of society. According to experts, the relevance of the need determines the degree of its satisfaction. In order to determine the number of primary desires, it is enough to identify unsatisfied incentives.

Each rung of the pyramid represents one level of needs.

According to experts from the field of psychology, the classification of human needs according to Maslow's system, does not have practical application in modern realities. Opponents of the theory believe that this scheme is only inappropriate generalizations that have nothing to do with real life. Speaking of this, they cite as arguments the information that each person should be considered individually. Let's imagine the life of a person who is not satisfied with his own position in society. Only a small fraction of people living with such "problems" do significant steps to change your life.

In addition, such a frequent phenomenon as unrequited love is not built into this pyramid.
Also, if you take this theory as the basic model of human needs, it is difficult to attribute the fact that while in detention, many revolutionaries continued their activities. The same model does not fit the facts that many poets and artists of the "golden age" spent their lives in poverty, however, despite all life's obstacles, they gave their art to their contemporaries.

According to unconfirmed data, the researcher himself eventually abandoned the needs model he created. Later works, published after the scientist's death, speak of a modified concept of personal incentives. Thus, Maslow himself recognized the incompleteness of the model, which has the form of a pyramid with several steps. But, despite this, it is this pyramid that is often used in the modern world by many marketers and psychologists.

Advantages and disadvantages

Maslow's pyramid of human needs is classified into several groups, which are built in a certain order. According to the hierarchy, all human stimuli are divided into two categories:

basic (physiological);
exalted (spiritual).

A person is inherent in the simultaneous desire to satisfy both types of needs, but the basic incentives are considered to be dominant. Based on this, we can say that a person begins to think about the "sublime" only after he is completely sated with lower stimuli.

Here, attention should be paid to the fact that the characteristics of the human personality are unique for each individual, which suggests that the degree of severity of needs for each person may vary. That is why some people are trying to take a place among " the mighty of the world this”, and for others it is enough to receive support from their loved ones. Such a breadth of the spectrum of human desires is an integral part of each level of the hierarchy.

In order to satisfy your own desires, you need not only to interpret them correctly, but also to find an adequate way to fulfill them, otherwise, goal achieved can bring disappointment.

Without satisfying (at least partially) basic needs, it is extremely difficult to move up the pyramid

Maslow's theory has many opponents who criticize not only the hierarchy of incentives, but also the fact that human desires cannot be satisfied once and for all. Opponents of Maslow say that, according to the scientist, a person is represented as an animal that constantly needs various stimuli. Many opponents of the pyramid in question speak of the inappropriateness of its use in real life.

Today, this pyramid is used as one of the main tools in marketing, advertising and business. However, in defense of the scientist, one can say that this model of human needs was created for a completely different purpose. As the psychologist himself said, his model was created in order to provide answers to those questions that cannot be solved by other methods. According to him, this table of needs, presented in the form of a pyramid, is only a representation of the motives for human actions that are performed by people throughout their lives.

Practical use of Maslow's pyramid

According to experts, most human needs are basic and never change. Only the ways to achieve what you want change. To date, Maslow's pyramid has found application in the following areas:

management;
analytics;
marketing.

The first example of the scope of this infographic is significant. Personal motives and knowledge own desires help not only to be successful in professional field, but also to avoid mistakes when choosing a field of activity. That is why a person should be able to understand own motives and desires.

Also, the use of the hierarchy of needs has found its demand in the field of analytics, when creating a long-term strategy aimed at certain results. Knowledge of people's desires allows the analyst to make long-term forecasts that will be relevant even after a few years. Thus, companies engaged in the production of various goods are able to timely bring their own products to the market.

In marketing, the considered hierarchy of human incentives is used most often. According to scientists, the application of the theory makes it possible to understand what desires are more inherent in each representative of the social stratum. Thanks to this technique, companies that provide services or produce goods are able to track the dynamics of the market of desires. Here it is important to pay attention to the fact that the degree of importance of needs and the place in the hierarchy can change under the influence of various factors. These factors include the economic crisis.

As Maslow argued, a person should ideally achieve the highest level around fifty years old

There are also "eternal" incentives, which are at the lowest level of the pyramid. That is why medical services and food stores will be in demand in any situation. In the case of technical fashion and clothing, the demand for such products depends on the financial well-being of a particular country. That is why many companies spend a lot of time analyzing human incentives and desire. The development of consumer demand allows you to increase or decrease the scale of production. In addition, careful analysis allows entrepreneurs to abandon low-profit activities in a timely manner.

Experts note that the technique in question is used exclusively in humans. Apply this method as a tool for analyzing competitors is impractical, due to the complexity of the analysis and the possible wide structural unit the company in question.