A Quick Recap of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Ever wondered how TED Talks speakers come up with oodles of confidence, steadfast in their statements as they keep their audiences enraptured the entire world over? Psychological studies reveal a strong connection between being outstandingly confident and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Maslow would opine that successful people have been able to complete every stage within his five-stage hierarchical model. That is perhaps the reason why speakers at TED Talks come out as champions while most of us break into a cold sweat at the thought of public speaking.

If you are having troubles wrapping your head around Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, then go through this blog for a quick recap. Bookmark this one to use as a reference the night before your psychology exam, and you will be sure to ace Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

Abraham Maslow came up with his hierarchical model of needs in 1943. A pioneer theory in psychology, Maslow’s hierarchy became popular the world over within months. A widely accepted (and much debated) issue in psychology, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs details the five stages (and kinds) of needs that humans progress through in their lives.

This five-tier model in the shape of a pyramid represents the human needs we all have. The lower stages of the pyramid represent the needs we must fulfil to progress towards the needs in the upper stages. The five needs (starting at the bottom) are:

Physiological needs
Safety and security needs
Belongingness and love needs
Self-esteem needs
Self-actualisation stage

Examples of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow developed the hierarchical model of five needs to explain motivational theories. He believed that fulfilling the needs at each stage helps us stay motivated towards life. Here are the five stages of needs in Maslow’s hierarchical pyramid that inspires marketing strategies.

Physiological needs: air, water, food, warmth, sleep, shelter, etc.
Safety and security needs: shelter, physical security, law and order, financial stability, good health, etc.
Belongingness and love needs: affection, inclusion, intimacy, love, care, friendships, familial ties, relationships, etc.
Self-esteem needs: confidence, status, respect, achievements, recognition, etc.
Self-actualisation stage: reaching personal potential, personal growth, developing creativity, pursuing talent, etc.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: the five levels

Maslow designed the five levels of needs in accordance with how we progress through our lives. Each of the five stages in Maslow’s pyramid hierarchical structure represents a type of need that we have.

Physiological needs

The most basic and primal of needs for every human represents the requirements we must fulfil to survive on this planet. Sleeping, breathing, eating, temperature, and mating are just some of the basic needs that we must meet.

These needs help us to maintain a healthy lifestyle that is inherent to being human. Maslow opines that a person suffering from massive health issues is less likely to worry about trivial matters, such as, how many Likes and Reacts his/her cat video got on Facebook.

Safety needs

The second set of needs define our desire for security and safety. In fact, this may not always refer to our physical safety at all. This one also includes material safety factors such as:

Financial security
Personal security
Safety nets against accidents or illness

Maslow says that apart from our immediate physical safety, we also have needs for keeping the other matters in life in balance. The sense of security that a fat savings balance or news of a safe flight can provide helps us complete or fulfil this stage of Maslow's hierarchical pyramid.

Love and social belonging

At this stage, we keep all the relationships in our lives. Our romantic partners, siblings, spouses, colleagues, teachers, gym instructors, literature club fellows, and choir-mates all fall under this category. This stage represents our need to be loved, accepted and made to feel at home wherever we go.

Maslow says that we often get confused between others accepting us for who we are and our own acceptance of the fact. He further elucidates that others will only be able to accept us if we accept ourselves for who we are.

Esteem needs

This stage is directly tied to the love and belonging stage. The need to feel accepted in our social circles as well as the need to be appreciated for our efforts at work help us keep this stage in balance. The more successful we are, the higher the level of confidence and self-esteem. However, being successful also starts at having a confident and assertive sense of self, according to Maslow. He divides the esteem needs into two distinct categories.

Superior: the self-respect that we give ourselves, including our self-worth, thoughts, emotions, and the acceptance of your cognitive abilities together create superior esteem needs.
Inferior: the ideas that we form in our minds from others’ opinions and respect towards us including their sense of our worth, thoughts, emotions and acceptance of our cognitive skills together form the inferior esteem needs.
Self-actualisation

The highest level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, this stage is the most productive of all, and helps us attain a greater stature than the one we currently belong. However, we must successfully complete the other four levels to reach this stage. This stage opens up opportunities for potential development in our sense of self, morality, spontaneity, acceptance, and creativity. This helps us to keep life in a positive perspective and make the most of our time on this planet, according to Maslow.

How people progress through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

In addition to creating the hierarchical model of human needs, Maslow also mentioned a few prerequisites and processes through which we can go on fulfilling every stage in the five stages of hierarchical human needs.

Socio-political factors

Maslow’s prerequisites to meet the needs begin with social and political factors. He opines that freedom of speech and expression, as well as a just and fair society, helps us progress through the five stages successfully. He also states that humans can fulfil the five stages of needs even if they are not living under the ideal conditions of a fair socio-political scenario.

Knowledge and education

Maslow also believed that we keep learning new information throughout our lives for a better understanding of the world around us. This continuous process of learning helps us satisfy quite a few needs in the hierarchy. For example, learning about safety gear for driving helps us fulfil safety needs while earning a new language helps to meet self-esteem needs. The lifelong process of garnering knowledge as well as formal and informal education helps us achieve the needs as well.

Gradual progress

Although Maslow created a hierarchical structure for detailing the five stages of needs, they do not function like standard video game levels. This means that you do not need to fulfil all the needs at a particular stage to move on to the next stage. Meeting all the needs in a specific stage might not always lead to you moving on to the stage that follows at all. Partial fulfilment of needs and a gradual progress are also ways that people make their ways through the hierarchal model.

Overlap of needs

Finally, Maslow says that we often go about fulfilling more than one need through a single action or occurrence. This is where the overlap of needs take place as we progress through the five levels of Maslow's needs. For example, when we share a meal with someone we like spending time with, not only are our hunger pangs met, but we also get a sense of fulfilment from their company. So we end up satisfying both physiological needs and need for belonging at the same time through the same action.

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