Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Donnie Robin Searles
PSY/211
August 25, 2014
Dr. James Moon, Ph.D.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs The hierarchy of needs was Abraham Maslow's model of motivation. He believed that people are motivated not only by their basic needs (physiological needs such as food, water, safety and security), but also by psychological needs. The psychological needs that he believed motivated us beyond the basics were, love and belonging needs. The idea of this entails that we as human beings need to feel like we belong and are loved. Whether this be in a workplace setting or family, friends and relationships. We are social creatures, so Maslow believed that this was a great motivator. Another psychological need that he suggested motivated us is, esteem needs. This in effect, means we have the need to feel accomplishment in whatever we endeavor to do and status once we have mastered it. The final and highest level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is, self-fulfillment needs or self-actualization. Maslow himself had a difficult time trying to describe this one. Essentially this means realizing ones limitations and full capacity. All human beings try to achieve the self-actualization level, (the highest level). This is a challenge that we would all like to win, but unfortunately it is nearly impossible to experience, much less achieve. People who have achieved this level of motivation are totally aware of themselves, others and their surroundings. They are very open minded and like to help other people attain their full potential along with looking at the big picture and trying to help with problems outside of themselves. Does hierarchy make sense? In a way it does. It puts human needs in order of our prime concerns and importance. It explains human needs and how we are motivated to acquire them. But does it
actually