Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Your Basic Needs

Basic human needs conjure an association with shelter, clothing, food, water, sleep, oxygen, and so on. In other words, what human beings require for their physical survival. It was not until the last few decades that higher-order psychological needs were identified. While not necessary for survival, meeting these needs is essential to your emotional well-being and a satisfying adjustment to life. The psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed five levels of human needs, with three levels beyond primary concerns for survival and security.

He arranged these levels into a hierarchy, as follows:

1.  Self-actualisation Needs (fulfilment of your potential in life, wholeness).

2.  Esteem Needs (self-respect, mastery, a sense of accomplishment).

3.  Belongingness and Love Needs (support and affection from others, intimacy, a sense of belonging).

4.  Safety Needs (shelter, stable environment).

5.  Physiological Needs (food, water, sleep, oxygen).

In Maslow’s scheme, taking care of higher-level needs is dependent on having satisfied lower-level needs first. It’s difficult to satisfy belongingness and esteem needs if you’re starving. On a subtler level, it’s difficult to fulfil your full potential if you’re feeling isolated and alienated for lack of having met needs for love and belongingness. Writing in the sixties, Maslow estimated that the average American satisfied perhaps 90 percent of physiological needs, 70 percent of safety needs, 50 percent of love needs, 40 percent of esteem needs, and 10 Percent of the need for self-actualisation.

Although Maslow defined esteem narrowly in terms of a sense of accomplishment and mastery, it is believed that self-esteem is dependent on recognising and taking care of all your needs.

How do you recognise what your needs are? How many of the following important human needs are you aware of?

1. Physical safety and security
2. Financial security
3. Friendship
4. The attention of others
5. Being listened to
6. Guidance
7. Respect
8. Validation
9. Expressing and sharing your feelings
10. Sense of belonging
11. Nurturing
12. Physically touching and being touched
13. Intimacy
14. Sexual expression
15. Loyalty and trust
16. A sense of accomplishment
17. A sense of progress toward goals
18. Feeling competent or masterful in some area
19. Contributing
20. Fun and play
21. Sense of freedom, independence
22. Creativity
23. Spiritual awareness-connection with a “Higher Power”
24. Unconditional love