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Physiological Needs This group includes the physical requirements for food, drink, air to breathe, shelter
and other physical needs. These are the most primitive needs of people, and thought they are considered the strongest motivators,
they are also the most easily satisfied. Physiological needs must be satisfied if life is to be sustained. Only in unusual
circumstances can other needs dominate a person's focus and actions when basic physiological needs remain unsatisfied.
Safety & Security Needs Human beings have an extremely strong need to feel safe and secure from physical
harm. Only in emergencies is a person likely to encounter a situation today in which a need for basic safety and
security dominates over higher needs. Safety needs in our current society usually take more subtle and disguised
forms. Safety needs are often manifested in a person's desire for justice and fair play. Such needs are expressed
in such issues as a desire for job security, fair treatment in the eyes of the law, and equal opportunities for success.
Social Needs All humans crave love and a sense of belonging. When our physical and safety/security
needs have been reasonably satisfied, we then seek to satisfy our needs for social acceptance, friendship and love. Social
needs are powerful and often drive desires for material things such as a bigger home, newer car, nicer clothes, and a higher
level of income which people feel may facilitate the satisfaction of social needs. Social needs are more complex
and more difficult to satisfy than physical and safety/security needs. However, while they are less critical to a person's
survival, the desire to satisfy social needs can be a very powerful motivator.
Self-Esteem Needs After people have sufficiently satisfied their physical, safety/security and social
needs, they naturally progress toward gaining the respect of others and themselves. Self-esteem is a self-assessment
of one’s value or worth. Self-esteem needs reflect an individual's desire to feel that he or she is a worthwhile
person making a reasonably significant contribution to society. One's level of self-esteem is an indicator of the degree
to which a person likes himself or herself. For self-esteem needs to
be satisfied, recognition or praise must be genuinely deserved. Conversely, public acclaim is not necessarily required
to satisfy self-esteem needs. So long as we know we have achieved something significant, our self-esteem need is usually
satisfied.
Self Actualization Needs The best way to describe self-actualization or self-fulfillment needs is to characterize them as an individual's self-development
needs. However, self-actualization is not solely about developing specific skills. Skills are only part of the picture. It
is more about developing the entire individual to optimize his or her potential in a continual, progressive manner to
become everything that one is capable of becoming. Unlike the lower needs in Maslow's hierarchy which are oriented more
towards satisfying deficiencies or basic needs, self-actualization is growth-motivated. Self-actualization needs generally only come
to the forefront of attention after all other needs have been at least
moderately satisfied.
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