needs, hierarchy of
needs, hierarchy ofThe central concept in Abraham Maslow's theory of self-actualization. He proposed that human desires are innately given and exist in an ascending hierarchy. Basic physiological needs—food, sleep, protection from extreme hazards of the environment—must first be met. Then the needs for safety and security become paramount: we need some kind of order, certainty, and structure in our lives. Once these are met the third need, to belong and to love, comes into play. Fourth in the hierarchy is the need for self-esteem—for both self-respect and esteem from other people. When all these needs have been met, the fifth and highest need emerges: namely, the need for self-actualization, or the desire to become everything that one can become. As Maslow states in Motivation and Personality (1970), ‘a musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to...
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