Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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Introduction Abraham Maslow proposed that we communicate to meet a range of human needs. (Wood, 2010) He took his idea and created his now famous hierarchy of needs. Beyond the details of air, water, food, and sex, he laid out five broader layers: the physiological needs, the needs for safety and security, the needs for love and belonging, the needs for esteem, and the need to actualize the self, in that order. Maslow believed, and research supports him, that these are in fact individual needs. So let us explore the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs These first four levels he calls deficit needs because if you do not have enough of something you have a deficit and you will feel the need. If you get all you need, you will feel nothing at all, beings your needs are met! Maslow started with the most basic level, which is Physical Needs. Physical Needs include the needs we have for oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar, calcium, and other minerals and vitamins. They also include the need to maintain a pH balance and temperature. In addition, there are the needs to be active, to rest, to sleep, to get rid of wastes, to avoid pain, and to have sex. The second level is Safety Needs. When the physical needs are taken care of, these second layers of needs comes into play. You will become increasingly interested in finding safe circumstances, stability, and protection. You might develop a need for structure, for order and to have some limits. Looking at it negatively, you become concerned, not with needs like hunger and thirst, but with your fears and anxieties. In the ordinary American adult, this set of needs manifest themselves in the form of our urges to have a home in a safe neighborhood, have some job security, money saved up, a retirement plan and insurance, and so on. The third level is Belonging Needs. When the

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