Maslows Hierarchy of Needs - Essay Example

Topic: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the Relevance of His Approach to Meeting the Needs of Service Users in Health and Social Care In this small world, people are confused to which is the needs that should be prioritize, is it the physiological or biological, and or psychological or social needs Abraham Maslow was one of the founders of the humanistic approach in psychology. He was particularly focused in human motivation, especially on how to choose which is mostly needed to satisfy. For instance, should you study late for the exam and satisfy your social needs or go to bed early and satisfy your biological need to sleep His formulation has a deep view upon the reality regarding the human living. His theory influenced education due to the high level of practicality that describes many realities of personal experiences. Humanist like him do not believe that human beings are pushed and pulled by mechanical forces, either by stimuli and reinforcements (behaviorism) or of unconscious instinctual impulses (psychoanalysis). He focused on potentials and believes that human strive for an upper level of capabilities. Maslow (1970) proposed that we satisfy our needs in certain order according to asset of hierarchy. This theory explains why people are likely to be motivated most strongly by what they do not have. Abraham's hierarchy of needs is an ascending order in which the basic needs at the bottom and the social needs at the top. This implies to us that we need to satisfy first our biological needs before the social matters. The top is the highest needs-reaching our full potentials as human beings. 1 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Level 1 Physiological Need: "Food, water, sex, and sleep." People who are homeless and jobless would be especially concerned with satisfying their physiological needs above all other needs. These biological needs are consists of oxygen, food, water, and a balance temperature. All we need to survive in this world. What we used to do and have everyday. If these needs are not yet attained we cannot go to the next level. We need to overcome this first as a person's search for satisfaction. Level 2 Safety Needs "Protection from Harm" People who live in a dangerous area or place would be very concerned about satisfying their safety needs. After we find a way to live in a safe and secure environment, we can now advance to the next level. When the physiological needs are satisfied and no longer affect the mind of the person and its behavior, the needs for security can become active. The confidence they need in the society and not the anxiety. They are in need of trustworthy upon his surroundings. This need is common to the children. Level 3 Love and Belongingness Need: "Affiliation with others and acceptance by others" Adolescents are the people to which we can see this sign, for they are now starting to feel their need for affection from others most probably with the opposite sex. They are now beginning to form a serious relationship, fulfilling their needs for love and affection. When the needs for safety aids and for physiological well-being are satisfied, this is the next which is for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. According to Maslow people are seeking to overcome the feelings of loneliness and alienation. This need is involving both the giving and receiving love, affection and sense of belongingness and so if done with this we can now move to the next level.2 Level 4 Esteem Need: "Achievement, competency, gaining approval and recognition." During early and middle adulthood, people are especially concerned with achieving their goals and establishing their career. Maslow's focused point is the self actualization of an individual. As one attain and reached this success of a totality. Each living person is in need of confidence to earn self esteem. The opposite of this is Inferiority. A person at this part of the hierarchy will become wiser and develops his wisdom that enables him tom face different situations. Level 4 Self-Actualization "Fulfillment of one's potential" If we face roadblocks in reaching our true potential, we will be frustrated. For example If you are taking up Bachelor of Secondary Education and your real interest in Fine Arts your need for self-actualization is being unsatisfied. According to Maslow, the highest need is self-actualization, which involves developing and reaching our full potentialities unique human beings. As Maslow believes that the only reason that people would not move well in direction of self actualizations is because of the hindrances placed in their way by society.3 Educators should respond to the potential an individual has for growing into a self actualizing person of his own kind. As the highest and most elusive of Maslow's needs, is to motivation to develop one's full potential as a human being. It is possible only after the needs in the hierarchy are met. Maslow developed this theory of human motives to show how we have to satisfy certain basic needs before we can satisfy higher needs. The motivation for truth, goodness, beauty, wholeness and justice is included among self actualization. Goodness, beauty wholeness and justice. The need theory predicts that as people more up in the management hierarchy, they will be motivated by increasingly higher-level needs thus, managers at various levels should be treated differently. Additionally, employees can be expected to always want more. Maslow proposed several points regarding the need hierarchy: 1) Behavior is dominated and determined by those needs that are unfulfilled. 2) An individual will systematically satisfy his or her needs by starting with the most basic and working up the hierarchy. 3) Basic needs take procedure over all those higher in the hierarchy. The study of Abraham Maslow is one of his most important contributions to the field study of psychology and for the will on motivation.4 As this was applied to everyone especially to those who people who are responsible in meeting the needs of others in the terms of health and social care assistance. Considering them and the factors to come up to by a perfect approach will be a very good thing to do. One factor to consider why our dear students are having problems with their studies, learning abilities is the hindrances within their mind about the things he/ she wanted, the satisfaction. His brain works is never stopped thinking consciously of his wants and needs regarding his physiological needs. The living in this world includes us food, to drink water and even to taste some kind of juices will going to be his goal. This person will do strive for something else which he doesn't have right now. In our community most probably on urban areas, in some distant places you'll find people who are yet suffering from poverty. These people are most probably are not yet feeling being satisfied even on their simplest upon the basic needs. Mind of our students are distracted by this, they will just imagine of the things from the place where they can find satisfactions and how to have those. Servants should make sure that their services are valuable to the consumers. Making sure that the need of this person must be suited to the service you'll give. For instance, in a food service place, as a costumer orders a vegetable dish and need it for his health purposes, we should make an assurance to him that we serve a dish which is not mixed with chicken or something that she pleased not to put. Since we care for these people we should obey them, and aside from that we have contributed to his personality's development into a self actualized person that Maslow said. 5 This approach of Abraham Maslow to the needs of man is a great help for meeting the needs of service users and community care. This helps the community motivated and enlightened and cleared to set up their goals straight ahead to the fulfillment of the people's need and for a better satisfaction. This theory explains why people are likely to be motivated most strongly on the job can lower their self respect in order to satisfy the desire to be accepted. As one of the crowd, this has higher priority in the system of human motivation. The desire to be respected takes priority over the desire to do the work one likes. There are many who do work that only half interests them in order to be in jobs that have prestige in the community. Now it's clear that we already know the needs of a man that is really true. We need to satisfy all this needs. To this term we should teach people to face and overcome problems and also to be good choosers they must be given practice in making good choices. Let us all be motivated to reach our goals and be satisfied as we reach the top of our being a self actualized person and a better person. Bibliography Halonen J. & Santrock J. (3rd ed. 1999) Psychology Contexts and Applications,USA: McGraw Hill Comp. Huitt, W. (2004). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.Retrieved[Feb.03,2006]chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html.> Machinsky P.(1989) Psychology Applied to Work An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology.USA: Wordsworth Inc. Sanchez C.,Abad P. & Jao L. (1996) General Psychology.Manila:Rex Bookstore. Zuleta F. & Castro de Lara (2002) Human Behavior in Organizations,Metro Manila:Navotas Press. Read More