One of the most regarded concepts in organizational and occupational psychology is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. People strive for self-fulfillment. Their needs are what drive them to do things, to fulfill their purpose in life. How they succeed in satisfying these needs determines how they feel about themselves and affects their outlook on the world. In his hierarchy of human needs, Maslow identified many different types of needs, ranging from purely physical necessities such as food and shelter, through social needs such as friendship and love, to more “spiritual” needs of personal growth.
Maslow presented them in a pyramid format, with physiological needs (food, air, and water), below which came safety and security necessities (shelter, clothing, protection against disease), followed by social needs (love, affection, family ties, respect within society), and finally personal needs (self-actualization, fulfillment of potential). His initial representation of the pyramid consisted of five levels, but he later added three more. The added steps in the first of Maslow’s version were ‘higher’ needs – the things we seek out for personal development and fulfillment of potential. These ranges include a cognitive need to learn, an aesthetic need to enjoy the beauty, a need to achieve personal potential, and finally, a transcendent need to act for things beyond ourselves. At the top is our sense of self-actualization, striving toward those things we find meaningful.
