Lecture
The pyramid of needs is the commonly used name for the hierarchical model of human needs, which is a simplified presentation of the ideas of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow . the pyramid of needs reflects one of the most popular and well-known theories of motivation - the theory of the hierarchy of needs. This theory is also known as need theory or hierarchy theory. Initially, the idea was outlined in Maslow's Theory of Human Motivation (1943), in more detail in the 1954 book Motivation and Personality
Need, need - an internal state of a psychological or functional feeling of insufficiency of something, manifests itself depending on situational factors.
Need is a kind of functional or psychological need or lack of any object, subject, individual, social group, society. As internal activators of activity, needs manifest themselves in different ways depending on the situation.
Needs are manifested in the form of emotionally colored desires, drives, aspirations, and their satisfaction in the form of evaluative emotions. Needs are found in the motives that induce a person to act. Raising needs is one of the central tasks of personality formation.
A striking example is thirst - a keen sense of the need for water, which arises when the animal's body is depleted of it or when the blood exceeds the normal concentration of mineral and organic substances. The physiological mechanism of this feeling is the effect of increased general and osmotic pressure, a change in the concentration of sodium ions, the drinking center in the brain is excited, causing neuro-humoral reactions to preserve water in the body, and the search for water by an individual [1].
As some needs are satisfied, other needs arise in a person, this allows us to assert that, in general, needs are unlimited. Needs are associated with a person's feeling of dissatisfaction when a person lacks what is required. The presence of a need is accompanied by emotions: first, as the need intensifies - negative, and then - if it is satisfied - positive. Needs determine the selectivity of the perception of the world, fixing a person's attention mainly on those objects that can satisfy his needs. Throughout life, a person's needs change and increase.
The presence of unmet needs in a person is associated with tension and discomfort, a discrepancy between the internal (desired) and external (real), [2] which are the stimuli and motivation of activity. The presence of unmet vital, vital needs can lead to death. Need can be understood as some hypothetical variable, which, according to circumstances, manifests itself in the form of a motive, then in the form of a trait. In the latter case, needs are stable and become character traits.
There is an opinion that this concept, which describes the internal relationship of a subject to other subjects or objects and explains the behavior of living beings, is unnecessary, since the behavior of living beings can be described without using it. [3]
Desire (specific need) is a need that has taken a specific form in accordance with [1]:
Congenital drive, primary drive (a person has from birth) - pain, thirst, hunger, orientation and other stimuli associated with physiological conditions inside the body [1]
The means of satisfying human needs are benefits [4].
The degree of satisfaction of certain human needs is well-being [5].
The set of actions aimed at the optimal satisfaction of the spiritual and material needs of a person is life support [1]
Everyday life serves to satisfy material needs in food, clothing, housing, health (as a set of connections and relationships) [6].
The primary emotional manifestation of human needs is attraction [7]
The social process of reduction and / or deprivation of opportunities to meet the basic vital needs of individuals or groups is deprivation [8]
Locomotor activity is also a necessary condition for maintaining the normal functional state of a person [9].
Need is a state inherent in living organisms, expressing their dependence on the objective conditions of existence and development, which is the source of various forms of their activity.
The needs of plant life forms are minimal - for life and building their bodies, in most cases, they need light, water and a mineral substrate.
The needs of animals are more complex. However, in most cases, the biological basis of animal needs can be reduced to the basic instincts of living matter - nutrition, sleep , reproduction, fear (or other feelings that replace other feelings in its absence).
Human needs represent the most ambiguous category of research and are determined, in addition to the first signal system common with animals, by the presence of a complex mental organization represented by the second signal system - thinking and speech.
Since the process of satisfying needs acts as a purposeful activity, needs are a source of personality activity. Realizing the goal subjectively as a need, a person is convinced that the latter can be satisfied only through the achievement of the goal. This allows him to correlate his subjective ideas about the need with its objective content, looking for a means of mastering the goal as an object.
It is characteristic of man that even those needs that are associated with the tasks of his physical existence are different from those of animals. Due to this, they are able to significantly change depending on the social forms of his life. The development of human needs is realized through the socially conditioned development of their subjects.
Subjectively, needs are represented in the form of emotionally colored desires, drives, and aspirations, and their satisfaction - in the form of evaluative emotions. Needs are found in motives, drives, desires and other things that induce a person to activity and become a form of manifestation of need. If in need activity is essentially dependent on its objective-social content, then in motives this dependence is manifested as the subject's own activity. Therefore, the system of motives revealed in the behavior of a person is richer in features and more mobile than the need that constitutes its essence. Raising needs is one of the central tasks of personality formation.
As some needs are satisfied, other needs arise in a person, this allows economists to assert that, in general, needs are unlimited.
Needs are associated with a person's feeling of dissatisfaction, which is due to the lack of what is required.
The presence of a need is accompanied by emotions: first, as the need intensifies, negative, and then, if it is satisfied, positive.
Needs determine the selectivity of the perception of the world, fixing a person's attention mainly on those objects that have the ability to satisfy needs. At the physiological level, needs are expressed as stable foci of excitation of the corresponding nerve centers, defined by Academician AA Ukhtomsky as dominants. Under appropriate conditions, strong dominants can suppress the functioning of other nerve centers. For example, the very phenomenon of the dominant was discovered in the study of the dog's motor reflexes to certain stimuli. At some point in time, the animal stopped responding to stimuli and after a few seconds it had an act of defecation. After that reflexes were restored. Dominants are lower, corresponding to the lower levels of the hierarchy of needs and higher.Higher dominants are characterized by the long-term process of their formation.
The number of needs increases in the process of phylogenesis and ontogenesis. Thus, the number of needs increases in the evolutionary series: plants - primitive animals - highly developed animals - humans, as well as in the ontogenetic series: newborn - infant - preschooler - schoolchild - adult.
Various scientists have differently explained the essence of human needs:
| Approach (need as ...) |
The essence of the approach | Author |
|---|---|---|
| need | The state of an individual in need of living conditions, objects and objects, without which his existence and development is impossible. | S. L. Rubinstein |
| attitude | Need is a system of relations between the subject and the environment | D. A. Leontiev |
| deviation from the adaptation level | The need is the result of the deviation of external or internal reality from the prevailing expectations of the subject about this reality | D.C. McClelland |
| state | The need is understood as a dynamic state of increased stress, which "pushes" a person to certain actions. The site https://intellect.icu says about it. This voltage is "discharged" when the need is satisfied. Thus, in the process of the emergence and satisfaction of needs, a person goes through a number of dynamic states that differ in the level of their tension. | Kurt Levin |
| behavior program | Needs are the main programs of behavior through which the functioning (vital activity) of the subject is realized. | B.I.Dodonov |
| psychopathy | Need is a forced subjective suffering of the psyche, which is the main cause of all neuroses. | V.V. Monastyrsky |
When considering the connection between needs and activity, it is necessary to immediately distinguish two stages in the life of each need: the period before the first meeting with an object that satisfies the need, and the period after this meeting.
At the first stage, the need, as a rule, is not shown to the subject: he may experience a state of some kind of tension, dissatisfaction, but not know what caused it. From the side of behavior, the need state is expressed in anxiety, search, enumeration of various objects. In the course of searches, the need usually meets its object, which ends the first stage of the need's life. The process of "recognition" by the need of its object is called the objectification of the need. By the very act of objectification, the need is transformed - it becomes a definite need in a given object. In elementary forms, this phenomenon is known as imprinting.
Determination is a very important event: a motive is born in this act. The motive is also defined as an object of need. We can say that through the definition, the need receives its concretization. Therefore, the motive is still defined as an objectified need. Following the objectification of activity and the appearance of a motive, the type of behavior changes dramatically - it acquires an orientation that depends on the motive.
In the process of objectification, important features of needs are revealed:
There are many classifications of needs. There are needs:
Needs are subdivided according to the nature of the activity (defensive, food, sexual, cognitive, communicative, play).
Separation in relation to those goals that are achieved as the need is satisfied
The American psychologist W. McDougall believed that certain instincts lie at the heart of certain human needs , which are manifested through appropriate sensations and motivate a person to certain activities.
| No. | Instinct | Its manifestation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Food instinct | Hunger |
| 2 | Self-preservation instinct (fear) | Escape |
| 3 | Herd instinct | Desire for communication |
| 4 | The acquisition instinct | Greed |
| five | Procreation instinct | Sex drive |
| 6 | Parental instinct | Tenderness |
| 7 | The instinct to create | Striving for activity |
| 8 | Disgust | Rejection, rejection |
| nine | Surprise | Curiosity |
| ten | Anger | Aggressiveness |
| eleven | Embarrassment | Self-deprecation |
| 12 | Inspiration | Self-affirmation |
The psychological concept of laziness is a manifestation of the need (instinct) to save energy.
Guildford's list of motivational factors:
According to B. I. Dodonov's approach to the classification of emotions, one can speak of the following types of needs: [11]
According to H. Murray, needs are primarily divided into primary needs and secondary needs. Explicit needs and latent needs also differ; these forms of existence of need are determined by the ways of their satisfaction. The functions and forms of manifestation differ introverted and extraverted needs. Needs can be expressed on an actionable or verbal level; they can be egocentric or sociocentric, and the general list of needs is:
Separation in relation to which object the need is directed to.
There is a division into two large groups - natural and cultural . The first of them are programmed at the genetic level, and the second are formed in the process of social life.
By analogy with conditioned and unconditioned reflexes, needs are also divided into
Simple acquired needs are understood as needs formed on the basis of an individual's own empirical experience (for example, the need of a workaholic for a favorite job), while complex needs are understood on the basis of their own inferences and ideas of non-empirical origin (for example, the need of a religious person for confession based on an idea of positive consequences of the ritual, but not on the empirical sense of guilt and humiliation when it is performed).
Rice Pyramid of Needs by Maslow
Human needs form a hierarchical system, where each need has its own level of significance. As they are satisfied, they give way to other needs.
Difficulty classification divides needs into biological, social and spiritual.
Typically, a person at the same time there are more than ten unfulfilled needs at the same time, and his subconscious puts them on the degree of significance, forming a rather complex hierarchical structure known as "Maslow's hierarchy of needs." A. Maslow divided needs according to the sequence of their satisfaction, when the needs of the highest level appear after the needs are satisfied by the level below.
The simplest types of needs are vital needs, which are programmed in a long process of existence, development, evolution (food, drink, air, sleep, sex drive). Freudianism reduces the needs of the higher levels to the lower vital ones.
The need for security is also associated with the need for stability in the existence of the current order of things - confidence in the future, the feeling that nothing threatens you, and old age will be secured.
FN Ilyasov, within the framework of the ethological approach, identifies the main types of behavior (needs) that describe the vital activity of higher animals and humans. There are only six of them: 1) food, 2) sexual (sexual and reproductive), 3) status (collective, social), 4) territorial, 5) comfortable, b) juvenile (play). Within the framework of the ethological approach (that is, giving the "lowest" level of description), it is permissible to assume that the six needs cited are capable of comprehensively describing the functioning of such a complex system as a person. The problem of the hierarchy of needs within the framework of this approach is solved through the problem of the typology of individuals by ranking the dominant needs. Even everyday experience tells us that there are subjects with the dominance of various types of behavior - sexual, food, status, etc.It is possible to build a typology based on ranking the importance of needs from the point of view of the subject. This question, of course, requires an empirical substantiation, however, it is possible that 2-3 dominant needs can quite fully reflect the behavior.
Even the philosophers of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome made significant progress in understanding human needs. Ancient thinkers recognized needs as the main driving forces of human activity. Democritus, for example, considered need as the main driving force that made a person's mind sophisticated, made it possible to acquire language, speech, and the habit of work. Without needs, a person could not get out of the wild state. According to Heraclitus, needs are determined by living conditions. He distinguished that every desire must be reasonable. Moderation in meeting needs contributes to the development and improvement of a person's intellectual abilities. Plato divided the needs into primary, forming a "lower soul", which is like a herd, and secondary, forming a "reasonable, noble" soul, the purpose of which is to lead the first.The French materialists of the late 17th century attached great importance to needs as the main sources of human activity. P. Holbach wrote that needs are the driving factor of our passions, will, and mental activity. Human needs are continuous, and this circumstance is the source of his constant activity. N.G. Chernyshevsky assigned an important role to the needs in understanding human activity. He linked the development of human cognitive abilities with the development of needs. K. Marx emphasizes that "man differs from all other animals in the limitlessness of his needs and their ability to expand." As an independent scientific problem, the question of needs began to be considered in philosophy, sociology, economics, psychology in the first quarter of the XX century. Generally, a need can be defined as a need,the need for something. It should be emphasized that a fairly large number of scientists "regard need as a state of tension." In life, one can observe how the very appearance of need changes the state of a person. This (needful) state makes him look for the cause of the discomfort, to find out what the person lacks. Thus, the need prompts a person to action, to activity, to activity. Currently, there are many different points of view on the essence of the need. Most scientists agree only that almost all recognize the need as the main driving force of human activity. However, there is neither complete unanimity nor unambiguity in the interpretation of this concept.In life, one can observe how the very appearance of need changes the state of a person. This (needful) state makes him look for the cause of the discomfort, to find out what the person lacks. Thus, the need prompts a person to action, to activity, to activity. Currently, there are many different points of view on the essence of the need. Most scientists agree only that almost all recognize the need as the main driving force of human activity. However, there is neither complete unanimity nor unambiguity in the interpretation of this concept.In life, one can observe how the very appearance of need changes the state of a person. This (needful) state makes him look for the cause of the discomfort, to find out what the person lacks. Thus, the need prompts a person to action, to activity, to activity. Currently, there are many different points of view on the essence of the need. Most scientists agree only that almost all recognize need as the main driving force of human activity. However, there is neither complete unanimity nor unambiguity in the interpretation of this concept.Currently, there are many different points of view on the essence of the need. Most scientists agree only that almost all recognize the need as the main driving force of human activity. However, there is neither complete unanimity nor unambiguity in the interpretation of this concept.Currently, there are many different points of view on the essence of the need. Most scientists agree only that almost all recognize need as the main driving force of human activity. However, there is neither complete unanimity nor unambiguity in the interpretation of this concept.
The hierarchy of needs theory, despite its popularity, is not validated and has low validity (Hall and Nougaim, 1968; lawler and Suttle, 1972).
When Hall and Nougaim were doing their research, Maslow wrote them a letter in which he noted that it is important to consider satisfaction of needs depending on the age group of the subjects. The “lucky ones” from the point of view of Maslow satisfy the needs for safety and physiology in childhood, the needs for belonging and love in adolescence, etc. The need for self-actualization is satisfied by the age of 50 in the “lucky ones”. That is why you need to take into account the age structure.
The main problem in testing the theory of hierarchy is that there is no reliable quantitative measure of human satisfaction. The second problem of the theory is related to the division of needs in a hierarchy, their sequence. Maslow himself pointed out that the order in the hierarchy can change. However, theory cannot explain why some needs continue to be motivators even after they have been met.
Since Maslow studied the biographies of only those creative personalities who, in his opinion, were successful (“lucky ones”), then, for example, Richard Wagner, a great composer, devoid of practically all the personality traits valued by Maslow, fell out of the studied personalities. The scientist was interested in unusually active and healthy people such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein. This, of course, imposes inevitable distortions on Maslow's conclusions, since it was not clear from his research how the "pyramid of needs" of most people was arranged. Also Maslow did not conduct empirical research.
Also, some researchers argue that the satisfaction of the underlying and then the overlying needs is not necessary.
Aboulof argues that, although Maslow emphasizes that "the theory of motivation should be anthropocentric, not animocentric," he is basically an animalistic hierarchy, crowned with a human edge: "The higher nature of man rests on the lower nature of man, needing it as a basis and collapsing without this foundation. … Our godlike qualities are based on and need our animal qualities. " Aboulof notes that "all animals strive for survival and safety, and many animals, especially mammals, also strive to belong and gain respect ... There is nothing exclusively human in the first four of the five classical Maslow stages." Even when it comes to "self-actualization," Abuloth argues, it is unclear how pronounced the human actualizing self is.In the end, the latter, according to Maslow, constitutes "the inner, more biological, more instinctoid core of human nature," thus, "the search for one's own true values" restrains the freedom of choice of a person: "A musician must make music", therefore freedom is limited only choice of tool.
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General psychology
Terms: General psychology