About this video
Maslow's hierarchy of needs arranges human needs in a pyramid, from basic physiological needs such as food, water, breathing and sleep, through safety, love and belonging, and esteem, up to self-actualization. The video stresses that each level must be met before the next can be reached, comparing it to climbing Everest with checkpoints managed by Sherpas.
You'll be able to
- name the five levels of Maslow's hierarchy in order from bottom to top
- explain why lower-level needs must be met before higher ones
- apply the hierarchy to predict what a person focuses on when basic needs are unmet
Key words
- Physiological needs
- The most basic needs for survival, such as food, water, breathing and sleep.
- Safety needs
- The need for security of resources, employment, health and property, which can only be met after physiological needs.
- Esteem
- The need for self-respect, confidence and a sense of achievement, and to gain respect from others.
- Self-actualization
- The top level, reaching one's full potential through morality, acceptance and creativity.
- Hierarchy of needs
- Maslow's model that arranges human needs in a pyramid that must be climbed in order.
Transcript
So we talked about before that there's five approaches in understanding motivation. And one of these approaches is called Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And it's actually broken down into a pyramid. So it looks just like this. And it was created by famous psychologist named Maslow.
So Maslow said that we have needs that need to be fulfilled in a specific order. And it has to start from the bottom of the pyramid all the way to the top. So our most basic need is our physiological need. So this can include anything from food, water, breathing, sleep.
All of these are essential needs to survive, basically. The second level is our need for safety, so safety of resources, safety of employment, safety in our health, property. So all of these are basic needs as well. But they can only be fulfilled when our physiological needs are fulfilled.
So we call these two levels the basic levels. Now, he went on to name a third level, and this is our level of love, our need for love, our need to belong, our need to have friends and family. So this level of needs is what we call our social needs. The fourth level is our need for esteem, self-esteem.
So we like to feel confident and have a sense of achievement in what we do. So this level is called our level of respect. We like to gain respect from others when we reach this level. And the last level is called self-actualization. It's a big word, but it's basically our need for wanting morality, a sense of morality, a need for acceptance and also creativity.
So we call this our full potential. So think of this as climbing Mount Everest. You have to start at the bottom. But then, along the way, you're going to have different checkpoints. Each of these checkpoints are managed by all the Sherpas on the mountain. You can't go from the bottom to the next level unless you check in with the Sherpa, and he makes sure that you're OK, you've eaten properly, you're getting enough rest, and only then can you jump to the next level.
Again, a Sherpa there at the higher level is going to check and make sure you're breathing OK, you're getting enough oxygen, and so on. So you get to the next checkpoint and the next checkpoint, and finally, you're at the top, where you've realized your maximum potential.
So this is called Maslow's hierarchy of human needs.
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