Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs Essay

1. Introduction: Each particular person has their own particular set of need that promotes and inspires their responses to messages as well as communication that takes place in their lives. Whilst not everyone’s priorities are the same, our needs do coincide with one another’s (Steinerg, 2007:22). This essay will be discussing the earliest and most widespread version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These needs include the need for survival, the need for safety, the need to be social, the need to have a good self-esteem and lastly the need for self-actualization (http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html). It is very important to note that people have to take care of lower order needs such as hunger first before they can worry about higher

Survival

Survival is the process of surviving or of having survived (http://www.thedictionary.com/survival). In Maslow’s pyramid the need for survival in the foundation. This is because it is the most important and essential need. It is also the lowest order of the needs and therefore is the need that needs to be is met first. The need for survival is physical need and includes the need for food, water, shelter, sleep and oxygen (Boeree, 2006: np).

If these needs are not met they become the key driving or motivating force in a person’s life. It therefore causes the rest of Maslow’s needs to become unimportant. People must have food to eat, water to drink and a place to call home before they can even begin to think about anything else (Boeree, 2006: np). For example if we are starving we will be unable to pay attention to more sophisticated things such as what the lecturer is saying in class.

If the requirements of the survival need are not met, the human body cannot function properly and will ultimately deteriorate. People however often neglect some of these basic needs in normal life when they eat unhealthy food, go without sleep, do not exercise, or do not stimulate their minds

Safety Once the physical need for survival is fulfilled, a new set of needs develop. The physical survival needs still exist, but a person can now become aware of the next level on the pyramid since their survival needs have been satisfied (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ ). This need is the need for safety.

Safety is the feeling that people get when they know no emotional, mental or physical harm will come to them. This need includes the need for shelter, stability, law and order and protection. It also includes the need for freedom from fear and anxiety. Having a job and protection against harm will be what you need as a foundation to fulfill this need (http://www.itstime.com/maslow.htm).

While there are no physical signs of distress when these needs are not met, an individual will experiences feelings of stress and severe anxiousness. When you satisfying the need for safety it leads to decreased stress levels. It also provides an individual with structure, order, stability, and security (http://www.fearlessphilanthropy.com/hierarchy-of-needs.html). For example a man with a stable job, living in a country with a democracy will not feel constantly anxious about safety as he will have certain