Maslow Abraham - Hierarchy of Needs

“According to humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow, our actions are motivated in order achieve certain needs. Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" and his subsequent book Motivation and Personality. This hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more advanced needs. ” (Cherry, n. d. ) I am going to attempt to illustrate the relevance of Maslow’s theory in my own life and that of my colleagues.

The first need in Maslow’s model is basic needs; the need for food, shelter, water, and sleep. I believe that I have conquered the first level of needs, I live I a wonderful house that was built by my family in the 30’s, while it has its own set of problems as far as the age of the house, it provides shelter, warmth and a dry place to sleep for me and my family. The next level shows the need for security, this isn’t just your sense of safety as protection from danger, but this is also talking about financial security, and job security.

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I think that my fellow students as well as myself are in this tier of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we are all in school to further our professional/career goals, whether it be to get the job that we want, or to make more money in the job we have. The next level is belonging; this is the need of love and affection, whether you get this from your family, your friends or your significant other.

It is my understanding that the theory is that you must complete the prior tier before completing the next, however I feel like I have complete the “belonging” tier even without first having completed the Security tier.

I have a loving husband, two beautiful daughters who adore me, and a loving and supportive family. All things that are needed when furthering your career goals, while you have so much going on in your life. After the first three tiers have been met it becomes increasingly important to feel important, to feel as if we have accomplished something in life. This is something that is very important to me; I want to do something that will be valued. “The important thing is not how long you live…It’s what you ccomplish with your life. While I live, I want to shine. I want to prove I exist. ” (Grovyle, n. d. ) After my grandfather had passed away at 60yrs old everyone had been sad that he had passed but I will never forget what my grandma had said, she had said that his life wasn’t lived as long as it should have been, but the quality of his life and been more then we could have hoped for, the lives he had touched, and the people he had effected, gave great credit to the time he had been here.

When I pass away I want to be remembered like that. The last tier in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is self-actualization. It is my opinion that our elderly have reached this tier, they are not so concerned with the opinions of others; they tend to do things that benefit their personal growth or needs. To be free of the opinions of other would be rather uplifting I think, I know that a great deal of my personal life stress comes from trying to live up to this perceived image that I or my friends, family, spouse has created.

It is my opinion that many of us will not reach this tier until we are much older, but that may be me just being pessimistic. In conclusion, Maslow creates a number of interesting possibilities to fulfill happiness and a sense of accomplishment through these tiers. It is definitely a good model to base success off of and I hope to reach all tiers at some point in my life, hopefully sooner then later.