Physiological Needs
These are our biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person was deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person 's search for satisfaction.
Safety Needs
When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviours, the needs for security can become active. Adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.
Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness
When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.
Needs for Esteem
When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.
Needs for Self-Actualization
When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person 's need to be and do that which the person was "born to
References: * Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation.Psychological Review, 50,370-396. * Maslow, A. H. (1965). Eupsychian Management. Note that the Andy Kay featured in this book is the Andy Kay of Kaypro. Hardcover ISBN 0-87094-056-2, Paperback ISBN 0-256-00353-X. * Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and Personality, 2nd. ed., New York, Harper & Row. ISNB 0060419873.