Principles of Maslows theory essay

Principles of Maslows theory essay Main principles of Maslows theory Abraham Maslow was a leader of humanistic psychology that made research on people needs. His theory is famous as a pyramid Maslow that shows us how people can move from one level to another. If the basic level is not filled, there is no possibility for a person to move to the next level to higher needs. Maslow made a clear hierarchy of human needs, from the basic, physiological needs to the highest level of self-actualization needs. According to Maslow study, the lower level of the pyramid is the largest and the highest level is the smallest. Each level could be reached only if the previous level is fulfilled, otherwise, its not possible to fulfill higher needs of personality without fulfilling lower things. This theory was developed by studying individual human lives. Maslow studied such creative and bright people as Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, and many others to understand how they reached the higher stage of Maslows hierarchy that represents the self-actualization. Maslows pyramid: 5 stages of human needs There are five stages in the Abraham Maslows pyramid; each stage contains certain needs, and if the entire level is not fulfilled, its impossible for the person to move to the next stage of the pyramid. The basic level represents physiological needs. Any person needs to breathe, eat, sleep, drink water, excretion, and making sex. All these needs are quite important for any person to live and survive, so without fulfilling these needs, any human wouldnt feel satisfied. When all physiological needs of person are satisfied, a human makes progress to their safety needs. This means feeling free from any kind of harm, both physical and emotional. Fulfilling this level means to live in security when you and your family feel safe living in the certain area. Medical insurance protects your health safety, so you feel safe for your body. According to Maslows study, if the person feels unsafe on this level, they cant satisfy higher needs. Needs for love and belonging â€" these are social needs that should be fulfilled when a person feels safe and their physiological needs are fulfilled. On this level, people want to overcome loneliness, to feel loved and to love, to make friends, family, or participate in any kind of social groups. After first three stages are fulfilled, a person gets esteem needs such as attention, self-respect of others, reputation, achievement, confidence, respect by other people. A normal person has a strong need of the stable level of self-respect and confidence. If these needs are not fulfilled, a person feels weak, unstable, helpless. The last stage of Maslows pyramid is self-actualization that includes such needs as lack of prejudice, creativity, morality, problem-solving, acceptance of facts and spontaneity. On this point, a person acts fully functional and has a healthy personality. The self-actualization was described by A. Maslow as a thing that a person must do like a writer must write, a dancer must dance, etc. According to Maslows theory, there are not a lot of people that reached the highest level of the pyramid. He mentioned that not all people reach their full potential to become the completely functional, and he was very interested in studying those people who got the self-actualization level. He was making an analysis of these people to see how they satisfied all their needs in the pyramid. Self-actualized person according to Maslows theory To understand the process of fulfilling needs in the hierarchy, A. Maslow studied self-actualized people. He found out these people accept themselves even having some kind of weakness, but with great attempts for improving. These people notice their mistakes not for judging themselves, but for further improving. This kind of people respect themselves and also respect other people. They have a healthy high level of self-esteem and they are fully satisfied with their lives. Such people also have peak experiences when they feel an intensive level of satisfaction connected to the certain situation (marriage, childbirth, graduation from school, etc.) According to Abraham Maslow, self-actualized people represent to us optimal psychological health and functioning.