What is a need - its types, classification, as well as the pyramid of human needs from Maslow

November 16, 2020

Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. From birth we experience different needs (for food, sleep, air, care).

Over time, they change, are supplemented, and strengthened. But it is their satisfaction that makes us act, move forward, go towards the goal.

Today we will talk about what it is, find out what needs are inherent in each person, what types they are divided into, and also take a detailed look at the pyramid of human needs from the famous American psychologist Abraham Maslow.

Need is...

It is not difficult to understand what needs are, since the answer is contained in the root of the word itself.

This is a requirement of the body (in a broad sense) of something, a need, a lack , which is felt in the form of psychological and physical discomfort.

For example, you want to eat: your stomach “whines”, your activity decreases, your blood pressure drops, irritation and nervousness set in. The longer you go without food, the worse your general condition becomes. But as soon as you have a full meal - satisfy the feeling of hunger, both your mood and well-being improve.

Thus, the need manifests itself at the level of physical sensations and emotions .

The resulting discomfort forces a person to look for a source with which he can relieve himself of need, which automatically brings pleasure.

And now you are heading to the refrigerator and looking for something tasty there, or going to the grocery store. Having had a nice meal, you relax, and you want to lie down on the couch and enjoy being full, and maybe even sleep. This is the next need - the previous one has been satisfied.

Then you will want something else, and more, and more. The human individual is constantly in a state of need, some desires are replaced by others . Actually, thanks to them, we are active and always strive for something: be it sleep, love or recognition.

Human needs are limitless, arise at birth and end after death.

Types of economic benefits by the nature of their use

• Direct - can directly and directly satisfy human needs - these are consumer goods .
• Indirect - used for the production of future consumer goods - these are means of production.

In society, people feel, first of all, the need for essential products.

Benefits serve to satisfy economic needs.

Economic needs are the motives, what encourages economic (production) activity.

Human needs from a psychological point of view

The process of satisfying a need is nothing more than a purposeful activity. At this moment, the person focuses all his attention on it: sets a goal, looks for means to achieve it, and takes specific actions.

Psychology studies human needs most thoroughly . After all, a person’s happiness and mental balance depend precisely on whether he knows how to satisfy his desires or not.

“Healers of the Soul” highlight several interesting features in this topic:

1. A person's need can be realized, or maybe not.

   In the first case, the person has the opportunity to satisfy it without hindrance. The second option is a field for psychologists to work on: for a long time, people may experience mental suffering (they are often somatized - manifested through bodily symptoms), but still not understand what they really want.

   And if you don’t know what you want, then you have no idea how to get rid of discomfort and make yourself happy.
   An unconscious craving for something is called attraction , a conscious one is called desire;

2. At the moment when the understanding comes of what you really want (objectification), gives rise to a motive.

   Motive (motivation) is the driving force thanks to which we begin to do something. A girl wants to lose weight (goal), for this she begins to eat right, go to the gym (actions), and all because it is important for her to please the opposite sex (motive) in order to feel in demand (need);

3. The more acute the need, the more negative emotions.

   Therefore, know: if you are very irritated, it means that some of your needs are not being satisfied at the moment. The stronger the emotion, the stronger your desire for something. You need to listen to yourself and understand what you want: water, sex, relaxation, fame, or maybe you want attention from that handsome young man);

4. It often happens that at one moment there are immediately two needs.

   If one of them has a more pronounced relevance, then by setting priorities, a person will satisfy them one after another. For example, you came home from work, you are tired and very hungry. You may decide that sleep is more important and go to bed. Or do the same, but have a quick snack before doing it.

However, there are situations in which a person simply cannot make a choice and suffers from it. Remember the parable about Buridan's donkey? He died of hunger because he could not choose which of two piles of hay was more appetizing. This is roughly the same thing that happens to people.

A situation where needs are two equal piles of hay is called internal conflict , which can be resolved with the help of a psychologist.

Signs of public goods:

1. Lack of competition in their consumption , that is, everyone can use them, because of this they do not lose their qualities and properties (for example, anyone can admire the city fountain)
2. Indivisibility , that is, a person cannot use them at his own discretion, divide the benefit into parts (for example, turn on or off street lighting).
3. The non-market nature of the value of goods , the state pays for them.
4. The universal and non-excludable nature of goods (that is, they cannot be prohibited from being used by some group of the population; everyone uses them, for example, lawns, fountains, parks).

Types (classification) of people's needs

In a broad sense, there are two types of needs: those with which an individual was born, and those that he acquired during life.

1. The first ones are called innate : they were “invented” by nature, without their satisfaction a person simply cannot exist. For example, we must have access to oxygen, sleep, eat, rest, be in a certain temperature regime, etc.
2. The second are acquired , mostly associated with social interaction. Someone was born into a rich family, where from birth they served him “knee-deep goose in sour cream” for breakfast, gave him a head massage and dressed him. Many years later, this person, finding himself without money, will acutely experience the lack of physical comfort and yearn for that same goose. Perhaps he will fall into depression, or maybe he will replace this need with some other one.

Many scientists have put forward their own classification of types of needs . Here are some of them:

1. The philosopher Epicurus back in the 3rd century BC. He divided all needs into 3 types : Natural and obligatory (it is impossible to live without them);
2. Natural and optional (it is possible to survive without them);
3. Unnatural and optional (I want to marry a horse).

Structure, classification and boundaries of human needs

Depending on the individual abilities and aspirations of some people, after the basic needs of existence are satisfied, the desire to maximize the consumption of material goods will dominate; for others - to power and glory; for others - to knowledge and creativity; for others - to spiritual improvement.

The main problems of needs analysis are to establish their composition, hierarchy, boundaries, levels and possibilities of satisfaction. These problems are closely interrelated. In particular, as will be shown below, the hierarchy of needs is largely determined by the levels of their satisfaction.

As A. Marshall wrote, “man’s needs and desires are endless.”

A hundred years later, the great economist’s compatriot, the authoritative psychologist M. Argyll, notes approximately the same thing: “We do not yet know the complete list of human needs.”

Currently, the classification proposed by the American psychologist A. Maslow is considered the main one. He identifies five groups of needs: physiological, security, belonging (to a team, society), recognition and self-realization (self-expression). These groups form a hierarchical structure, that is, it is assumed that the needs are satisfied sequentially in the order in which they are listed. This diagram is usually depicted as a pyramid or ladder of needs.

In K. Alderfer's classification, three groups of needs are distinguished: existence, connection and growth. Existence needs correspond to the first two groups of Maslow’s needs, communication needs correspond to the third and fourth groups; growth needs - the fifth group. This scheme, like Maslow's scheme, has a hierarchical structure.

D. McClelland identifies the needs of achievement, participation and power. These needs do not have a hierarchical structure; they interact depending on the individual psychology of a person.

One of the most famous is F. Herzberg’s two-factor theory of needs. According to this theory, all factors that determine human behavior in an enterprise can be divided into two groups, hygienic and motivating. Herzberg proposed to include sanitary and hygienic working conditions, ensuring physiological needs, as well as the needs for safety and confidence in the future. Motivating factors are correlated with the needs of self-expression and development.

Considerable attention is paid to the analysis of needs in domestic literature on psychology and sociology. In particular, V.I. Tarasenko considered two groups of needs: existence and development; V. G. Podmarkov - three groups: security, vocation and prestige.

In textbooks on general economic theory, it is common to divide needs into primary (for food, clothing, housing, procreation) and secondary (for communication, knowledge, development). It is usually noted that such a grouping is conventional even for an individual at different periods of his life.

When classifying needs, as with any other classification, the requirement of completeness must first of all be met. This means that each element of the analyzed set must be assigned to one or another group. In the problem under consideration, the fulfillment of this condition is complicated by the fact that it is almost impossible to establish a complete list of human needs.

In many classifications, including the most well-known, the requirement of completeness is not met. Thus, in the schemes of Maslow, Alderfer and McClelland there are no groups to which the needs for freedom, faith, spiritual improvement, etc. could be attributed.

An important aspect of needs analysis is their hierarchy.

The condition for the emergence of intellectual and spiritual needs is the functioning of the physiological systems of the human body. However, many authors make this dependence absolute. Sometimes Maslow's scheme is presented as if the needs for creativity and self-realization can appear only after all other needs have been fully satisfied.

For example, one of the most famous marketing specialists, F. Kotler, illustrates Maslow’s pyramid with the following reasoning from US resident Betty Smith, who was planning to buy an expensive camera: “What light does Maslow’s theory shed on Betty Smith’s interest in purchasing a camera? One can guess that Betty has already satisfied her physiological, self-preservation and social needs, which do not motivate her interest in cameras. And interest in a camera can stem either from a strong need for respect from others, or from a need for self-affirmation. Betty wants to realize her creative potential and express herself through photography."

From this quote and other descriptions of Mrs. Betty Smith’s consumer behavior, which F. Kotler sets out on several pages of his book, it follows that the named lady needs only a Nikon camera to be completely happy at the top of Maslow’s pyramid.

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Although there is some consistency in satisfying needs, it cannot be considered the same for all people. There are known facts when the need for creativity and spiritual improvement became dominant not after satisfying all other needs (physiological, involvement, recognition, etc.), but, essentially, on the verge of survival, when the basic needs for food were not yet satisfied, housing and security.

The strength of the need for creativity can be judged by the biographies of outstanding scientists and artists. Many of them, like P. Gauguin, gave up a prosperous existence for the opportunity to create. Archimedes and Dmitri Shostakovich created great works in besieged cities. Twenty-year-old Evariste Galois developed the foundations of modern algebra in his prison cell. On the eve of the duel, which ended tragically for him, he was writing a mathematical article.

Modern biology and psychology view higher spiritual and social needs (including the need for creativity and altruistic action) as the result of evolution. These needs are aimed at adapting a person to the environment, ensuring the continuity of generations and the sustainability of society.

Experience shows that the hierarchy of needs is predominantly individual or group. What can be considered general is that the satisfaction of the needs of existence at a certain basic level is a necessary condition for the formation of all other needs. Consequently, when classifying needs, not only their types, but also their levels of satisfaction should be taken into account.

Thus, the classification schemes known to us do not take into account:

• the entire range of human needs;
• individual differences in the composition, hierarchy and significance of needs;
• levels of need satisfaction;
• dependence of needs on the values ​​and goals of a person’s life.

To take these factors into account, it is advisable first of all to divide needs into two types: the needs of existence and the needs of achieving life goals.

Existence needs usually include physiological and safety.

We believe that the needs of belonging should also be classified as this type. This is determined by the fact that a person cannot exist for any long time outside of any group (in particular, a family).

The following main levels of satisfying the needs of existence can be distinguished:

• minimum;
• base;
• level of luxury.

The minimum level of satisfaction of the needs of existence ensures human survival.

The basic (normal) level provides the opportunity for the emergence of significant intellectual and spiritual needs. This level can be determined both subjectively and objectively. In the first case, the criterion for achieving the basic level is the time that a person is occupied with thoughts about meeting the needs for food, clothing, housing and security.

It is advisable to assume that this time should not exceed half of the waking time. An objective assessment of the basic level can be the consumer budget, which experts consider necessary for various types of activities. In particular, the work of miners is among the most intense and dangerous. Therefore, the costs of food and rest for miners are objectively higher than for office personnel.

The level of luxury is proposed to be considered one in which the satisfaction of the needs of existence above the basic level becomes an end in itself and/or a means of demonstrating a high social status. At the level of luxury, a person “lives to eat, not eats to live.” Characteristics of an appropriate lifestyle are available in the works of A. Marshall, T. Veblen and many other authors.

Thus, Marshall has the following statements: “Laws against luxury have been in vain, but it would be a great achievement if the moral spirit of society could induce people to avoid all forms of boasting of individual wealth.” “The world would be a much more perfect place if everyone bought fewer and simpler things, tried to choose them from the point of view of their true beauty; the consideration of the effect upon the general welfare of the manner in which each individual spends his income is one of the most important objects of the practical application of economic science to the way of life of men.”

The above levels, of course, do not exhaust all levels of satisfying the needs of existence. As an illustration, we can cite data on the “rise” of needs in Germany after the Second World War. With the clarity characteristic of the German language, German economists write about three large waves of needs during the first 5-6 years of economic recovery: “der sogenannten “Fress-Welle” (the so-called “wave of gluttony”), “der Kleidungs-welle” (“ wave of clothes"), "der Wohnungswelle" ("apartment wave"). After this, the need for luxury (die Luxusbediirfnisse) began to develop.

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For most people, the level of satisfaction of physiological needs significantly affects the structure of intellectual, social and spiritual needs. At the same time, it has been known since ancient times that the less a person is focused on material wealth, the more freedom he has from life’s circumstances and the powers that be. All great philosophers and religious leaders called for a reasonable limitation of physiological needs. A. Schopenhauer gives numerous statements on this topic. For example: “Socrates, seeing luxury goods put up for sale, exclaimed: “There are so many things that I don’t need.”

Thus, after achieving the basic level of satisfying the needs of existence, the needs to achieve life goals are formed, which, it is advisable to differentiate into four groups:

• material benefits for the individual and family;
• power and glory;
• knowledge and creativity;
• spiritual improvement.

Depending on individual inclinations, abilities and aspirations, in some people, after achieving the basic level of satisfaction of the needs of existence, the desire to maximize the consumption of material goods will dominate; for others - to power and glory; for others - to knowledge and creativity; for others - to spiritual improvement.

In conclusion, let us dwell on the problem of the boundaries of needs.

The opening pages of books on basic economics usually postulate that such boundaries do not exist. For example, in the introduction of one of the most reputable US textbooks on economics, Fr.

A similar statement is made by German specialists and domestic authors. The thesis about the limitlessness of needs is usually considered as a kind of axiom, from which the need for rational use of limited resources is derived, which, in turn, predetermines the subject of economic science.

There is no doubt that man’s spiritual needs, his desire for knowledge, development and application of his abilities have no boundaries. As for material needs, their limitlessness cannot be considered obvious. In the world of things, the desires of a reasonable person with the richest imagination are quite specific.

Sometimes the limitlessness of needs is derived from technological progress. But by creating new goods and services, it is ultimately expressed in an increase in per capita consumption of energy and other natural resources. Their number is limited and constantly decreasing.

To prove the need for rational use of limited resources, it is not at all necessary to proceed from the axiom that human needs are limitless. It is known that the smaller the requirements of the axioms, the stronger the building of the theory. Therefore, as a postulate defining the tasks of economic science, the statement that people’s needs are greater than the possibilities of satisfying them is quite sufficient.

The structure of needs can change for the same person during different periods of his life. Moreover, the lower the subjectively normal level of satisfaction of the needs of existence, the more likely it is that after its achievement, intellectual and spiritual needs will dominate.

The main differences of the proposed structure of needs are as follows:

• needs are divided into two types: existence and achieving life goals;
• the first type includes needs: physiological, safety, belonging; to the second - the need for material wealth, power and fame, knowledge and creativity, spiritual improvement;
• There are three levels of satisfying the needs of existence: minimal, basic, luxury level; the needs to achieve life goals are formed after achieving the basic level of satisfying the needs of existence;
• basic levels of satisfaction of subsistence needs may have significant individual differences.

Author: Boris Mikhailovich Genkin , Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Head of Department of the St. Petersburg State Engineering and Economic Academy.

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Maslow's pyramid of needs

Initially, Abraham Maslow's pyramid of needs had only 5 steps and looked like this:

1. Physiological needs (the lowest level in the hierarchy) are the natural desires of the body, without which the body will die. To live and feel good, we must breathe, eat, drink water, have sex, etc.;
2. The need for security - if a person is watered, fed, warmly dressed, he thinks about how to prolong his comfortable state, that is, about stability, protection from threats from the outside world (a very hungry individual sometimes does dangerous things to get food. In this moment the second stage does not bother him at all);
3. Social needs - a person who feels safe, strives to build connections in society, communicates, engages in joint activities with someone, takes care of others;
4. The need for prestige is the desire to be respected, to occupy the elite strata of society, to achieve high results, to be an idol and example for others, to have “weight” in society;
5. Spiritual needs (highest level) represent the development of creativity, the expression of abilities (self-actualization), knowing oneself and understanding who I am (self-identity).

Later, the author adjusted the above classification and added two more stages . It is important to note that Maslow himself considers the last level unattainable for most people.

So, the updated version of the structure:

1. Physiological – food, water, sleep, rest;
2. The need for security – comfort, stability, predictability;
3. In belonging to someone and love (to love and be loved);
4. The need for respect - achieving success, recognition in society;
5. In cognition – exploration of the surrounding world, obtaining new information;
6. Aesthetic needs - the desire for beauty and harmony;
7. In self-actualization (highest) – internal development, embodiment of ideas, personal growth, satisfaction of existential needs (answers to the questions “who am I” and “why”, transfer of accumulated experience).

The first three needs according to Maslow are lower or basic , they are available to all mentally healthy people as human beings. The remaining four are the highest , available only to individuals after satisfying the first three.

It often happens that an individual spends his whole life stewing at the lower levels, without ever reaching at least the first step from the higher ones and without revealing his individuality.

Types of public goods based on territorial boundaries:

• International - they are available to all people, regardless of what state they live in, for example, measures to improve the environmental situation, the international monetary system, etc.
• National - they are produced and used within a specific state, for example, the army, navy, law enforcement agencies.
• Local – the level of their production and use is local, for example, garbage collection, concerts, theaters, etc.