Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – What are Man’s Needs According to Maslow?

Twelve-year-old Alyssa is a very precocious and unique child. She learned how to read at the age of four and was into Shakespeare by the time she was seven. Academically, she excels and is currently top one in her gifted students’ class. Because she is the best, she is always sent to student competitions. Alyssa is also musically inclined and plays various instruments such as the piano, violin and the flute. She is in the local orchestra and performs with them in concerts. In addition she ballets, tap dances, acts and sings and naturally is a member of the village theater group. She is physically very agile and outruns all the boys in her class. In fact she represents her school in triathlons. One would think that because of all the things that Alyssa does, she would feel pressured and miserable. In reality though, she feels the opposite. She is bubbly, happy and very positive. When people ask her what her secret is, she tells them that her genes may have given her skills and talents but her happiness and positive thinking is all because of Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs.

So who is Maslow and what is this needs hierarchy? Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who created a series of human needs that according to him had to be accomplished by people in order for them to reach self-actualization. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is depicted as a five-leveled pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid are the most basic needs while the top holds the more complex needs. The hierarchy means that people must fulfill the basic needs before they move up to the other ones.

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