Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Hierarchy of Needs – Chapter 11

This topic interests me the most from this chapter because Maslow's understanding of human motivation has had an important influence in the fields of medicine and health. This is the field I teach in. The needs hierarchy provides a useful framework for understanding patients and has been incorporated into several important theories of health care. Needs-oriented theories also emphasize the role in helping the patient to meet his or her physiological and psychosocial needs. Maslow believed that these needs play a major role in motivating behavior. Maslow termed the highest-level of the pyramid as growth needs (Desire to grow as a person). There are five different levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Physiological needs which include the most basic needs that are vital to survival, such as the need for water, air, food and sleep. Security needs are important for survival, but they are not as demanding as the physiological needs. Examples of security needs may include a desire for steady employment, health insurance, safe neighborhoods and shelter from the environment. Social needs include needs for belonging, love and affection, relationships such as friendships, romantic attachments and families. This may also include involvement in social, community or religious groups. Esteem needs such as self-esteem, personal worth, social recognition and accomplishment. Then most important Self-actualizing needs which is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others and interested fulfilling their potential.

6 comments:

  1. Too often we see elementary and secondary students who have not had even the lowest of levels of Maslow's heirarchy of needs met. They don't have the "base" upon which to build the other levels. When caretakers can not, or will not, supply the basic necessities of stable shelter, food and safety, the process stalls.

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  2. Elizabeth, first off I love your graphic that you have. It looks like a fun way to depict Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I enjoy how your post relates the theories from the chapter to your own field of medicine and health. Since I deal mostly with K-12 education, it is interesting for me to see how this hierarchy relates to patients. You do a good job of explaining each level on their hierarchy. Your grasp of individual’s needs and how they relate to real life is impressive. I honestly have no questions to answer for you or any comments besides great post!

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  3. I also find Maslow’s hierarchy of needs very interesting. It makes sense that we need to eat to be happy or feel protected to be safe. As the book states there are those instances when our need for self-actualization out ways some of our basic needs. I find the example of studying through hunger a perfect instance of this theory. How it is applied to healthcare is very important. Healthcare employees must understand this basic hierarchy to perform their jobs well. I am not surprised that it is taught as basic or fundamental principle in healthcare education classes.

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  4. Elizabeth I truly enjoyed reading your blog. You explain Marlow's Heirarchy of needs so well. It's interesting to see how it can be applied in other areas besides education. I was also very attracted to this heirarchy because its a very interesting tool for teachers to use in the classroom. I believe if most teacher's apply this in their classrooms, perhaps children will be highly motivated. These tools are created for educators to use; it's sad that not all teachers will implement them in their classrooms.

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  5. I also think it's neat how you explain the use of Maslow's hierarchy of needs in the health/medicine field. I think this hierarchy can be used in any field really since it applies to human motivation, but sometimes when you work in a particular field you don't seem to always think outside of that area so it is nice to hear how the subjects we read about are implemented in areas outside of teaching. I found this hierarchy very interesting as well. While researching more about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I came across the Wikipedia page where I learned that Maslow based this study on what he called exemplary people. This has made me very curious, so I'm planning on getting a copy of his 1954 book Motivation and Personality to learn more. You can read more about this at the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs.

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  6. Elizabeth, you are correct with Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. In the classroom, it is very evident with students, this is one of the reasons that teaching has become a much harder career. Teachers need to understand, and be able to meet the needs of each of the students before they are able to teach them. I do think that understanding the order of how needs are met help a teacher understand their students more.

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