A person is a socio-biological being, and accordingly, needs have a different character, or rather levels. Needs determine the motives and activities of the individual. This is the fundamental principle of human life as an individual, personality and individuality. From the article you will find out what needs are and what is the difference between them, how they develop, what they depend on and what depends on them.
What are needs
Needs are a mental state expressed in discomfort, tension, dissatisfaction with some desire.
Needs are conscious and unconscious:
- The perceived needs of a person or group become interests.
- Unconscious – make themselves felt in the form of emotions.
The situation of discomfort is solved by satisfying the desire or when it is impossible to satisfy it by suppressing or replacing it with a similar but accessible need. It encourages activity, search activity, the purpose of which is to eliminate discomfort and tension.
The needs are characterized by several features:
- dynamism;
- variability;
- the development of new needs as the early ones are satisfied;
- the dependence of the development of needs on the involvement of the individual in different spheres and types of activity;
- the return of a person to previous stages of development if lower needs again become not satisfied.
Needs represent the structure of the personality, they can be characterized as “a source of activity of living beings, indicating the lack of resources (both biological and sociocultural) necessary for the existence and development of personality” (A. N. Leontiev).
Development of the need
Any need develops in two stages:
- It arises as an internal, hidden condition for activity, acts as an ideal. A person compares knowledge about the ideal and about the real world, that is, looking for ways to achieve it.
- The need is concretized and objectified, is the driving force behind the activity. For example, at first a person may become aware of the need for love, and then look for an object of love.
Needs give rise to motives against which the goal emerges. The choice of means to achieve the goal (need) depends on the value orientations of the person. Needs and motives shape the orientation of the personality.
Basic needs are formed by the age of 18-20 and do not undergo significant changes in the future. The exception is crisis situations.
Sometimes the system of needs and motives develops disharmoniously, which leads to mental disorders and personality dysfunction.
Types of needs
Generally, one can distinguish bodily (biological), personal (social) and spiritual (existential) needs:
- The bodily includes instincts, reflexes, that is, everything physiological. The maintenance of human life as a species depends on their satisfaction.
- Everything spiritual and social is personal. That which allows a person to be a person, individuality and subject of society.
- Everything that is connected with the maintenance of the life of all mankind and with the cosmos is referred to existential. This includes the need for self-improvement, development, creation of new things, knowledge, creativity.
Thus, part of the needs is innate and they are identical in people of any peoples and races. The other part is acquired needs, which depend on the culture and history of a particular society, a group of people. Even the age of a person makes its contribution.
A. Maslow’s theory
The most popular classification of needs (aka hierarchy) is Maslow’s pyramid. The American psychologist has ranked needs from lowest to highest, or from biological to spiritual.
- Physiological needs (food, water, sleep, that is, everything related to the body and body).
- The need for emotional and physical security (stability, order).
- The need for love and belonging (family, friendship), or social needs.
- The need for self-esteem (respect, recognition), or the need for evaluation.
- The need for self-actualization (self-development, self-education, other “self”).
The first two needs are lower, the rest are higher. Lower needs are characteristic of a person as an individual (biological being), higher needs are characteristic of a person and individuality (social being). The development of higher needs is impossible without the satisfaction of the primary ones. However, after their satisfaction, spiritual needs do not always develop.
Higher needs and the desire for their realization determine the freedom of a person’s individuality. The formation of spiritual needs is closely related to the culture and value orientations of society, historical experience, which gradually becomes the experience of the individual. In this regard, material and cultural needs can be distinguished.
For lower and higher needs, several differences are characteristic:
- Higher needs develop genetically later (the first echoes arise in late adolescence).
- The higher the need, the easier it is to postpone it for a while.
- Living at a high level of needs means good sleep and appetite, absence of diseases, that is, a good quality of biological life.
- Higher needs are perceived by a person as less urgent.
- Satisfaction of higher needs brings great joy and happiness, ensures personal development, enriches the inner world, and fulfills desires.
According to Maslow, the higher a person climbs this pyramid, the healthier mentally and the more developed as a person and individuality he can be considered. The higher the need, the more a person is ready for action.
K. Alderfer’s theory
The author empirically modified Maslow’s theory and identified three groups of needs, differentiating the need for assessment:
- existence (physiological and the need for safety according to Maslow);
- connectedness (social needs and external assessment according to Maslow);
- development (internal assessment and self-actualization according to Maslow).
The theory is distinguished by two more provisions:
- several needs can be involved at the same time;
- the lower the satisfaction of the higher need, the stronger the desire to satisfy the lower (we are talking about replacing the inaccessible with the accessible, for example, love – sweet).
E. Fromm’s theory
In Fromm’s concept, needs are classified on the basis of the unity of man and nature. The author identifies the following needs:
- The need for communication and interindividual bonds (love, friendship).
- The need for creativity. Regardless of the type of specific activity, a person creates the world around him and the society itself.
- The need for a sense of deep roots that guarantee the strength and safety of being, that is, an appeal to the history of society, the family.
- The need for striving for assimilation, the search for the ideal, that is, the identification of a person with someone or something.
- The need for knowledge and mastery of the world.
It is worth noting that Fromm adhered to the concept of the influence of the unconscious on a person and attributed his needs to this. But in Fromm’s concept, the unconscious is the latent potential of the personality, the spiritual forces assigned to each person from the very beginning. And also an element of community, unity of all people is brought into the subconscious. But the subconscious, like the described needs, breaks down into the logic and rationality of the world, clichés and taboos, stereotypes. And most of the needs remain unfulfilled.
D. McClelland’s theory of acquired needs
The author identified three needs that are acquired by a person during his life:
- the need to achieve or accomplish;
- the need for human connections or connection;
- need for power.
According to the author’s concept, each person has these needs, but their severity and influence on behavior are different. The beginning of the development of needs is taken in childhood:
- if children are encouraged to control others, then the need for power is formed;
- with independence – the need for achievement;
- when establishing friendship – the need to join.
Need for Achievement
A person strives to surpass other people, stand out, achieve established standards, be successful, solve complex problems. Such people themselves choose situations where they will be responsible for everyone, but at the same time they avoid too simple or too complex.
Need for connection
A person seeks to have friendly, close interpersonal relationships based on a close psychological connection, avoids conflicts. Such people are focused on situations of cooperation.
Need for power
A person seeks to create conditions and requirements for the activities of other people, to manage them, to control them, to exercise authority, to decide for other people. A person gets satisfaction from being in a position of influence and control. Such people choose situations of competition, competition. They care about status, not efficiency.
Epilogue
Satisfaction of needs is important for adequate personal development. If biological needs are ignored, a person can get sick and die, and with unsatisfied higher needs, neuroses develop, intrapersonal conflicts and other psychological problems arise.
It is worth noting that there are exceptions to the rule “first satisfaction of some needs – then development of others”. We are talking about creators and warriors who can set higher goals, despite unmet physical needs, such as hunger and lack of sleep. But the average person is characterized by the following data:
- physiological needs are met by 85%;
- in safety and protection – by 70%;
- in love and belonging – by 50%;
- in self-esteem – by 40%;
- in self-updates – by 10%.
Needs are closely related to the social situation of a person’s development and the level of socialization. Interestingly, this connection is interdependent.
