How Applicable Is Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs To ATS Members

The question I would like to ask is in relationship to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and whether the hierarchy changes in a community such as ATS.

I would question the order of the hierarchy, given the nature of the ATS community and the motivations of members.
model

For instance, does the esteem need become more important than self actualisation?

I think it's safe to assume that the basic needs (the bottom 2) remain where they are - these are basic needs that all people need. But what of the other 3?
Should or could the hierarchy change to reflect the needs of members of a community such as ours?

another model is this one:
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Is this any more applicable in the changes of order in which members need?

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

[edit on 17/8/2007 by budski]

[edit on 17/8/2007 by budski]

This is a good topic and food for thought, but could you explain just a bit about the second model?

It's been a long time since I studied Maslow.

Is the second model Maslow's, as I notice that the link is to the "original" hierarchy of needs, or is the second one someone else's take on Maslow's original--perhaps, yours?

I would think that the higher needs are only achievable when the lower needs are met.

It might be hard to worry about self-actualization when you're worried about food and a roof over your head.

It might be possible that the struggle to meet lower needs might actually culminate in the acquisition of higher needs or one might find it necessary to meet higher needs to ensure that lower needs are met without direct attention to them.

In other words, if I attend to my esteem needs, I might find that my biological and physiological needs take care of themselves.

Or, I might find that if I neglect my biological and physiological needs that it is impossible to attain my esteem needs.

Clearly, there is a reciprocal relationship among these needs and somehow I suspect that very many people never really reach self-actualization, because they place too much emphasis on lower needs.

Some people, though, claim that by rejecting the lower needs, they somehow enhance their capacity for personal growth and indeed, we often say that adversity builds character.

Your question asks, I think, if ATS members can bypass one or more of these needs, but I'm not sure how that might be.

None of us are, to my knowledge, virtual beings. We must live and eat and belong and feel good about ourselves apart from the internet.

Certainly, ATS can help us meet some of the higher needs, even if for the time being anyway, no one admits to being able to meet the lower needs through ATS.

I would have to say that ATS, depending on the individual, helps to meet the higher needs of most of the members.

We can belong. We can have fun and learn to have affection for one another. We can develop a reputation. We can contribute. We can learn. We can work together. We can achieve. We can earn status and take on new responsibilities. We can take pride in our input and meet our aesthetic needs and admire those qualities in others.

So, by doing all of these things and by adhering to our motto, "Deny Ignorance," we can seek to self-actualize--to grow and be fulfilled.

Of course, ATS should only be a part of our lives, as I'm sure it is for all of us to one degree or another.

So, I believe there is validity to the Maslow model and to the second one, as well, and that the models apply to ATS members as much as they do for anyone else.

But, let us not forget that it is only a model.

Now, I have to go google Maslow.


[edit on 2007/8/17 by GradyPhilpott]

The second model is an extension of maslows original theory, expanded to include more relevant social factors.

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

and there are other versions as well:

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.

and we also have maslow's Self-Actualizing characteristics

* keen sense of reality - aware of real situations - objective judgement, rather than subjective
* see problems in terms of challenges and situations requiring solutions, rather than see problems as personal complaints or excuses
* need for privacy and comfortable being alone
* reliant on own experiences and judgement - independent - not reliant on culture and environment to form opinions and views
* not susceptible to social pressures - non-conformist
* democratic, fair and non-discriminating - embracing and enjoying all cultures, races and individual styles
* socially compassionate - possessing humanity
* accepting others as they are and not trying to change people
* comfortable with oneself - despite any unconventional tendencies
* a few close intimate friends rather than many surface relationships
* sense of humour directed at oneself or the human condition, rather than at the expense of others
* spontaneous and natural - true to oneself, rather than being how others want
* excited and interested in everything, even ordinary things
* creative, inventive and original
* seek peak experiences that leave a lasting impression (see the Hellespont Swim case study)

Maslow also has many business applications, particularly in advertising.
Would you say that an awareness of the psychology of hierarchy helps to recognize the manipulative nature of the modern world?

sorry, buggered up the links - scroll down for the different models

[edit on 17/8/2007 by budski to clarify link stuff and copy in the text cos links weren't working]

[edit on 17/8/2007 by budski]

Couldn't get the link to work last night, but seems to be OK now.

Here is where basic information about maslow's theory can be found.
It also has links to diagrams, and an explanation of the different models, including the famous maslow pyramid.

The basic model shows the original "Hierarchy of Needs" by maslow, but perhaps for this discussion, the later models are more applicable.

The applicability of maslow's model and perhaps more importantly, later models to the community here can be said to rest on certain key factors, the foremost of these is the order of needs.

Maslow's original model supposed that you cannot move to the next level of the pyramid, without having fulfilled the needs in the current level. This works to a great extent on the assumption that all peoples goals are the same - and this is why the model is used extensively in the business world.

Other models, however, show different criteria, going beyond the 5 basic needs which maslow referred to.
In the second model, for instance there is aesthetic needs, directly above cognitive needs, which I would argue against, in that an individual may not aspire to have an aesthetic need.
The third model adds yet another layer with transcendence needs, and this may be more applicable to our community, as we see members helping other members and gaining a measure of satisfaction from that.

The most applicable part of any maslow (offshoots included) model has to be , at least in regards to this discussion, the characteristics attributable to self actualization.
These characteristics can be viewed as being fairly typical of ATS members, and if people were to do an honest, no holds barred self assessment, I'm sure we would see a lot of these surfacing, with a strong bias towards problem solving, awareness of situations and a desire for knowledge.
The self actualization fulfillment may not be conditional on the other conditions being met, which is part of the basic structure of the model. It may be that we skip parts of the model (especially the later models) in order to reach the goals we seek, and the characteristics shown in the self actualizing person allow some individuals to do this.

A side note, is that people who do not aspire to self actualization often judge those who do very wrongly. Some are labelled as over achievers, and in some cases others are labelled "wierd" - but without people seeking to push personal boundaries, and those of whichever community they happen to be a part of, the world would be a very different place.

[edit on 18/8/2007 by budski]

I would say that self-preservation needs to be at the very base of the pyramid. When being chased by a predator, one will not stop for any other need.

I'm pretty sure that biological and physiological needs belong at the bottom - these are a requirement that you couldn't live without.
IMO, safety needs are rightly on the second level - without the basic first level needs, you'd be gobbled up pretty quickly anyway, probably as carrion.

reply to post by budski


For each of the following pairs, which would you respond to first?

Hungry and threatened

Horny and threatened

Tired and threatened

Cold and threatened

You get the point. It's obvious that if you never had the biological and physiological needs met to begin with, you never would have met it out of the womb to begin with. Similarly, it is easy to philosophize on a full stomach, if you catch my drift.

I do indeed take your point, but these very basic needs, air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc. are at the bottom for the very reason you state.
Once these needs have been addressed, then other needs can be looked at.
These are generalisations rather than specific, with the examples sited intended to indicate the nature of the need.
That said, being threatened is not (and I wouldn't imagine it has been for quite some time) a daily, bi daily etc occurrence, whereas most of the basic needs have to be satisfied at least daily (with the possible exception of sex:lol
Besides which, are not the basic needs all a form of self preservation?