Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

Discussion in 'Philosophy & Psychology' started by Ken Anderson, May 11, 2022.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs suggests that we cannot progress upward until the lower needs have been met.
     
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  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Probably, some of us have been in each of these categories, while others may have never been without air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, or reproduction. I'm not Maslow, but I'm not sure that reproduction belongs there. I say this, not because I don't acknowledge that the need for reproduction is instinctual in all species, but because I don't accept that this need has to be met in order to progress to one of the other levels.

    Although I have raised children, I have none of my own, yet I will insist that I have not been stuck on level one.

    In fact, I would insist that I have been on the highest level, which is having the desire to be everything I could be, not necessarily attaining it. I haven't stayed there, but I've been there.

    While in Texas, I had everything at the Esteem level. As an EMS instructor/coordinator, it was rare for me to meet a cop, firefighter, EMT, or paramedic who hadn't been my student at one point or another, and I had even taught and tested Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) courses to many of the nurses and physicians in at least three counties in the Rio Grande Valley.

    Throughout most of my EMS career, I didn't really have anyone above me. Oh, to be sure, I wasn't in charge of the city that I worked for, and I wasn't the head of the college that I taught for, but the people I answered to knew next to nothing about what I did, so I didn't really answer to them. I wrote the curriculum for my courses, I set my schedules, and I hired the people who were going to help me in doing my job.

    So, in so many ways, I didn't want for anything at that level or the ones below it.

    I suppose that an argument could be made that someone could have attained everything at the Esteem level without having friendships, intimacy, or family. Certainly, there are plenty of examples of accomplished people who gave up some of these things in order to reach higher, but did they really have self-esteem? It seems to me that they may have felt like they were missing something important in their lives. Perhaps that's true about reproduction, too. I sometimes wish that I had had a child of my own, and perhaps it was in pursuit of this that I was willing to take in someone else's kids. I don't know.
     
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    Last edited: May 11, 2022
  3. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    These needs are missing in today's world. it is good to be reminded about ours and other's needs. I'm trying to be more understand and forgiving of others and ask for the same more now. Not there yet but improving, I hope.
     
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  4. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    I think I can get along quite well on the first three.

    The grand essentials to happiness are:
    Something to love,
    Something to do,
    And something to hope for.

    Joseph Addison 1642-1719
     
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  5. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    I have thought about this kinda stuff in my old age and it is different than in my young age.
    Yes, I have always wanted to be well fed and comfortable.
    At a very early age, I learned to keep my head down and not attract attention. If I have competed, it was generally with myself, only.
    I do what needs doing and will do at all costs, if needs be. But I don't go out of my way to do social busy work.
    The question of what love is changes during my lifetime. I remember answering my eldest by saying it is caring more about someone else than for oneself. But finding I am a control freak, I think love means to allow. To accept others for who they are and not what I want them to be. Not sure where helping when I can fits in, but I do it sometimes.
    Safety need? Sometimes I understand why the homeless want to be left alone. I am not sure it is always mental illness.
     
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  6. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Seems to me that one has to have the desire to be the most one can be before a good sense of self esteem is psychologically active.
    Maybe it’s an introvert’s attitude but with that I nearly always strived for perfection which, by itself, has a tendency to lower one’s idea of self worth when it is realized that perfection isn’t always within reach. But still, one’s higher goals that are met are grounds for a better feeling of worth and dignity.

    Many men and women entering into the military, as an example, have a very low feeling of self worth and have never had any type of connection with family and so far as strength goes, some are mental, physical and spiritual wrecks until they are pushed to what they believe are their limits.
    When they are taught that they can overcome whatever limitations they think they have, then, after going so far, self esteem, recognition, strength and the feeling of freedom and personal status comes into fruition.
     
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  7. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    Military? I would rather be an narcissist.
     
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  8. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Sorry Mary, I really don’t get your meaning. Being a narcissist has so many connotations that have little to do with actual self worth other than what one imagines.
     
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  9. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    It is all about ME. I pretty much am self worth even at your expense.
    No?
    Military not so much.
     
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  10. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    Sorry Bobby. It was said tongue in cheek. My being accepted by the military is pretty equal to my being Empress of the Norther Hemisphere now.
     
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  11. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Okay.
    The military thing was an example though. It’s not as if any of us would be accepted into the military.

    I’ve read reports on FB where people of senior age were re-entering the halls of education to get everything from high school diplomas to master’s degrees.
    The short is that they are “trying to be all they can be” which is the last tier on the chart. It would seem to me that such an endeavor would add to one’s self esteem which is the next tier down from the top.

    All I’m writing is that I believe the two tiers are backward. Reaching for higher goals CAUSES better self esteem for the most part. When a person finds out that when they reach further than they have before, meeting those types of goals has a personal strengthening factor albeit when one reaches those character traits they will inevitably reach for even higher goals.
     
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  12. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    I am not fighting with you and 'Be all that you can be' made a good recruiting ad.
    Maybe I am not psychologically healthy? I generally coast along and can be happy with that. My accomplishments are short term and varied. I pick and unload manure. I do the job at hand.
    I was very proud of that formal tile floor I put in. And even with my bad leg a couple of years ago, I loaded and unloaded a ton of landscaping block by hand just to see if I still had it. As an older adult, I don't care as much of what others think. I avoid confrontation unless it is actually important.
    This week I will be working on yards and flowers and the veggie garden. The house across the street at the farm looks like house beautiful and I will not be competing with her. She has a professional take care of her yard. I will not use a grid. I will eyeball it and be happy.
    Just different strokes for different folks.
     
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  13. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Lol…..I didn’t think you were arguing Mary. I just didn’t understand the direction you were going at first. Heck, there are times when I do not understand the direction I’M going.
     
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  14. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I'm wondering if in the physiological needs (bottom tier) the "reproduction" designation simply means sex. I don't believe that reproducing is a physiological need. I'm not a deep thinker, but as long as I feel happy and content I don't worry about progressing to a higher level... who needs more crap to worry about. Maybe I'm a simpleton. :p
     
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  15. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    I, like @Dwight Ward , like myself. It's nice if other people like me but if they don't, I'm not going to sit in a corner and cry.

    Besides that, I am Supreme!!!!!!! :p
     
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