Discuss: Safety Belonging Esteem

Discuss: Safety Belonging Esteem Self-Actualization
Discuss: Safety Belonging Esteem Self-Actualization
FIGURE 8.2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Physiological needs are most readily satisfied, and self-actualization needs are least easily satisfied. A person works to satisfy these needs in a hier- archical fashion, with the most time spent on the most potent need, which is lowest on the hierar- chy, then working up the hierarchy to the next potent need.
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satisfied less and less. Physiological needs are based on homeostasis and include food, water, and a generally balanced internal state. Maslow also includes sexual, sleep, and activity needs in this category. Once physiological needs are addressed, then safety needs begin to emerge. Safety needs refer to the absence of fear, anxiety, and chaos and the presence of security, stability, dependency, and law and order. With the satisfaction of safety needs, next on the hierarchy are the belonging needs. In order to satisfy these needs, humans seek to establish social relationships with friends, lovers, and family members. Without these relationships the individual feels rejected and lonely. Next on the hierarchy are esteem needs, which concern the respect of self and the respect of oth- ers. These needs involve achievement, adequacy, mastery, and competence plus the pres- tige, fame, and glory derived from the recognition of others. Finally, at the top of the hierarchy is the most elusive of all needs, the need for self-actualization. This refers to the need to fulfill and utilize one’s abilities and talents to the fullest in whatever area one chooses.
The Need Satisfaction Inventory (Lester, 1990) in Table 8.2 provides a possible means for testing whether needs are indeed arranged in this hierarchy. The inventory measures the degree to which a person has satisfied each need category. The inventory has face validity, which means that its items appear to measure what they are supposed to (i.e., “on the face of it”). Thus, question 36, regarding the amount of exercise, would help determine the sat- isfaction of your physiological needs, while question 10, regarding whether life has mean- ing, is valid for determining satisfaction of your self-actualization needs. If Maslow’s (1970) theory is correct, then Lester’s inventory should show a decreasing amount of need satisfaction going up the hierarchy. In other words, a person’s physiological and safety needs should be satisfied more than her esteem and self-actualization needs.
Discuss: Safety Belonging Esteem
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N 0-558-46770-9
Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental, Third Edition, by Lambert Deckers. Published by Allyn & Bacon. Copyright © 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc.
C H A P T E R E I G H T / Drives, Needs, and Awareness 189
TABLE 8.2 Need Satisfaction Inventory
For the 50 statements listed below, use the scale to indicate the extent you agree with each statement. Read each statement carefully and answer with your first impulse.
?3 ? Strongly disagree ?2 ? Disagree ?1 ? Slightly disagree 0 ? Neither disagree nor agree
?1 ? Slightly agree ?2 ? Agree ?3 ? Strongly agree
Physiological Needs 1. I never have trouble getting to sleep at night. 6. I have an income that is adequate to satisfy my needs.
11. I get an adequate amount of rest. 16. I have a satisfactory sex life. 21. In general, my health is good. 26. In winter, I always feel too cold. (R) 31. I eat enough to satisfy my physiological needs. 36. I get an adequate amount of exercise. 41. There’s usually some part of my body that is giving me trouble. (R) 46. The summers are too hot for me ever to feel comfortable. (R)
Safety and Security 2. I think the world is a pretty safe place these days. 7. I would not walk alone in my neighborhood at night. (R)
12. My anxiety level is high. (R) 17. I feel secure about the amount of money I have and earn. 22. I feel safe and secure. 27. I am afraid to stay in my house/apartment alone at night. (R) 32. My life is orderly and well-defined. 37. I can depend on others to help me when I am in need. 42. I am often worried about my physical health. (R) 47. My life has a nice routine to it.
Belonging 3. I know my family will support me and be on my side no matter what. 8. I am involved in a significant love relationship with another.
13. I feel rootless. (R) 18. I have a group of friends with whom I do things. 23. I feel somewhat socially isolated. (R) 28. I have a few intimate friends on whom I can rely. 33. I feel close to my relatives. 38. I am interested in my ethnic roots and feel a kinship with others in my ethnic group. 43. I am religious and consider myself to be a member of a religious group. 48. I am able to confide my innermost thoughts and feelings to at least one close and intimate
friend.
Esteem 4. I feel dissatisfied with myself much of the time. (R) 9. I feel respected by my peers.
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46 77
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