infotainment - the hierarchy of needs

ok, let's get serious for a couple of minutes. in this article we'll talk a bit about maslow's hierarchy of needs. sounds complicated, but it's actually pretty cool. it could even help you become a cooler person (hopefully). furthermore, with articles like this one we implement the concept of infotainment on the mintrubbing.org site. i know it sounds silly, but i just bumped my head while playing ping-pong today, so bear with me.

so what is this all about? every person has their needs. wether it's the need to drink a soda, go to a movie or write a book, these are all needs. what's interesting, though, is the fact that there's a certain hierarchy of human needs - some needs take precedence over others. furthermore, most people can lead a somewhat normal, happy life just by covering basic needs.

let's begin now, this should be quite interesting:

1. first come the physiological needs; to put it plainly, you'd be dead if you didn't attend to most of these. i'm talking about getting stuff like oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar, calcium and other minerals and vitamins. to get into even more detailed stuff, you should also maintain the right pH and temperature balances, get rest, sleep, be active, get rid of wastes and avoid pain. sex also falls into this category - it's quite a basic need, after all. oh, yeah, mint rubbing falls into this category as well. it's probably as basic as a need can get - you try living without it.

2. then come safety and security needs. after the psychological needs have been taken care of and you've had a nice meal and possibly got laid, you start to worry about other stuff. you become interested in safety, protection, stability, structure and order. basically, you try to avoid getting your ass kicked, losing your neat junk to thieves, running out of money , losing your job and stuff like that.

3. ok, so you've got a nice little home, some money stashed in a bank account and possibly even a nice place that you call work. what now? love and belonging needs. getting cash and a cool job aren't that meaningful after all without someone to share, so now you look for friends, a loved one, kids, perhaps a cat or a dog - that sort of stuff. you even get to the point where you want to be a part of your local tennis club just to hang out with people. you switch jobs because you hate being alone in the office. and, yeah, basically you look for a partner not just for sex and/or money. shocking, isn't it?

4. so these were the basic needs. if you're still alive at this point, and you're not some kind of a freak (not that there would be anything wrong with that), you've pretty much covered those needs. moving along we find esteem needs: the need for fame, glory, status, attention, reputation, appreciation, dominance. you might even find the need for self-respect, confidence and achievement. now some people wouldn't need these to lead a happy and accomplished life (i'd say most people, but we still have some more needs to cover). if that's your case, then stop reading and go grab a cheesburger. you're done with this. it's been a long and boring read already.

interesting to note that lack of the above often leads to some sort of an inferiority complex. and some people believe that's the root of many problems.

5. anyway, let's just pretend you've covered all of the above - the so-called deficit needs. that is, if you don't have enough of something, you feel a need, or a deficit. but if you do have the right stuff, they cease to be motivating. ok. still, aren't there days when you feel like something's missing in your life? that there's perhaps more to it? no? then, perhaps it's time for that cheesburger.

the last level of needs is a little bit different. maslow calls it self-actualization. there are needs that continue to be felt, even if attended to. they are even likely to become stronger after feeding them.

what is this all about? well, it's about fulfilling desires, being all that you can be, becoming complete. need more clues? according to maslow, people that reach this stage are: reality centered - can sort out what's genuine from what's fake; problem centered - treating life's difficulties as problems needing solutions and not whining and surrendering to them; having a different perception of means and ends - means can be ends themselves, and sometimes the journey is more important than getting to a certain point; being nonconformists and relatively independent of culture and environment - that's important; having democratic values, social interest, compassion and acceptance of others; spontaneity and simplicity; ability to be creative, inventive and original - most important. basically those people get to the point where they have more peak experiences than the average person (how's that chhesburger, by the way?)

oh yeah, and there's the bad news (could be good news - it depends on where you stand): maslow suggests that perhaps only two percent of the world's population is truely self-actualizing. the rest is, unfortunately, still attending to basic needs or not needing anything else after getting the basics.

now you know where you stand.

this article uses as source an article on maslow's theories written by c. george boeree.




this is page eight of the 22nd issue of the mint rubbing journal. click here for page nine. click here to go back to page seven.