Maslow S Theory Of Human Needs example essay topic

Talking or thinking of the aged people, quite often people assume somewhat a biased attitude. To become old, it seems to be of a different species, socially, culturally, physically, sexually and financially. Many young people think that it is hard for them to understand the strange behaviors of the old. But if you learn something about Maslow!'s theory of human needs, you will have a better understanding about the aging people. Maslow diagrammed his famous Hierarchy of Needs in the late 1960's in the shape of a pyramid. Physiological needs, safety needs, love needs, esteem needs and self-actualization arrange themselves from bottom to top in the pyramid.

Physiological needs are the very basic needs such as air, water, food, sleep, sex, etc. When these are not satisfied we may feel sickness, irritation, pain, discomfort, etc. Safety needs have to do with establishing stability and consistency in a chaotic world. These needs are mostly psychological in nature. For example, we all need the security of a home and family. Love and belonging ness are next on the ladder.

Humans have a desire to belong to groups: clubs, work groups, religious groups, family, gangs, etc. We need to feel loved by others, to be accepted by others. There are two types of esteem needs. First is self-esteem which results from competence or mastery of a task.

Second, there's the attention and recognition that comes from others. The need for self-actualization is "the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming". Such people can seek knowledge, peace, esthetic experiences, self-fulfillment, and oneness with God, etc. Maslow believes that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs. As one need is satisfied, another new and higher need will emerge.

And certain lower needs need to be satisfied before higher needs can be satisfied. If we use Maslow!'s theory to analyze the human characteristics of the aged, we will found that many of their vices and pleasures we couldn! t understand are easy to explain. For example, the old people are avarice to accumulate money because they want to use another form of power to compensate their more and more unsatisfied physiological needs. The old are always obstinate because they are eager for the esteem needs.

By insisting on their own opinions, even false opinions, they feel they are still useful and respected by others. Most old people faithfully believe in religions because of their safety needs. Religions comfort them with the promise of a safe secure place after they die and leave the insecurity of this world. The aged enjoy dozing in the sun, eating and sleeping because by satisfying those simplest needs they can get some physical compensations.

Among them, I think the most typical two are the old people!'s vice of vanity and their virtue of accepting old age as a series of challenges. Vanity takes form of a craving to be loved or simply admired. When people become older and older, they suffer from diseases and their physiological needs become more and more unsatisfied. Maybe they want to seek for compensation, maybe they think they have less to look forward to, so they appreciate the love and esteem needs very much. They want to get others! attention and recognition and make others realize that how great they were and now they are not useless people.

It is the reason why many old people like to boast about their past experience. So after understanding the inner needs of the old, even we know they are boasting, we will not fell disgusted for these harmless boasts. Instead, we should give them admiration and praise, because our simplest praise will bring them the greatest pleasure. Just as Cicero says, ! ^0 What is more charming than an old age surrounded by the enthusiasm of youth! ...

Attentions which seem trivial and conventional are marks of honor -- -the morning call, being sought after, precedence, having people rise for you, being escorted to and from the forum... What pleasures of the body can be compared to the prerogatives of influence?! +/- And the pleasure is also the body pleasure, because living at the higher need level means biological efficiency, greater longevity, less disease, better sleep, appetite, etc. So be generous about your praise. It may relieve the old people from pains; it may give them more autumnal pleasures.

As for the old people!'s virtue of accepting old age as a series of challenges, I think it is the highest level of needs -- - self-actualization. Though old people are deprived of the satisfaction of physiological, safety, love, esteem needs gradually, they also have the rights to pursue the level of self-actualization. They don! t want to surrender in the face of time. They hope their ships of life will ride the wind and cleave the waves and they are always the brave captains of their own ships. And sometimes the more basic needs they are deprived, the stronger determination to actualize themselves they will have. For example, an ordinary old person may dozes in the sun, spends his remaining years smoothly and dies peacefully in the armchair, while some old people who suffer greatly from diseases, even those who are handicapped, are more likely to strive to realize their values, because they are so determined that every obstacle can be overcome by force of will and that they can reach the highest level without the foundation of the lower ones.

As Paul Claudel says, ! ^0 No eyes, no ears, no teeth, no legs, no wind! And when all is said and done, how astonishingly well one does without them!! +/- And higher needs gratifications produce more desirable subjective results, i. e., more profound happiness, serenity, and richness of the inner life.

Those people maybe poor in physical life but they are rich in the spiritual life. What!'s more, by achieving the level of self-actualization, they also satisfy some lower needs, such as love and esteem needs. They feel they still have functions in the community and they get the respect and praise from other people. By analyzing the human characteristics of the aged with the theory of human needs by Maslow, I have a better understanding about old people!'s different behaviors and attitudes. Just as Shakespeare says, ! ^0 Human life is a stage.! +/-, the old age is also an inevitable stage in everyone!'s life.

As younger generations, we should give old people more understanding, support and praise, because what they experience today is what we will experience tomorrow..