An example of 2 different personalities and their respective different order of needs:
Here is Maslow's (general) hierarchy of needs:
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. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
According to "The order of needs theory" - the personality of a human is mainly made by changes in the order of those needs.
As a simplistic example we could have 2 people A and B with those 2 different priorities for needs:
Priority | Needs order for first man A | Needs order - second man B |
1 | Air | Air |
2 | Drink | Drink |
3 | Food | Food |
4 | Shelter | Sex - sex before sleep confort |
5 | Sex | Sleep |
6 | Sleep | Shelter |
7 | Protection from elements | Relationships - more relationship oriented |
8 | Stability | Self-esteem |
9 | Family | Achievement |
10 | Relationships | Protection from elements |
11 | Self-esteem | Status |
12 | Achievement | Dominance |
13 | Status | Prestige |
14 | Dominance | Independence |
15 | Prestige | Stability |
16 | Independence | Family - can be on very distant levels of importance. |
17 | Realising personal potential | Realising personal potential |
18 | Self-fulfillment | Self-fulfillment |
19 | Seeking personal growth | Seeking personal growth |
20 | Peak experiences | Peak experiences |
As we can see we have in the left column a man A with a more classical order while on the right side - we have a more "rebel" person B. Sure there are men out here who put sex before sleep, who put self-esteem and dominance before family, who don't care too much about stability.
Further calssifications of the order of needs (work in progress)
There are lots of needs and types of needs- they can be classified in many ways:
1. - biological, social etc.
2. - Maslow's hierarchy of needs - which is a generally true order statistically determined to exist in ppl,
3. - the exact needs order for each individual - this theory.
4. - and other categories
Inside the 3rd. category - with the risk of adding confusion - I think there is another hierarchy of needs.
The exact needs for each individual are actually triggered in cascade - one on a superior level triggers many on the below level.
For example -
The need to exist as individual triggers the need to exist now and to exist as long as possible.
The need to exist now triggers breath, eating, drinking (the distinction might be pretty unclear here).
The need to exist as long as possible triggers the need for comfort - sleep, shelter, to be clean.
The need to exist as specie triggers reproduction, compassion, morale, social needs, relations, achievement, status.
The need to be lazy and greedy - is just to make us efficient. Look at ants - they don't invent stuff if they like to work. (?)
The big q is - which of them and on what levels are set at the initial moment?
I think that at the initial moment is set a core of those needs the fewest possible.
What is this core?
We can explore it by thinking we can cancel our needs and still be left with our personality.
Say we can enhance our body to work on atomic energy so we don't need food air water sleep - all the biological needs.
Is still us. We think the same.
I don't think we can remove more needs without affecting our personality - can we?
1 comment:
Good day Sir,
I don't want to cut into your creative energies, but the only thing that is really going for you is the title ("the order of needs"), and the rest is just speculative determinism, the whole story not measuring up to the heavy implications of the title ... To many unsubstantiated turns and/or operations in your presentation.
The rule is that when somebody understands something important in this field, it is in his own interest - and need :) - to express himself more firmly and more clearly, with fewer words.
I'm not insisting on this subject, because I know somehow that you already understand what I am saying, and my role hear is just to speak the words that everybody else is thinking.
Because my native tongue is not english, you have to ask me explicitly, if you want further info. You can reach me at the following e-mail address: sync004@yahoo.com
Thanks for your attention,
A Phenomenologist cyber-Friend
Post a Comment