Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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1. How Maslow's hierarchy of does needs relate to effective counseling? Give a complete description of Maslow's hierarchy as you are answering this question.--the hierarchy diagram gives a good "starting point" for your discussion.

Maslow proposed a hierarchy of five levels of basic needs, with higher needs above these five e.g. needs for understanding, esthetic appreciation and purely spiritual needs. The five basic levels are invariant, in that a person must met one level, before proceeding to the next level, and so on. Maslow's basic needs are as follows:

1. Physiological Needs: These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person's search for satisfaction.

2. Safety Needs: When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs for security can become active. Adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.

3. Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness: When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.

4. Needs for Esteem: When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high ...