2. What is it?
It is a theory of motivation.
It contains five
subcategories:
Physiological needs
Safety needs
Love and belonging needs
Esteem needs
Self-actualization needs
3. Physiological needs
These appear at the bottom of the pyramid
They must be met before any other needs.
They include the need for:
Food and water
Sleep
Sex
An example: If you are hungry and trying to study,
you are easily distracted by your hunger and if
hungry enough will give up studying to search for
food.
4. Safety Needs
Safety needs appear one row from the bottom of the
pyramid
These needs can be met after physiological needs are
met and must be met before any higher needs.
Safety needs include the need for a safe and secure
environment.
An example: A woman wants to buy cloth, to get to the
store she must cross a busy street. She decides not to
get the cloth because she decides the risk to her
safety is too great. Thusly, she satisfies her safety
need before her desire for cloth.
5. Love and Belonging Needs
These appear in the middle of the pyramid.
They include the need to feel like one
belongs, is loved and can love others.
For example: A new student joins the 4-H club to
make friends.
6. Esteem Needs
Esteem needs appear second from the top.
Esteem needs include the need for self-
worth.
This includes the need for other’s to know and
value one’s abilities.
An example: Even though she has plenty of
friends, a teenager joins the school choir to
be able to have other’s hear and appreciate
her talented singing. They praise her talent,
and her self-esteem improves.
7. Self-actualization needs
This is the highest order need and
appears on top of the pyramid.
This includes the need to “be all that
one can be.”
For example: A successful business
woman, wife, and mother decides she
wants to do more with her life, and
begins to sponsor a charity for illiterate
children because education is a
passion of hers. By doing so she feels
like her life as meaning and
purpose, fulfilling her need to “be all
that she can.”
