Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs — “Maslow used the terms ‘physiological’, ‘safety’, ‘belongingness’ and ‘love’, ‘esteem’, ‘self-actualization’, and ‘self-transcendence’ to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through… [though there is] little evidence for the ranking of needs that Maslow described or for the existence of a definit

Maslow’s theory has largely held up. Cross-cultural studies have found that happiness does indeed correlate with meeting five broad categories of needs: physiological, safety and security, love and belonging, status, and self-actualisation. However, the pyramid-shaped hierarchy (which was made up by business consultants, and has nothing to do with

Maslow is best known for defining the “hierarchy of needs,” which describes how human desires evolve as more primary needs are met.

In practice, I prefer Clayton Alderfer’s version of Maslow’s hierarchy, which he called “ERG theory”: people seek existence, relatedness, and growth, in that order.

As social creatures, humans have an innate desire for connection and caring. We want to be connected to other people and we want to care for other people. At a basic biological level, we need to relate to others to survive and thrive; and, as a result, are neurochemically motivated to fulfill this need. More recently, researchers have extended this