She has a full car licence but cannot afford a car. Weak transport links make it difficult for her to shop so she relies on the corner shop which is expensive; this also leads too poor diet choices. Holly’s health is a problem she currently smokes 40 cigarettes a day this has lead to numerous chest infections this is not helped by the cold and damp at home. She is now over weight this also contributes to her lack of good mobility. She has no hobbies as all the transport links to the local town finish at 7pm this is also affects her desire to want to go to evening courses to study foreign languages as she would like to learn to become a translator.
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in psychology put forward by Abraham Maslow in 1943.
The hierarchy is usually shown as a pyramid of layers, the bottom most layer being the most primitive of needs, food, water and shelter. The upper most layers being the more psychological needs like self-esteem, creativity, and achievement. It is thought by Maslow, that moving up a level is only possible once your needs have been met and changes in life may make you move down too. So throughout your life you will move up and down the pyramid, even those who achieve self-actualisation will indeed normally set themselves new projects or challenges to achieve, and therefore move down the pyramid again.
Image taken from
Physiological Needs: these are the basic needs for life examples of these are, food, water, shelter, warmth, health, exercise and sleep.
Safety Needs.
Physical safety living in a safe area, or a secure home for example.
Economic safety. Having the need for an income, a job or state benefits, having enough money to manage.
Freedom from threats, being free from bulling not just at school but also in the workplace or from neighbours peers etc.
Having comfort, from people and from basic material items somewhere to live to call home.
Peace, not being at war with others being at peace with oneself,
Belonging and Love.
Acceptance, in a job or as a person.
Group membership, not in work, but social interaction with others and feeling being
Love and Affection, to feel loved to want a relationship or to be in a relationship and to feel sexual intimacy.
Self Esteem
To have important projects, to want to succeed, to have recognition of strengths to show intelligence, to have prestige or status, a nice car to have good clothes to feel good about yourself.
Cognitive Needs.
The need to learn and to learn more, the want to explore and find out new things, the need to discover and to create and to get a better understanding of the world about them.
Aesthetic Needs.
We need to find the beauty of imagery and art, to appreciate a good book or poetry, to enjoy and appreciate the looks and feels of a garden, the beauty nature, the need to explore and enjoy music. To absorb and observe all that is around you.
Self-Actualisation.
The highest point that everyone wants to achieve although it is very had to get there! The need to make the most of that around you and what you have got, to be the best in all that you do to be continually challenging your self to do better.
I am now going to apply my case study Holly to Maslows theory.
I believe that Holly is in the Belonging and Love level, as she lives in a house providing warmth and shelter, her job brings in enough money to provide food and pay the bills, she lives in a safe rural area with low crime. Her daughters provide her with love and affection, she is not yet ready for the Self Esteem level as although she wants to improve on her status by going to college, her weight problems give her a low self image and she feels she has a low intelligence.
Another needs theory is called PIES.
It can be seen by the graph below that when we are born we are totally reliant on someone else to satisfy our needs. As an adult we have less needs on others and are more able to be independent but then as old age approaches we require support again.
P Physical I Intellectual E Emotional S Social
Physical Needs
The basic needs in life would be food, water, shelter, safety, security, sleep and warmth.
Intellectual
By keeping the brain stimulated this does not relate to the amount of qualifications that someone has but by the amount of stimulation they give themselves. This could be by and interesting hobby or a challenging lifestyle or even attending college, reading or taking part in other activities.
Emotional
Everybody should feel the need to be liked or accepted or loved as an individual. When we are born we need love as much as we need food, and yet as a teenager we start to understand how important it is to form a close bond with someone. And we start to look for that life partner. We all need some emotional support as this contributes to improving our self-esteem.
Social
These needs are met through interaction with other people, forming bonds and making friendships is important to our social advancement. We feel depressed and lonely when close relationships break down. By wanting to advance and enhance our need to be good at our job, to want to study and do well will also enhance our social needs.
By applying the PIES theory to my case study Holly, I feel she has all her Physical needs met, she live in a house that provides her with security and warmth, she has a job that provides income and with benefits she can pay the bills.
She has met the intellectual needs and is stimulated at work, but I feel these could be improved by having hobbies outside of work and by improving her education.
By living with her daughters she has met the Emotional needs however she is missing that important person in her life to get some personal emotional needs.
Social needs are also minimal by only having interaction with work colleagues, by improving her skills at college these needs could be improved by giving her access to other jobs and also finding new friends and openings to hobbies.
So, I place Holly as only having her Physical needs met and a good change in her overall lifestyle could improve her lifetime needs in all directions.
