Welcome once again to home economics, today we will continue with the free course on business economics. In this chapter we will talk about Maslow's pyramid. The name of the pyramid is due to its author, the American humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow, who created this pyramid in the first half of the 20th century in his work "The theory of human motivation" Basically, the theory of the pyramid of needs Maslow's visually explains human behavior according to our needs.
At the base of the pyramid are our physiological needs, which all human beings need to satisfy first. Once these needs are covered, we seek to satisfy our immediate higher needs, which would be security, or what is the same, once our most basic needs are satisfied, we seek higher needs and desires The five levels of Maslow's pyramid As explained The general rule is that we only look for the higher needs once we have covered the lower needs, this makes the objective of the human being to meet the higher needs of the pyramid. The five levels that Maslow's pyramid is divided into are divided on the basis of their importance and place in our lives and in our personal growth.
In the first steps of the pyramid we will find basic needs, more or less easy to achieve and related to survival, and as we ascend we will find needs with a higher degree of complexity but with a lower level of importance Basic needs or Physiological Basic needs include all the needs necessary for the maintenance of human life and for the survival of the species. In other words, they are inherent in all human beings. They include the need to feed, sleep, breathe, hydrate, dress, etc.
For example, a person who has enough clothing to protect himself from the cold in winter and who can eat adequately can be considered as having the basic or physiological needs that allow him to survive. On the other hand, a person who lives on the street and is hungry and cold does not have these needs covered and, therefore, runs the risk of dying. Safety and security needs Once physiological needs have been met , people's security and protection needs emerge .
With this type of needs, it is sought to create and maintain a situation of order and security in life. These include a stable job that provides an adequate salary, individual health, moral security and the health of your family. For example, a person who has a house to sleep in, is healthy enough to work, can pay the rent of an apartment and is independent, it is considered a person with security and protection needs covered.
On the contrary, a person who does not have this type of needs covered would be one who is currently unemployed, does not enjoy good health and does not have enough money to rent an apartment that provides security and comfort. Social Needs At the third level we find the affective development of people and social relationships. If they have the first two needs met, people will try to overcome the feeling of loneliness by creating emotional bonds between themselves and certain people.
Once the two previous levels have been satisfied, people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and feel that there are emotional ties between them and certain people. That is, with this level the individual tries to transcend the individual sphere and establish links with the social environment. We find as needs of this level, love and affection, companionship, participation in groups and the feeling of feeling accepted in a social group.
For example, a person has this need satisfied when he has a family who cares about him, a group of friends he can hang out with, and a partner he can trust. On the contrary, a person who feels lonely and isolated from the society does not have this need covered Esteem or recognition needs Within this fourth level, Maslow divided it into two subtypes: high esteem needs on the one hand and low esteem needs on the other. High esteem refers to an individual's ability to respect and understand himself.
On the contrary, low esteem refers to the recognition and respect that person has from their colleagues or work bosses. That is, Maslow places on this scale the need for appreciation, recognition, status, fame, and even dominance over other individuals. A clear example of a person who has this need covered is a person who does his job effectively, enjoys it and other people recognize him for his work.
On the contrary, a person who does not have this need covered is one who has low self-esteem, does not consider himself adequate for what he does, does not feel good about his job and no one recognizes his work. Self- actualization Needs Finally, at the highest level we find the needs for self-actualization and the development of internal capacities. Self-actualization needs are the most difficult to define, since they refer to very abstract objectives that are not achieved through concrete actions, but through chains of actions that occur over a relatively long period of time.
Consequently, each individual will have different and individualized needs for self-realization. A person who is at this level is independent, self-confident, considers himself a successful person and feels that he has everything he needs to be happy. In addition, he likes to help people and constantly learn new things.
On the contrary, a person who does not have this need covered is one who, despite being successful, does not feel completely satisfied and has the constant feeling that he is lacking. something to achieve full happiness. General characteristics of Maslow's Theory The main characteristic is the statement that only unmet needs influence people's behavior Physiological needs arise with the person while the rest of the needs appear over time.
Basic needs require a relatively short cycle of motivation to be satisfied, while higher needs require a longer cycle. Obviously a person will take longer to feel self-actualized than to fulfill any physiological need such as feeding. Extended Maslow's pyramid In addition to the five needs described above, Maslow detected three other types of needs over time, which led to a modification of Maslow's pyramid.
These needs are the following Aesthetic needs: they do not occur in all people, however the vast majority of them are motivated by the need for external beauty and aesthetically satisfying experiences. Cognitive needs: they are associated with the desire for knowledge that most people have. For example, mystery solving, curiosity, and exploration of various activities are considered cognitive needs .
Maslow noted that this type of need is very important to accommodate the five needs outlined above. Self-transcendence needs: They are related to supporting a cause that goes beyond oneself. These needs include service to other people, the search for an ideal or cause, religious belief, the search for science, and connection with the divine.
Maslow's Pyramid in Marketing According to Maslow, people tend to satisfy their needs in an upward direction, which means that they will not buy a product that provides them with security or social recognition if they have not met their basic needs before. This means that if the company knows the need that its potential customers want to satisfy, it can adapt its product, its message or its marketing to that level of need that it believes it can meet and solve. For example, how is a Rolex different from a five euro watch?
The five euro watch satisfies the "basic" need to look at the time just like Rolex does, however the latter satisfies other higher needs of the Maslow pyramid such as social acceptance. This means that the cheap watch is aimed at a totally different audience than the Rolex brand, which will be aimed at people who already have the first two needs completely covered. Another example of how companies use this theory to their advantage is Coca-Cola.
In principle, Coca-Cola solves a basic need that is to quench thirst, however, its advertising and marketing campaigns focus on showing qualities that allow us to enhance friendship and belonging to a group, that is, qualities that satisfy the third level of the pyramid. In summary, Maslow's pyramid allows us to classify human behavior . This information is essential, since the main objective of marketing is to satisfy the needs of the market.
That is why the application of Maslow's pyramid in marketing is so widespread. Main criticisms of Maslow's theory Although some research supports Abraham Maslow's theory, most of the data collected in many investigations does not appear to be consistent with Maslow's pyramid. For example, in 1986 Wahba and Bridwell concluded that there is little evidence to support Maslow's posited hierarchy despite its popularity.
Many of the concepts and categories described in Maslow's pyramid of needs are too ambiguous to be scientifically examined. For example, the notion of self-actualization is too abstract because it leaves too much room for interpretation, making it impossible to carry out research aimed at studying the concept or drawing clear conclusions. Several studies have questioned the sequence that Maslow proposed in his theory since they have shown that it is not necessary to have basic needs covered to pursue objectives related to higher needs.
For example, an individual may have income or resource problems and will not therefore lack the need for integration into a group, as a need on a higher scale. On the other hand, Maslow's research was based on a very small sample of individuals and was therefore not representative. One of the criticisms of his methodology refers to the fact that he himself chose people who he considered self-actualized after reading about them or talking to them and reaching conclusions about what self-actualization is.
In fact, the people Maslow interviewed for his pyramid of needs could hardly represent the majority of the human population because they were members of Western culture, wealthy, or highly influential. Among the people he studied were, for example, Albert Einstein and Eleanor Roosevelt. In other words, Maslow's pyramid was created by studying exceptional cases.
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