Why Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs Matters 

How does your life measure up on Maslow's Hierarchy? Let us know in the comments below and to join your fellow School of Life audience members, be sure to download our new free app: bit.ly/2VysjqM

Luxury lifestyle brands and social media companies hit esteem and self-actualization needs pretty well, however, they give only but shadows of those needs - a false sense of self-esteem and self-actualization.

5:00 That's EXACTLY what you guys are doing- The School of Life has learned to make more of the profit from addressing not only basic needs but also-and as importantly- our higher spiritual and psychological ones as well.

This is the deepest video I've seen on Maslow's heirarchy of needs 😢

An absolute masterpiece. Thank you.

Fast and informative !!!!!

I personally think I'd rather stay somewhat struggling in the lower half of the pyramid. There is peace of mind that comes from having to struggle to survive. I think most of the modern industrialized nations are experiencing so much depression and mental health issues because as our basic needs become easier and easier to meet and we are no longer focused on acquiring things like food and shelter we are left to focus on things which are largely out of our control. Superficial things like the way we look, what skills we do or do not possess naturally, etc. I honestly believe some of the happiest people in the world are those who work hard to survive. They simply don't have time to dwell on things.

The climb to self actualization is strewn with my challenges and distraction

anyone here watching this because of school?

*This stuff really is the most important thing ever.* Okay, maybe not the most important thing, but quite important nevertheless. I wish more people would know about it.

I feel like esteem comes after self actualization

I first learned about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs when I went to grad school to study business and finance. It changed my life because it changed the way I SAW my life. My parents are survivors. They felt as long as I had the basics (food, clothing, shelter, health insurance) everything is fine. When it was time for me to go out into the "real world" they said, find a job that provides a retirement plan, health insurance and enough money to buy a house and a car. I wanted to be a filmmaker. Nope - they said filmmaking is for rich, white men - not for a poor, black woman. I asked, once you have the basics covered, what is the point? What is the reason to keep living, using up the Earth's natural resources (like water), and not committing suicide? Seriously. There is a difference between surviving and living a fulfilling life. Before grad school, I knew I wanted to live, not just survive. I was once angry with my parents, but I forgave them because I realized only a self-actualized person can raise and support a self-actualized child. That's why it took me until my late 20s going to grad school to learn about this pyramid. Money makes the world go around so you need it to cover the basics (rent, food, etc). I always understood that. But everyone's ultimate goal should be financial freedom and self-actualization - no matter how long it takes to get there.

*It's hard to care about virtue and humility when a person is hungry in every aspect of life.*

"Man does not live by bread alone."

Anyone else in their 40s and still in the bottom 2? Thanks trauma.

You guys should start a podcast.

Sad thing is: Most people try to educate children by denying them the fulfillment of their needs. This results in humans who are very uncertain about the love they deserve and the amount of love they really own. I really hope we somehow learn to bypass this strategy of conditioning and enable our children to live to their full potential.

"The School of Life" is Maslow's dream come true ;-)

During Maslow's time, his country was still a developing one and the people could not afford to move up their needs. " To be able to worry about meaning of life, is truly a luxury"

One problem with the hierarchy, researchers found, is that people often seek these needs in a different order that Maslow proposes (Maslow would say higher needs do not appear until lower needs are met). Maslow also wrote a book called,"Towards a Psychology of Being," which serves as a sequel to the hierarchy of needs: It defines what self-actualization actually is. One thing Maslow says in the book, is that many psychological disorders appear when the hierarchy isn't met, and that the disorder disappears once certain needs are met (He says a large body of research shows this). One more interesting thing Maslow says, which was probably inspired by Taoism. He says seeing people as need-fulfillers can make us hostile to others when we see they are not fulfilling our needs. Behavior people have unrelated to our needs might anger or annoy us. We also only focus-like tunnel vision-on what people do to satisfy our needs, and not see the other person holistically. In contrast, Self-Actualized people see other people as they are, holistically, and do not feel they "need" the other person, yet can still love/admire/respect them for their whole person. Maslow adds more to the difference between need-deficient love and Self-Actualized love. Edit: Self-Actualized people tend to feel both need-deficient love and Self-Actualized love, (Maslow says both kinds of love are needed for a good social relationship).

FULL TRANSCRIPT: One of the most legendary ideas in the history of psychology Is located in an unassuming triangle Divided into 5 sections referred to universally simply as ‘Maslow's pyramid of needs’. This profoundly influential pyramid first saw the world in an academic Journal in the United States in 1943 where it was crudely drawn in black and white and surrounded by dense and jargon-rich text. It has since become a mainstay of psychological analyses, business presentations and TED talks - and grown ever more colourful and emphatic in the process. The pyramid was the work of 35-year-old Jewish psychologist Of Russian origins called Abraham Maslow, who had been looking, since the start of his professional career for nothing less than the meaning of life. No longer part of the Close-knit orthodox family of his youth, Maslow wanted to find out what could make life purposeful for people (himself included) in modern-day America a country where the pursuit of money And fame seemed to have eclipsed anymore interior or authentic aspirations. He saw Psychology as the discipline that would enable him to answer the yearnings and questions that people had once taken to religion. He suddenly saw that human beings could be said to have essentially five different kinds of need: on the one hand, the psychological or what one could term, without any mysticism being meant by the word, the spiritual and on the other, the material. For Maslow, we all start with a set of utterly non-negotiable and basic physiological needs, for food, water, warmth and rest. In addition, we have urgent safety needs for bodily security and protection from attack. But then we start to enter the spiritual domain. We need belongingness and love. We need friends and lovers; we need esteem and respect. And Lastly, and most grandly, we are driven by what Maslow called - in a now legendary term - an urge for self-actualization: a vast touchingly nebulous, and yet hugely apt concept involving what Maslow described as ‘living according to one's full potential’ and ‘becoming who we really are’. Part of the reason why the description of these needs, laid out in pyramid form has, proved so persuasive is their capacity to capture, with elemental simplicity, a profound structural truth about human existence. Maslow was putting his finger, with unusual deftness and precision, on a set of answers to very large questions that tend to confuse and perplex us viciously, particularly when we are young, namely: What are we really after? What do we long for? And how do we arrange our priorities and give and give due regard for the different and competing claims we have on our attention? Maslow was reminding us with artistic concision of the shape of an ideal well-lived life, proposing at once that we cannot live by our spiritual callings alone, but also that it cannot be right to remain focused only on the material either. We need, to be whole, both the material and the spiritual realms to be attended to, the base lending support while the summit offers upward direction and definition. Maslow was rebutting calls from two kinds of zealots: firstly, over-ardent spiritual types who might urge us to forget entirely about money, housing, a good insurance policy and enough to pay for lunch. But he was also fighting against extreme hard-nosed pragmatists who might imply that life was simply a bread process of putting food on the table and going to the office. Both camps had - for Maslow - misunderstood the complexity of the human animal. Unlike other creatures, we truly are multifaceted, called at once to unfurl our soul according to its inner destiny - and to make sure we'll be able to pay the bills at the end of the month. Operating at the heyday of American capitalism, Maslow was interestingly ambivalent about business. He was awed by the material resources of large corporations around him but at the same time he lamented that almost all their economic activity was - unfairly and bizarrely - focused on honouring customers’ needs at the bottom of his pyramid. America’s largest companies were helping people to have a roof over their heads, feeding them, moving them around and ensuring they could talk to each other long-distance. But they seemed utterly uninterested in trying to fulfil the essential spiritual appetites defined on the higher slopes of his pyramid. Towards the end of his long life, Maslow expressed a hope that businesses could in time learn to make more of their profits from addressing not only our basic needs but also - and as importantly - our higher spiritual and psychological ones as well. That would be truly enlightened capitalism. In the personal sphere, Maslow's pyramid remains a hugely useful object to turn to whenever we're trying to assess the direction of our lives. Often, as we reflect upon it, we start to notice that we really haven't arranged and balanced our needs as wisely and elegantly as we might. Some lives have gotten implausible wide base: all the energy seems directed towards material accumulation. At the same time, there are lives with an opposite problem, where we have not paid due heed to our need to look after our fragile and vulnerable bodies. Maslow's beautifully simple visual cue is, above anything else, a portrait of a life lived in harmony with the complexities of our nature. We should, at our less frantic moments, use it to reflect with newfound focus on what it is we might do next.

*What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself* *I'm aware that my passion is making animated videos*

Sometimes I wish I were a dolphin, would have seen the ocean and died a peaceful death without thinking about 'human stuff'

*This explained Maslow 's hierarchy of needs better than my college professors when I was in college 😂*

Maslow's Hierarchy is good for figuring out what to do next. You may wish for self-actualization, as that is the ideal, but you can't get there until your other needs are met. If you feel stuck it helps to know where exactly on the pyramid you're stuck.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs explains the best day of my life. Walking down a quiet street one day, I had a most profound 'stop and smell the roses' experience. Suddenly the natural world appeared so much more beautiful then ever before, and an overwhelming appreciation for the miracle of life followed. I was taught Maslow's Hierarchy in high school and related my experience to having reached self-actualisation. Wishing that everyone has the opportunity to experience this in their lifetime, peace and love to all :)

I always thought of the chart as a road rather than a triangle. When basic survival is right in front of you, self actualization always seems far away. Also if you are distracted into looking down at the ground in front of you, you are no longer looking down the road to where you should be headed

well sht, I just got an ad before this video about procrastination and how it's linked to low self-esteem RU-vid *knows* me

My boyfriend broke up with me. He citied Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as his reason.

You've missed the entire point of the pyramid. The point is that foundational needs must be met before spiritual needs can be addressed. A starving man being chased by a tiger don't care about self-actualization.

Fact: You cannot go into self-actualization/successful self without fulfilling first the physiological/basic needs.

Meeting our needs can help with anxiety. I would get anxiety when my need for safety wasn't met. And when I took small breaks and deep breaths it got better. Also, self respect is honoring our needs.

I first learned about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs when I read about how to write character motivations. I learned that if one of our human needs goes missing, then we would get driven to do anything to get that human need back. This theory would not only help in helping writers to create characters, but also make them relatable and likable.

You are the only thing that exist. So you are imagining me and i'm imagining you but you're imagining me imagining you and i'm imagining you imagining me. Two mirrors facing each other into infinity. So you are imagining that I have a conscious experience separate from your own and by imagining it you are hallucinating it into existence. You're creating it. You are constructing all of reality but you're not conscious of how your doing it and the ego mind is not in control of how it's being done. Imagine that you had such a powerful imagination that you could imagine an apple and you imagined it so strongly that it would physically materialize right in front of you.🍎. That's literally what is happening. The floor your sitting on is literally that.

Guys remember this is an idea to get you thinking and do not blindly accept ideas of how your life is supposed to be. This is a fantastic realization by Maslow and he makes great points. I have been studying self development for 6 years, and this is congruent.

The video is incredibly beautiful and well done. Congrats for that! I live in Brazil and I am a researcher in the field of Organizational Psychology, with a special interest in new management systems. Maslow's theory has been the based of my Master Degree. In general, the concepts presented in the video are ok. However, there is an essential misreading of Maslow's theory, that has been replicated in the video. Abraham Maslow has NEVER represented his "Theory of Hierarchy of Needs" into a triangle or pyramid. The information that pyramid has been seen in the 1943 paper is not accurate. In fact, this is the date of Maslow's article "A Theory of Human Motivation" publication. The pyramid only has been "created" or "released" in papers from other authors in the early 60's. The Pyramid of Maslow has not been created by Maslow - that is a shocker. Representing a complex and rich theory such as Maslow's Hierachy of Needs into a pyramid has been a big disservice to the management field. The translation of the theory (and the way it has been (mis)replicated over and over) supposes that a person would need to fulfill their basic needs BEFORE they could connect and even recognize more complex and individualized needs. (What in the video is called spiritual needs, is referred to as "being needs" for Maslow.). If that's to be the truth, a beggar would not need love - I know this statement is also oversimplified, but it is just to bring critical analysis... Another example of this misinterpretation is McGregor's affirmation that “The man whose lower-level needs are satisfied is not motivated to satisfy those needs. For practical purposes, they exist no longer.” Maslow has never stated that. Actually he was quite careful on pointing out that the hierarchy of need is relative and not absolute. He felt that people could have multiple needs unfulfilled at the same time and be motivated by many of them. Also, it is very important to highlight that this theory, if considered as a pyramid or staircase (another common misrepresentation) would ignore different cultural priorities in each society, that highly influence higher needs, due to social pressure. A deeper research on Maslow's work could result in a richer understanding of his view on human motivation, much broader and more meaningful than this fake pyramid. ;^)

Maslow’s theory is my most favourite in deed. I wish everyone must chew it and would understand it. I can speak hours to discuss it correlating to every socio-economic tier.

*So i had a POM exam today and i wish video was uploaded yesterday* 😂 could've been helpful!!

I don’t think our higher needs can be brought and paid for. Some things are outside capitalism.

This was discussed while I was in school for Marketing/International Business.

the dislikes are from schools

Layer 6: Wifi Layer 7: Battery

It's included in my psychiatry class,I think it's almost taught everywhere

This reminds me so much of my high school psychology class with my favorite teacher ever Mr. Kochel in the year 2009 learning about Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs.. ah the good ol days though they’re not too far in the past. I’m here watching his video on my phone in my truck at work. Fulfilling several of these needs concurrently.

A lot of people don’t actually reach the top two of the hierarchy and very few reach the top itself.

Maslow was ahead of his time, this is one of the truest concepts in life.

I think that ‘self actualisation’ is inherent in the lower four stages of the pyramid - underpinning the energy in the upward momentum.

WHAT ABOUT THE SELF-TRANSCENDENT!? Cmon Maslow has so many more ideas, it does not stop at self-actualization!

Anyone else watching this for the 2nd... 3rd.. or 4th time :)

The decision dice: from the makers of the jump to conclusions mat.

Sad that for me and many others, the pyramid stopps 2/5 in

Great video as always Alain! Amazing how easy it is for people to misinterpret this model. It's not as simple as it appears. Most will get no where near self actualization, cos it takes a lot of self awareness and really knowing yourself, admitting your faults. Most people are deeply insecure and struggling with self esteem until they are middle age or older when they begin to care less. But that's okay

Have to know this for by BTEC Level 3 Business Studies Thanks for this!

Maslow missed out a glaringly obvious need… the need to NOT kill ones self… there must be a need to stay alive which is even more basic than hunger, there is a need that exists that stops suicidal people from killing themselves, like fear curiosity belief, a need that motivates some to eat and drink etc

Why should I care about a triangle when I am in debt and I'm not even sure if my physiological needs are met tomorrow?

Maslow's Hierarchy is perfectly fine - for high school children. Beyond that, one hopefully begins to recognize more and more that it fails adequately to cater to or to address the actual inter-dimensionality and complexity of human needs and evolutionary progress, individually and otherwise.

This is my theory: Maslow hierarchy explains why the higher suicidal rates are in the richest countries. People in poor countries doesn't have time to think in self-actualization or existential crisis, they are still at the bottom trying to survive searching for the basic incomes.

I get my physiological needs. No wonder I am feeling empty. I am spiritually starved. Welcome to the results of childhood emotional neglect.

I missed these practical content videos from TSOL. Pretty useful and relevant. Thank you again! Love you TSOL ❤️

I'm stuck on the second stage of the hierarchy and all the advice I'm given is "love yourself first" but I can't truly love myself if I can't get to the fourth stage.

I listen to this video almost every month. Every time I listen to it ...I understand something new that I can apply ...such a masterpiece!

This should’ve been one of the first videos ever made on the channel tbh but hey better late than never

i studied this for 1st year of my graduation,3rd year of graduation, master level plus now every time when I am answering anycompetitive exams.

I absolutely do not want any company looking after my spiritual needs.

No family nor sense of belonging. Certainly no seif - actualisation. Bleak

And they say "He who is without sin, let him throweth the first stone." And I shall be there to smoketh it. - Tyrone.

I studied this in college and I believe everyone on the planet is tied to this pyramid.

This channel is so calming!

Only a living entity can have goals or can originate them. And it is only a living organism that has the capacity for self-generated, goal-directed action. On the physical level, the functions of all living organisms, from the simplest to the most complex - from the nutritive function in the single cell of an amoeba to the blood circulation in the body of a man - are actions generated by the organism itself and directed to a single goal: the maintenance of the organism’s life. When applied to physical phenomena, such as the automatic functions of an organism, the term “goal-directed” is not to be taken to mean “purposive” (a concept applicable only to the actions of a consciousness) and is not to imply the existence of any teleological principle operating in insentient nature. I use the term “goal-directed,” in this context, to designate the fact that the automatic functions of living organisms are actions whose nature is such that they result in the preservation of an organism’s life. - Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness, p.16

Taking a master training specialist qualification and stumbled on this post. CAREFUL! with this author's summation of the differences between the sections of Maslow's pyramid. Material vs. Spiritual is a vital conflict and transition in ones life. The author adeptly presents the oppositional efforts of the the first two sections of Maslow's pyramid of material survival as a transgressions towards the upper three sections of the Spiritual. The ERROR of presentation then comes when the author then builds their argument upon the upper sections by criticizing the myopic efforts of the material, then re-iterating the negative summation of material pursuits, without applying the same measures to the upper part of the Maslow's Pyramid. To simplify, essentially by focusing only on the material issues i.e. "urged to focus on money and housing..." material pursuits, will result in neglect of upper Spiritual. However, when addressing the upper parts of the Spiritual the author begins their argument that material pursuits neglect the spiritual, then proceeds to contrast the next part to, where the audience expects a contrasting example of negative efforts of sole Spiritual, instead encounters a secondary, but identical argument that material is negative and spiritual is good. Only the negative results are derived by material pursuits, then re-enforced on the second part by over exaggerating the negativity of material pursuits. Sooo, the author's thesis essentially states that the base of the Maslow's Pyramid of material needs is negative, and only the upper spiritual is positive, completely neglecting Maslow's premise that the upper three section of Spiritual needs is supported on the base of non-neglectable base of two sections of material needs. Please reader take the time to establish if the video has a logical premise, or know you're proclivity to "go down the rabbit hole." Who's the bigger fool? The fool, or those who follow the fool?

How power, sex and hunger motivates our thoughts and actions is not hidden from any thoughtful person.

Have you ever thought about this hierarchy not applying to the whole world but only those who live a life in Western hemisphere and whose basic needs happen to be met? Tell that to those who starve.

Businesses fulfilling our spiritual needs is what you call "enlightened capitalism"? Sorry, but I don't want a corporation tending to any of my spiritual needs.

this hierarchy was actually first envisioned by Epicurus

This was surprisingly good. Thank you for producing it and for sharing it with the world. Have a blessed day. Peace and love.🙂♥️

礼义廉耻 国之四维 仓廪实之礼节 衣食足知荣辱 this concept was already understood by Chinese scholars some 2500 years ago.

The pyramid has been updated. You may want to update the content of your video with the new structure

This guy sounds like the narrator of a documentary.

damn, you're stalking me again, School of Life..

It's such a shame that many cannot even get their physiological needs met let alone the other needs. Apparently a good life consists of wearing a blinder in order to disregard most peripheral vision, thus blocking out the suffering and hatred which permeates the bad energy that infuses our psyches.

It's important to acknowledge that it's important but flawed.

0:43 that roygbiv missed opportunity made my ocd act up

I literally just came across the word "zeal" and "zealous" in school today in a conversation and then you use it in this video :O

I SKIPPED ALL THE STAGES AND LANDED SELF--ACTUALLIZATION

This video has confirmed a reoccurring thought I've had about this hierarchy of needs. I'm taking action now

I literally always explain this pyramid to everyone I talk to because it is truly life changing and overlooked. It is so true the only people that can even get to the higher stages are people that have money. its not about having a lot of money itself but just enough to satisfy the basic physiological and safety needs so people can progress higher up into the pyramid.

Perhaps the best 'in a nutshell' expression of Maslowe's heirarchy that I've everr seen. Thank you.

Thank you so much for this, Allain. TSOL always bridges the gap between complex, highly abstract theories and everyday problems in a way that seems pure magic. The answers have always been there, we just couldn’t see it.

I think this is a great explanation as to why rich countries have higher rates of suicide.

Maslow's pyramid has since been criticized. Although there's a consensus on the fact that those needs are indeed real, the hierarchy in which they're represented has not been unanimously approved. Someone with low self-esteem might decide to stop eating or even kill himself.

These talks are Bullshit and for people who have no value for money and good health.....most imp human need is money ....when u have the all problems solve automatically. Adv sanjay punjabi

I disagree with Maslow’s inclusion of love and belonging, especially when it serves as a barrier to esteem and self-actualization. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not devaluing love, I merely think its inclusion is dogmatic in nature. Not everyone has the luxury of finding friends or lovers, or having their intimacy needs met. Some people don’t have a place to belong. However, that doesn’t mean they’re unable to have confidence in their own abilities and make their way in life in spite of never being loved. Not everyone gets food, but people die without being fed. Nobody dies from being unloved unless they choose to. Love does make your life better, but it’s more of a luxury than a need, like an extra strip of bacon on a burger (if you’re into that). I also disagree with it being a barrier to self-actualization because love and belonging is extrinsic. People will only love you if they see you as worthy of their love. Why should people with no stakes in your path to self-actualization be an obstacle in your pursuit of it?

Belongingness is a weakness that leaves you vulnerable taking away your security and leaving you open to sham religions and weird hobby clubs.

It should also called the path to self-owarness.

Maslow didn't create the pyramid, his ideas took form into a pyramid in a form of pop psychology. qz.com/work/1588491/maslow-didnt-make-the-pyramid-that-changed-management-history/.

أشكركم على وضع الترجمة العربية أتمنى متابعة نجاحكم هذا في باقي مقاطعكم الرائعة الأخرى

This video is partly bollocks. To start with one: Maslow never drew a pyramid. Secondly, Maslow came in the end to the realisation that self-transcendence, not self-actualisation is the ultimate goal. Thirdly, you can call the theory hardly a static hierarchy, more like a chain of actualisations; people are working continually on all stages.

There's a superior model (and Maslow confirmed it) called Spiral Dynamics

Recognizing it came from Blackfoot People is important. Do your research

I was learning about this in business management class a few months back and the context was therefore very practical and something to achieve in a physical sense. I think it applies more to a physical sense because all stages contain a set of practical experiences to have in order to finally achieve self actualisation. For example, stage 1 food, water shelter etc. Stage 2 (forgot), stage 3 having good social ties and friends, stage 4 (forgot), stage 5 self-actualization. I forgot the stages, and I have an exam in a couple weeks, I should get revising!