Maslow's hierarchy of needs

I was reading 'The fault in our stars' by John Green. In the book the author mentions a psychological theory, proposed by Maslow, called 'Maslow's hierarchy of needs'. It is an interesting theory.

It basically tries to describe how humans give precedence to fulfilling some needs before trying to achieve other needs.This hierarchy of human needs is portrayed in the form of a pyramid which looks like this, with the fundamental needs forming the base of the pyramid.

According to this, if a person has enough food,water,air,warmth and a good shelter, he would then want security, a steady job and once he has them he will start thinking about being accepted in the society, trusting people, forming friendships and so on.

Maslow called the first four levels (starting from the base) as deficiency needs(d-needs) which need to be met, for a person to achieve the highest 'self actualization' level.

He then classified this 'Self actualization' level into further levels which basically include trying to be the best you can be, achieving greatness and helping others achieve greatness and stuff like that.
The movement through the hierarchy is not unidirectional, and a person may move back and forth depending on their life experiences.

Some agree with the theory and some disagree.

The boring part is over, so stay with me..

Well I don't know what Maslow was really thinking, but let's see what other people think of it..

What other's think of it:

• The girl in the book (The fault in our stars) thinks that it is horse shit. She has cancer. She thinks that according to Maslow she is struck on the second level of the pyramid, unable to feel secure in her health and therefore unable to reach for love, respect and art. But in reality she feels like the urge to create art or contemplate philosophy does not go away when one is sick.
• The critics think that the order of the hierarchy can change depending on the type of society the person lives in, such as individualistic or collectivist. To keep it simple they think that the study is biased because it is based upon a specific group of people and not general humanity, and also that it is more of a personal opinion than a general study.

What I take away from this theory:

• Say a country is affected by famine, the people will probably not whine about not having high speed internet connection. For them the primary goal will be to meet their physiological needs. But they would definitely want to have access to internet someday.
• Like the girl said the desire to contemplate philosophy and make art won't go away but it just takes a second preference, because the mind is preoccupied with thoughts of fulfilling more urgent needs.
• It's not the desire but the motivation that matters.People whose lower needs are not met might not be MOTIVATED enough to chase after the higher needs, even though they DESIRE to achieve them. Maslow even coined the term 'Metamotivation' to describe the motivation of people who actually chase after self-actualization even though their d-needs are not met.
• Each one's definition of success and happiness differs. Everyone is going through their own journey and the way they move through the levels is unique to them. Some might skip one or two levels and some might blend them.
• Maslow himself has said that the hierarchies are interrelated than sharply separated. 
• One specific theory cannot be applied to everyone, but I think this theory is loosely applicable in different scenarios at various stages of our lives.

Rant:

I believe people live on different levels. Hence we connect with some like minded people and with other's we don't.  Well it's a deep concept and I dare not dwell upon it any longer. 

But thank you for sticking around this long. Please comment what you think about this theory and on which level do you think you are. I would like to hear what you have to say.

(Source:Wikipedia,Simplypsychology,Maslow's paper'A theory of human motivation')

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