264 Part III Humanistic/Existential Theories
Love and Belongingness Needs
After people partially satisfy their physiological and safety needs, they become
motivated by love and belongingness needs, such as the desire for friendship; the
wish for a mate and children; the need to belong to a family, a club, a neighborhood,
or a nation. Love and belongingness also include some aspects of sex and human
contact as well as the need to both give and receive love (Maslow, 1970).
People who have had their love and belongingness needs adequately satisfied
from early years do not panic when denied love. These people have confidence
that they are accepted by those who are important to them, so when other people
reject them, they do not feel devastated.
A second group of people consists of those who have never experienced love
and belongingness, and, therefore, are incapable of giving love. They have seldom
or never been hugged or cuddled nor experienced any form of verbal love. Maslow
believed that these people will eventually learn to devalue love and to take its
absence for granted.
A third category includes those people who have received love and belong-
ingness only in small doses. Because they receive only a taste of love and belong-
ingness, they will be strongly motivated to seek it. In other words, people who
have received only a little amount of love have stronger needs for affection and
acceptance than do people who have received either a healthy amount of love or
no love at all (Maslow, 1970).
Children need love in order to grow psychologically, and their attempts to satisfy
this need are usually straightforward and direct. Adults, too, need love, but theirA solid sense of being loved is important in fostering confidence and psychological growth.
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