Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- Maslow: Holistic
Dynamic Theory
© The McGraw−Hill^287
Companies, 2009Physiological Needs
The most basic needs of any person are physiological needs,including food, water,
oxygen, maintenance of body temperature, and so on. Physiological needs are the
most prepotent of all. Perpetually hungry people are motivated to eat—not to make
friends or gain self-esteem. They do not see beyond food, and as long as this need
remains unsatisfied, their primary motivation is to obtain something to eat.
In affluent societies, most people satisfy their hunger needs as a matter of
course. They usually have enough to eat, so when they say they are hungry, they are
really speaking of appetites, not hunger. A truly hungry person will not be overly
particular about taste, smell, temperature, or texture of the food.
Maslow (1970) said: “It is quite true that man lives by bread alone—when
there is no bread” (p. 38). When people do not have their physiological needs satis-
fied, they live primarily for those needs and strive constantly to satisfy them. Starv-
ing people become preoccupied with food and are willing to do nearly anything to
obtain it (Keys, Brozek, Henschel, Mickelsen, & Taylor, 1950).
Physiological needs differ from other needs in at least two important respects.
First, they are the only needs that can be completely satisfied or even overly satisfied.
People can get enough to eat so that food completely loses its motivational power.
For someone who has just finished a large meal, the thought of more food can even
have a nauseating effect. A second characteristic peculiar to physiological needs is
their recurring nature. After people have eaten, they will eventually become hungry
again; they constantly need to replenish their food and water supply; and one breath
of air must be followed by another. Other level needs, however, do not constantly
recur. For example, people who have at least partially satisfied their love and esteem
needs will remain confident that they can continue to satisfy their love and esteem needs.
Safety Needs
When people have partially satisfied their physiological needs, they become moti-
vated by safety needs,including physical security, stability, dependency, protection,
and freedom from threatening forces such as war, terrorism, illness, fear, anxiety,
danger, chaos, and natural disasters. The needs for law, order, and structure are also
safety needs (Maslow, 1970).
Safety needs differ from physiological needs in that they cannot be overly sa-
tiated; people can never be completely protected from meteorites, fires, floods, or the
dangerous acts of others.
In societies not at war, most healthy adults satisfy their safety needs most of
the time, thus making these needs relatively unimportant. Children, however, are
more often motivated by safety needs because they live with such threats as dark-
ness, animals, strangers, and punishments from parents. Also, some adults also feel
relatively unsafe because they retain irrational fears from childhood that cause them
to act as if they were afraid of parental punishment. They spend far more energy than
do healthy people trying to satisfy safety needs, and when they are not successful in
their attempts, they suffer from what Maslow (1970) called basic anxiety.
Love and Belongingness Needs
After people partially satisfy their physiological and safety needs, they become mo-
tivated 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
Chapter 10 Maslow: Holistic-Dynamic Theory 281