The meaning of the word “need” can be guessed intuitively. It clearly comes from the verbs "to demand", "to be required." This word means some thing, phenomenon or quality of the world that a person needs in a given situation. More information about this concept, its diverse manifestations and meaning can be found in the proposed article.
Concept disclosure
Need is the subjective need of an individual (or social group) to receive one or another object of the surrounding reality, which is an indispensable condition for maintaining normal and comfortable life.
In the human vocabulary there are similar concepts in meaning - “need” and “request”. The first is usually used in a situation where a person lacks something, the second relates to the field of marketing and is associated with the purchasing power of a person or group of people. Unlike need and request, need is the need to receive both material and spiritual benefits. Thus, it is a broader concept. It can include both needs and requests.
What are the needs
There is a wide variety of forms of this phenomenon. For example, material needs are distinguished - those that are associated with the receipt of certain resources (money, goods, services) needed by an individual in order to maintain good health and mood.
Another large group is spiritual needs. This includes everything related to emotions, self-knowledge, development, self-realization, enlightenment, safety, etc. In other words, it is a person’s need to receive what was created by the consciousness of other people.
The third large group consists of social needs - that is, those that are associated with communication. This may be the need for friendship and love, attention, approval and acceptance by other people, finding like-minded people, the opportunity to speak out, etc.
Detailed classification of needs available in sociology, psychology and economics. Now we will consider one of the most popular.
Pyramid of needs
The hierarchy of needs that the American psychologist Abraham Maslow created is widely known. This classification is interesting in that it is a seven-step pyramid. It clearly presents the basic needs of the individual and what role they play. Let us describe all these seven steps in succession, from the bottom to the top.
7. At the base of the Maslow pyramid are physiological needs: thirst, hunger, the need for warmth and shelter, sex drive, etc.
6. Slightly higher is the need for security: security, self-confidence, courage, etc.
5. The need to be loved, to love, to feel one’s belonging to people and places.
4. The need for approval, respect, recognition, success. This and the previous step include already social needs.
3. At a higher level of the pyramid, there is a need for knowledge of the world around us, as well as the acquisition of skills.
2. Almost at the top are aesthetic needs: comfort, harmony, beauty, cleanliness, order, etc.
1. And finally, the top of the pyramid is the need for self-actualization, which includes knowing yourself, developing your abilities, finding your own life path and achieving personal goals.
Good or bad
To satisfy a need is to perform a certain action, to receive something in one form or another. But can needs be bad? Not on their own.However, in some cases, people choose unhealthy ways to satisfy them. For example, smoking with friends (colleagues, fellow students) as a ritual of unification helps to satisfy the need for friendship, respect, etc., but it harms physical health. How to avoid this? You just need to find substitute options that will satisfy the need, but not be bad habits and self-destructive actions.
There is also an opinion that material needs are something bad, and their satisfaction hinders the spiritual development of a person. But in reality, a variety of physical benefits (consumer goods, teaching aids, transportation, communications) allow you to get food, comfort, training, relaxation, communication and other components of a harmonious life. At first, a person satisfies simpler and more urgent needs, and then moves on to complex, connected with creativity, spiritual growth and self-improvement.
What to do with the need
Life without satisfying spiritual and social needs is difficult, but possible. Another thing is physical needs or, in other words, needs. You can’t do without them, because they are responsible for maintaining the life of the body. Higher needs are a little easier to ignore than basic ones. But if one completely ignores the person’s desire to be loved, respected, successful, and developed, this will lead to an imbalance in the psychological state.
The satisfaction of human needs begins with the lower stage of the pyramid (physiological needs) and then gradually moves up. In other words, it is impossible to satisfy the higher (social or spiritual) needs of the individual until the simplest, basic ones are satisfied.
Conclusion
Need is what makes both an individual and society as a whole move and develop. The need for something pushes to seek or invent ways to get what you want. It can definitely be said that without needs human development and the progress of society would not have been possible.
