What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

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**Joseph Chance** (1:04)
What is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? Thanks for asking.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world have taken it upon themselves to judge what's essential or not for their citizens. Think of non-essential shops, businesses, products, and leisure activities, for example. Restrictions based on these judgments have evolved constantly during various stages of lockdown or closures.
At an individual level, the Covid era has forced us all to think more deeply about what is truly essential to get by from day to day, things we might have taken for granted before. Small comforts and luxuries have had to be sacrificed in many cases. Back in the 1940s, American psychologist Abraham Maslow came up with a paper entitled A Theory of Human Motivation, in which he suggested a hierarchy for human needs. It's commonly represented as a five level pyramid, with physiological needs at the base being the biological component for survival. Working up from there, you've got safety needs, love and belonging needs and then esteem needs. At the top of the pyramid is self-actualization, which means a person reaching their full potential. How does the theory relate to human behaviour? Maslow argued that human beings only seek to satisfy a certain type of need when the preceding level has already been satisfied. In theory then, no one should get into a romantic relationship without first having found food to eat, or belong to a social group without first making sure they're safe. In reality though, things don't always work in that order.
The theory is just as well known for the criticism it receives as for its usefulness at explaining human behaviour. What do those critics argue? In the 1980s, another model came along to challenge Maslow's hierarchy, that of the FCB grid, the abbreviation standing for foot, cone and belting. The grid distinguishes thought out consumption behaviour from emotional impulse buying. It does so by evaluating a consumer's degree of involvement, their budget, the product's lifespan, its cost and a number of other variables. The authors underlined that, were Maslow's hierarchy reliable, we would hardly ever buy luxury items. Furthermore, impulse buying wouldn't happen until other physiological needs were met. In reality, this just isn't the case. For example, some shoppers will happily skip breakfast or lunch in order to hit the sales, or buy a non-essential product even when they are hungry. In what ways has Covid been an equalizer? Well, it affects the whole world's population, regardless of social status, consumption habits, age or gender. It has also overhauled Maslow's hierarchy, putting safety needs at the base of the pyramid as even more important than physiological needs. This has forced us all to think about our priorities not only in times of crisis or conflict, but also when everything is rosy.
There you have it.
Now you know what Maslow's hierarchy of needs is.

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