Abraham Maslow's Deficiency Needs

Abraham Maslow outlined five key human needs that must be satisfied. Today, we will look at the four needs he called "Deficiency Needs".

Maslow called these Deficiency Needs because we must satisfy them in order to survive. Unless these are not fulfilled, we cannot act unselfishly.

The first of these needs are Physiological needs. These are the most basic needs for air, food, water, warmth and sleep. Unless they are fulfilled, we cannot think of anything else.

Once we have fulfilled our Physiological needs, we must fulfill our Safety Needs. We must feel safe and secure in a chaotic world. Friends, family and religion help us to feel secure.

It is only when we feel safe that we expect to fulfill our Love needs. As human beings, we need to feel loved and to be valued. This is why so many people find life difficult when they are alone.

The final Deficiency Need that Maslow highlighted is our Esteem Need. We need to feel that we are good at what we do and we need others to recognise our skills and talents. We need to be recognised for what we have done well.

Maslow concluded that these four needs must be fulfilled, in order for us just to survive and live a normal and life.

Abraham Maslow's four Deficiency needs are 1) Physiological Needs (to have air, water, food, warmth, sleep etc). 2) Safety Needs (we must feel safe and secure). 3) Love Needs (We must feel loved and valued and feel that we belong). 4) Esteem Needs (we must feel that we are good at what we do and are recognised by others as being good at what we do). These four needs are the basic requirements in order to live a normal life.