All We Need

Needs are central to human functioning. The concept of human needs stems from our biological nature, a nature that can be broadly viewed in both mental and physical terms. In order to sustain ourselves physically, we need such things as food, clean water,shelter, sleep, physical movement, and so on.

Are you aware that psychological need satisfaction is crucial to your well-being, and that it should be one of your biggest priorities?

According to Self-determination theory, human beings have three basic psychological needs: a need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Cross-cultural research has shown that need satisfaction is necessary for all people’s healthy development, engagement, motivation, and well-being (Gagné et al., 2014).

Need satisfaction is even related to greater work performance, less perceived stress, and fewer turnover intentions. Also, when the needs are not satisfied (thwarted), there will be negative psychological consequences (Gagné et al., 2014).

Since these findings have been documented across many cultures and contexts, the theory specifies that people have evolved rather learned the needs. The needs are universal.

Self-determination theory defines autonomy as behaving with a sense of volition, endorsement, willingness, and choice; competence as mastering one’s environment; and relatedness as feeling related to others in one way or another (Gagné & Deci, 2014).

The three basic psychological needs are present and need to be satisfied at all levels of human functioning: at the specific-task level (a given job task), at the domain level (work or family), and at the global level (personality) (Deci & Ryan, 2014).

Now that we know a little more about the nature of psychological needs, it should be easier to find ways to satisfy them. Need satisfaction should be one of our primary priorities due to the impact it has on our well-being.

You might have experienced how it is to have your needs thwarted, or satisfied for that matter. For example, some relationships are controlling, while others are autonomy-supportive. Some experiences decrease our feelings of competence, while others build up our confidence. Some situations increase our feelings of loneliness, while others increase our feelings of relatedness.

The herein theories illustrate the importance of our social environment with respect to need satisfaction, well-being and personal development.

CBUPO Theory

William Glasser (1925-2013) did an excellent job of synthesizing the research on adult and youth motivation and reducing it to an easily understood metaphor. Glasser asserted that humans are born with a photo album in our psyche where we store life experiences. We keep those events that provoke feelings of pleasure in a particular section of this photo album, which Glasser labels a “quality world.” Some of the early pictures in our photo albums remind us of the nurturing and unconditional love we received as infants. Later, Glasser asserted, as our lives unfold, we continue to seek opportunities to relive the type of events and experiences that appear in our quality world part of the album. Glasser broke down volumes of research on motivation into a finite set of feelings and needs that, he argued, are coveted by all humans. He said that whenever a particular experience satisfies at least one basic need, it is emotionally fulfilling and worthy of addition to the quality world photo album.

According to Glasser, the basic human needs are survival, freedom, power, fun, and belonging. I use different terms, but conceptually and functionally, the theory of motivation upon which this book is built is consistent with Glasser's theory. After reviewing the literature on human motivation, I found a way to summarize what innately motivates both youth and adults. To be motivated, people need to feel satisfied in the areas of:

• Competence
• Belonging
• Usefulness
• Potency, and Optimism

Given the interactive relationship of the four basic human emotional needs (competence, belonging, usefulness, and potency), teachers must focus on satisfying all the needs simultaneously. The positive effects of spill over (from one emotional need to another) should be expected and appreciated.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human developmental psychology, some of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans. He then decided to create a classification system which reflected the universal needs of society as its base and then proceeding to more acquired emotions. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is used to study how humans intrinsically partake in behavioral motivation. Maslow used the terms "physiological," "safety," "belonging and love," or "social needs" "esteem," and "self-actualization" to describe the pattern through which human motivations generally move. This means that in order for motivation to occur at the next level, each level must be satisfied within the individual themselves. Furthermore, this theory is a key foundation in understanding how drive and motivation are correlated when discussing human behavior. Each of these individual levels contains a certain amount of internal sensation that must be met in order for an individual to complete their hierarchy.The goal of Maslow's Theory is to attain the fifth level or stage: self-actualization.

The hierarchy remains a very popular framework in sociology research, management training and secondary and higher psychology instruction. Maslow's classification hierarchy has been revised over time. The original hierarchy states that a lower level must be completely satisfied and fulfilled before moving onto a higher pursuit. However, today scholars prefer to think of these levels as continuously overlapping each other. This means that the lower levels may take precedent back over the other levels at any point in time.

ERG theory

ERG theory is a theory in psychology proposed by Clayton Alderfer.

Alderfer further developed Maslow's hierarchy of needs by categorizing the hierarchy into his ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness and Growth). The existence group is concerned with providing the basic material existence requirements of humans. They include the items that Maslow considered to be physiological and safety needs. The second group of needs is those of relatedness – the desire people have for maintaining important interpersonal relationships. These social and status desires require interaction with others if they are to be satisfied, and they align with Maslow's social need and the external component of Maslow's esteem classification. Finally, Alderfer isolates growth needs: an intrinsic desire for personal development. These include the intrinsic component from Maslow's esteem category and the characteristics included under self-actualization. Alderfer categorized the lower order needs (Physiological and Safety) into the Existence category. He fit Maslow's interpersonal love and esteem needs into the Relatedness category. The Growth category contained the self-actualization and self-esteem needs. Alderfer also proposed a regression theory to go along with the ERG theory. He said that when needs in a higher category are not met then individuals redouble the efforts invested in a lower category need. For example if self-actualization or self-esteem is not met then individuals will invest more effort in the relatedness category in the hopes of achieving the higher need.

Fundamental human needs theory

The taxonomy of fundamental human needs is a theory developed by Manfred Max-Neef in collaboration with the Chilean sociologist Antonio Elizalde and the Chilean philosopher Martín Hopenhayn, described in the 1991 book Human Scale Development.

In this theory, the fundamental human needs are seen as ontological (stemming from the condition of being human), few, finite, and classifiable (as distinct from the conventional notion of conventional economic "wants" that are infinite and insatiable). They are also constant through all human cultures and across historical time periods – what changes over time and between cultures are not these needs but the strategies by which these needs (and created desires) are satisfied. Human needs can be understood as a taxonomic system, i.e. they are interrelated and interactive. In this system, there is no hierarchy of needs (apart from the basic need for subsistence or survival) as postulated by Maslow; rather, simultaneity, complementarity and trade-offs are features of the process of needs satisfaction.

The theory provides a concept of "Human Scale Development", described as "focused and based on the satisfaction of fundamental human needs, on the generation of growing levels of self-reliance, and on the construction of organic articulations of people with nature and technology, of global processes with local activity, of the personal with the social, of planning with autonomy, and of civil society with the state." It also gives a process by which communities can identify their "wealths" and "poverties" according to how their fundamental human needs are satisfied.

Max-Neef classifies the fundamental human needs as:

• Subsistence
• Protection
• Affection
• Understanding
• Participation
• Leisure
• Creation
• Identity
• Freedom

Needs are also defined according to the existential categories of being, having, doing and interacting, and from these dimensions, a 9×4-cell matrix is developed.

Human givens theory

Human Givens is the name of a theory in psychotherapy formulated in the United Kingdom, first outlined by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell in the late 1990s. and amplified in the 2003 book Human Givens: A new approach to emotional health and clear thinking. The human givens organising ideas proffer a description of the nature of human beings, the 'givens' of human genetic heritage and what humans need in order to be happy and healthy. Human Givens therapy seeks to use a "client's strengths to enable them to get emotional needs met". It is advertised as "drawing from the best of person-centred counselling, motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioural therapy, psychoeducational approaches, interpersonal therapy, imaginal exposure and hypnotherapy". The Human Givens Institute' has been accredited in the UK by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA).

The human givens model proposes that human beings come into the world with a given set of innate needs, together with innate resources to support them to get those needs met. Physical needs for nutritious food, clean water, air and sleep are obvious, and well understood, because when they are not met people die. However, the emotional needs, which the human givens approach seeks to bring to wider attention, are less obvious, and less well understood, but just as important to human health. Decades of social and health psychology research now support this.

The human givens approach defines nine emotional needs:

• Security: A sense of safety and security; safe territory; an environment in which people can live without experiencing excessive fear so that they can develop healthily;
• Autonomy and control: A sense of autonomy and control over what happens around and to us;
• Status: A sense of status - being accepted and valued in the various social groups we belong to;
• Privacy: Time and space enough to reflect on and consolidate our experiences;
• Attention: Receiving attention from others, but also giving it; a form of essential nutrition that fuels the development of each individual, family and culture;
• Connection to the wider community: Interaction with a larger group of people and a sense of being part of the group;
• Intimacy: Emotional connection to other people - friendship, love, intimacy, fun;
• Competence and achievement: A sense of our own competence and achievements, that we have what it takes to meet life's demands;
• Meaning and purpose: Being stretched, aiming for meaningful goals, having a sense of a higher calling or serving others creates meaning and purpose.

These needs map more or less well to tendencies and motivations described by other psychological evidence, especially that compiled by Deci and Ryan at the University of Rochester. The exact categorization of these needs, however, is not considered important. Needs can be interlinked, and have fuzzy boundaries, as Maslow noted.

Need theory

The Need theory, also known as Three Needs Theory, proposed by psychologist David McClelland, is a motivational model that attempts to explain how the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation affect the actions of people from a managerial context. This model was developed in the 1960s; two decades after Maslow's hierarchy of needs was first proposed in the early 1940s. McClelland stated that we all have these three types of motivation regardless of age, sex, race, or culture. The type of motivation by which each individual is driven derives from their life experiences and the opinions of their culture. This need theory is often taught in classes concerning management or organizational behaviour.

• Need for achievement
• Need for affiliation
• Need for power
• Effect on management

Positive disintegration theory

The Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD) by Kazimierz D?browski is a theory of personality development. Unlike mainstream psychology, D?browski's theoretical framework views psychological tension and anxiety as necessary for growth. These "disintegrative" processes are therefore seen as "positive", whereas people who fail to go through positive disintegration may remain for their entire lives in a state of "primary integration", lacking true individuality. Advancing into disintegration and into the higher levels of development is predicated on having developmental potential, including overexcitabilities, above-average reactions to stimuli.

Unlike some other theories of development such as Erikson's stages of psycho-social development, it is not assumed that even a majority of people progress through all levels. TPD is not a theory of stages, and levels do not correlate with age.

D?browski's theory of personality development emphasized several major features including:

• Personality is not a given universal trait, it must be created or shaped by the individual to reflect his or her own unique character (personality shaping)
• Personality develops as a result of the action of developmental potential (DP) (overexcitability and the autonomous factor), not everyone displays sufficient DP to create a unique personality
• Developmental potential is represented in the population by a normal (bell) curve. D?browski used a multilevel approach to describe the continuum of developmental levels seen in the population
• Developmental potential creates crises characterized by strong anxieties and depressions, psychoneurosis that precipitate disintegration
• For personality to develop, initial integrations based on instinct and socialization must disintegrate, a process D?browski called positive disintegration
• The development of a hierarchy of individual values and emotional reactions is a critical component in developing one's personality and one's autonomy, thus, in contrast to most psychological theories, emotions play a major role in this approach
• Emotional reactions guide the individual in creating his or her individual personality ideal, an autonomous standard that acts as the goal of individual development
• The individual must examine his or her essence and subsequently make existential choices that emphasize those aspects of essence that are higher and "more myself" and inhibit those aspects that are lower or "less myself" based upon his or her own personality ideal
• Critical components of individual development include auto-education and auto-psychotherapy.

The levels:

The first and fifth levels are characterized by psychological integration, harmony, and little inner conflict. Levels two, three and four describe various degrees and types of dis-integration and literal disease.

D?browski was very clear that the levels he presents "represent a heuristic device". In the process of development the structures of two or even three contiguous levels may exist side by side, although it must be understood that they exist in conflict. The conflict is resolved when one of the structures is eliminated, or at least comes under complete control of another structure.

Self-determination theory

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a macro theory of human motivation and personality that concerns people's inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. It is concerned with the motivation behind choices people make without external influence and interference. SDT focuses on the degree to which an individual's behavior is self-motivated and self-determined.

SDT is centered on the belief that human nature shows persistent positive features, that it repeatedly shows effort, agency and commitment in their lives that the theory calls "inherent growth tendencies". People also have innate psychological needs that are the basis for self-motivation and personality integration.

SDT identifies three innate needs that, if satisfied, allow optimal function and growth:

• Competence
• Relatedness
• Autonomy

These needs are seen as universal necessities that are innate, not learned (instinctive), and seen in humanity across time, gender and culture.

Deci and Ryan claim that there are three essential elements of the theory:

• Humans are inherently proactive with their potential and mastering their inner forces (such as drives and emotions)
• Humans have an inherent tendency toward growth development and integrated functioning
• Optimal development and actions are inherent in humans but they don't happen automatically

To actualize their inherent potential they need nurturing from the social environment.

Ryff scales

Professor Carol Ryff, created a model of psychological well-being composed of six “scales” or factors, offers another popular theory very similar to the SDT needs. When used to evaluate how effectively these factors are present or absent in a person’s life, they provide the degree to which well-being exists. They are:

1. Self-acceptance
2. Relations with others
3. Autonomy in thought and actions
4. Environmental mastery
5. Purpose and meaning in life
6. Personal growth and development

Obviously the more that anyone can attest to the presence of a positive and high level of each essential trait in ones life, the better.

Mental health

That said, mental health is a level of psychological well-being or an absence of mental illness, the state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment". From the perspectives of positive psychology or of holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, inter-generational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others." The WHO further states that the well-being of an individual is encompassed in the realization of their abilities, coping with normal stresses of life, productive work and contribution to their community. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines "mental health".

Could human happiness and motivation really be as simple as the three needs in SDT or the six factors in The Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being? And is it really possible to know what we humans need to be happy?

Food for thought!