Maslow, rebooted!
Few months ago, I had written about how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has become fast outdated (Star Trek, Maslow and mimetic desire ). After all, our behaviour is increasingly influenced by our (mimetic) desire when we compare ourselves with people around us, rather than our intrinsic needs (which is the basis of Maslow’s hierarchy).
If you pause for a moment and look at Maslow’s original hierarchy, you will notice two things. First, there is emphasis on self / I / me at each and every stage- I need food or water, I need safety or a sense of belonging, I need to gain self-esteem etc. Second, a comparison with people around us is largely not relevant for these 5 stages. You don’t feel hungry because people around you are hungry. You don’t seek self-actualization because others are seeking it or have already achieved it!
Unfortunately, today’s world believes in ‘wants’ more than ‘needs’. Or sometimes, advertising uses twisted logic to convince us that these ‘wants’ are ‘needs’. An example- successful people consume paan masala in advertisements. I need to raise my self-esteem by becoming successful like them. I too must consume paan masala!
Here is a thought experiment- how would Maslow’s hierarchy look like in a world driven by wants, rather than needs?
?Under the worst case scenario, almost all of the behaviour of an individual will be governed by a comparison with how other people are behaving / what social media is saying. Everything this individual will desire will be governed by not his / her true needs, but by the external world. I feel this hierarchy of wants (not needs) and the outcome under such worst case scenario may look like below:
Under physiological wants, an individual may want water that is organically sourced and fortified with bioactive botanicals, rather than just plain water. Constant comparison will keep this individual unfulfilled most times, resulting in a constant desire to be better than someone else or wanting more all the time, ultimately leading to unhappiness.?
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This is obviously too dystopian. How would the hierarchy of wants look under a more utopian scenario?
After covering the basic physiological and safety stages, the individual could do some introspection about what really matters to him / her (health?), what are the areas that are non-negotiable (job content even if it means getting paid less?), or areas where the individual needs to take charge (self-researched opinions rather than blind faith in social media?) and embark on a journey towards being comfortable and happy with choices one has made.
You know what- this sounds to utopian!
The reality will lie somewhere in between. It’s just that the boundary between needs and wants has become extremely fuzzy in today's world and a little bit of effort could make a big difference in happiness quotient.
Hang on. I need to go. I see a new paan masala advertisement on the TV. It seems they have replaced the aging actor with a younger actor. Ah! So consuming paan masala will now make me not only successful but also young!!
What do you think?
Do you think that along with Maslow, we need to abandon the idea of hierarchy or pyramid too? Why do we need to think of needs or wants in terms of a hierarchy? Is it temporal hierarchy or any other hierarchy that we need to consider?
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6 个月Interesting viewpoints. I read both the articles now. Below are some of my views (Opinions are personal): 1. Mimetic behaviour is short lived, like a trend or a fashion which will come and go. Often Marketers will confuse this behaviour as a high involvement behaviour and invest money for brand building. But in my view it's a low involvement behaviour where all one is doing is copying others. So marketers must keep watch for such behaviours and embed the tactical sales promotion strategy in line with mimetic behaviour to boost the topline : example, take a photo on insta & stand a chance to win something exclusive etc. 2. Your Utopian view looks interesting & actually mimics the Maslow theory! See I said mimetic behaviour is short lived. It lived from 17th February to 11th of May :)