Maslow's Hierarchy of needs

Some of you might have heard the term "Maslow's Hierarchy of needs". Obvious from the name itself, it was proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory Of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review.

Maslow's Hierarchy as it is shown beside this article is a pyramid with 5 levels of human needs starting from physiological needs, safety, love/belonging, esteem and finally to self actualization. Let us try to deal with each step.

First step is the Physiological needs. These are requirements essential for survival such as food, water, clothes, and sleep. Once a person's physiological needs are suited, then he/she moves on to the next level: Safety needs. These are about keeping people safe from harm like shelter, health, financial security, and also emotional security

After those 2 needs are satisfied, the 3rd level of human needs are seen to be interpersonal and involves a feeling of belongingness. According to Maslow humans need to feel a sense of belonging regardless of whether the group is large or small. Next is the Self-esteem. To say it in layman's term it is one's urge to be acknowledged by people. Being respected by others can be one, and achieving fame through actions which can't be easily done by others can be another way of satisfying this self-ego need.

The last stage of this Maslow's Hierarchy of needs is self-actualization. This level of need refers to the realization of one's full potential. In another term, it is one's desire to accomplish everything he/she can and to become the most that one can be. Although this need comes in a different way depending on the person, some of it are being an ideal parent, or creating a perfect picture, music and etc.

In our contemporary society, this Maslow's Hierarchy of needs is being deformed to the shape of an inverted pyramid. People strive to achieve for self-actualization first without fulfilling the fundamental needs below it. How about you? Are you following the right pyramid? or is it being deformed maybe to a square, rectangle, or even to an inverted pyramid?