Psychosocial motives and Maslow

Humans are moved by more than food and water. Psychosocial motives are learnt through our interactions with others:

• Need for affiliation: wanting to be with others and feel close to them, to form friendships and belong to groups. It is aroused especially when we feel threatened or helpless, and also when we are happy and want to share it. On the day of a big storm, neighbours who rarely speak may gather together.
• Need for power: wanting to influence and have an impact on others' feelings and behaviour.
• Need for achievement (n-Ach): wanting to meet standards of excellence, to do things well. It is learnt early, mainly from parents and teachers.
• Curiosity and exploration: seeking new experiences and information for their own sake, with no other goal, such as exploring an unfamiliar town just to see what is there.

David McClelland described four ways people express the need for power:

• Doing things to feel powerful from outside, such as owning prestigious possessions or admiring famous, powerful people.
• Feeling power from within, by controlling one's own behaviour and impulses.
• Doing things as an individual to influence others, such as winning an argument or a competition.
• Influencing others as a member of an organisation, such as a team captain or a club leader.

People high in n-Ach prefer tasks of moderate difficulty: not so easy that success means nothing, and not so hard that failure is almost certain. They like to know how well they are doing, and they persist. Someone learning to play chess with high n-Ach picks opponents slightly better than themselves, not beginners or champions.

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs arranges needs as a pyramid. The lower needs must be reasonably satisfied before higher ones become important:

• Physiological needs (bottom): food, water, sleep, the needs for survival.
• Safety needs: physical and emotional security, a home, protection from danger.
• Belongingness and love needs: friends, family, being accepted.
• Esteem needs: respect from others and from oneself; a sense of achievement and identity.
• Self-actualisation (top): becoming everything one is capable of being, fulfilling one's true potential.

A person who does not know where the next meal will come from rarely worries about status or self-expression. According to Maslow, very few people reach self-actualisation; most are busy meeting their lower needs. A self-actualised person is self-aware, open to new experiences, accepting of others and able to find meaning in life.