P: Maslow's Pyramid of Needs

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Reference:: Renovating the Pyramid of Needs: Contemporary Extensions Built Upon Ancient Foundations

Maslow's pyramid of needs was an ingenious approach to map human motivation. He determined biologically-based—and therefore quite accurate—needs and presented them in a form of a pyramid, which helpfully indicated the priorititative character of what our motivations.

However, in light of contemporary research, Maslow's pyramid appears to be partially outdated. Nevertheless, scientists have put effort to renovate it with using newest science.

(I won't get into what has changed but I'll directly describe the updated version of the pyramid.)

As you can see, the pyramid consists of several biologically-based needs.

Starting from the bottom, the needs are presented chronologically—meaning, in order that they appear throughout one's life—and based on importance—it's more important (biologically speaking) to do parenting than it is to meet friends.

Needs build upon each other as overlapping layers, which indicates that they're not replacing each other. Once a goal system has developed, its activation will be triggered whenever relevant environmental cues are salient. For example, an appearance of an attractive potential mate will trigger the mate acquisition need or noticing a dangerous snake will activate the self-protection need, and so on.

Furthermore, higher needs are indeed more attractive and thus often prioritized; however, their attainment will be compromised, when lower needs aren't satisfied. For example, if you satisfy your need for status first, it's going to be easier to attract new mates. Those needs that are higher can be pursued at any time, but when lower needs aren't satisfied, the pursuit won't be effective. For example, if you focus on mate acquisition without addressing esteem/status needs first, you'll have access to lower-quality mates.

{write that we're mostly unaware of our motivations}

Let's get to the needs.

Immediate Physiological Needs: everything you do in the toiled and kitchen.

Self-protection: getting closer to what brings safety and avoiding things that can harm you.

Affiliation: love, affection, belongingness from others; social safety-net

Status/Esteem: esteem of others—i.e., status—and esteem from yourself—i.e., self-esteem.

Mate acquisition:

Mate retention:

Parenting:

I get deeper into these needs in another note:

Relevant notes (PN: )/questions (Q:):