The Pyramid of Needs!

Abraham Maslow in 1943 proposed this theory in his paper called ‘A theory of Human Motivation ‘ and remain a very popular framework in sociology and psychology studies. So this hierarchical diagram represents various levels of human needs and he argues that each previous level must be fulfilled in order to move forward to next level.

The diagram is divided in following levels starting from bottom to top:-

• Physiological needs
• Safety needs
• Love and belongingness
• Esteem needs
• Cognitive needs
• Aesthetic needs
• Self-actualisation

Although there is a debatable statement from Maslow as discussed earlier that he proposes ‘previous level of needs must be fulfilled in order to move forward to next level’ but scholars now suggest that it may be not one hundred percent true and many needs mentioned keep overlapping each other continuously .