Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs was suggested by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper 'A theory of human motivation' this theory has been made into a triangle even though, he himself did not make it that way, this was to show the more basic needs at the bottom of the triangle and this shows that he suggested to make it to the 'self actualization' part you have to go through the other blocks below, that in order to have the higher block needs met you first have to have the lower needs met. 

physiological needs: physiological needs are the requirements for human survival, if these needs aren't met the human body would fail to survive and so these are seen as the most important and that they have to be looked after first. 

safety need:  if the physiological needs are met and are stable, humans then have to feel a certain degree of safety, within several areas of their lives including person security, financial security, health and well being, and safety against accidents/illness, when there is not safety within a humans life, it can cause a number of problems such as post-traumatic disorder, this level is normally found in the child stage of life as they generally have a greater need to feel safe. 

Love and belonging- after the physiological and safety needs are met, the next level of human needs is  interpersonal and it involves feelings of belongingness. this need is especially strong in the child phase of life and it can also over-ride the need for safety,this is shown in cases where a child clings to an abusive parent. if this need isn't met it can cause an individual to find it hard to form and keep emotionally significant relationships in general for example, friendships, intimate relationships and family relationships. 

According to Maslow people need to feel a sense of love and belonging, and acceptance within their social groups, humans need to love and be loved both sexually and non-sexually by others, if there is an absence of love and belonging in a persons life they may produce social anxiety, become susceptible to loneliness and clinical depression. 

Esteem- Next in the hierarchy of needs is Esteem, all people have the need to feel respected. including self esteem and self-respect. Esteem shows the human typical desire to be accepted and valued by others, people often engage themselves in a profession or a hobby to reach recognition. these activities can give a person a feeling of contribution and/or value, low self-esteem can come from imbalances during this stage of the hierarchy. 

Self actualization- lastly in the hierarchy of needs is self actualization, this is the stage refers to what someones full potential is and this is when a person realizes that full potential, Maslow describes this stage as the desire to accomplish everything that they can to become the most they can. this need cant be reached, a person must first not only accomplish the previous needs, they must first master them.