Our Hierarchy of Needs

Why true freedom is a luxury of the mind. Published on May 23, 2012 by Neel Burton, M.D. in Hide and Seek In his influential paper of 1943, A Theory of Human Motivation, the American psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed that healthy human beings have a certain number of needs, and that these needs are arranged in a hierarchy, with some needs (such as physiological and safety needs) being more primitive or basic than others (such as social and ego needs). Maslows so-called hierarchy of needs is often presented as a five-level pyramid, with higher needs coming into focus only once lower, more basic needs are met.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Maslow called the bottom four levels of the pyramid deficiency needs because a person does not feel anything if they are met, but becomes anxious if they are not. Thus, physiological needs such as eating, drinking, and sleeping are deficiency needs, as are safety needs, social needs such as friendship and sexual intimacy, and ego needs such as self-esteem and recognition. In contrast, Maslow called the fifth level of the pyramid a growth need because it enables a person to self-actualize or reach his fullest potential as a human being. Once a person has met his deficiency needs, he can turn his attention to self-actualization; however, only a small minority of people are able to self-actualize because self-actualization requires uncommon qualities such as honesty, independence, awareness, objectivity, creativity, and originality.

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Although Maslows hierarchy of needs has been criticized for being overly-schematic and lacking in scientific grounding, it presents an intuitive and potentially useful theory of human motivation. After all, there is surely some grain of truth in the popular saying that one cannot philosophize on an empty stomach, and in Aristotles early observation that all paid work absorbs and degrades the mind.

Aristotle (right): 'Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.' Once a person has met his deficiency needs, the focus of his anxiety shifts to self-actualization and he beginseven if only at a subconscious or semiconscious levelto contemplate the context and meaning of life. He may come to fear that death in inevitable and that life is meaningless, but at the same time cling on

to the cherished belief that his life is eternal or at least important. This gives rise to an inner conflict that is sometimes referred to as existential anxiety or, more colourfully, as the trauma of non-being. Existential anxiety is so disturbing that most people avoid it at all costs. They construct an inauthentic but comforting reality made up of moral codes, bourgeois values, habits, customs, culture, and even arguablyreligion. The Harvard theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965) and indeed Freud himself suggested that religion is nothing more than a carefully crafted coping mechanism for existential anxiety. For Tillich true faith consists simply in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God.

Paul Tillich: 'If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song.' According to the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), by refusing to face up to non-being a person is acting in bad faith, and so living out a life that is inauthentic and unfulfilling. Facing up to non-being can bring a sense of calm, freedom, even nobility andyesit can also bring insecurity, loneliness, responsibility, and consequently anxiety. But far from being pathological, this anxiety is a sign of health, strength, and courage. As Freud noted, Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.'

For Tillich, refusing to face up to non-being not only leads to a life that is inauthentic, but also to neurotic anxiety. Tillich witheringly remarked that neurosis is the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being. According to this outlook, neurotic anxiety arises from repressed existential anxiety, which itself arises from the nature of the human condition and, more specifically, from our uniquely human capacity for selfconsciousness. Facing up to non-being enables a person to put his life into perspective, see it in its entirety, and thereby give it a sense of direction and unity. If the ultimate source of anxiety is a fear of the future, the future ends in death; and if the ultimate source of anxiety if uncertainty, death is the only certainty. Facing up to death, accepting its inevitability, and integrating it into life not only cures one of neurosis, but also enables one to get and make the most out of life.

What Motivates People to Buy Compulsively?

People with material values seem to engage in retail therapy. Published on August 21, 2012 by Ryan T. Howell, Ph.D. in Can't Buy Happiness

About five years ago, right before my wife and I moved to San Francisco, we were walking through a store, and I saw a fondue set. It wasnt that expensive, and we had been recently going to a few fondue restaurants, and so I thought "we must buy this. We will host a party every Friday and call it Fondue Friday! We will eat cheese and chocolate with friends and family it will be wonderful!"
So, without any plan or reservation we purchased a rather simple fondue set. Now, how often have my wife and I hosted a Fondue Friday party? Never. Not once. Not even after I have talked and blogged about this purchase for over the last year. So whats the big deal? Everyone buys on impulse every once in a while. Sometimes we just see a deal on a fondue set that we cant pass up. Is this really so bad? Not really.

However, as psychologist Dennis Rook argues, you should be concerned with impulsive buying when emotions consistently override judgment. That is, if your shopping is accompanied by an irresistible urge to buy, then you should be concerned with your spending habits. Of course, a hallmark that you should be concerned with your buying patterns is if your spending habits lead to disastrous financial consequences.

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While psychologists are becoming better at developing surveys people can take to learn if their buying behavior is too impulsive or compulsive (see below), there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to determine what motivates people to buy impulsively. Specifically, our researchers at BeyondThePurchase.Org are trying to identify the values that encourage people to buy compulsively and impulsively.

So, we examined if material values are strongly associated with impulsive and compulsive buying. By definition, materialists place a greater emphasis on tangible items as indicators of identity and success, often believing that acquiring goods leads to happiness. More specifically, materialists buy products that signal their identity (such as clothes). In our study, we found that material values were strongly related to shopping urgencywhich leads to impulsive buyingbut, not a lack of planning. That is, people with material values seem to engage in retail therapy more than they just ignore the cost or impracticality of their purchases. Further, materialists experience a lot of post-purchase guilt and materialistic people are simply more excited by the promise of consumption and their buying behavior is "externally-driven." Thus, they are more likely to respond emotionally to the items and marketing messages they encounter. At BeyondThePurchase.Org we are researching the connection between peoples spending habits, happiness, and values. To learn about your spending habits, what influences your buying behavior, and how you define the good life, first Login or Register with Beyond The Purchase, then take our Compulsive Buying Scale, our Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence Scale, and our Beliefs about Well-being. We think you may learn a lot about what causes you to part with your hardearned money.