An Overview of the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and a Definition of the Three Theories of Emotion. Motivation Is a Key Component to Individual Goals and Is Different for Everyone.

Abstract

An overview of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and a definition of the three theories of emotion. Motivation is a key component to individual goals and is different for everyone.

MOTIVATIONAL PAPER

In psychology, motivation is the driving force or desire behind all actions of living organisms. Motivation is a key element in all aspects of our personal and professional lives. Textbooks define emotion as an internal state or condition that activates behavior and gives it direction, desire or want that energizes and direct goal-oriented behavior. (2003 Motivation) Motivation is centered on emotions, the search of positive emotions, or the avoidance of negative emotions. Motivation is important because it can drive and improve individual performance.

There are basic physiology needs for a living organism. These include hunger, thirst and escape from pain. (2003 Motivation) In analyzing these needs with animals, they can make consistent comparisons and will be common. In humans, this physiology needs can be modified by social and cultural experiences and are not consistent. Animals eat to survive or hibernate. Humans eat to survive and for different emotional states of the mind.

Sex, parenting, and aggression are other biological needs for humans and are not required for survival. The physiological bases of these are similar in humans and other animals, but the social complexities are greater in humans. (2003 Motivation) They also are motivated for new stimulation. Examples of this are curiosity, exploration, and arousal seeking. These are situational and build up over time.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in his 1943. His theory contends that as humans meet their basic needs, they seek to satisfy successively higher needs that occupy a set hierarchy. (2003 Maslows hierarchy) Maslow did not engage in the study of unhealthy people. He studied famous successful people like Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglas. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs consists of five levels. These five levels are psychological, safety, love, esteem, and actualization. The first four are deficiency needs and actualization is termed being needs. (2003 Maslows hierarchy) Our deficiency needs must be met while our being needs is continually shaping our behaviors. The higher needs only come into play once the first four are ascertained. Growth in these needs will move a person closer to actualization, whereas a regression will push a person further down the hierarchy.

Emotion is part of a man or woman’s mental state. Emotion is the realm where thought and physiology are inextricably entwined, and where the self is inseparable from our individual perceptions of value and judgment toward others and us. (2003 Maslows hierarchy) External factors trigger a man or woman’s emotions that he or she may wish to control but cannot. This is an entanglement between a person’s will and emotions.

Study’s suggests that emotion is essential to human decision-making and long-term planning. (2003 Maslows hierarchy) A human responds to external and internal forces and he or she will use logic or the heat of passion. A decision is not solely prevalent on intellectual logic or pure emotion. Most decisions include a combination