List of 84 Life Needs

John Spacey, updated on June 05, 2024

Life needs are the things that an individual is motivated to obtain in life. This begins with air whereby if you don't have air, this will be a top priority. A well known theory known as Maslow's hierarchy of needs places needs into a hierarchy of priorities like this whereby it is difficult to achieve needs at the next level when your needs at a lower level haven't been satisfied. The following are the levels of Maslow's hierarchy with examples of each.

Physiological Needs

Your basic physical needs related to the body. These are required to survive and thrive as a physical being. Generally speaking, if these needs aren't met it is difficult to move on to higher level needs.

Safety Needs

The need to be protected from harm. This focuses on physical harm but can also include social or emotional harm.

Social Needs

The need to bond with others and to belong to social groups.

Esteem Needs

The need for respect and admiration from others and from yourself.

Cognitive Needs

The need to be mentally stimulated and to use your mind in productive ways. This includes elements such as lifelong learning, curiosity, research, experimentation and problem solving.

Aesthetic Needs

The pursuit of culture and nature that is inexpressibly beautiful including non-visual things such as music and literature. This is essentially a combination of cultural needs and nature needs.

Self-Actualization

The need for your life to be deeply meaningful.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs originated with American psychologist Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation." This is often depicted as a strict hierarchy of needs with physiological needs forming a base for a pyramid of higher level needs. It can be noted here that Maslow himself never published such a pyramid diagram but it is based on his work.

The central idea behind this pyramid of needs is that you must satisfy one level before progressing to the next. For example, it is difficult to focus on how many friends you have if your basic safety needs haven't been met. This is true to Maslow's model as he did certainly point out that people have stronger motivation to achieve higher level needs when their more basic needs have been met.

Criticism of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often presented as a strict hierarchy whereby all your needs at one level must be fulfilled before you can move on. This is arbitrarily easy to disprove. For example, people experiencing poverty who are struggling to meet basic physiological needs may devote significant motivation and resources to religion that represents a transcendence need at the top of the pyramid. As such, Maslow's hierarchy of needs should not be viewed as a theory that is accurate in predicting real world behavior. Nevertheless, it is a useful concept that often rings true whereby if you are struggling with dire needs it is difficult or impossible to devote resources to higher level needs. In practice, there are cultural and individual differences in how needs are actually prioritized.