HUMAN NEEDS
 Every human has need from birth to
death
 Needs motivate person to behave or act
so that needs will be met
 Some needs have priority over others:
 The lower needs must be met before person
can achieve higher needs
 If satisfaction at one level, move toward
higher level
HUMAN NEEDS
 Physiological needs
 Food, water, oxygen, elimination of waste,
sleep, protection from extreme temps
 If unmet, death will occur
 Sensory and motor needs
 If unmet, may lose contact with environment or
reality
 If unmet, muscles will atrophy
HUMAN NEEDS
 Safety and Security





Need to be free from anxiety and fear
Need to feel secure in environment
Need for order and routine
Preference for familiar things
Threats to safety:





New environments
Change in routine
Marital problems
Loss of job
Injury or disease
HUMAN NEEDS
 Love and Affection
 Social acceptance, friendship, to be loved
 Need to belong, win approval
 Those who feel safe & secure are more willing to
accept & adapt to change to face an unknown
situation
 Satisfying need for affection:




Make friends
Establish social contacts
Acceptance by others
Give & receive affection and love
HUMAN NEEDS
 Love & Affection, cont.
 Sexuality:
 Feelings concerning masculine/feminine nature
 Involves feelings & attitudes
 Extends throughout lifecycle
 Helps meet need for love and affection
 Cannot complete this level if use sex as
substitute for love & affection
HUMAN NEEDS
 Esteem
 Feeling important and worthwhile
 Gain self-respect when others show respect,
approval & appreciation
 Self-concept becomes positive and will
engage in activities that bring success
HUMAN NEEDS
 Self-actualization
 All other needs must be met before can
occur
 Have obtained full potential
 Confident, willing to express beliefs and stick
to them
 Willing to reach out to others
MEETING NEEDS
 When needs are felt, individuals are
motivated to act.
 If need is met, satisfaction occurs
 If need unmet, tension or frustration
occurs
 More intense a need, greater desire to
meet or reduce the need
MEETING NEEDS
 Direct methods
 Work at meeting need & obtaining
satisfaction
 Hard work
 Set realistic goals
 Evaluate a situation
 Cooperate with others
MEETING NEEDS
 Indirect methods:
 Defense mechanisms
 Provide a means for maintaining self-esteem and
relieve discomfort
 Sometimes is helpful because allows cope with
certain situations
 Unhealthy if used all the time and substituted for
more effective means of dealing with situations
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Rationalization
 Using a reasonable excuse or acceptable
explanation for behavior in order to avoid real
reason or true motive
 Ex: pt fears lab test may say can’t take time off
from work rather than admit fear
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Projection
 Placing blame for one’s own actions on someone
else or on circumstance rather than accepting
responsibility for actions
 A student may say a teacher failed them because
the teacher doesn’t like the student
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Displacement
 Transferring feelings about one person to
someone else
 Occurs because cannot direct feelings towards
person who is responsible
 Ex: HCW mad at boss so when get home, yells
at wife
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Compensation
 Substitution of one goal for another goal in order
to achieve success
 Can be healthy if substitute goal meets needs
 Ex: want to be Dr. but not enough money for
med school so became PA instead
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Daydreaming
 Dreamlike thought process that occurs when
awake
 Provides means of escape when not satisfied
with reality
 Healthy if allows to establish goals for future and
leads to course of action
 Unhealthy if a substitute for reality
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Repression
 Transfer of unacceptable or painful ideas,
feelings, thought into unconscious mind
 Allows functioning and to forget fear or feelings
 Repressed feeling do not vanish
 Ex: afraid of heights due to frightening
experience with heights during childhood
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Suppression:
 Aware of unacceptable feelings/thoughts.
Refuses to deal with them
 May substitute work, bobby, project to avoid
situation
 Creates excess stress
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Denial
 Disbelief of an event or idea that is too
frightening or shocking to cope with
 Used frequently with diagnosis of terminal illness
 Ex: pt says Dr. is wrong and seeks another
opinion
MEETING NEEDS
 Types of defense mechanisms
 Withdrawal
 Cease to communicate or physical removal from
situation
 Healthy if used to avoid conflict or unhappy
situation
 Unhealthy if used to avoid reality