Define the concept of need. On the topic "Needs"

a state of need for something without which the organism cannot remain in a stable (“self-identical” and preserved) state. Needs are a consequence of the demorphologization of a part functional structure body.

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NEED

a state of lack of tsp, a state that stimulates activity aimed at replenishing this deficiency, one of distinctive features any life activity. P. can be experienced by organisms, individuals, and social groups. groups, organizations, enterprises, institutions, society as a whole. Human impulses can be unconscious (they are called drives) and conscious. P. lie at the basis of the formation of values. Awareness of P. serves to form interest, motive, orientation, attitude, goal, decision, action. P. form a single system and are classified according to different types. criteria: material and spiritual (or cultural), individual and group, production and non-production, rational and irrational, current and expected, real and ideal, vital and secondary, traditional and new, permanent and temporary, self-sufficient and prestigious, elementary and complex , elevated and lowland, etc. According to the criterion of origin, P. are divided into natural or biogenic, primary (in self-preservation - food, water, rest, sleep, warmth, preservation of health, reproduction, sexual, etc.) and sociogenic, secondary (in self-affirmation, communication, various achievements, friendship, love, etc.; in knowledge, self-development; in creativity, self-expression). Not only secondary, but also primary P. of people, unlike animals, are social, and not just biological. character. They are mediated by societies. production, about-vom, a cut determines the specific forms of their manifestation of satisfaction. Sociology studies social life. P. people: P. in the beating of self-preservation, self-affirmation, self-development, self-expression; sociogenesis of secondary P.; features of societies. the formation of specific manifestations and methods of satisfying primary P. Psychology P. are studied as a source of activity, the root cause of individual or social behavior. groups and are considered as a special psychological. phenomenon. P. of a person are generated in the process of social-historical. development. The starting point in understanding P. is the idea of ​​them as the original driving force, source and cause of human activity. It is impossible to imagine activity without P., and vice versa, the more diverse a person’s activities, the richer his P. In psychology there are a number of definitions of P. Analysis of them allows us to identify three categories of P., which are understood as needs, as requirements of the body, and as relationships. The first definition is traditional and most common. It is quite enough for external description P., but not to express their essence. In the second definition, the reason for the development of activity is hidden in the organism itself, and not in environmental objects. According to the third definition, P. is not just a need and not just demands, motivations of the body, but a certain relationship of a person to objective reality. This definition allows us to take into account the role of both the subject and the object in the deployment of P. The original and most deep meaning this definition is a contradiction between subject and object. Behind P. as ideal phenomena there is a certain objective reality, in which a person is not looking for the truth, but for the measure of use of this or that class of things in his life. In this case, it is placed in a value relationship to things, which is reflected in the human psyche in the form of P. Experiencing P., a person feels dependent on an object that can satisfy it. In this respect, he turns out to be a suffering, dependent creature. But he strives to get out of such dependence. In his experiences a peculiar inner restlessness and he is looking for ways and objects to satisfy this P. The experience of P. is expressed in the desire to remove internal conflict, relieve tension, gain satisfaction and relative calm. Therefore, P. can be considered as a way of developing human activity. This is why P. turn out to be a source of human activity. Lit.: Leontiev A.N. Needs, motives, emotions. M., 1971; Mikhailov N.N. Needs as a sociological category. Chelyabinsk, 1974; Problems of formation of sociogenic needs. T. 1, 2. Tbilisi, 1974-1981; Magun B.C. Needs and psychology social activities personality. L., 1983; Aseev V.G. Structure of behavioral motivation//Motivational regulation of individual activity and behavior. M., 1988. I.V. Bestuzhev-Lada, N.V. Kuchevskaya.

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A need can be understood as a certain hypothetical variable, which, depending on the circumstances, manifests itself either as a motive or as a trait. IN the latter case needs are stable and become character qualities.

It is believed that this concept describes internal attitude subject to other subjects or objects and explaining the behavior of living beings is unnecessary, since the behavior of living beings can be described without using it.

• with the cultural level and personality of the individual
• with historical, geographic and other factors of the country or region

Innate drive, primary drive(a person has from birth) - pain, thirst, hunger, orientation and other stimuli associated with physiological states within the body

The means of satisfying human needs are goods.

The degree to which certain human needs are satisfied is welfare .

The set of actions aimed at optimally satisfying the spiritual and material needs of a person is life support

Serves to satisfy material needs for food, clothing, housing, health everyday life(as a set of connections and relationships).

The primary emotional manifestation of human needs is attraction

The social process of reduction and/or deprivation of opportunities to satisfy basic vital needs individuals or groups is deprivation

Features of human needs

Since the process of satisfying needs acts as a purposeful activity, needs are a source of individual activity. Realizing the goal subjectively as a need, a person is convinced that satisfying the latter is possible only through achieving the goal. This allows him to correlate his subjective ideas about the need with its objective content, looking for means of mastering the goal as an object.

It is characteristic of man that even those needs that are associated with the tasks of his physical existence are different from the similar needs of animals. Because of this, they are capable of significantly changing depending on the social forms of his life. The development of human needs is realized through the socially determined development of their objects.

Subjectively, needs are represented in the form of emotionally charged desires, drives, and aspirations, and their satisfaction is represented in the form of evaluative emotions. Needs are found in motives, drives, desires, etc., which motivate a person to activity and become a form of manifestation of needs. If in need activity is essentially dependent on its objective-social content, then in motives this dependence manifests itself as the subject’s own activity. Therefore, the system of motives revealed in a person’s behavior is richer in characteristics and more mobile than the need that constitutes its essence. Nurturing needs is one of the central tasks of personality formation.

As a person satisfies some needs, other needs arise, which allows economists to argue that, in general, needs are unlimited.

Needs are associated with a person’s feeling of dissatisfaction, which is caused by a shortage of what is required.

The presence of a need is accompanied by emotions: first, as the need intensifies, negative, and then, if it is satisfied, positive.

Needs determine the selectivity of perception of the world, fixing a person’s attention primarily on those objects that have the ability to satisfy needs. On physiological level needs are expressed as stable foci of excitation of the corresponding nerve centers, defined by Academician A.A. Ukhtomsky. as dominants. Under appropriate conditions, strong dominants can suppress the functioning of other nerve centers. For example, the phenomenon of dominance itself was discovered during research motor reflexes dogs to certain stimuli. At some point in time, the animal stopped responding to stimuli and after a few seconds it had an act of defecation. After this, the reflexes were restored. Dominants are lower, corresponding to the lower levels of the hierarchy of needs, and higher. Higher dominants are characterized by a long-term process of their formation.

The number of needs increases in the process of phylogenesis and ontogenesis. Thus, the number of needs increases in the evolutionary series: plants - primitive animals - highly developed animals - humans, as well as in the ontogenetic series: newborn - infant - preschooler - schoolchild - adult.

Various scientists have explained the essence of human needs in different ways:

Objectification

When considering the connection between needs and activity, it is necessary to immediately distinguish two stages in the life of each need: the period before the first meeting with an object that satisfies the need, and the period after this meeting.

At the first stage, the need, as a rule, is not revealed to the subject: he may experience a state of some kind of tension, dissatisfaction, but not know what caused it. From the behavioral point of view, the need state is expressed in anxiety, searching, searching various items. During the search, a need usually meets its object, which ends the first stage of the need’s life. The process of “recognition” by a need of its object is called the objectification of the need. By the very act of objectification, the need is transformed - it becomes a specific need for a given object. In its elemental forms, this phenomenon is known as imprinting.

Objectification - very an important event: in this act the motive is born. Motive is defined as an object of need. We can say that through objectification the need receives its concretization. Therefore, the motive is also defined as an objectified need. Following the objectification of activity and the emergence of a motive, the type of behavior changes sharply - it acquires a direction that depends on the motive.

In the process of objectification, important features of needs are revealed:

1. initially a very wide range of items that can satisfy a given need;
2. quick fixation of a need on the first item that satisfies it

Classifications of human needs

There are many classifications of needs. There are different needs:

• by areas of activity:
  • labor needs
  • knowledge
  • communication
  • recreation
• by object of need:
  • material
  • biological
  • social
  • spiritual
  • ethical
  • aesthetic, etc.
• by importance:
  • dominant/minor
  • central/peripheral
• according to temporary stability:
  • sustainable
  • situational
• by functional role:
  • natural
  • culturally determined
• by subject of needs:
  • group
  • individual
  • collective
  • public

By area

Needs are divided according to the nature of the activity (defensive, nutritional, sexual, cognitive, communicative, gaming).

Separation in connection with those goals that are achieved as the need is satisfied

• biological,
• labor,
• knowledge,
• communication,
• recreation;

American psychologist W. Mac Dougall believed that certain instincts underlie certain human needs, which manifest themselves through corresponding sensations and motivate a person to certain activities.

Guildford's list of motivational factors:

1. factors corresponding to organic needs:
   1. hunger,
   2. sexual urge,
   3. general activity;
2. needs related to environmental conditions:
   1. need for comfort, pleasant surroundings,
   2. pedantry (need for order, cleanliness),
   3. the need for self-respect from others;
3. work related needs:
   1. ambition,
   2. perseverance,
   3. endurance;
4. needs related to social status:
   1. need for freedom
   2. independence,
   3. conformism,
   4. honesty.
5. social needs:
   1. need to be around people
   2. need to please
   3. need for discipline
   4. aggressiveness;
6. common interests:
   1. the need for risk or, conversely, for safety,
   2. need for entertainment.

1. active (need for accumulation, acquisition),
2. altruistic (the need to perform selfless actions),
3. hedonic (need for comfort, serenity),
4. gloric (the need to recognize one’s own importance),
5. Gnostic (need for knowledge),
6. communicative (need for communication),
7. practical (need for effectiveness of effort),
8. fearful (need for competitive activity),
9. romantic (need for the unusual, unknown),
10. aesthetic (need for beauty).

According to H. Murray, needs are divided primarily into primary needs and secondary needs. There are also differences between explicit and latent needs; These forms of existence of needs are determined by the ways of satisfying them. In terms of functions and forms of manifestation, introverted needs and extroverted needs differ. Needs can be expressed at the action or verbal level; they can be egocentric or sociocentric, and the general list of needs is:

1. dominance - the desire to control, influence, direct, convince, hinder, limit;
2. aggression - the desire to shame, condemn, mock, humiliate in word or deed;
3. search for friendships - desire for friendship, love; good will, sympathy for others; suffering in the absence of friendly relations; the desire to bring people together and remove obstacles;
4. rejection of others - the desire to reject attempts at rapprochement;
5. autonomy - the desire to free yourself from all restrictions: from guardianship, regime, order, etc.;
6. passive obedience - submission to force, acceptance of fate, intrapunitivity, recognition of one's own inferiority;
7. need for respect and support;
8. the need for achievement is the desire to overcome something, surpass others, do something better, reach the highest level in some activity, be consistent and purposeful;
9. the need to be the center of attention;
10. the need for play - preference for play over any serious activity, desire for entertainment, love of witticisms; sometimes combined with carelessness, irresponsibility;
11. egoism (narcissism) - the desire to put one’s own interests above all else, self-satisfaction, auto-eroticism, painful sensitivity to humiliation, shyness; tendency towards subjectivity in perception outside world; often merges with the need for aggression or rejection;
12. sociality (sociophilia) - oblivion own interests in the name of the group, altruistic orientation, nobility, compliance, concern for others;
13. the need to search for a patron - expectation of advice, help; helplessness, seeking consolation, gentle treatment;
14. need for assistance;
15. the need to avoid punishment - restraining one’s own impulses in order to avoid punishment or condemnation; the need to take into account public opinion;
16. need for self-protection - difficulties with recognition own mistakes, the desire to justify oneself by citing circumstances, to defend one’s rights; refusal to analyze your mistakes;
17. the need to overcome defeat, failure - differs from the need to achieve with an emphasis on independence in action;
18. need to avoid danger;
19. the need for order - the desire for neatness, orderliness, accuracy, beauty;
20. the need for judgment - the desire to put general issues or answer them; penchant for abstract formulas, generalizations, passion " eternal questions", etc.

By object

Separation in connection with the object to which the need is directed.

• physiological (food, water, air, climatic conditions and so on.),
• material (housing, clothing, vehicles, tools of production, etc.),
• social (communication, social activity, public recognition, etc.),
• spiritual (knowledge, creative activity, creating beauty, scientific discoveries and so on.),
• ethical,
• aesthetic,
• other;

By functional role

• dominant/minor,
• central/peripheral,
• stable/situational;

By origin

There is a division into two large groups - natural and cultural. The first of them are programmed at the genetic level, and the second are formed in the process of social life.

By analogy with conditional and unconditioned reflexes needs are also divided into

• congenital,
• simple acquired and
• complex acquired.

Simple acquired needs are understood to be needs formed on the basis of an individual’s own empirical experience (for example, the need of a workaholic for a favorite job), while complex needs are understood to be based on one’s own conclusions and ideas of non-empirical origin (for example, the need religious person in confession, based on an externally instilled idea of positive consequences ritual, but not on the empirical feeling of guilt and humiliation when performing it).

By subject of needs

• individual,
• group,
• collective,
• public.

Hierarchy of needs

Human needs form a hierarchical system, where each need has its own level of significance. As they are satisfied, they give way to other needs.

Classification by level of complexity divides needs into biological, social and spiritual.

• TO biological can be attributed to a person’s desire to maintain his existence (the need for food, clothing, sleep, safety, sexual satisfaction, in saving energy, etc.).
• TO social needs include a person’s need for communication, for popularity, for dominance over other people, for belonging to a certain group, for leadership and recognition.
• Spiritual human needs are the need to know the world and oneself, the desire for self-improvement and self-realization, in knowing the meaning of one’s existence.

Usually a person simultaneously has more than ten unfulfilled needs at the same time, and his subconscious ranks them in order of importance, forming a rather complex hierarchical structure known as Maslow's Pyramid of Needs. A. Maslow divided needs according to the sequence of their satisfaction, when needs of the highest level appear after the needs of the lower level are satisfied.

• Biological (physiological) needs are determined by the need to maintain life. For normal metabolism, a person needs food, suitable living conditions and the opportunity to rest and sleep. These needs are called vital, since their satisfaction is essential for life.
• The fulfillment of the physiological and psychological need for security and confidence in the future makes it possible to maintain homeostasis over a long period of time. Sex is necessary for procreation. (The physiological and psychological needs can also include the need for information, since in the absence of nerve signals nerve tissue degrades, and the psyche of people in conditions of sensory deprivation is upset.)
• The need for communication, love and support from others is a psychological and social need, the implementation of which allows people to act in groups (see affiliation).
• The need for recognition and self-affirmation is a social need, the implementation of which allows one to determine one’s place in society.
• The need for self-expression is a creative, constructive need; thanks to its implementation, people create objects of art.

The most simple types needs are vital needs that are programmed in the long process of existence, development, evolution (food, drink, air, sleep, sexual desire). Freudianism reduces high-level needs to unchanging vital ones

The need for security is also associated with the need for stability in the existence of the current order of things - confidence in tomorrow, the feeling that nothing threatens you, and your old age will be prosperous.

By type of behavior

F.N. Ilyasov, within the framework of the ethological approach, identifies the main types of behavior (needs) that describe the life activity of higher animals and humans. There are only six of them: 1) food, 2) sexual (sexual-reproductive), 3) status (collective, social), 4) territorial, 5) comfortable, b) juvenile (play). Within the framework of the ethological approach (that is, giving the “lowest” level of description), it is acceptable to believe that the above six needs are capable of comprehensively describing the functioning of such complex system As a person. The problem of the hierarchy of needs within the framework of this approach is solved through the problem of the typology of individuals according to the ranking of dominant needs. Even everyday experience tells us that there are subjects with dominance various types behavior - sexual, eating, status, etc. It is possible to construct a typology based on ranking the importance of needs from the point of view of the subject. This question, of course, requires empirical substantiation, however, it is possible that 2-3 dominant needs can sufficiently fully reflect behavior.

Philosophy

Dialectical materialism

More philosophers Ancient Greece And Ancient Rome have made significant strides in understanding human needs. Ancient thinkers recognized needs as the main driving forces of human activity. Democritus, for example, considered need as basic driving force, which made a person’s mind sophisticated, made it possible to acquire language, speech, and the habit of work. Without needs, a person would not be able to come out of a wild state. According to Heraclitus, needs are determined by living conditions. He distinguished that every desire must be reasonable. Moderation in meeting needs contributes to development and improvement intellectual abilities person. Plato divided the needs into primary, forming the “lower soul,” which is like a herd, and secondary, forming the “reasonable, noble” soul, the purpose of which is to lead the first. Great importance French materialists considered needs as the main sources of human activity late XVII century. P. Holbach wrote that needs are the driving factor of our passions, will, and mental activity. A person’s needs are continuous, and this circumstance serves as a source of his constant activity. N. G. Chernyshevsky assigned a major role to the needs in understanding human activity. He associated the development of needs with the development cognitive abilities person. K. Marx emphasizes that “man differs from all other animals in the limitlessness of his needs and their ability to expand.” As an independent scientific problem The question of needs began to be considered in philosophy, sociology, economics, and psychology in the first quarter of the 20th century. In general, need can be defined as a need, a need for something. It should be emphasized that quite big number Scientists “consider need as a state of tension.” In life, you can observe how the very appearance of need changes a person’s condition. This (need) state forces him to look for the cause of discomfort, to find out what the person lacks. Thus, need motivates a person to action, to activity, to activity. Currently, there are many different points of view on the essence of need. Most scientists only agree that almost everyone recognizes need as the main driving force of human activity. However, there is neither complete unanimity nor unambiguity in the interpretation of this concept.

Notes

Literature

• Shcherbatykh Yu. V. General psychology. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008. - pp. 171-177.
• Frager R., Fadiman J. Personality: theories, experiments, exercises. - St. Petersburg: Prime-Eurosign, 2001.- pp. 487-494.
• Ilyasov F.N. Correlation between the structure of needs and the structure of prices // Ilyasov F.N. Status theory of price (basic approaches to the formation of a conceptual model). M.: Institute of Sociology RAS. 1993.

Needs. Everyone knows, in general, what it is - what each of us wants to have and receive. In principle, that's true. But let's scientific language Let us outline the essence of this topic: what are needs and what they are.

What are needs?

Needs- this is a person’s perceived need for something, something that is necessary for him to maintain the vital functions of the body and the development of his personality. In my opinion, this is a fairly simple and easy to remember definition.

However, not all needs benefit a person. Therefore, from the point of view of necessity and benefit, the needs are:

• genuine (reasonable, true)- these are the needs without which a person either simply cannot live (food, housing, society, because it is among people that he becomes an individual), or are necessary for his improvement and development (spiritual).
• False (unreasonable, imaginary)- these are needs without which it is not only possible, but also necessary to live, they lead to the destruction of personality, and a person degrades both physically and mentally (alcoholism, drug addiction, parasitism)

Types of needs

There are several classifications of needs. The most common are the following: types of needs:

American psychologist A. Maslow built needs in the form of a kind of pyramid: the closer the need is to the base of the pyramid, the more necessary it is. All subsequent ones are needed when the previous ones are satisfied.

Pyramid of needs Maslow A.H.

• Primary needs:
• Physiological(satisfaction of natural instincts, these are: thirst, hunger, rest, reproduction, breathing, clothing, housing, physical activity)
• Existential( from lat. existence is the need for security, safety, confidence in the future, insurance, comfort, job security)
• Secondary needs:

• Social(the need to live in society, to belong to a certain social group: communication, affection, attention to oneself, caring for others, participation in joint activities)
• Prestigious(need for respect, recognition, career growth. It is no coincidence that A. Maslow special kind highlight your needs prestigious, since the opinion of society and others is very important to a person. Any praise is pleasant to people, and there is a desire to do something even better.
• Spiritual(self-expression, self-realization through creativity, knowledge, learning, self-affirmation, etc.)

Human needs have a number of features:

• all needs are interconnected
• it is impossible to satisfy all needs
• limitlessness of needs
• needs should not contradict the moral principles of society.

A person changes - some of his needs become different. Even in a single society, at a certain stage of development, there may be its own needs. Needs are determined by both natural and social essence person.

Yes, human activity and actions are driven by the desire to satisfy their needs. It is important to set priorities for yourself, to clearly know what a person wants and why he needs it. And we must not forget that a person’s needs are limitless; it will not be enough to satisfy everything 100% throughout one’s life. So the choice depends on everyone, on the level of his upbringing, development, on the environment in which he lives, on those values ​​that are important for his environment. It's important that the needs are genuine, don't let it guys imaginary needs take possession of your soul and consciousness. Live enjoying life, giving joy to your loved ones.

Material prepared by: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna

a specific form of manifestation of human needs, depending on living conditions, skills, traditions, culture, level of development of production and other factors. Neo-Marxists (Marcuse) talk about “false needs” created through advertising. BASIC HUMAN NEEDS should be emphasized. According to this concept, all human beings have common fundamental needs (including health and natural law to autonomy, to freedom) on the basis of being human. According to the compiler of the dictionary, it is necessary to distinguish the basic needs of a person at three of its levels: bodily, social and spiritual, with the same terminological designation. Their satisfaction is a necessary precondition for full participation in social and spiritual life. Spiritual needs as human values, including wisdom, are inherent in human nature, believes A. Maslow - American psychologist and philosopher. It is only necessary, with the help of special techniques, to help a person discover them in himself and thereby take the path of self-actualization, that is, to carry out his life on the basis of the highest spiritual values. An alternative idea is that human needs are relative, depending on individual or cultural preferences.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

NEED

state of the body, human individual, social group, society as a whole, expressing dependence on the objective content of the conditions of their existence and development and serving as a source various forms their activities. Human specificity P. determined social nature human activity, primarily labor. P. social groups, classes, society there is a need that arises in the course of development for the implementation of definitions. changes or transformations dept. elements of society or entire societies. systems. The starting point of analysis is human. P. is society as a concrete historical. a system that determines the formation and development of various P., the content, methods and forms of their satisfaction. The study of the system and level of P. of various social groups, the degree of their satisfaction and the identification of trends in their change has important for scientific planning the development of society. The principles of social groups and classes serve as the basis of their interests (see Public interests). O. Yurovitsky. Kuibyshev. Psychological The form of activity of the individual expressing P. is the motivation of her behavior. The problem of P. as the initial characteristic of personality activity began to be developed in connection with overcoming the concept of psychological. "atomism" of associationists and with the emergence of dynamic. theories of personality. Associationist psychology represented personality as an additive sum of elements mental life. This view presupposed the recognition of these elements as non-derivative, atomic and the purely passive nature of reproduction in these elements external influences. Dynamic personality theory arose in connection with a change in the principles of interpretation of personality in the bourgeoisie. philosophy of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, when classical. Robinsonade was replaced by irrationalistic. the concept of history as a life stream (personality is a transitory moment of this stream; the basis of its unity is irrational). This position gave rise to a paradoxical community of evolutionary ideas at the turn of the century. biology and voluntarism in the systems of Schopenhauer and E. Hartmann. Rationalistic the soul dissolved in the world will, in the “horm”, in the “life impulse”, and its individualization began to be interpreted as a process of discovering certain primary potentials, presented in the form of biological. forces - drives, P., feelings, etc. These forces replaced the associationist elements of the psyche. life. One of the first theories of this kind is McDougall's hormic psychology. For him, primary motivations turn out to be further indecomposable, the original (and in this sense metaphysical) determinants of all life activity. P. and motives are identified as the primary definition vital energy. The relationship of the organism (subject) to the object is determined by these primary motives (P., instincts), which are concentrated around the object in a certain way. system. This system acts as the subject of P., or the vital energy of the body. Strictly speaking, the concept of P. is built on the same principle in Freudianism and neo-Freudianism, in individual psychology, Jung's system, etc. The relationship between the subject and the object is determined here directly by the initial drives, which are the elementary, primary motivations. T.N. life experience builds on top of the latter as a mediating mechanism. The structure of these mediations is immanently determined by primary motivations and therefore serves as a scheme for constructing personality, thus turning out to be a projection of drives onto life experience. At this point, drive theories come as close as possible to behaviorism. The problem of motivation is posed in it in such a way that physiological factors are considered as the primary motives of behavior. functions of the body, interpreted from the perspective homeostasis (eg, Young's theory, Allport's theory). Interpretation of P. as functional characteristics physiological actions mechanisms deprives P. of subject definitions. This "objectivity" of behaviorism, artlessly exposed in Watson's theory, caused a relatively early process of its transformation. Appeared in the beginning. 20s, he is already in the 30s. turned out to be significantly modified. One of the modifications followed the path of operationalism, turning the descriptive nature of Watsonian behaviorism into a principle for constructing a theory of behavior. Thus, Skinner defines P. simply through the operation of measuring time after the previous reinforcement, i.e. not even in biology. terms. In Tolman's neo-behaviourism, the descriptive nature of Watson's concept seems to be overcome by the introduction of a target moment. However, the latter has a formal meaning in Tolman’s construction: it is defined simply as the fact of directionality inherent in any behavioral situation in general. Therefore, P. acts as one of the so-called. "intermediate variables", i.e. mediating mechanisms of the relationship between the organism and the stimulus, namely as a mechanism of “readiness” of the organism in relation to a significant object. Fundamentally, the situation is the same in the theories of Hull, Ghazri, and Woodworth, but this position received extreme expression in the Gestalt theory of K. Lewin of the last (American) period of his activity. Theories of this kind, in which the personality is determined by the system of power relations of the “psychic field” (no matter what it is called), occupy the dominant position. position among theories of motivation in modern times. bourgeois psychology. They are called "conditioning" theories. The methodologically fruitful principle of the systemic conditioning of the organism, applied by them in the abstract, is deprived of its concrete historical nature. content. Therefore, such undoubted achievements of modern times. bourgeois psychology, as systemic research in social psychology, as an ethological direction in zoopsychology, still do not overcome anti-historicism and therefore remain arts in their foundations. schemes. If obvious fact presence of natural If the needs of any living organism are considered historically, then it ceases to seem primarily given, but turns into a problem of the origin of these needs. In history, man. society P. people as a function of their activities are a consequence of production. A natural thing ceases to be just prey, i.e. a subject that has only a biological the meaning of food. With the help of tools, a person is able to modify it, adapting it to his own. P. Thus, people’s P. get the opportunity to develop, i.e. are drawn into history and become an element of it. Production is connected with the subject not directly, but through the medium of P. Animals, organic. P. are transformed into human, “supraorganic” ones, mediated by objective activity. P. is both a prerequisite and a result, not only the actual labor activity people, but also cognizant. processes. That is why they act as such states of personality, through which behavior is regulated, the direction of a person’s thinking, feelings and will is determined. P. of a person are mediated by the process of his upbringing in in a broad sense , i.e. introduction to the human world. culture, represented both objectively (material items) and functionally (spiritual items). The difference between both of these forms is human. culture (as well as the difference between material and spiritual values) is relative and is generated by the very content of the development of production. Satisfying a person's desire is, in essence, a process of appropriating a defined society. development of a form of activity presented objectively. Therefore, “... the satisfied first need itself, the action of satisfaction and the already acquired instrument of satisfaction lead to new needs, and this generation of new needs is the first historical act” (Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 3, p. 27). Societies are also derivatives of this structure of labor activity. human characteristics P.P. are a source of personality activity. In humans, the process of satisfying P. acts as a purposeful activity. Realizing the goal subjectively - like P., a person is convinced that its satisfaction is possible only through the implementation of the goal. This gives him the opportunity to correlate his subjective ideas with its objective content by finding means of mastering the goal as an object. The dynamics of P. are in the transition from awareness of the goal (as a prerequisite for activity) to the mobilization of means, with the help of which the same objectified goal is mastered. In P.’s birth, the role of the formative principle is played by the conflict between learned experience (habits, skills, character) and the objective actualization of this experience, expressed in objective action. In other words, P. is dynamic. formula for including a subject in a personal context. Psychology studies how P. are found in the motives that encourage activity and become a form of manifestation of P. Objects of P., refracted through consciousness, act as motives (drives, desires, etc.), presupposing a more or less conscious goal of activity. The relationship between P. and motives cannot be understood as a relationship between members of the same series. Considering P.'s relationship to motives as the relationship of essence to phenomena, one can find an adequate approach to the problem of motivation. Specific The difficulties of this problem are related to the fact that the motives of behavior are given directly, while P. as an essence is hidden. The dependence of the individual on society presented in P. is manifested in the motives of his actions, but they themselves act as a form of apparent spontaneity of the individual’s behavior. If in P. human activity is essentially dependent on its object-societies. content, then in motives this dependence manifests itself in the form of its own. subject activity. Therefore, the system of motives that opens up in a person’s behavior is richer in characteristics, more elastic, and more mobile than P., which constitutes its essence. The true dependence of motives on P. is also revealed in the very fact of their divergence, characteristic of the behavior of an individual in society. conditions of alienation. Communist the removal of alienation deobjectifies P., making transparent the very process of their formation in societies. activity of the individual. This deobjectification is carried out, of course, not by depriving the activity of objectivity, but by removing the opposition between the subject of activity and its process. As a result of these new relations between the subject of activity and its process, communist. labor becomes the first life of P. Development, selection and education of P., bringing them to that morality. height, edges should be characteristic of a communist person. society, becomes one of the center. tasks of personality formation. See also Motives, Social Interests, Consciousness, Thinking. Lit.: Lezhnev V.T., The doctrine of P. in modern times. psychology, "Educational journal. Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after V.I. Lenin", 1939, issue. 1; Fortunatov G.?., Petrovsky A.V., The problem of P. in personality psychology, “Problems of Psychology”, 1956, No. 4; Myasishchev V.N., The problem of P. in the system of psychology, "Uch. Zap. Leningrad State University. Ser. Philosophical Sciences", 1957, vol. 11, No. 244; Leontiev A.N., Problems of mental development, 2nd ed., M., 1965; ?Urovsky M.B., Labor and thinking, M., 1963; Kovalev A.G., Personality Psychology, 2nd ed., M., 1965; Kiknadze D.?., P., as a fact of human behavior, “VF”, 1965, No. 12; Psychology of thinking. Sat. lane with him. and English lang., M., 1965; Lewin K., Vorsatz, Wille und Bed?rfnis, V., 1926; by him, A dynamic theory of personality..., N. Y.–L., 1935; McDougall W., The energies of men, N. Y., 1933; Skinner V. F., The behavior of organisms, N. Y., 1938; ?olman?. S. [a. o.], Toward a general theory of action, Camb., 1951. A. Petrovsky, M. Turovsky. Moscow.

The states and needs of people that arise when they need something underlie their motives. That is, it is the needs that are the source of activity of each individual. Man is a desiring creature, so in reality it is unlikely that his needs will be fully satisfied. The nature of human needs is such that as soon as one need is satisfied, the next one comes first.

Maslow's pyramid of needs

Abraham Maslow's concept of needs is perhaps the most famous of all. The psychologist not only classified people's needs, but also made an interesting assumption. Maslow noted that each person has an individual hierarchy of needs. That is, there are basic human needs - they are also called basic, and additional.

According to the concept of a psychologist, absolutely all people on earth experience needs at all levels. Moreover, there is next law: Basic human needs are dominant. However, high-level needs can also remind you of themselves and become motivators of behavior, but this happens only when the basic ones are satisfied.

The basic needs of people are those aimed at survival. At the base of Maslow's pyramid are the basic needs. Human biological needs are the most important. Next comes the need for security. Satisfying a person's needs for security ensures survival, as well as a sense of permanence in living conditions.

A person feels needs of a higher level only when he has done everything to ensure his physical well-being. The social needs of a person are that he feels the need to unite with other people, to love and recognition. After satisfying this need, the following come to the fore. Human spiritual needs include self-esteem, protection from loneliness, and feeling worthy of respect.

Further, at the very top of the pyramid of needs is the need to reveal one’s potential, to self-actualize. Maslow explained this human need for activity as the desire to become who he originally was.

Maslow assumed that this need is innate and, most importantly, common to every individual. However, at the same time, it is obvious that people differ dramatically from each other in their motivation. For various reasons, not everyone manages to reach the pinnacle of necessity. Throughout life, people's needs can vary between physical and social, so they are not always aware of needs, for example, for self-actualization, because they are extremely busy satisfying lower desires.

The needs of man and society are divided into natural and unnatural. In addition, they are constantly expanding. The development of human needs occurs through the development of society.

Thus, we can conclude that the higher the needs a person satisfies, the more clearly his individuality manifests itself.

Are hierarchy violations possible?

Examples of violation of hierarchy in satisfying needs are known to everyone. Probably, if only those who are well-fed and healthy experienced human spiritual needs, then the very concept of such needs would have long since sunk into oblivion. Therefore, the organization of needs is replete with exceptions.

Satisfying needs

Extremely important fact is that satisfying a need can never be an all-or-nothing approach. After all, if this were so, then physiological needs would be satisfied once and for life, and then a transition to the social needs of a person would follow without the possibility of return. There is no need to prove otherwise.

Biological needs of man

The bottom level of Maslow's pyramid is those needs that ensure human survival. Of course, they are the most urgent and have the most powerful motivating force. In order for the individual to feel the needs higher levels, biological needs must be satisfied at least minimally.

Safety and protection needs

This level of vital or vital needs is the need for safety and protection. We can safely say that if physiological needs are closely related to the survival of the organism, then the need for safety ensures its long life.

Needs for love and belonging

This is the next level of Maslow's pyramid. The need for love is closely related to the individual’s desire to avoid loneliness and be accepted in human society. When the needs at the previous two levels are satisfied, motives of this kind occupy a dominant position.

Almost everything in our behavior is determined by the need for love. It is important for any person to be included in relationships, be it family, work team or something else. The baby needs love, and no less than the satisfaction of physical needs and the need for safety.

The need for love is especially pronounced during the teenage period of human development. At this time, it is the motives that grow out of this need that become leading.

Psychologists often say that typical behavior patterns appear during adolescence. For example, the main activity of a teenager is communication with peers. Also typical is the search for an authoritative adult - a teacher and mentor. All teenagers subconsciously strive to be different from everyone else - to stand out from general crowd. This gives rise to the desire to follow fashion trends or belong to a subculture.

The need for love and acceptance in adulthood

As a person matures, love needs begin to focus on more selective and more deep relationships. Now needs are pushing people to start families. In addition, it is not the quantity of friendships that becomes more important, but their quality and depth. It is easy to notice that adults have far fewer friends than teenagers, but these friendships are necessary for the mental well-being of the individual.

Despite a large number of various means of communication, people in modern society very scattered. Today, a person does not feel part of a community, except perhaps as part of a family that has three generations, but many do not even have this. In addition, children who experienced a lack of closeness were more likely to mature age are afraid of her. On the one hand, they neurotically avoid close relationships, because they are afraid of losing themselves as individuals, and on the other hand, they really need them.

Maslow identified two main types of relationships. They are not necessarily marital, but may well be friendly, between children and parents, and so on. What are the two types of love identified by Maslow?

Scarce love

This type of love is aimed at the desire to make up for the lack of something vital. Scarce love has a specific source - unmet needs. The person may lack self-esteem, protection, or acceptance. This type of love is a feeling born of selfishness. It is motivated by the individual's desire to fill his inner world. A person is not able to give anything, he only takes.

Alas, in most cases the basis long term relationship, including marital ones, is precisely scarce love. The parties to such a union can live together all their lives, but much in their relationship is determined by the internal hunger of one of the participants in the couple.

Deficient love is the source of dependence, fear of losing, jealousy and constant attempts pull the blanket over yourself, suppressing and subjugating your partner in order to tie him closer to you.

Being love

This feeling is based on recognition of the unconditional value of a loved one, but not for any qualities or special merits, but simply for the fact that it exists. Of course, existential love is also designed to satisfy human needs for acceptance, but its striking difference is that there is no element of possessiveness in it. There is also no desire to take away from your neighbor what you yourself need.

The person who is able to experience existential love does not seek to remake his partner or somehow change him, but encourages everything in him best qualities and supports the desire to grow and develop spiritually.

Maslow himself described this type of love as healthy relationships between people who are based on mutual trust, respect and admiration.

Self-esteem needs

Despite the fact that this level of needs is designated as the need for self-esteem, Maslow divided it into two types: self-esteem and respect from other people. Although they are closely related to each other, it is often extremely difficult to separate them.

A person's need for self-esteem is that he must know that he is capable of much. For example, that he can successfully cope with the tasks and requirements assigned to him, and that he feels like a full-fledged person.

If this type of need is not satisfied, then a feeling of weakness, dependence and inferiority appears. Moreover, the stronger such experiences are, the less effective human activity becomes.

It should be noted that self-respect is healthy only when it is based on respect from other people, and not status in society, flattery, etc. Only in this case will satisfaction of such a need contribute to psychological stability.

Interestingly, the need for self-esteem in different periods life manifests itself in different ways. Psychologists have noticed that young people who are just starting to start a family and look for their professional niche need respect from others more than others.

Self-actualization needs

The highest level in the pyramid of needs is the need for self-actualization. Abraham Maslow defined this need as a person's desire to become what he can become. For example, musicians write music, poets write poetry, artists paint. Why? Because they want to be themselves in this world. They need to follow their nature.

For whom is self-actualization important?

It should be noted that not only those who have any talent need self-actualization. Your personal or creative potential Every person without exception has it. Each person has his own calling. The need for self-actualization is to find your life's work. Shapes and possible ways self-actualizations are very diverse, and it is precisely on this spiritual level needs, the motives and behavior of people are the most unique and individual.

Psychologists say that the desire to achieve maximum self-realization is inherent in every person. However, there are very few people whom Maslow called self-actualizers. No more than 1% of the population. Why do those incentives that should encourage a person to act do not always work?

Maslow in his works indicated the following three reasons for such unfavorable behavior.

Firstly, a person’s ignorance of his capabilities, as well as a lack of understanding of the benefits of self-improvement. In addition, there are common doubts about own strength or fear of failure.

Secondly, the pressure of prejudice - cultural or social. That is, a person’s abilities may run counter to the stereotypes that society imposes. For example, stereotypes of femininity and masculinity can prevent a boy from becoming a talented makeup artist or dancer, or a girl from achieving success, for example, in military affairs.

Third, the need for self-actualization may conflict with the need for security. For example, if self-realization requires a person to take risky or dangerous actions or actions that do not guarantee success.