LSC 300 L
Literature for Children
Department of Library Science and Instructional Technology
Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven CT

CONTENTS:
Child Development Home

Maslow's Hierarchy of [basic human] Needs

Maslow was concerned with the discovery of identity and humanness; that is, how we are different from others and also how we are similar to others.

Maslow gives us the following hierarchy: at the bottom are the most basic needs. These are the Physiological Needs:Hunger, Thirst, Sex, etc.

At the next higher (second) level is Safety Needs (physical and psychological)

Maslow tells us that needs at the lower levels must be reasonably well satisfied before the individual will turn his or her attention to those at the higher level. That is, if a person has no regular access to food, they will not be concerned with, for example, the safety of sleeping in an urban park.

The next higher (third) level of need are the Needs to Belong, Affiliate, Be Accepted; that is, to love and to be loved.

The Need for Self-Esteem (approval and respect) is the fourth level of need.

The highest (fifth) level of need is that for Self-Actualization: Aesthetic and/or Cognitive; that is, the need to be all that you can be.

Temporary satisfaction of a need may be imagined through literature. For example, A group sit in the cold damp night huddled around where a fire should be. Someone tells a story of a blazing camp fire and food and a clear, cool night. The words of the story seem to warm up the air and the people, and the described feast seems to fill the listeners' empty stomachs. During these few moments, the most basic needs are satisfied and the listeners, feeling safe as well, are able to bond, feel accepted, and feel friendship with the others.

It is interesting to note that people enjoy hearing stories about things that satisfy what they are missing, for example, food or heat.