People behave the way they do because they constantly work to satiate their basic human needs from the moment they get up until the moment they go to bed. The five basic needs that our genes have encoded for us are survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun (Glasser, 1998). Recent years have seen research on the five fundamental needs as a means of enhancing the quality of life.
These needs interact through our physiology and overall thinking, doing, and feeling behavior and are not mutually incompatible. We can achieve happiness if we learn to proactively meet these needs without upsetting other people. These five fundamental needs of people determine behavior, and they hold true in creating a quality picture in our mental world. And once these needs are fulfilled we become happier.
Survival needs
Our fundamental physiological requirement is to reproduce in order to continue existing as a species and as individuals. Our bodily demands for food, drink, air, safety, shelter, warmth, health, and sex are all part of the survival process. In order to survive, one must also require protection and enough money to cover basic expenses. Beginning with a daily evaluation of the sufficiency of their food, sleep, clothes, and health needs, survival can have a lot of significance for kids in the classroom. Additionally, it is crucial to be aware of how the home environment satisfies security demands, including those related to parental involvement, neighborhood safety, and house safety.
An additional survival need for students is their ability to achieve academic success, which results in a sense of security with teachers and classmates. Academic issues, as well as interpersonal and intrapersonal difficulties brought on by problems at home or with peers, can have an impact on learning and progress with peers. Students who are distracted by personal problems, absenteeism, home problems, or academic difficulties are less likely to succeed in the classroom.
love and belonging
In order to feel like we belong, we have a psychological need to love and care for others and to believe that we are doing the same in our interactions with family, friends, coworkers, and other acquaintances. By collaborating, caring, sharing, and getting involved, we can establish a connection with others and feel like we belong. Dr Glasser mention that this need is one of the most important needs to be fulfilled.
Students need to know they are contributing in a worthwhile way and that their presence is valued by the individuals in the classroom who are important to them in order to feel welcomed by their peers and adults. Students must play a role that matters to them personally and to the group as a whole in order to accomplish this. Unmet needs among students who don’t feel like they belong can cause issues with behavior, learning, and academic performance.
In a relationship setting, if one’s needs is love and belonging. And the partner spends most time ignoring, the relationship will soon ends. While in the office, clique are form in group of employees who have a strong bond and spend most of their time at work together and may socialize outside of work. And if a staff is ostracized, he may not stay in the company.
Power needs
A person with high power needs require a sense of empowerment, worthiness, self-efficacy, and achievement in order to feel worthy of themselves. Power in this context is characterized by the need to be able, to be capable, not by the exercise or exploitation of our authority over another person. An exterior sense of being heard and appreciated, a sense of feeling competent and achieving recognition, and an interior sense of accomplishment, pride, importance, and self-esteem are all involved.
Students want to participate in activities they have a say in and they want those activities to be relevant and to make them feel competent and proud. Power in a school setting may be characterized by the student’s ability to make decisions and be an equal contributor to learning. Students consequently feel assured.
In the case of a workspace environment, power needs is satisfied when the staff is able to accomplish result through performance. (Eg. Round table award in insurance. Nobel prize in Sciences. Top sales performer etc.)
freedom needs
Freedom is the urge for independence and autonomy; the capacity to freely choose, create, explore, and express oneself; the availability of enough room to move around and the sensation of being unfettered in making decisions and exercising free will. One must have independence, options, choices, autonomy, and liberty in both the physical and psychological senses to accomplish this. Simple acts of freedom in an environment include being able to get a drink when you need one, moving through the hallways at your own leisure, and deciding what to eat for lunch. Ideally, it will also contain the freedom to create, the time to think independently, and the opportunity to share what you have made or considered in the context of learning.
School environments can be an atmosphere of control at periods of physical, emotional, and intellectual growth when freedom of body and thinking are crucial. This is because of organized schedules, crowded conditions, and obedience to school expectations. Students who constantly or repeatedly feel physically or creatively “stuck” may feel placed into the role of outcasts, which might result in unproductive freedom activities.
In the context of the workplace environment, one would need the freedom to do creative things the staff are able to do, micro-managing will only bring about disaster and staff leaving. The same goes for relationships as well, too much clingy in a relationship may break it rather than make it.
Fun needs
Fun is the psychological need for enjoyment. It is the desire to have a good time at work, a sense of humor, a passion, interests, and to feel enthusiastic about a task or leisure activity. Enjoyment, pleasure, relaxation, laughing, and learning are all aspects of having fun.
If teachers understand the benefits of learning and social interaction, students will like school. When students achieve learning achievement and competency, fun is maximized. Additionally, combining laughter with learning can strengthen the bond between teachers and pupils. Students who encounter peer difficulties or academic frustration at school frequently fail to satisfy their need for fun.
Finding out about our basic needs will help you get a deeper understanding of yourself. If you have not done so check out the quiz here and a result will be sent to you upon completion. https://www.daseti.com/basic-needs-quiz