Biological and Humanistic Approaches to Personality

Maslow came up with a theory that motivates people. The hierarchy of needs is what he called it, and he analyzed how the needs influence people in general. The needs are self-actualization motives, esteem needs, belongingness and love needs, safety needs, and physiological needs. Each need serves its own purpose. If the basic need is not satisfied, Maslow theory states the other needs cannot be satisfied. In reality everyone has his or her own personality and needs do differ, depending on the person that’s involved. The basic need or deficiency needs would be water, food, air, love, shelter, warmth, sex, and sleep.
From Maslow’s research the physiological need is 85% fulfilled, and once all of these needs are fulfilled a person can advance to the next level of need, the safety needs. They consist of security, protection, law, order, and stability. In general this one is 75% fulfilled by people. The next level is social needs, and this one is 50% fulfilled, it consists of relationships, affection, family, and work group. The esteem needs is achievement, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, and 40% is fulfilled.
The final need everyone is trying to get to is only 10% fulfilled, the self actualization need. It consists of self fulfillment, seeking personal growth, and peak experiences. These needs are coping behavior (McLeod, 2007). Everyone needs the basic needs to live or survive. The behavioral needs that influence people are the social needs, self esteem, and self actualization. People are influenced by social needs when they start getting involved with different personalities and wanting something him or her cannot have or their not able to get.

Self esteem can be influenced if the person has a high or low esteem problem. Having a low esteem problem may be influenced by the wrong personality because they may not have confidence in him or herself to be an individual. If the person has a high esteem problem he or she may believe he or she do not need any advice or guidance from another person. The self actualization is the biggest influence, because everyone does not fulfill this need; most people are trying their hardest to fill this need.
As noted by, (McLeod, 2007) “Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to empirically test Maslow’s concept of self-actualization in a way that casual relationships can be established. ” () The humanistic theory is different from the biological part of personality behavior, based on the needs of the person. The Humanistic is considered the process of feeling and Biological is the process of thought. For instance, if someone wants to go get and ice cream at night, and it is a nice warm evening, they are going to drive the car to make sure he or she get to the place safely.
He or She will make sure the need to be safe is fulfilled. Using their humanistic behavior is taking a walk and enjoy the summer evening weather. So this would be their basic humanistic feelings and not the thought of what could happen if something went wrong. As noted by, (Sammons) “Whilst it is flattering to view ourselves as basically good entitles striving to fulfill our potential, the humanistic approach is at a loss to explain the horrors that people are capable of inflicting on each other.” ()
People use common sense when it concerning Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They analyze their thoughts on what is a priority or need for them. They try to fulfill the survival needs first, and it goes up the ladder to the self actualization most people never reach this need. When people are using humanistic behavior their feelings are involved, and they are under the impression that most people are of a good nature, and this is not always true. Smarter people will deal more with their biological needs and analyze more of their humanistic behavior before acting on it.