Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

While we recognize that all theories have flaws and inconsistencies, being able to apply a theory is one of the ways that psychologists try to understand development; this is especially useful because it’s generally not possible to “research” individuals from the moment of birth to the end of their lives. For this assignment, you will be exploring the applicability of Maslow’s ideas.

Let’s have you do as the psychologists do.

Apply the Hierarchy of Needs theory to your motivation to earn a college degree (the esteem level). How does your priority of needs influence your motivation as a student?

In discussing your priority of needs, you must:

1. (1 pt) introduction: describe what your esteem level looks like currently in regards to your pursuit of a college degree (the esteem level); then
2. (3 pts) introduce Maslow’s theory on the hierarchy of needs (review the main idea; it’s not necessary to explain the entire theory in detail), and
3. (5 pts) then provide concrete examples* for eachof the 3 lower level needs, showing how they have been met/not met during your childhood; and
4. (5 pts) provide concrete examples* for each of the 3 lower level needs, showing how they have (or have not) been satisfied currently; and
5. (1 pt) conclusion: discuss whether/how your lower level needs (past and present) have affected your ability to pursue a college degree currently (reach the esteem level).

If you “missed” a level, but somehow turned out to be a successful college student, Maslow would say that you must have gotten some of that need met somewhere in order to be the successful student you are today. See if you can identify how that need was met in spite of your history.

If you aren’t comfortable discussing yourself, discuss a friend who is college age; s/he may or may not be attending college, but you should be able to identify an esteem level need; you must also know about this person’s lower level needs (both past and present) in order to answer the prompt effectively.

Let’s see how you well you can think like Maslow.

*A lot of students don’t provide concrete examples for this post. They might write generic statements like, “I got fed everyday” as evidence of stage 1 fulfillment. This is not a concrete example that shows that you were fulfilled at stage 1; a good concrete example would be: “My mother worked 2 jobs to make sure we had food on the table, but she often wasn’t home for dinner. Still, my older sister made sure we had rice, a protein and vegetables every dinner, and I never left the table hungry or wanting more.” The statement “I got fed everyday” means different things to different people: be clear in showing that your needs were fulfilled/not fulfilled at that stage.

DUE SUNDAY

How good are you at reading other people’s emotions? The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test was created by Simon Baron-Cohen, et al to measure the empathy skills of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.*

Click on the link below (Reading the Mind) and take the test; it will take you between 10 and 15 minutes depending on how fast you go. Click through to the end and it will tell you how well you scored compared to other people. Don’t freak if you don’t score well; there are always circumstances that make us more or less able to score as we should.

For up to 5 points extra credit, share your score and tell us if you think you’ve been accurately evaluated by the test. Why or why don’t you believe the scores reflect your ability to read emotions?

You don’t have to respond to a colleague; Have fun!

Reading the Mind

here is the url in case the link doesn’t work; cut & paste it into the browser window:

http://socialintelligence.labinthewild.org/mite/

This extra credit opportunity will only be available through Sun, Nov 1, 11:59pm.

There are no groups.

*Autism (or Autism Spectrum Disorder) is a developmental disorder in which people have disabilities in many areas including social communication skills, fine and gross motor skills, and sometimes intellectual skills as well as unusual responses to sensory input (unusual sensitivity to light, sound, etc.); as a result, they may have trouble interacting with others.