I worked one summer with a communication studies class consisting of business students required to take the course. The class was Presentational Speaking in the Organization and this time around I talked about needs and the ability to persuade people. Appeal to people’s needs and you have a way to manipulate them with communication including advertising.

It’s Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

This means I know what you need.

The diagram shows physical or physiological needs are the most basic of human needs. That’s probably not a surprise to you. We need food, water, sleep, etc.

Safety, which is tied to the physical needs, is another need. People want to feel secure from war, storms, or death. They don’t want someone to break into their homes.

The desire to belong and feel love is another big need. Even if someone is an introvert and prefers to stay at home watching an action movie on a Friday night, he or she still wants to be a part of something larger than himself or herself. “A lover of action films” might be enough for someone to feel a part of a group. We join knitting clubs for this reason sometimes. It’s also the need to belong and feel loved that sends people into the dating world or into marriage.

Esteem is another need. It’s not enough to belong to a romantic partnership, family, workplace, or World of Warcraft group. We want to know we’re a valid and possibly respected member. This doesn’t mean people want to be the best. This means they want to be validated or at least recognized as being a cog that makes that group work. This validation can be affected and also affect our self-esteem and confidence too.

Here’s where our needs get a little more esoteric.

Creating a walking stick made from Yucca can fullfill a creative need for some people

Self-actualization means the need for a person to become the most he or she can be. Creativity falls into this need. It is this need that might make people want to paint, fashion walking sticks out of yucca, or explore astrology charts.

My argument against Maslow’s Hierachy is that our needs aren’t in a hierarchy.

People shouldn’t assume if physical needs of food and shelter are met that now **poof** it’s time to move “up” to loved, then up to esteem, and so on and so forth. Some people would rather starve to death than not belong to a group.

But yes, these human needs exist universally. Everyone everywhere needs and wants them met. It doesn’t matter if they’re a Hasidic Jewish man living in Ten Aviv, a Maori woman Down Under, or a white man working a southern Arizona ranch.

When you interact with a person and perhaps they are upset at you or at some other guy or gal or situation, know which need is being threatened.

Your relationship will be clearer when your assessment of that person’s needs is clearer.