

These needs are the biological component for human survival.

Physiological needs are the base of the hierarchy. Thus Maslow acknowledged the likelihood that the different levels of motivation could occur at any time in the human mind, but he focused on identifying the basic types of motivation and the order in which they would tend to be met. Instead of stating that the individual focuses on a certain need at any given time, Maslow stated that a certain need "dominates" the human organism.

Maslow spoke clearly about these levels and their satisfaction in terms such as "relative", "general", and "primarily". The human brain is a complex system and has parallel processes running at the same time, thus many different motivations from various levels of Maslow's hierarchy can occur at the same time. Maslow also coined the term " metamotivation" to describe the motivation of people who go beyond the scope of the basic needs and strive for constant betterment. Maslow's idea suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher-level needs. If these "deficiency needs" are not met – except for the most fundamental (physiological) need – there may not be a physical indication, but the individual will feel anxious and tense. The most fundamental four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "d-needs": esteem, friendship and love, security, and physical needs. However, it has been pointed out that, although the ideas behind the hierarchy are Maslow's, the pyramid itself does not exist anywhere in Maslow's original work. In other words, the idea is that individuals' most basic needs must be met before they become motivated to achieve higher-level needs. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the largest, most fundamental needs at the bottom, and the need for self-actualization and transcendence at the top. This means that the lower levels may take precedence back over the other levels at any point in time. However, today scholars prefer to think of these levels as continuously overlapping each other. The original hierarchy states that a lower level must be completely satisfied and fulfilled before moving onto a higher pursuit. Maslow's classification hierarchy has been revised over time. The hierarchy remains a very popular framework in sociology research, management training and secondary and higher psychology instruction. Maslow's idea was fully expressed in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality. The goal in Maslow's hierarchy is to attain the fifth level or stage: self-actualization. Each of these individual levels contains a certain amount of internal sensation that must be met in order for an individual to complete their hierarchy. Additionally, this hierarchy is a main base in knowing how effort and motivation are correlated when discussing human behavior. This means that in order for motivation to arise at the next stage, each stage must be satisfied within the individual themselves. Maslow used the terms "physiological", "safety", "belonging and love", "social needs" or "esteem", and " self-actualization" to describe the pattern through which human motivations generally move. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is used to study how humans intrinsically partake in behavioral motivation.

The theory is usually shown as a pyramid in illustrations. The hierarchy of needs is split between deficiency needs and growth needs. His theories, including the hierarchy, may have been influenced by teachings and philosophy of the Blackfeet tribe, where he spent several weeks prior to writing his influential paper. He then created a classification system which reflected the universal needs of society as its base and then proceeding to more acquired emotions. His theories parallel many other theories of human developmental psychology, some of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is an idea in psychology proposed by American Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in the journal Psychological Review. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often represented as a pyramid, with the more basic needs at the bottom
