Among the significant personalities who contributes about personality and psychology
health is Abraham Maslow. According to Maslow, psychological health can be link to the individuals desire or attempt to meet the inner needs. He called this needs as the ” Hierarchy of Needs “.
The hierarchy of needs looks like a pyramid divided by levels from bottom to top. The first three levels are belong to the basic needs category an the other who belongs to the meta needs category. According to Maslow, an individual, should met the the needs in lower level before the next level can be satisfied.
He
believes that an individual must fulfill the meta needs to be able to become a completely developed human being. If an individual cannot accomplish this, he/she will become cynical, apathetic and lonely. As discussed earlier, this hierarchy of needs is a pyramid like, divided by five levels.The first level are the physiological needs (basic needs), it includes the individuals need for food, water, sleep, exercise and health. The second level is Safety and Security (basic needs), it includes protection, peace, order and stability. The third level are belonging and love (basic needs), it includes acceptance, affiliation and affection. The fourth level are the Esteem
needs (meta needs), it includes self-worth,self esteem, and accomplishment, and the fifth and final level is the Self actualization (meta needs) which includes sense of humor, spirituality, creativity, aesthetic appreciation, and curiosity.According to Maslow, self-actualization is the need to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming, the top level of the meta needs that is needed to become a completely developed individual. By examining what he considered as exceptionally healthy people who developed their fullest potentials, Maslow came up with this model.
Few peoples were identified were identified by Maslow to have developed their full potentials. Among of them were Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
According to him this people share some similarity in personality and characteristics such as a strong ethical and moral code of conduct, being compassionate, being innovative, being comfortable, altruistic, motivated and goal oriented. According to him the hierarchy of needs must be acquired in order for an individual to fulfill and developed the full potentials in his/her life.