Wrestling with pyramids

tillich-maslow
Originally uploaded by IC Pod.

Abraham Maslow researched and created his hierarchy of needs using his observations of work practice. He said until we had sufficient of a layer we did not ascend to the next level of the hierarchy. As Virginia Postrel has shown this is not actually true in our modern day (and non-USA) circumstances. There seems to be something much richer driving us especially at the higher levels.

Paul Tillich, existential philosopher postulates that an Individual has three options in life……...

1.Participation

Primary Focus:

Submerges self into social group

Positive by-products: 

Sense of personal security & social comfort

Danger: 

Dissolution of one's own sense of self

Over-conformance to norms and fads

"keeping up with the Jones's"

Weakening of one's belief in your impact on world

[Maslow refers to self-realisation as self-actualisation.]

2.Individualisation

Primary Focus: 

Reach ones potential and improve one's lot in life

(financial, familial or social)

Positive outcomes:

Personal heroism to successful entrepreneurship

Potential by-products:

Loneliness, alienation

Frustration, wariness of others

Other outcomes:

Restless, desire for more,

Need to prove oneself

Have to win to maintain self-respect

Driven belief: greater self-realisation is round corner.

3.Self-Realisation

Primary Focus:

Iinterdependence

Spirit maintained and enhanced by integrating into a world that exists

Holistic rather than mechanistic

[Niels Bohrs said properties of particles can only be defined as they interact with other systems]

As we move up Maslow's Hierarchy we are moving from utilitarian functions to symbolic ones enabling us to make meaning of our artefacts within our cultural contexts. Paul du Gay's circuit of culture model, explained in "Doing Cultural Studies", helps us towards understanding the role of artefacts in making meaning.

Maslow's hierarchy has been "improved" by additional layers over the years since his death. First a Cognitive layer was added below Self-actualisation and then more layers were added and these extras were used to inform the DoCoMo's i-mode (Japan) innovation process. This leads to:

The layers are defined as:

Transcendence: To help others find self-fulfillment and realise their potential

Self-actualisation: To find self-fulfillment, realise one’s potential

Aesthetic: Symmetry, order, beauty

Cognitive: To know, understand, explore

Esteem: To achieve, be competent, gain approval, recognition

Belonging and love: To affiliate with others, be accepted

Safety/security: Out of danger

Physiological: Hunger, thirst, bodily comforts

Whilst very useful in interpreting our motivation and behaviour I have erred on the simple side keeping to the original 5 layers as the newer layers tend to be enabled by a product or a service rather than being feature specific , i.e. I don't know how someone will actually make meaning of the features I provide but I hope that they will enable emergent behaviour. At the functional end I can make sure the user benefits from more efficient stain removal, cooler drinks, smoother acceleration, clearer menus, etc.