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All human behavior is caused by the
need to fulfill one or more of the following six basic human psychological
needs.
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The six human needs are:
- Esteem, Love, and Positive Connection
- Positive Identity and Growth
- Effectiveness and Significance
- Security, Certainty, and Comfort
- Self-Trust, Variety, and Uncertainty
- Comprehension of Reality and Contribution
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- Esteem, Love and Positive Connection is the need to feel love, be cared about, a need to bond, and to experience intimate friendships, as well as to have close relationships to family and community.
- The need for Positive Identity and Growth is a need to develop and maintain a positive view or image of ourselves by self-awareness and acceptance of ourselves. It requires experience and learning about the world and ourselves in the world. The need to feel we are growing intellectually, spiritually, and physically is necessary to become better, to improve our skills, to stretch and excel.
- Effectiveness and Significance is another basic need. The fulfillment of this need leads to the belief that we have the ability to protect ourselves from harm and that we are able to control our behavior toward others. Our self-control gives us confidence that we can lead purposeful lives and gives us the feeling that we matter, or our lives have meaning to others.
- Another need is Security, Certainty and Comfort. This is the need to feel that everything is settled, secure, and that there are no surprises, which also allows us to feel comfort. Feeling secure is the psychological need to know or believe that we will be free from physical and psychological harm.
- Self-Trust, Variety and Uncertainty is the opposite of certainty. However, the need to feel life is interesting, diverse, and challenging leads to the need for Variety and Uncertainty. Self-Trust is a part of Variety and Uncertainty because it refers to the ability to make one's own decisions and trust one's own judgment.
- Contribution and Comprehension of Reality is the need to feel that we are giving of ourselves for the benefit of other living things. It is the desire to contribute something of value and to make the world a better place. This also coincides with the need for Comprehension of Reality because we need to feel that we understand people and the world. Our view of people helps us make sense of the world, which allows us to complete the need of Contribution.
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