Types and Systems of Need

You will agree to the statement that need is a very subjective term. For some, needs may be very basic but for some others, it is not. Actually speaking needs follow a system and have types. Many authors and writers have worked on this and have identified several such systems.

Some of the very early work in identification of needs emerged in 1938 when Henry Murray identified first systematic list of twenty eight non biological needs. These needs were termed as Psychogenic Needs. These basic needs include many motives that are assumed to play an important role in consumer behaviour, such as acquisition, achievement, recognition, exhibition, aggression and affiliation.

The most significant however, was Dr. Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs (www.maslow.com). According to Maslow’s theory, needs are hierarchal. The lower level needs are basic and upper level needs are psychogenic. Once lower level need is satisfied, upper level need surfaces. You must be thinking why it is a pyramid? It is so because most of the people are at the bottom of pyramid as everyone has physiological need such as food, water and shelter. A very few people reach to the last level i.e. self-actualization.

This video compiles the advertisements targeting system of need hierarchy.

McClelland’s system of needs is an extension of Maslow’s theory. His Trio of Needs are not hierarchal though. According to him, this trio exists irrespective of each one is satisfied or not. Power refers to the individual’s desire to control other people and objects – it is tied to a type of ego needs. Affiliation is similar to Maslow’s social need and suggests that behaviour is influenced by the desire for social ties. Finally, the need for achievement, like the other needs, will vary from individual to individual.