Belongingness and Love Needs

Though Maslow noted that love and belonging needs would be at the motivational center of a person only after safety and physiological were more or less fulfilled, it’s undeniable that even those who live in poverty are motivated by finding a place to belong.

The importance of relationships, especially the ones we form with parental figures or caregivers at a young age – when we are dependent on them for our physiological and safety needs – throws another wrench in the traditional Maslow model. In fact, belongingness can, in some cases, be seen as a means to fulfilling safety needs. Even Maslow admits that, should this need not be fulfilled – especially in the formative years – it leads to a danger in any number of psychological disorders:

In our society the thwarting of these needs is the most commonly found core in cases of maladjustment and more severe psychopathology. Love and affection, as well as their possible expression in sexuality, are generally looked upon with ambivalence and are customarily hedged about with many restrictions and inhibitions. Practically all theorists of psychopathology have stressed thwarting of the love needs as basic in the picture of maladjustment.

from A theory of human motivation, Maslow, 1943

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references

1. Koltko-Rivera, Mark E. `Rediscovering the Later Version of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Self-Transcendence and Opportunities for Theory, Research, and Unification.` Review of General Psychology, vol. 10, no. 4, 1 Dec. 2006, pp. 302–317., doi:10.1037/1089-2680.10.4.302. [https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow(2).pdf].
2. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346. [https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm].
3. `Hierarchy of Needs of Abraham Maslow.` A First Look at Communication Theory, by Emory A. Griffin et al., Mcgraw-Hill Education, 2019, pp. 124–133. http://www.afirstlook.com/docs/hierarchy.pdf.
4. Mcleod, S. A. (2020, March 20). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology. [https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html].