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Economics\ 14. Theory of Economics

Nepokupna T., Ph.D, associate prof., Browko T., assistant prof.

The Poltava Korolenko National Teacher’s Training University, Ukraine

 

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as the Basis for the Family Upbringing Logic

 

Family presents the main force of producing living means and their distributing in any society. It acquires a special importance in the procreation of the humankind and upbringing of children, the transfer of experience, economical culture, consideration for work, respect and care for the elders, etc. That is why social, spiritual and material values are fulfilled during the further development of a human in the society and determine his or her social maturity, economical and professional competence as successfully as they penetrate and consolidate in the child’s mind.

On the modern stage of development scientists stress the necessity of active human investment [1]. From the point of view of the traditional economics human investments are expenses made for the purpose of increasing work productivity and income both personal and social. We propose to broaden the understanding of human investment with at least individual biophysical, mental, creative and moral potential, which subsequently allow to get knowledge, to become an integral personality and fulfill oneself in the social production with all the attributes following this process: professional belonging and qualification, experience and skills, status and life level, etc. The above-mentioned is possible only if the family exercises reproductive, educative, economical, communicative, psychotherapeutic and recreative functions [2]. Different families realize these functions in a way depending on their educative potential, possibilities of children’s upbringing according to the set of available material and spiritual family resources. Available needs (a shortage or a deficiency, which exists in the physical, psychological, social human organism) and motives (a conscious or an unconscious force that makes the human to act or sometimes not to act) take an important place among elements of such a possibility. Motives are reasons or factors which influence the result or action.

The study of human motivation includes the ascertaining of behavior motives that include reflection, intents, presentiments of behavior results, in other words, justification [3, p. 207]. The role of the family is important in the process of shaping of needs, their urgency, priority of satisfaction and motivational direction. The priority of certain needs and motives, their shaping can change in different family patterns. For the purpose of the analysis of the family upbringing logic we should dwell on the noted Abraham Maslow’s motivation theory (1908-1970). A. Maslow became the founder of a humanistic life philosophy that can help to “understand the true meaning of such social institutes as family, religion, education” [4].

Maslow provides two subsystems of needs: fundamental needs and metaneeds. In the basis of human motivation there lie fundamental needs which are characteristic of the human as a biological species: physiological needs, safety needs, needs of love and belongingness, esteem needs (self-esteem and esteem of other people). These needs can be considered deficient because they cause a certain behavior if not satisfied properly. Thus, the behavior of parents, the stressing of their attention of physiological needs and safety needs influence the subsequent philosophy of the future of the given person: he or she might acquire simplified notions of purpose of life and meaning of values, such as “to live in order to eat”. The satisfaction of needs of the first levels becomes the basis for appearance of needs for love, affection and dependence. According to A. Maslow, lack of love (not in the field of sexual relationship) represses the personal growth and development of the human’s potential. Love in its social and spiritual sense presumes relations between two people based on trust. Trust is expectation, “that appears in the members of a community about expected, fair and careful attitude to the needs of others according to some common standards” [5, p. 52]. Lack of trust in interpersonal relations can lead to hostility and suspiciousness.

Dwelling on the next level, A. Maslow has distinguished two categories of esteem needs: the first one, need for self-esteem, covers the need to be confident, competent, adequate, independent and free; the second one, being the need for respect from others, includes such notions as prestige, recognition, acceptance, display of attention, status, reputation and appraise of actions itself. The research proved that a human with adequate self-esteem is confident and works productively. Low self-esteem leads to the feeling of helplessness and humility, inhibits human fulfillment, forms inferiority complex. Overstated self-esteem leads to the erroneous self-image, creates an idealized image of a person. It leads to ignoring of professional troubles, negativism towards everything that destroys the self-image. Failure to complete a task is considered to be not the result of actions of the person himself, but the result of exterior factors, procrastination of others, perfidy.

The highest level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is metaproblems, being needs for development, which include, firsty, needs for universal cognition, curiosity, obtaining of information, the search for truth with the help of analytical thinking, understanding of the surrounding world and creation of the value system, aesthetic needs, beauty needs; secondly, needs for self-actualization (self-transcendence), the personal endeavor to be what one can be, to fulfill and develop the personal potential, care for others, responsibility, psychological growth, self-sufficiency, freedom, etc. Human characteristics of the person, who reached the highest level of needs, the self-actualization, indicate the holistic, integral mentality (A. Maslow [4]) or “full-fledged mentality” (V. Tsaplin [6, p. 27]).

Thus both Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and knowledge of the entire spectrum of needs and behavior motives can serve as the basis for the family upbringing logic. The understanding of values, installed by family upbringing, molded needs condition the personal life philosophy and behavior motives, which influence the economical choice of the individual.

 

 

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