To the question of what a person needs for happiness, it is difficult to give a definite answer. This is too individual, although researchers have repeatedly tried to highlight the main factors that are important for most people. In their opinion, the satisfaction of human needs brings him closer to a state of happiness.
Happiness as a satisfaction of one’s needs
Happiness is a rather subjective concept. Often a person feels unhappy while he lacks something that he really needs or that he considers necessary for himself. In the 40s of the 20th century, the American psychologist A. Maslow proposed a theory to society, which was called the Maslow Pyramid of Needs.
The pyramid includes the following seven levels of human needs in ascending order:
- physiological (sleep, nutrition, health, clothing, housing, sexual relations); - the need for security (protection, stability and comfort, a sense of confidence); - social (communication, belonging to any social group, joint activity, family, friends, love); - self-affirmation and recognition of others (success, career, prestige, self-esteem, power); - knowledge (search and obtaining new information, the acquisition of different skills); - aesthetic (beauty, harmony, order); - self-actualization (self-expression and realization of one’s abilities, self-development).
As Maslow said, people usually get motivated to move to the next level when the needs of the previous level are met at least partially. At the same time, a person can strive and work to achieve several goals at once, but the most urgent need for a basic level is always more important than higher matters. If you follow this logic, a person should be happier the more fully satisfied his needs in different areas.