Human Needs
Congratulations on completing the Human Needs test!
I know it was a lot of questions. But because you stayed with it to the end, you can now see the results. And by taking a close look at how you organize and meet your needs, you will gain a real insight into why life has been the way it has. Why you have had certain feelings and emotions, why you do what you do. And you will learn why others do what they do too as you gain more understanding about the human needs.
Your Psychological Human Needs
All human behaviour is driven by the pursuit to fulfil one of the Six Human Needs
Each of us, beneath our dreams and goals, and under our behaviours and emotions, have a deep unconscious desire to meet our six psychological human needs. As human beings we all have the same six needs deep within us. But the difference in our individual psychology comes from how we prioritise these needs in our lives and what we do to meet them.
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What are the Six Human Needs?
Certainty - This is our need for comfort, to know we will be ok. To be safe. To know that we are strong. That we are protected. Certainty is the need for life to be consistent. It is stability. With certainty we are brave and courageous. This need is a survival mechanism, to be certain that we are ok. Without certainty we cannot function.
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We can meet our need for certainty in so many ways. By smoking people feel an immediate sense of relaxation, comfort. The same with drugs and alcohol. Yet we can also meet our need to be certain by becoming angry as we feel strong when we do, or even by carrying weapons, who will mess with us then! We can find certainty in having a good home, or having a faith. A steady job. By building wealth too.
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How do you meet your need for Certainty? We all meet this need in one way or another.
Variety - This is our need for change. We all need a change once in a while because of our human need for variety. It is to have a surprise. To have something new. To have a mixture of different things in life. Variety brings us excitement, the unknown. It brings us adventure in life. The need for variety pushes us to experience more which in turn causes us to grow through new learnings and experiences. Variety is paradoxical to the need for certainty yet they are both part of our human needs.
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We can meet our need for variety by looking forward to and enjoying the weekend, by drinking, by watching a new movie we haven't seen before. We can meet our need for variety by enjoying fast cars, feeling a sense of danger that makes us feel alive. Also by changing our appearance, or going away on holiday. People also meet their need for variety by going on rollercoasters, by adding excitement into relationships, or by getting into a new business venture.
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How do you meet your need for Variety? We all meet this need in one way or another.
Significance - The need for us to know that we are enough. That we are not just like anybody else but that we are special in some way. The need to be needed and wanted. The need to feel important to someone or at least to ourselves. We meet our need for significance by having a purpose, being driven. It's the need to feel unique and to have meaning in our lives.
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We can meet our need for significance by putting others down, by being violent, by owning weapons. By having a larger problem than anyone else. We can meet our need by hiving bigger toys than anyone else, the biggest TV, car, home. We can feel significant in our faith, by the love we have in life. By our appearance. Having a big bank account can meet our need for significance or by being healthier and fit. By having unique skills that we are good at or by giving to charity more than anyone else.
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How do you meet your need for Significance? We all meet this need in one way or another.
Love / Connection - This is the need within all of us to feel connection. For some the word love is too big but it is to connect and experience a deeper understanding and appreciation of each other. It is to feel affection. To experience caring. It is compassion, companionship. To long for or be longed for. To appreciate and respect.
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We can meet our need for connection or love through touch, through intimacy. By being together in thought, laughing and crying together. We can also create connection through pain or through suffering. Also by getting sick, by creating problems, or by suffering. We also meet our need for love and connection through nature, prayer, meditation, or by reaching out.
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How do you meet your need for Love / Connection? We all meet this need in one way or another.
Growth - This is our need to know that we are growing in life. That we are making progress in a positive direction. It is for us to expand in some way. To stretch and move forward. To build more for ourselves or others in some way. Happiness in life requires to know that we are taking steps forward.
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We can meet our need for growth by learning something new, or by building a new skill. When we gain a new understanding on something. We meet our need for growth if we expand on what is acceptable to us, or if we take on new ideas or beliefs. Expanding in relationships and deepening relationships meet our need for growth. We can grow in all kinds of areas of life.
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How do you meet your need for Growth - or do you? Not everybody meets this need we have all of the time.
Contribution - The need to give back beyond ourselves. Putting others first. Philanthropy. Teaching, giving, and sharing more than we gain from it.
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We can meet this need through charity. Donations. By giving of our time. Giving our skills. By acts that are completely selfless. Only by contributing back more to life beyond ourselves do we feel fulfilled.
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How do you meet your need for Contribution? - or do you? Not everybody meets this need we have all of the time.
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What do the six human needs mean for you?
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What is fascinating in relation to meeting our needs is that we tend to prioritise a few of our needs over others. Some people for example prioritise Love / Connection and Variety over the need for Significance and Certainty.
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Do you think that prioritising our top needs for Love / Connection and Variety over the need for Significance and Certainty would result in a very different life to if you did it the other way around? You would be correct. In fact the way we prioritise our needs has an enormous impact on our experience of life.
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Would you like to take a look at how you prioritise your six human needs? Well, based on the answers you gave today, here you go...