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After buying an iPhone, I have begun to wonder where consumer purchases fit into Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In 1943, Abraham Maslow proposed a system of human needs in his paper, A Theory of Human Motivation. At the base level, Maslow suggested that humans have physiological needs — to maintain homeostasis, breathe, and so on. Once those needs are met, the (sane) human seeks safety, then love and belonging, then esteem, then at the top level: self-actualization — this is where creativity, morality, and general awesomeness reside.
Maslow’s hierarchy makes a lot of sense to me — it’s certainly true that when a base need (for example, “It’s awful darn cold in this room”) isn’t being met, satisfying that need becomes the primary motivator in my life, pushing aside the exciting work of self-actualization. But where I think it gets interesting is examining the effects of advertising and consumer culture on your personal hierarchy of needs. Apple managed to convince me that I Needed an iPhone a few weeks back, to the point that I put all my other needs on hold and stood in a line for several hours (in the hot sun and the rain), just to plunk down $600 and take home a phone. (Granted, a really neat phone that I enjoy, but still, not something that was a need before Apple told me it was.)
It seems to me that effective advertising creates an alternate, commercialized version of Maslow’s pyramid — where instead of attending to the real needs of yourself as a human being (everything from homeostasis to self-actualization), you buy into the desire to attain some new gizmo, eat a certain kind of food, in general meeting your needs by buying more stuff (and particular stuff — this or that brand of cereal, for instance). In this alternate world, your needs are suggested to you by advertising, often at a specific time and place — new Harry Potter book coming soon! — and your experience of fulfilling those needs involves buying stuff and shifting priorities in your life in order to enable purchases.
Somewhere at the top of this commercial need pyramid (for me, anyway) is the iPhone, a device that effectively promised to simplify my life by reducing the number of gadgets I carried (all of which were previous commercial items I decided to buy). Before the iPhone, I already had a phone, an iPod, a laptop, and good internet access — after it, I still have those things, but I also have an iPhone. Hmm. I was clearly in the target market because I’d already bought all the other gizmos, so now my need was to buy uber- or meta-gizmos to simplify. Ouch.
This experience of buying into a commercial need diverts the buyer into an experience where “must buy iPhone” is the primary need of the moment. The most amazing (and perhaps horrifying) part is, buying the iPhone actually felt like a form of self-actualization. It felt similar to being creative, and I was validated by all the other nerds buying theirs. I’ve heard stories of those who shopped at Apple Stores where lines of employees would high-five new iPhone buyers on their way out of the store. What’s up with that?
I also wonder — is it all that bad if buying something makes you feel good? It’s certainly scary, but is it a valid option for being happy? To some extent, if paying $600 for an iPhone bought me $600 worth of happiness, that’s actually pretty neat. I think where this gets hard to hold onto is when you compare my $600 of happiness to putting $600 in the bank (probably making me happier someday in the future), or giving it to someone who really needs it (to maintain homeostasis, for example), or what have you. But I suppose everything is relative — if I stuck with that line of reasoning I’d probably live in a yurt. And who knows, maybe I’d be happier for it.
So what sits atop your hierarchy of needs? Is it some commercial need masquerading as self-actualization? Is it something personal, creative, or…other?
Comments (19)
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One thing I’ve noticed is that the “needs” change with age quite dramatically. Not five years ago, I would have been all over the iPhone. Now, one could sit on my desk unopened for weeks (as far as I was concerned.) For me personally, material items have lost much of their luster.
I’m becoming much more “zen”-ish as I get older.
posted by Ed Hands on 7-17-2007 at 8:37 am
Boy, I’ll agree with Ed here…as I get older, I’m way happier buying plants/flowers for my yard and making a nice green space for nature instead of buying things for me…granted, the birds, flowers and bugs are entertaining me, so everyone wins!
posted by donner on 7-17-2007 at 8:48 am
I try to hold back on buying something like that when it first comes out. I don’t like being manipulated into buying something especially for $600. I usually wait a while (a few months to a year) and try to decide if I really need it.
-Stew
posted by Stew on 7-17-2007 at 8:52 am
Just read an interesting op/ed piece in the LA Times about how the French and pretty much every other industrialized nation’s workers have way more vacation time than Americans do — and that the reason seems to be A) a collective unwillingness to do much about it and, more to the point, B) that we’re more concerned with working hard to get cool stuff than not working as much. Which makes me wonder — how’s the iPhone selling in France?
posted by Ransom on 7-17-2007 at 9:27 am
My self-actualization need right now is finishing my bachelor’s degree in marketing. I am recently divorced and have a son who is 4 years old and I want to be able to provide a better life for the both of us than what I can provide on my current associate’s degree in medical assisting.
posted by Ginger on 7-17-2007 at 9:46 am
Ransom – you can’t buy an iPhone in France (Apple doesn’t have a carrier partner there yet), though if you follow the rumor sites, they claim it’s coming by end-of-year.
Why do I know this??
posted by Higgins on 7-17-2007 at 9:49 am
Right now it’s the purchase of our first house, a wedding (6 months to go) and a honeymoon.
posted by Priscilla on 7-17-2007 at 10:23 am
paying off my debt
posted by ac on 7-17-2007 at 11:27 am
I just got back from camping for a week. Right now, I just need a hot shower and some clean underwear! And my mentalfloss fix, of course.
posted by MAP on 7-17-2007 at 12:47 pm
On the top of the pyramid, there sleeps Cthulhu…
(… which rises the question: Just how deep have you sunk into the abyss of consumerism? Cthulhu, after all, sleeps in R’Lyeh, which locates in the bottom of the ocean.)
posted by dogma00 on 7-17-2007 at 1:54 pm
I’m always at odds with myself, philisophically I guess, because growing up you always hear “money can’t buy you happiness”. It sounds morally correct and intellectually sound. But. My girlfriend found an article online about a study that concluded that yes it can. Buying stuff can make you happy. Whether the stuff you buy can make you happy is debatable, just like the first few posters say: what they want changes. I think its all about recognizing that just because society or whoever (even my g/f) tells me something (Doritos are great, you need an iPhone, money can’t buy you happinness) it’s not necessarily the case but it’s ok to acknowledge a choice (hmm do I want some Doritos right now?) and choose what makes you happy.
posted by josh on 7-17-2007 at 1:58 pm
I’m always at odds with myself, philisophically I guess, because growing up you always hear “money can’t buy you happiness”. It sounds morally correct and intellectually sound. But. My girlfriend found an article online about a study that concluded that yes it can. Buying stuff can make you happy. Whether the stuff you buy can make you happy is debatable, just like the first few posters say: what they want changes. I think its all about recognizing that just because society or whoever (even my g/f) tells me something (Doritos are great, you need an iPhone, money can’t buy you happinness) it’s not necessarily the case but it’s ok to acknowledge a choice (hmm do I want some Doritos right now?) and choose what makes you happy.
posted by josh on 7-17-2007 at 1:58 pm
Josh, if you can find the link to the study you mentioned please share it. Thanks!
posted by Jason! on 7-17-2007 at 2:05 pm
On the top of the needs is living in a yurt and paying $600 for it a day.
posted by ijontichy on 7-17-2007 at 2:05 pm
I think it’s quite possible that in our industrialized, technocratic society, most people don’t meet their needs in a linear fashion, such as from the bottom to top of Maslow’s pyramid. I certainly have foregone some physiological and safety needs to try to obtain some of the self-esteem and self-actualization varieties.
posted by Jordan on 7-17-2007 at 2:20 pm
@Ransom
I think that more people in the U.S. tend to identify themselves by their careers/jobs than our counterparts in Europe (in general, of course. There are always exceptions.) Not that either is better or worse than the other, just different.
That’s one reason I think the long holidays haven’t spread in the U.S.
posted by Ed Hands on 7-17-2007 at 11:20 pm
I think I’m all over the pyramid. Perhaps if my consumer tendencies were in better control, then the foundation of my pyramid would be stronger. However, rather that stop shopping, I will probably continue to look for a better job to make more money, so that I can go back to school to get a better degree so that I can get an even better job, making even more money. This money would be saved so that I could go back to school again and get the degree that I want and the job that I want… I suppose that’s working towards some sort of actualization.
posted by Truovrld on 7-18-2007 at 9:01 am
Don’t be hating on yurts… If you’ve never tried staying in one, you should. I love it.
posted by Kdbug on 7-18-2007 at 3:10 pm
Like some above, I am divorced, studying for a masters (not to get more money) to appreciate the world more. Surfing for Maslow and I found this image – it really made me laugh – and that motivated me to study more. Next wave is Herzberg.
posted by Bydand on 1-3-2008 at 1:54 pm