Binge Eating and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Beyond a physical drive for food or water, shelter, and safety, what motivates our behavior?

According to humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, our actions are motivated to achieve certain needs. His hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to satisfy basic needs before moving on to more advanced needs.

His hierarchy of needs model is often shown as a pyramid, with the lowest or most basic levels of the pyramid being our most basic human needs. Our most complex needs are at the top of the pyramid.

Simply put, it means that our basic needs must be met first before we can move on to meeting more complex needs. For example, it’s hard to focus on self-esteem if you’re starving.

As we meet our basic needs, we move up the pyramid. Our needs become more psychological and social than physical. Soon, our needs for love, friendship, and intimacy become important to our overall well-being and health. Later, our needs for personal self-esteem and the ability to achieve goals become important.

Maslow puts self-actualization at the top, which is the highest “need” of a human being, the need to grow and develop as a person to reach their full potential.

In fact, if you have become bored with the rhythm of your daily routine, longing for something “deeper” or “bigger” for your life, then you are experiencing your need for self-actualization.

Abraham Maslow theorized that physical, safety, social, and esteem needs are deficiency needs (also known as D-needs), meaning that these needs arise due to deprivation.

The higher levels of the pyramid are considered growth needs (also known as needs or B needs). Growth needs are not born from the lack of something, but from the desire to develop as a person.

It is said that deficiency or basic needs motivate people when they are not satisfied. Furthermore, the need to satisfy such needs will become stronger the longer the denial lasts. For example, the longer a person goes without eating, the hungrier they will be.

This model originally came out in 1943, then was revised in 1954. It was later expanded to include cognitive, aesthetic, and transcendence needs in the 1970s.

Here is Maslow’s model, as is with all the necessities built in:

1. Biological and physiological needs: air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Security needs: protection against the elements, security, order, law, stability, etc.

3. Social Needs – Belonging and Love, – work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs: self-esteem, achievement, dominance, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs: knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs: appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-actualization needs: realization of personal potential, self-actualization, pursuit of personal growth, and peak experiences.

8. Needs of transcendence: help others to achieve self-realization.

Now how does this relate to eating?

Maslow’s model pinpoints the needs that drive our behavior… and since binge eating is often not due to physical hunger, it is behavior that is due to other needs.

Binge eating is usually motivated by something that is usually not obvious. It is often the result of a habit or a reaction to something emotional or situational: stress, anxiety, boredom, loneliness, guilt, shame, anger… you get the picture.

If it has become a habitual reaction, there may not be an obvious connection to an emotion or situation. It may be what you’ve gotten used to doing.

If you find yourself overeating on a regular basis and feel disgusted with yourself for being “weak” or having “no control” over food… step back for a moment to look at the 8 human needs above . Is there a need that you are not completely satisfied with?

Maybe you feel stuck. Or like your life is on autopilot. Perhaps you are missing beauty and balance. Perhaps there is a relationship that is not what you want it to be.

to take action

For the next 8 days, focus on one of the 8 needs listed in Maslow’s hierarchy. Plan and do what makes you feel most fulfilled in that area that day. Feed yourself at that level.

Observe your eating behaviors as you make conscious efforts to meet your needs on multiple levels. Do you feel more Hungarian than ever? Feeling inspired to try something new? Not feeling your usual cravings?

I am very curious to know. For me, after playing around with this, I realized that it’s often social, esteem, or self-actualization needs that can make me feel unsettled or unsatisfied. And when I’m feeling dissatisfied… it’s so easy to fill up on food without even thinking about it.