Random thoughts09 Jun 2006 12:58 am
After thinking for a while, I came up with the following list of those fundamental things that every human wants:
- attention
- importance
- companionship
- entertainment
- sex
- knowledge
- time
- relaxation
- success (at any challenge/goal)
- earn/save significant (relative to the individual) amounts of money
- and even though it’s sort of implied: power to get any of the aforementioned items
Is that a comprehensive list? Can anyone think of anything that’s missing? Any items that are there that you think don’t belong? Lemme know!
Tags:marketing
June 9th, 2006 at 8:19 am
Missing a big one…material possessions (i.e. keeping up with the Joneses). I would argue that accumulation of material possessions is way different from the accumulation of money.
June 9th, 2006 at 9:15 am
What about thrill and adrenaline related activities? Some people certainly don’t like thrill, however they are just at the opposite end and like to have calm and peace all of the time.
I would say keeping up with the Joneses also is under importance and attention since they want to feel more important than everyone else and it is shown through having 24″ wheels vs 20″ wheels on the escalade. They certainly want attention when they pull up to their kids school with the cleanest SUV there that all the little kids talk about on the playground.
June 9th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Bernie,
Good point. But I think in general, material possessions that we *want* but don’t necessarily need (aka luxury purchases) are mainly to help bolster our sense of importance - as Rob indicated. Commodity purchases, like toilet paper, we need but don’t specifically desire.
Rob,
Does thrilling activities fall under entertainment? Your point about some people wanting calm and peace is interesting. I originally had relaxation/sleep on the list but I reasoned that that fell under time. People want more time in the day so they can complete all their tasks and still have time for pleasurable activities. Hmmm… maybe I i will add relaxation to the list.
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:08 am
Search for “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” and compare it to thine list.
Maslow made sense and, years after creating his list, it is still used in training the brain-dead brainwashed Americans sitting complacently in their over-priced college classrooms.