Human psychology relates to describing, understanding, and predicting human behavior to upgrade it. The irony is that psychology is a complex topic and we are trying to understand human behavior based on human psychology that is too complex to understand fully. We use tools that we have not much grasp on.
Is there a way to understand human behavior using less complex approaches that change much less with time than human psychology? We know complexity arises from the interaction of very few simple rules.
What are these simple guides or rules that interact to form the complex human behavior? Pondering on this question, I find that human needs are the basis of human behavior. There are few human needs ranging from basic needs to spiritual and recognition needs as depicted by The Maslow Pyramid of Needs.
A question rises again if human needs have been the same over the ages or have they changed.
My thinking leads me to say there are natural and artificial needs.
The Maslow Pyramid of Needs reflects the inborn needs and the emerging natural needs, as we grow older.
The artificial needs are those imposed on us by the environment.
Social jealousy is one example. If your social status ranks high then society expects you to own a luxury car, to live in a supreme area, and dress from top brands. Market forces inflamed artificial needs so that producers and traders could sell more.
Scientific advancement generated new needs. The invention of electricity created many new needs for electric appliances that we became increasingly dependent on them. Again, these too kindled our artificial needs.
Globalization created new needs. Freedom created new needs. Yes, it did. Freedom of sex led to new sexual diseases that we never heard of before. This in turn created new need for drugs to treat the new illnesses.
Colonization in all its form whether by military forces or economic forces led to new needs for fatal military weapons to fill our greed fast at the least cost.
We forgot the simple that we have basic needs, social needs, and personal aspiration needs. The artificial needs compounded our lives and created complex behaviors that we are unable to understand.
The natural human needs are almost intact and keeping the keeps our lives simple and manageable.
