Self-actualization is the highest drive, but before a person can address it, he or she must satisfy lower motivations like hunger, safety and belonging. The internal ones are self respect, autonomy, achievement and the external ones are status, recognition, attention. Maslow's hierarchy seems to follow the life cycle. A baby's needs are almost entirely physiological. As the baby grows, it needs safety, then love.
Toddlers are eager for social interaction.
Teenagers are anxious about social needs, young adults are concerned with esteem and only more mature people transcend the first four levels to spend much time self-actualizing. Implications for Instruction Teachers know this hierarchy of needs, if not from study, then from experience in the classroom. A student who is not well fed, or well cared for, either physically or emotionally, does not tend to learn well. These lower needs must be met before the student is available to turn his or her attention to the business of learning.