Basic Needs

Basic needs are the inputs that humans must receive to survive and thrive. There are only a limited number of these (unlike goals, which are anything that we might want to do, at any given moment – there are an infinite number of possibilities for those).
Maslow has the most famous theory for what basic human needs are, though this theory has problems (we don’t seem to need them in his order, and his list of higher needs is questionable).
We modify his theory by adding in higher needs from Self-Determination Theory. Make sure you look at all the needs in our composite diagram, and think about what does and does not qualify for them.
They dynamics of needs are probably a bit simpler than goals – they are always a part of us, independent from each other, and at any given time they are basically met or not met. When they aren’t met they tend to eventually start prodding us into action to meet them. This means coming up with goals that we think will help, and then orienting to those goals and becoming increasingly driven to follow them.
It’s not clear how much people are always aware of their needs, and even more so how much their needs are shaping their goals (especially their ‘higher’ needs). This, again, is a place that marketers have to use techniques like laddering to try to uncover what is happening with consumers.