Dependency need

Dependency need is "the vital, originally infantile needs for mothering, love, affection, shelter, protection, security, food, and warmth." (Segen, 1992) A dependency need is thought to be characterized by two components: (1) It is a real need of an organism, something that must be present in order for the organism to be able to thrive, (2) It is something that an individual cannot provide for him or herself. It is well known that infants have many dependency needs; some of these needs are obvious, others have only come to the attention of researchers as the result of epidemiological studies. The more obvious needs of infants include: adequate feeding, adequate watering, adequate cleaning, adequate shelter, and more specifically, keeping the infant's body temperature within the narrow range of normalcy. On the other hand, it was not well known until the middle of the 20th century that infants also required the presence of warmth and affection, known as "maternal warmth". The greatest number of dependency needs seem to be encompassed in infancy, however, dependency needs begin to change and decrease with age and maturity. This marked decrease in dependency needs as an individual gets older can be largely attributed to the notion that, as an individual gets older, he or she becomes capable of providing these things for him or herself. However, to some extent, these needs remain present even into adulthood. Even as adults, people have certain universal dependency needs that remain constant throughout the lifespan that they are not able to provide for themselves; these include: the need to belong, need for affection, as well as the need for emotional support. These needs can usually be met by partnership, in which both partners get used to depending on one another. If adults lack partnership, their needs can usually be met by family and/or friend relationships.

Dependency need is an important psychological concept, encompassing the fields of psychological, evolutionary, and ethological theory. Need, in general, is a concept greatly studied in varying psychological fields, by psychologists with varying specialties. Need is particularly important to the area of personality psychology. The concept of need can be defined as a "state of tension within a person", and as the need is satisfied, the state of tension is reduced. (Larsen & Buss, 2008) It is thought that all individuals have needs, and that needs organize perceptions, guiding individuals to see what they want (or need) to see (Larsen & Buss). A physical or psychological need is capable of organizing action by compelling an individual to do what is necessary in order to fulfill such a need. (Larsen & Buss, 2008) After action has been taken to fulfill the need, the need subsides until it is again desired and recurs.

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