Blog5: Choice Theory
After the assigned readings this week concerning Dr. William Glasser’s Choice Theory, I began to ask myself how individuals satisfy these needs and does it really determine how satisfied we are with our lives. The five basic needs of the Choice Theory are survival, power, love/belonging, freedom, and fun.
Human beings are born with an innate sense of survival. We are programmed to struggle to survive and to satisfy our physical needs. In dealing with satisfying the power aspect I believe that all people want to feel important and individuals often seek power through academic success, athletics, friends, money and work position. Love/Belonging is something that we as humans want to feel. This need often comes into conflict with the others be people really enjoy feeling important and will often sacrifice our need for others to satisfy the need for power. Freedom is another aspect that is very important and wars have been fought to satisfy this need. Individuals want to feel as if they have freedom of choice in all areas of our lives such as where we live, what we eat, what we believe, and to express this freedom when we deem it necessary to do so. Fun is the last aspect of the choice theory. We learn best when we enjoy what we are being taught. We work best when we enjoy the work or the challenge and find that what we are doing is not drudgery. Life is enjoyed.
When you look at the basic needs of the choice theory it is easy to see how they apply to you own life. Individuals are constantly trying to satisfy these needs in order to feel happy and successful. Each time one of these needs are not being satisfied, we know it by how we feel. People feel good when their needs are being met and bad when they are not.