Running Head: Human Needs and Tendencies 1

Human Needs and Tendencies

ID19

Montessori Center of Minnesota

Monday, September 10, 2018

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Definitions

Human tendencies are natural urges or impulses, which lead without reason or conscious

design to certain actions. They can be seen as broad potentialities that urge the individual as well

as the social group towards progress and a sense of fulfillment. These creative possibilities are

found in a natural disposition, helping to fulfill the needs of an individual and the needs of a

society (Black 2018). These “impulses” drive the self-construction in each child, in each human.

Dr. Montessori noted “so every new born body, whatever its species bears in itself a pattern of

physical instinct, of functions that will set it in relation to its environment, for fulfillment of a

cosmic mission.”

Our human disposition or characteristics enables us to meet our fundamental human

needs both physical and spiritual. We meet these needs through our five senses. Our physical

needs consist of the need for food, clothing, shelter, defense and transportation. Meeting these

needs are required for our survival. The first man had a need for food to ensure his survival. His

human tendency for exploration allowed him to meet that need. Our spiritual needs set us apart

from animals. Our spiritual need of love, religion, art/music and vanitas coupled with our

tendencies and environment inspire us to reveal our “cosmic mission”. Maria Montessori (1832)

wrote, “It is not in human nature for all men to tread the same path of development, as animals

do of a single species.”
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Characteristics of Tendencies

All children are born with a set of potentialities or tendencies that are inherent and

unchanging from the time we are born. These tendencies are uniquely seen in children as they

adapt to time and place. Each tendency exists in relation to other tendencies and are revealed as

we strive to meet our fundamental needs. This set of potentialities manifest in our work, our

progress as a society and our enlightenment. “Man had been gifted specially; his own special

and unique endowment was reason and will. With these he had the freedom of behavior and the

power, therefore, to adapt to any environment and modify it to his needs. He had been given the

gift of the earth and the power to use it.” (Margaret E. Stephenson, Human Tendencies)

The Tendencies

Exploration is the urge to discover the place we are in. We discover our environment

both physically and intellectually but primarily with physical capabilities. Infants demonstrate

this when they begin to extend their hands, eventually grasping for everything within their reach,

taking in the environment around them. This exploration assists humans to adapt and is

necessary in the beginning for survival. In the case of meeting our need for food, we are grateful

to our ancestors for their trial and error. Without the potentiality to explore, man would not be

able to find his way around.

Orientation is another tendency interconnected with exploration. Early humans were not

given maps or compasses rather they used their intelligence and power given through the desire

to create order and adapt to the environment given them. Orientation provides security and helps

establish the need for stability. The young child orients himself by knowing who he is and how

he fits into his community and environment. Orientation satisfies the need for security. “If the

security given by the sense of orientation is removed, it is not that one feels lost in a city but lost
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in one’s own mind.” (Mario Montessori, Human Tendencies and Montessori Education, p.25) At

the beginning of the school year we plan for days specifically called Orientation. This time is set

aside to introduce the space and the routines to incoming students. At the beginning of the year

there are periods of crying and sadness observed, as the year progresses, routines established the

crying fades.

Man is born with a strong sense and inclination to establish order. “Order means, for a

child up to a certain age, if something is habitually placed somewhere, he wants to find it there.”

(Mario Montessori, Human Tendencies and Montessori Education, p. 24). Order is a big word in

the Montessori community. Order and orientation crossover quite a bit. Without external order,

a child cannot orientate himself mentally. To maintain a sense of security and provide a

stimulating environment there must be a clear sense of order. Order is the need to organize,

classify and memorize so that man can fully act on his environment. Higher executive

functioning processes are made easier in an orderly environment. Memorization, the ability to

make associations, organize and classify information is nearly impossible without order. Once

order is achieved then a peace is felt and a foundation is laid for creativity to flourish.

Abstraction is the tendency to hold an idea in general terms that will serve to meet needs

in a progressive manner. The idea of an animal’s fur being used to cover a human meets the

need of clothing. So the fur of an animal is the mental representation of clothing. A child begins

to use abstraction when he makes the connection of his mother and her voice even when she is in

another room. Another child may see a photo of a bird and say bird although the bird is not

physically present.

Imagination is the ability to construct plans in our minds that have not yet happened.

We may abstract the idea of a fur blanket to cover ourselves and imagine a tool that might help
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us construct that blanket. Abstraction and imagination provide us with the potentiality to

transform our environment. In the same way man had to abstract the idea of making weapons to

acquire different kinds of food. Man had to get the food and use a created tool to skin it and

decide how he would eat it.

Work is man’s ultimate gift. Montessori stated, “Man builds himself through work.”

(The Secret of Childhood, p.200) It is through our work that we make our ideas a reality. We

discover our truest selves. In the beginning of life much of our work is with our hands. Man has

an innate tendency to work. "The child is by nature a worker, and when, by working in this

special fashion, which is according to his nature, he can accomplish a great deal of work without

ever feeling fatigue. When he works in this way he shows himself to be happy and by working in

this way he also becomes cured of certain psychic anomalies that he had, and by curing himself

of these he enters into a more natural form of life." (Dr. Maria Montessori, 'Child’s Instinct to

Work', AMI Communications, 1973, 4, 9) Hard work is necessary for our survival and our

progress. Once a man is dead his work remains. Work could not happen without the desire and

ability to move. "Among the revelations the child has brought us, there is one of fundamental

importance, the phenomenon of normalization through work. Thousands and thousands of

experiences among children of every race enable us to state that this phenomenon is the most

certain datum verified in psychology or education. It is certain that the child's attitude towards

work represents a vital instinct; for without work his personality cannot organize itself and

deviates from the normal lines of its construction. Man builds himself through working. Nothing

can take the place of work, neither physical well-being nor affection, and, on the other hand,

deviations cannot be corrected by either punishment or example. Man builds himself through

working, working with his hands, but using his hands as the instruments of his ego, the organ of
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his individual mind and will, which shapes its own existence face to face with its environment.

The child's instinct confirms the fact that work is an inherent tendency in human nature; it is the

characteristic instinct of the human race." (Dr. Maria Montessori, 'The Secret of Childhood',

Orient Longman Limited, 195)

Movement is natural from the beginning stages of life. Movements in infants is

documented to ensure specific milestones. There is excitement when a baby first rolls over,

crawls and walks. All of an infant’s movement is part of the process of developing coordination

along with a broader understanding of the world. Through his movement a child is developing

thoughts. Movement is essential for learning. Our eyes move, our ears hear, our hands

manipulate objects. Our tendency to move promotes and interaction with our environment.

Maria Montessori said explicitly, “Never give more to the mind than to the hand.”

The tendencies of self-perfection and exactitude reveal themselves when our creations

do not work or are not up to our internal standards. The example is given about the tools being

made for the purpose of hunting and gathering food. When the tools fail us we process within us

the motivation to refashion the apparatus. Our tool of the mind did not conform to the tool of the

hand but instilled in us is the urge to remake it. One of the greatest attitudes Maria Montessori

imparted was the value of the process.

Precision is an internal standard we are born with. Dr. Montessori observed that children

have a need for being precise. The children will continue to work hard in order to achieve this

characteristic. Repetition is a common behavior in young children. Dr. Montessori observed

this tendency and brought to our awareness that children should be allowed to repeat work as

long as the inner drive is in them. This repetition brings joy and confidence. "A child who has

become master of his acts through long and repeated exercises, and who has been encouraged by
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the pleasant and interesting activities in which he has been engaged, is a child filled with health

and joy and remarkable for his calmness and discipline." (Dr. Maria Montessori, 'The Discovery

of the Child', Clio Press Ltd, 92)

Mathematical precision is demonstrated in the points of interest that drive the child

towards exactitude. "At this stage the completion of an entire cycle will exercise an influence

more and more far-reaching on the personality of the child. Not only is he spurred on to a work

of intimate concentration immediately after his culminating effort, he preserves a permanent

attitude of thought, of internal equilibrium of sustained interest in his environment. He becomes

a personality who has reached a higher degree of evolution. This is the period when the child

begins to be "master of himself” and enters upon that characteristic phenomenon I have called

the "phenomenon of obedience". He can obey, that is, he can control his actions, and therefore

can direct them in accordance with the desires of another person. He can break off a piece of

work when interrupted, without becoming disorderly or showing symptoms of fatigue.

Moreover, work has become his habitual attitude, and the child can no longer bear to be idle."

(Dr. Maria Montessori, 'The Advanced Montessori Method - I', Clio Press Ltd, 81)

Communication in all forms allows for progress. Children have a natural thirst for

language. Infants will vocalize to get our attention before they are able to form words. Humans

have a spiritual need to communicate and socialize. Communication is also a way to share our

values with future generations. We express ourselves through touch, speech and writing.

Communication to express our wants, needs, ideas and desires does not exist in nature in the

same manner. Communication is essential to for us to meet our spiritual needs as well.

Spiritual Life consists of many aspects including customs and folktales. Spiritual

pursuits have been documented from the beginning of time. Early humans worshiped the sun
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and moon, celebrated fertility, life, and death through rituals. Our spiritual life is connected with

our tendency to explore and use our intellect to find meaning.

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References

Black, Connie (2018). Human Tendencies Definition

Maria Montessori (1832)