Cognitive Needs

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Cognitive Needs are the biologically and spiritually rooted need to know and understand the world.[1] Basically, our powerful need for truth.[2] [3] The cognitive needs are self-evident in children where they are expressed at a very early age in the incessant questioning of young children. “Mommy, why is the sky blue?” “Why is daddy angry all the time?”

List of Essential Needs Categories

Seven Essential Needs > Cognitive Needs, Emotional Needs, Environmental Needs

Notes

Just like all your other basic needs, your truth needs are biologically rooted needs important for individual and collective survival, growth, and connection. An organism that does not know and understand its environment, an organism that does not pay attention and seek out the truth of things, is an organism not long for this world.

Satisfying cognitive needs can lead to various positive outcomes.

  1. Physiological Outcomes: One of the key impacts is improved brain health. Researchers have shown active engagement in mentally stimulating activities can contribute to the maintenance of cognitive function in old age and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.[4] Individuals may also experience a lower level of stress and anxiety, which can positively impact physical health, such as better sleep, stronger immune system, and a healthier heart rate.[5]
  2. Egoic Outcomes:
  3. Emotional Outcomes: Emotionally, satisfying cognitive needs can lead to increased self-esteem, reduced anxiety, and better emotional regulation. Satisfying cognitive needs can help individuals make sense of their emotions, leading to improved emotional well-being.[6] Fulfillment of cognitive needs is often linked to greater emotional well-being and happiness, resulting in more positive emotions, less emotional distress, and greater resilience in the face of adversity.[7]
  4. Cognitive Outcomes: From a cognitive perspective, satisfying cognitive needs can lead to enhanced problem-solving abilities, creativity, and critical thinking skills,[8] all of which can make it a lot easier to navigate and survive this planet's Toxic Socialization system.When cognitive needs such as autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met, individuals can show higher levels of motivation, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.[7]
  5. Spiritual Outcomes: Spiritually speaking, satisfying cognitive needs helps alleviate boredom,[9] empowers, increases self-awareness, and enhances self-control and resilience. It also aids in the development of a solid worldview[10] which in turn enhances one's sense of fulfillment, one's purpose and meaning in life.[11] When cognitive needs are satisfied, individuals often feel a deeper sense of purpose and meaning in life, which can enrich their spiritual experiences.[12]

Failing to satisfy cognitive needs can lead to various negative outcomes.

  1. Physiological Consequences:
    1. Cognitive Atrophy: The brain, being a highly dynamic organ, follows the rule of "use it or lose it." When cognitive needs are not met, especially in early development stages, it can lead to atrophy of certain brain regions involved in cognitive processing. This lack of cognitive stimulation can lead to reduced neuronal connectivity and synaptic density, resulting in poorer cognitive abilities,
    2. Increased Risk of Neurodegenerative Disorders: Numerous studies have suggested that cognitive engagement and mental stimulation throughout life can build a 'cognitive reserve' that can delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia. Failure to meet cognitive needs can potentially increase the risk of developing such disorders. For example, research has shown that lower cognitive activity levels are associated with higher risks for Alzheimer's disease and faster cognitive decline.[13]
    3. Increased Stress Response: The inability to understand or make sense of one's environment due to unmet cognitive needs can lead to increased stress and anxiety. Chronic stress has been associated with a multitude of physiological issues, including an overactive sympathetic nervous system, increased blood pressure, and a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
    4. Stunted Intellectual Growth: One of the most direct negative outcomes of unmet cognitive needs is stunted intellectual growth and limited cognitive abilities. This can lead to poor problem-solving skills, lack of critical thinking, and reduced creativity. An environment that does not satisfy an individual's cognitive needs can limit their cognitive development and ability to learn effectively.
  2. Emotional Consequences: Emotionally, failure to meet cognitive needs can result in anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Lack of understanding or knowledge about oneself or the world can lead to feelings of insecurity and inferiority, causing emotional distress. Studies have shown a strong correlation between unmet cognitive needs and mental health issues[14].
  3. Social Consequences: On a social level, inability to satisfy cognitive needs can lead to poor social interactions and relationships. Understanding social cues, empathizing with others, and effectively communicating are all dependent on cognitive processes. An individual who lacks these cognitive skills may face difficulties in forming and maintaining social relationships.
  4. Spiritual Consequences: Spiritually, individuals may struggle with a lack of purpose or meaning in life if their cognitive needs are not met. The quest for understanding and knowledge is often closely tied to one's search for spiritual or existential meaning.


  1. ↑ Maslow mentioned the need to know and to understand in his seminal 1943 article "A theory of Human Motivation."
  2. ↑ As psychologist Abraham Maslow said, "the most important characteristics of psychological health" was simply the ability to perceive clearly—that is, to see the truth, to penetrate falsehood, phoniness, hypocrisy, and so on." In other words, the need to be in touch with reality. Abraham Maslow, “Eupsychia—The Good Society,” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 1, no. 2 (1961): 3.<nowiki>
  3. ↑ Habermas's provides a similar conception for cognitive needs in Cognitive Interests Scott, John P. “Critical Social Theory: An Introduction and Critique.” The British Journal of Sociology 29, no. 1 (1978): 1. https://doi.org/10.2307/589216. p. 2
  4. ↑ Stern, Yaakov, and Christian Habeck, "The Effects of Cognitive Reserve on Cognition," Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 52, no. 2 (2016): 487-494.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Shelley E., Laura Cousino Klein, Beatrice P. Lewis, Tara L. Gruenewald, Regan A. Gurung, and John A. Updegraff. 2000. "Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight." Psychological Review 107, no. 3: 411.
  6. ↑ Berkowitz, Leonard, "On the Formation and Regulation of Anger and Aggression: A Cognitive-Neoassociationistic Analysis," American Psychologist, 1990, Vol. 45, No. 4
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. 2000. "Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being." American Psychologist 55, no. 1: 68.
  8. ↑ Piaget, Jean, "The stages of the intellectual development of the child", Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 1962, Vol. 26. 10.1007/BF01713436
  9. ↑ Thereby providing a temporary solution to Problem of Ennui
  10. ↑ Koltko-Rivera, Mark E., "The psychology of worldviews," Review of General Psychology, 2004, Vol. 8, No. 1. 10.1037/1089-2680.8.1.3
  11. ↑ Koltko-Rivera, Mark E., "The psychology of worldviews," Review of General Psychology, 2004, Vol. 8, No. 1. 10.1037/1089-2680.8.1.3
  12. ↑ Park, Crystal L. 2010. "Making sense of the meaning literature: an integrative review of meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events." Psychological Bulletin 136, no. 2: 257.
  13. ↑ (Wilson, Robert S., et al., "Cognitive activity and the cognitive morbidity of Alzheimer disease," Neurology, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 11.
  14. ↑ Leotti, Laura A., Sheena S. Iyengar, and Kevin N. Ochsner, "Born to Choose: The Origins and Value of the Need for Control," Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2010, Vol. 14, No. 10.
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