The Psychology Behind PsyPets

=A Short History= Maslow was a psychologist back in the day (1908-1970) when the common view was that all people were deeply troubled at heart, greedy, just plain mean, and full of sexual tension problems. But Maslow had a slightly more hopeful view, upon which your PsyPets pet's behavior is modeled.

Maslow believed that people were good at heart, and would seek to better themselves throughout their lives. However, he also believed that in order to do so, there were several needs that would have to be met. These needs, he said, were stacked up, one on top of the other, such that if one level failed, all of the levels above would likewise crumble.

=Body Needs= The first needs of a human, said Maslow, were needs of the body. Food, water, sleep, sex, shelter, etc. If any of these were missing, nothing else would matter except the fulfillment of these needs.

For the purposes of PsyPets, we only consider the need for food.

Feeding Your Pet
For the first week of having a pet, PsyPets shows you the number of real-life hours remaining in each of your pet's needs. For example if your pet's food is listed as "13 / 20", then your pet will survive for 13 hours before it begins to starve. You could feed it to give it as much as 20 hours of food, however as long as you have at least an hour of food remaining the need is considered met. This holds for the other needs as well.

You can buy food from Groceries, the local grocery store. Meal sizes are given in relative terms, such as "snack," "light meal," etc. Buy something, then go back home to feed it to your pet. See how it affects the number of food hours your pet has (some foods may affect other needs as well).

If a need is reduced to 0 remaining hours, then the need is not met. Whenever a need is not met, any higher need cannot be improved upon. 0 hours is not fatal, but after long enough it can be. Since food is the most basic need - the bottom of your card house - it is very important to keep this need met.

=Safety Needs= The second level in Maslow's hierarchy is the need for safety. An individual must feel safe from danger, and comfortable with being where they are before they can move on to higher needs.

Making Your Pet Feel Safe
Most of your pet's safety comes from keeping comfort items around the house. Pillows, soft toys, beds, couches... these not only prevent your pets safety from dropping, but can increase it as well.

Additionally, every half-hour you can pet your pet, or, if you have games around the house, play a game with your pet. Petting especially lets your pet know that home is a safe place to be.

Purchase games, toys, pillows, TVs, and other comfort items from the Market Square. Simply keeping them in the house is enough, as long as your pets can access them to cuddle with when they feel scared.

=Love Needs= With food and safety taken care of, Maslow's third level of needs is the need for love. Not romantic love so much, but love from family and friends.

Meeting Your Pet's Love Needs
Your pet feels loved when you give it attention. Playing games and petting shows your pet how much you love it, in addition to making it feel safe. Also, feeding the pet delicious food makes it feel loved, especially if it's food that you yourself prepared. Signing the pet up for fun events at The Park lets your pet interact with other pets and make friends.

Your pets can also receive love when another user plays with your pets when they drop by your profile. Additionally, like safety, love can be received from a select few special items if they're left around the house. Items that provide love are hard to obtain, and you cannot count on other residents to pet your pets, so it's best not to rely on these methods to provide love for your pets.

=Esteem Needs= The fourth and final need that Maslow saw in humans was a need to feel esteemed. People who feel self-worthy will purchase expensive cars, decorate their house, or go out to dinner to celebrate a new job, a finished project, or any other self-set goal.

Letting Your Pet Feel Esteemed
Your pet will feel esteemed in two ways: performing well in any of various tasks, and owning expensive items as show of its accomplishments.

Doing well in a competition at The Park is an excellent way to boost esteem. Also, every hour your pet may decide to go and do something impressive on its own. It may adventure, paint a picture, or hunt for food in the wild. Doing well at any of these things increases a pet's esteem.

=Self-Actualization= After the four needs are met, Maslow saw the will in people to improve themselves. Self-Actualization is this stage, and the driving force behind every human being.

Experience Points and Leveling Up
With all the previous needs met, when your pet accomplishes something, typically gaining esteem in the process, it will also be given points to represent the experience of the accomplishment: experience points. Performing exceptionally in a competition, finding a hard-to-find food in the wild, and creating magnificent pieces of art all examples of activities that will grant experience points. When enough of these have accumulated your pet will reach a new level of self-actualization and improvement, which you may guide it through.

While you're new you can see exactly how many experience points you have, but later on all that you'll have is the red progress bar underneath your pet. When this bar fills up, your pet is ready to self-actualize, and a "level up" button appears. When you click this a question will be asked about your pet; how you answer will guide how your pet improves its skills and behavior. The total number of times your pet has "leveled" is also given directly below the red progress bar.

=Outside References= To expound on the theory...


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