{
  "id": "need.psychological",
  "term": "need",
  "sense": "psychological",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 5,
  "arena": "need",
  "domain": "psychological",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "a state that diverges from a persistent condition of an object",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "state.condition",
      "difference.relation",
      "persist.continue",
      "condition.state",
      "object.entity"
    ],
    "interaction": "When a difference is perceived between an object's current state and the condition it persists in, psychological need emerges.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "perceived lack",
      "motivational pressure",
      "state discrepancy"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The International Space Station maintains attitude control using gyroscopes and thrusters to counteract atmospheric drag.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "A neuron fires only when membrane potential crosses -55mV, differing from its resting -70mV state.",
      "domain": "biology"
    },
    {
      "text": "The 2008 US Federal Reserve interest rate drop aimed to close the gap between actual and target economic output.",
      "domain": "economics"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "state.condition",
      "note": "is-a",
      "type": "is-a"
    },
    {
      "id": "work.effort",
      "note": "enables",
      "type": "enables"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "care.emotional",
    "enough.sufficient",
    "goal.purpose",
    "love.emotional",
    "required.obligation",
    "the-three-tiers.structure",
    "want.desire"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "need",
    "needed",
    "needing",
    "needs"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "factual",
      "note": "Definition updated to align with components and accurately reflect psychological need as arising from a discrepancy between an object's persistent condition and its current state. Missing components '"
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-need.psychological"
}