chapter 11 - motivation and emotion

motivation

any internal process or condition that directs behavior

motive

a need or desire

Theories of motivation

1. Instinct

2. drive reduction

3. arousal

4. Incentive

5. hierarchy of needs

Instinct

behavior is motivated by instincts that are inborn and that are activated by environmental stimuli

drive reduction

behavior is motivated by biological needs to maintain the body in a state of balance or equilibrium

arousal

behavior is motivated by the need to achieve optimum levels or arousal

incentive

behavior is motivated by internal (intrinsic) or external (extrinsic) incentives or rewards

hierarchy of needs

behavior motivated by the current most basic need

• basic survival needs must be satisfied first before we are motivated to satisfy higher-level needs such as belonging and self-esteem

Instinct theory

people are motivated by their biological (innate) instincts

instincts

inborn, automatic behavioral tendencies, activated by stimuli in our environments

ex. newborn reflexes, certain social behaviors

• some behaviors people engage in (and enjoy doing seem to contradict our instinctive drives for survival - bungee jumping

• instinct alone is insufficient to explain behavior

drive reduction theory

belief that a physiological need creates an aroused state that drives (motivates) us to reduce that need

• we are motivated to restore balance or equilibrium - homeostasis

• pushed by biological inborn needs (similar to instinct)

• pulled by incentives in environment (different from instinct)

arousal theory

we are motivated to pursue an optimum level of stimulation (arousal)

different than drive reduction which is about returning to homeostasis

• some motivated behaviors increase/decrease arousal

• explains thrill-seeking, dangerous behavior

• our appetite for gossip and outraging news stories

• but the relationship b/w arousal and behavior isn’t necessarily straightforward and linear

Yerkes-dodson law

arousal increases performance up to a certain point, after which it interferes with performance

• the optimal level of arousal depends on whether it’s an easy or difficult task

Intrinsic motivation

engaging in a behavior simply for the satisfaction that is part of doing it

ex. behavior not in response to external incentives; correlated with the quality of performance

external motivation

engaging in a behavior due to the influence of factors outside ourselves (incentives)

• ex. grades, money, recognition

• correlated with the amount or quantity of output of performance

incentive theory

emphasizes the role of external factors that motivate behaviors

ex. public praise, monetary rewards, etc

• operant conditioning

primary incentives

rewards (food) or punishments (pain) that are innate

secondary incentives

cues that are viewed as rewarding as a result of learning about their association with other events (work for money)

what happens in our brains incentive theory?

brain regions associated with opiate and dopamine release are activated during a pleasurable experience and direct future behavior

• dopamine pathway: ventral tegmental area → nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

physiological needs

• needs relating to physical survival (food, water, sex)

safety needs

• the need to feel safe and secure

belonging and love needs

• the need to have close relationships with others

esteem needs

• the need to feel good about oneself

self-actualization needs

• the needs to become all that one is capable of becoming

• self-fulfillment and realize one’s potential

Biological motives

hunger, thirst, sex

• biological but merely instinctual

• we’re built to be motivated by these things but the kinds of behaviors we engage in to satisfy these motives varies a lot

Thirst

• we loose water throughout the day

• water is critical for survival; our bodies are 60% water

we are motivated to drink to:

• maintain the volume in our bodies

• maintain the ions-to-water balance inside our cells

Hunger

• our bodies require and use up nutrients and energy from the food we eat

• we must replenish these nutrients and energy and we are motivated to do so

cues to eat

• empty stomach and level of nutrient in our blood stream

• levels of glucose (blood sugar), lipid (produced when body breaks down fats from doos), and leptin (release from fat cells as they grow)

• lateral hypothalamus (LH) signals hunger and thirst

cues to stop eating

ventromedial region of the hypothalamus (VMH) signals satiety (fullness)

dysfunction of the hypothalamus

• the larger rat has its ventromedial hypothalamus destroyed

• No satiety signal = dramatic overeating

• Prader-Willi syndrome causes unstoppable appetite, which is related to hypothalamus dysfunction

Hunger and social factors

• food has strong social association

• ppl will eat more in social settings than when alone

Body weight set point

a weight that individuals typically return to, even after dieting or overeating

• permanent eating and exercise changes as well as monitoring weight override set point controls

obesity

body mass ident (BMI) over 30

body mass index

weight to height ratio

causes of obesity:

• genetics

• environmental/social - socioeconmic status, portion sizes, social eating, social circle

• psychological - self-regulation

anorexia nervosa

eating disorder characterized by under-eating

• preoccupied with being or becoming fat

• distorted body image of being overweight

• extreme dieting and dangerous weight loss

• may result in death (10% of cases)

• more common in females

• affects 1 in 300 young women in Canada

anorexia treatment

cognitive-behavioral therapy

• helps address distorted thinking patterns

Nutritional counselling

• helps provide alternative behavioral patterns

Hospitalization

Family therapy

• helps encourage healthy relationships that buffer against the disorder

Bulimia Nervosa

eating disorder characterized by a cycle of binge eating and then purging what was eating

• induce vomiting

• uses laxatives

• exercise excessively

• may result in medical and dental problems

• secretive and ashamed about binge and purge behavior

• most do not appear to be underweight

• more common in females than in males

• 1 out of 100 young women in Canada

Causes tricky to isolate

• associated with obsessive-compulsiveness

• associated with anxiety and depression

• often accompanied by self-harming behaviors

Bulimia treatment

• behavior modification

• reward healthy behavior

• cognitive therapy

• develop healthier views of self and of eating

• antidepressant and other drug treatments

• if eating is done to cope with negative emotions, drug treatments can help eliminate/reduce that motive

binge eating

eating disorder characterized by out of control eating of a large amount of food at one time

• multiple times per week over months or years

• psychological distress, negative emotional states

• loss of control over food

• inability to stop eating

• more common in women and those who are obese

• eating is done quickly and when full

• done alone and with self-loathing and shame

binge eating treatment

• cognitive behavioral therapy

• antidepressant drugs

Sex and mate selection motivations

Biological

• survival of species (evolutionary)

• pleasurable feelings

social and cultural

• sexual norms and taboos differ

• availability of potential mates

Human sexual response - the body

the sexual response cycle

• consistent and pleasurable pattern of response

• very reinforcing

Sexual response in brain

reproductive hormones influence sex drive, the pursuit of sexual behavior and sexual response

• sexual activity activates brain areas (frontal lobes, basal ganglia, hypothalamus and amygdala)

• gazing at romantic partner photo activates the ventral tegmental area (VTA) - activated during early-stage, intense romantic love and of photos of loved ones with no sexual interest

gender difference in sexuality

gender differences in sexuality have evolved to maximize the odds of reproduction and survival of offspring

• men desire mates that increase the odds of reproductive success

• women desire mates who are able to provide for and protect children

sexual orientation

one’s relative attraction to individuals of varied genders and contains 4 related phenomena

1. Sexual behavior

• the range of sexual behaviors a person engages in and who they engage in them with

2. sexual idenity

• how a person thinks of themselves and their sexual orientation regardless of whether or not they share their identity beliefs with others

3. sexual attraction

• involves studying who a person is sexually attracted to

4. sexual arousal

• involves the extent to which a person is sexually aroused by erotic stimuli that includes individuals of different genders

conscious motivation

motivations that people are aware of and can verbalize

unconscious motivations

motivations that people are unaware of and cannot verbalize

• take caution when explaining ppl’s behavior with unconscious motivations

hedonic principle

we avoid painful experiences and approach pleasurable experiences

avoidance motivation

the desire to avoid the experience of a negative outcome following a behavior

approach motivation

the desire to experience a positive outcome following a behavior

loss aversion

a tendency to be motivated more strongly to avoid a loss rather than to achieve a gain, even if the potential loss and gain are of equal size

amotivation

the state of being without motivation

growth mindset

a belief that hard work and effort can improve a person’s skill or talent in a particular area

fixed mindset

a belief that talent is innate and that skill in a particular area is not determined by hard work and effort

grit

long term perserverance toward a goal

affiliation

need to form attachments to other people for support guidance and protection

benefits from the desire to affiliate

• from birth we seek connections to others

• relationships increase self-esteem

• people with social connections experience less depression

• people in healthy relationships live longer

drawbacks of affilation

• ppl stay in abusive relationships and jon gangs in an effort to belong

• the motive to affiliate is a big reason politics has become so polarized

• social exclusion activates the same region of the brain as physical pain (anterior cingulate cortex)

• long term isolation can lead to permanent psychological damage

self determination theory

competence, relatedness and autonomy give meaning to life and are instinctive

• you can be intrinsically motivated to learn new things or extrinsically motivated by incentives

• often associated with competition

• too much value on rewards creates increased suffering upon failure

delaying gratification

• many of our motives are short-sighted

• need to learn to work toward long-term goals

• require delay of gratification and impulse control

• prefrontal cortex is necessary to comprehend and develop long-term goals -fully developed after puberty

emotion

an intrapersonal state in response to an internal or external event

4 components

1. physiological

2. cognitive, feeling

3. physical, behavioral

4. emotional, behavioral

physiological

changes in bodily arousal

• HR, temperature and respiration

Cognitive, feeling

subjective appraisal and interpretation of one’s feelings and environment

physical, behavioral

expression of the emotion verbally and non-verbally

• smiling, frowning, whining, laughing, reflecting, slouching

emotional, behavioral

keeping the emotion present (happiness) or removing it (sadness)

Ways to measure emotions

1. Behavioral displays of emotion

• observe behavior and facial expressions

2. self-reports of emotion

• widely used, but often has low validity - subjective

3. Psychophysiological reactions

• face electromyography

• heart rate

• skin conductance

• fMRI

cognitive functions of emtoions

• emotion help organize and retrieve memories

• prioritize concerns, needs and goals

• guide judgements and help us make decisions

behavioral functions

• emotions alter behaviors

• action tendencies - emotions are associated with predictable patterns of behavior that help us adapt and survive

social functions

• emotions are the foundation of relationships

• emotions help improve relationship quality

• helps with empathy and work performance

James Lange Theory

felt emotions result from physiological changes, rather than being their cause

cannon bard theory

the subjective experience of emotion and the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (bodily arousal) occur simultaneously

schachter and singer’s two factor theory

an emotional state is a function of both physiological arousal and cognition

testing the two factor theory

• study where ppl get injection or placebo

• one group told to expects symptoms, one group told they won’t experience symptoms, one group told they would experience symptoms that they wouldn’t actually experience

• epinephrine makes physiological changes; the way you interpret your physiological state depends on the information given to you

cognitive meditational theory

cognitive interpretations, particularly appraisal, of events are the keys to experiences of emotion

• developed by richard lazarus

• cognitive appraisal is a cognitive mediator b/w environmental stimuli and our reaction to those stimuli

facial feedback theory

subjective experiences of emtion are influenced by sensory feedback from facial muscular activity or facial efference

• recent replication attempts have shown weak evidence for their effect

evolutionary theory

emotions are innate, passed through generations b/s they are necessary fro survival

basic emotions

a group of emotions preprogrammed into all humans regardless of culture

emotion - what happens in the brain

no single structure of the brain linked to any specific emotions

• activation of the circuitry b/w these structures, in addition to the structure themselves, that is critical for our conscious experience of an emotion

positive psychology

study and enrichment of

• positive feelings - happiness, optimism

• positive traits - perseverance, wisdom

• positive abilities - interpersonal skills

• virtues - altruism, tolerance

Happiness

• happy ppl tend to be optimistic, outgoing, curious and tender-minded

• individuals with high self- esteem, spiritual, goal directed, have a sense of control over their lives

• hgihly optimistic ppl had a 55% reduced risk of death and a 23% risk of heart problems