BIOLOGICAL

motive much of our behavior such as needing food and water to survive

• instinctive behaviors:

  • Genetically programmed, innate patterns of response that are specific to members of a particular species.

    • Instinct theory:

      • The belief that behavior is motivated by instincts

• Freud believed motives by sexual and aggressive instincts

• William James compiled list of 37 instincts that could explain much human behaviors including thumb sucking, curiosity, jealousy, and cleanliness

• William McDougall notably expanded on James’ list which added up to about 10,000 instincts covering a wide range of human behavior

  • the list grew too large to be useful

    • describes behavior rather than explain it

DRIVES

• drive theory

  • The belief that behavior is motivated by drives that arise from biological needs that demand satisfaction.

• Clark Hull believed we have biological needs that demands satisfaction like sleep, water, and food

  • need: A state of deprivation or deficiency.

    • ex> food

  • drive: A state of bodily tension, such as hunger or thirst, that arises from an unmet need.

    • ex> hangry

  • drive reduction: Satisfaction of a drive.

    • ex> eats and is no longer hangry

• drive theory is based on principles of homeostasis

• primary drives are considered inborn → hunger

• secondary drives are a result from experience → drive to be wealthy

  • learn that money can be used to satisfy many primary and other secondary drives.

• stimulus motives: Internal states that prompt inquisitive, stimulation-seeking, and exploratory behavior.

  • ex> curiosity, exploration, manipulation

• arousal theory: The belief that whenever the level of stimulation dips below an organism’s optimal level, the organism seeks ways of increasing it.

• sensation seekers: People with a high need for arousal see life as an adventure. To maintain their optimal level of stimulation, they seek exciting experiences and thrills.

  • tend to get bored easily and may have difficulty restraining their impulses.

• incentive theory: The belief that our attraction to particular goals or objects motivates much of our behavior.

  • Incentives: Rewards or other stimuli that motivate us to act.

  • incentive value: The strength of the “pull” of a goal or reward.

PSCHHYSOCIAL

• psychosocial needs: Needs that reflect interpersonal aspects of motivation, such as the need for friendship or achievement.

• need for achievement: The need to excel in one’s endeavors.

  • People with a high need for achievement set challenging but realistic goals for themselves,

• Extrinsic motivation: Motivation reflecting a desire for external rewards, such as wealth or the respect of others.

• Intrinsic motivation: Motivation reflecting a desire for internal gratification, such as the self-satisfaction derived from accomplishing a particular goal.

In other words, extrinsic motivation is a “means to an end,” whereas intrinsic motivation is an “end in itself.”

• achievement motivation: The motive or desire to achieve success.

• avoidance motivation: The motive or desire to avoid failure.

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

• (1) physiological needs, such as hunger and thirst;

• (2) safety needs, such as the need for secure housing;

• (3) love and belongingness needs, such as the need for intimate relationships;

• (4) esteem needs, such as the need for the respect of one’s peers; and

• (5) the need for self-actualization, which is a need that motivates people to fulfill their unique potentials and become all they are capable of being.

• self-actualization: The motive that drives individuals to express their unique capabilities and fulfill their potentials.
  

  • Not all of us climb to the top of the hierarchy; we don’t all seek self-actualization. We shouldn’t think of self-actualization as an end state, but rather as a journey in pursuit of one’s inner potential.

Later in his career, he proposed other needs that motivate human behavior, including

• cognitive needs

  • needs to know, understand, and explore

• aesthetic needs

  • needs for beauty, symmetry, and order

• self-transcendence

  • needs to connect to something beyond the self and help others realize their own potential

HUNGER & EATING

• When we haven’t eaten for a while, our blood sugar levels drop.

• When this happens, fat is released from fat cells—body cells that store fat—to provide fuel that cells use until our next meal.

  • The hypothalamus, a small structure in the forebrain that helps regulate hunger and many other bodily processes, detects these changes and triggers a cascading series of events,

    • leading to feelings of hunger that motivate eating behaviors.

    • Eating restores an internally balanced state, or homeostasis, by bringing blood sugar levels back into balance and replenishing fat cells.

• lateral hypothalamus: A part of the hypothalamus involved in initiating, or “turning on,” eating.

  • Stimulating this can causes a laboratory animal to start eating even if it has just consumed a full meal.

  • If the lateral hypothalamus is surgically destroyed, the animal will stop eating and eventually starve to death

• ventromedial hypothalamus: A part of the hypothalamus involved in regulating feelings of satiety.

  • when this area is destroyed, animals will overeat and eventually become severely obese.

• set point theory: The belief that brain mechanisms regulate body weight around a genetically predetermined “set point.“

  • The theory proposes that when we gain or lose weight, the brain adjusts its basal metabolic rate to keep body weight around a set point

EATING DISORDERS

• anorexia nervosa

  • Anorexia nervosa involves self-starvation resulting in an unhealthy and potentially dangerously low body weight.

  • characterized by both an intense fear of becoming fat and a distorted body image.

• bulimia nervosa

  • a repetitive pattern of binge eating followed by purging

  • urging usually involves self-induced vomiting but may take other forms, such as excessive use of laxatives

  • some engage in excessive, even compulsive, exercise regimens to try to control their weight

  • fearful of gaining weight and are unhappy with their bodies. But unlike those with anorexia, they tend to maintain a relatively normal weight

• Biological factors, such as genetics and disturbances in brain mechanisms involved in processes of hunger and satiety, may also contribute to eating disorders

  • Irregularities in activity of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which plays a key role in regulating feelings of satiation after eating, may prompt binge episodes in people with bulimia

    • Antidepressant drugs that boost the availability of serotonin in the brain may help reduce binges.

SEXUAL MOTIVATION

• gender identity: The psychological sense of maleness or femaleness.

• sexual orientation: The directionality of one’s erotic interests.

• gender roles: The cultural expectations imposed on men and women to behave in ways deemed appropriate for their gender.

our sexual behavior is more strongly determined by cultural learning, personal values, and individual experiences than by biological drives or capacities for sexual response.

They divided the sexual response cycle into four phases:

• excitement

• plateau

• orgasm

• resolution

• vasocongestion: Swelling of tissues with blood, a process that accounts for penile erection and vaginal lubrication during sexual arousal.

EMOTIONS

• Emotions: Feeling states that psychologists view as having physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components.

• bodily arousal

  • nervous system activation

• cognitions

  • the subjective or felt experience of the emotion, as well as the accompanying thoughts or judgments about people or situations that evoke the feeling

• expressed behaviors

  • outward expression of the emotion, such as approaching a love object or avoiding a feared one

Darwin was the first to link specific facial expressions to particular emotions.

Cross-cultural research identified six basic facial expressions of emotions that may be universally recognized across diverse cultures:

1. anger,

2. fear,

3. disgust,

4. sadness,

5. happiness,

6. surprise

display rules: Cultural customs and norms that govern the display of emotional expressions.

three kinds of human happiness:

• pleasure of doing things,

• gratification (being absorbed and engaged in life activities)

• meaning (finding personal fulfillment in life activities).

People may have a genetically determined “set point” for happiness

we can nudge our genetic set point by enriching our lives in ways that boost happiness and well-being.

• facial-feedback hypothesis: The belief that mimicking facial movements associated with a particular emotion will produce the corresponding emotional state.

  • smiling can lift your spirits

The James-Lange theory states that emotions occur after people become aware of their physiological responses to the triggering stimuli.

The Cannon-Bard theory holds that our emotions accompany our bodily responses but are not caused by them.

The two-factor model proposes that the combination of physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal (labeling) of the source of the arousal produces the specific emotional state.

According to the dual-pathway model of fear, the brain uses two pathways to process fear messages. The thalamus responds to fear stimuli before the cerebral cortex becomes involved

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to recognize emotions and manage them effectively. The five main characteristics include knowing your emotions, managing your emotions, motivating yourself, recognizing emotions in others, and helping others handle their emotions.

1. Knowing your emotions. Self-awareness, or knowing your true feelings, is a core feature of emotional intelligence.

2. Managing your emotions. Emotionally intelligent people are able to handle their emotions in appropriate ways. They can soothe themselves in difficult times, and they bounce back quickly from disappointments and setbacks.

3. Motivating yourself. People with a high level of emotional intelligence can marshal their emotions to pursue their goals. They approach challenges with enthusiasm, zeal, and confidence, which makes them better equipped to attain high levels of achievement and productivity. They also can delay gratification and constrain their impulses as they pursue long-term goals.

4. Recognizing emotions in others. Empathy, the ability to perceive emotions in others, is an important “people skill.” It not only helps build strong relationships but also contributes to success in teaching, sales, management, and the helping professions.

5. Helping others handle their emotions. The ability to help others deal with their feelings is an important factor in maintaining meaningful relationships.