Chapter 11: Motivation and Emotion Notes

Drive Theories

Homeostasis: Internal physiological equilibrium crucial for survival, ensuring that vital bodily functions remain stable despite external changes. This balance is essential in managing needs such as temperature, hydration, and energy levels.

Drive: An internal state of tension or arousal that motivates an organism to engage in specific behaviors aimed at alleviating that tension. Drives can be biological (e.g., hunger, thirst) or psychological (e.g., need for achievement).

Drives push organisms into action, initiating behaviors that help restore a sense of balance or fulfillment of needs.

Homeostasis Components

• Sensors: Biological mechanisms (like hormones and neural pathways) that detect deviations from optimal physiological states. For instance, blood glucose levels are monitored to assess hunger.

• Response System: Biological and behavioral reactions that aim to restore equilibrium, such as eating, drinking, or engaging in activities to increase or decrease body temperature.

• Control Centre: Brain regions (e.g., hypothalamus) that integrate information received from sensors and trigger the appropriate physiological or behavioral responses.

Modern Drive Theories

Homeostasis applies to various biological needs, extending beyond simple survival. It encompasses complex behaviors and emotional responses that can be elicited when homeostatic balance is threatened. For example, the desire to eat not only stems from hunger but can also include emotional and social factors.

Drive theory has become less influential over time as evidence emerges showing that human behavior often contradicts its predictions. For example, people may seek out horror movies or extreme sports despite the danger they present, indicating that non-homeostatic drives can also be powerful motivators.

Incentive Theories

• Incentive: External goals that provide motivation for behaviors by offering a “pull” toward achieving a specific outcome, such as the pursuit of rewards or successful outcomes.

Example: Studying to obtain a good grade showcases how intrinsic incentives (personal satisfaction) and extrinsic incentives (grades) can motivate behavior. Additionally, food serves both as a reward and a necessity, exemplifying its role in reducing hunger while eliciting pleasure from taste.

Modern Incentive Theories

These theories evaluate the appeal of stimuli irrespective of biological needs, indicating that desires can arise for non-essential items like dessert even after a meal. The varying incentive values of stimuli—how appealing and desirable they are—affect behavioral choices and decisions. Higher incentive values typically lead to increased desire and motivation, which can be critical in understanding behaviors related to addiction, such as substance abuse involving heroin.

Expectancy Theory

Known as the expectancy × value theory, this concept posits that goal-directed behaviors are determined by the expectation of success and the value placed on achieving that goal.

• Formula for motivation: motivation = expectancy imes incentive ext{ } value, illustrating that high motivation emerges from believing in the likelihood of achieving a goal and recognizing its significance.

Applying Expectancy Theory: Case Studies

• James: Exhibits high expectancy for obtaining an 'A' and perceives it as highly valuable, resulting in high motivation to study and achieve this goal.

• Lenora: Also has high expectancy for an 'A'; however, she places less value on the grade, leading to medium motivation. This illustrates how perceived value influences effort.

• Harrison: Experiences low expectancy for an 'A' despite valuing the grade highly; his lack of effort results in medium motivation, indicating that expectancy can be a stronger driver than value alone.

Types of Motivation

• Intrinsic Motivation: Engaging in activities for their inherent enjoyment or satisfaction, such as reading for pleasure or pursuing hobbies.

• Extrinsic Motivation: Engaging in activities to gain external rewards (like money or recognition) or to avoid negative outcomes or punishments.

Evolutionary Theories

Evolution considers changes in genetic distribution over generations, shaped by natural selection processes that favor traits enhancing survival and reproduction.

Natural selection helps preserve fitness-increasing characteristics, leading to adaptations in behavior that promote survival in varying environments.

Psychodynamic Theory

Freud's perspective posits that behavior is motivated by unconscious impulses and the defense mechanisms that suppress these drives. Conflicts between instincts seeking expression and defenses aiming to restrain them generate psychological energy that often manifests in various behaviors.

The key drives proposed by Freud revolve around sexual and aggressive instincts, which, if properly managed or redirected, can be funneled into socially acceptable pursuits or achievements.

Modern Psychodynamic Theories

These theories have transitioned from Freud's dual-instinct model to a broader focus on unconscious motives and conscious processes, considering the complexity of human behavior stemming from both rational and irrational influences.

Humanistic Theories (Maslow)

Maslow emphasized personal growth and self-fulfillment, which he believed were often overlooked in other theories. His hierarchy of needs categorizes various human requirements into distinct levels:

• Deficiency Needs: Basic physiological and psychological requirements essential for survival and functioning, such as food, safety, and relationships.

• Growth Needs: Unique to humans, these involve the pursuit of personal fulfillment, creativity, and self-actualization, reflecting a desire for growth beyond mere survival.

The needs are organized hierarchically, starting from basic physiological needs and moving toward the ultimate goal of self-actualization, where individuals strive to realize their full potential.

Hunger and Weight Regulation

Hunger serves as a biological drive influenced by complex anticipatory behavioral factors, such as individual flavor expectations and social contexts regarding mealtime.

Metabolism: The rate at which the body uses energy, with the basal metabolic rate accounting for approximately rac{2}{3} of normal energy expenditure, highlighting the energy required for essential bodily functions.

Homeostatic Mechanisms

The set point represents a physiologically determined standard for regulating fat mass; current views recognize this as adaptable, referred to as the "settling point" where body weight stabilizes at a variable level influenced by lifestyle and environmental factors.

Both short-term and long-term signals govern appetite regulation, with short-term signals (like hunger and satiety cues) guiding daily meal decisions and long-term signals dictating overall energy balance.

Signals That Start and End Meals

Hunger pangs, while correlated with hunger, do not solely trigger eating behaviors. Critical signals include:

• Glucose: A primary energy source, with fluctuations in blood sugar levels indicating hunger states.

• Hormones:

  • Ghrelin: Released primarily before meals, stimulating appetite and increasing hunger.

  • Leptin: Secreted by fat cells, signaling the brain to reduce appetite and energy expenditure when sufficient energy is stored in the body.

Brain Mechanisms in Hunger Regulation

Neuroanatomical structures in the hypothalamus play pivotal roles in regulating hunger, thirst, and other basic drives. Various hypothalamic nuclei interact to modulate eating behaviors, emphasizing the complex dynamics of hunger regulation spanning both physiological and psychological domains.

Psychological and Environmental Aspects of Hunger

Eating behavior is significantly influenced by cognitive expectations, learned behaviors, and environmental cues, including portion sizes, cultural norms surrounding food, and situational contexts, which can affect how and when individuals eat.

Emotion

Emotions are complex mental states that evaluate experiences and can range from positive to negative, encompassing cognitive responses (thoughts), physiological reactions (bodily changes), and behavioral outcomes (how one acts).

The Adaptive Value of Emotion

Emotions serve critical adaptive functions by directing attention toward significant stimuli, facilitating social communication, and influencing behaviors based on internal states that shape interpersonal relationships and motivation.

Categories of Emotions

• Universal Emotions: Basic emotions recognized and experienced across distinct cultures, including happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and surprise.

• Discrete Emotions Theory: Proposes that humans experience a limited number of distinct emotions, with varying physiological responses uniquely associated with each emotional type, contributing to the emotional experience's richness and diversity.

Theories of Emotion

• James-Lange Theory: Suggests that emotions arise from our interpretations of physiological reactions to stimuli, indicating that awareness of bodily changes informs emotional experience.

• Cannon-Bard Theory: Argues that emotions and physiological responses occur simultaneously as a result of signals sent from the thalamus to both the cortex and autonomic nervous system.

• Two-Factor Theory: Proposes that emotional experiences result from a combination of physiological arousal and cognitive labeling, emphasizing the role of situational interpretation.

Unconscious Influences on Emotion

The impact of subliminal stimuli exposure can bias emotions and feelings, with mechanisms such as the facial feedback hypothesis suggesting that physiological expressions can influence emotional experiences and vice versa.

Conclusion on Motivation

Motivation significantly influences goal-directed behaviors by shaping the direction, persistence, and vigor of such behaviors, which are further shaped by various theoretical perspectives that broaden our understanding of human psychology and behavior.