Chapter 11 Flashcards
concerns physiological and psychological processes underlying initiation of behaviours that direct organisms toward specific goals
Motivation
Motives have two main parts:
- Drives – physiological triggers that tell us that we may be deprived of something and cause us to seek out what is needed (i.e.food)
- Incentives – aka the goals; the stimuli that we seek to reduce the drives (i.e. social approval and companionship)
physiological triggers that tell us that we may be deprived of something and cause us to seek out what is needed (i.e.food)
drives
aka the goals; the stimuli that we seek to reduce the drives (i.e. social approval and companionship)
incentives
body’s physiological processes that allow it to maintain consistent internal states in responses to the outer environment
• i.e. body temperature, huger, thirst
Homeostasis
the motivation to eat
Hunger
a full stomach; point in a meal when we are no longer motivated to eat
• Homeostasis of food intake is balanced with hunger motives and satiation
Satiation
On and off switches found in regions of the ________
hypothalamus!
- Lateral hypothalamus – “on” switch
- Ventromedial hypothalamus – “off” switch (damage to this area leads to obesity in animals)
- Paraventricular nucleus – signals stop by inhibiting lateral hypothalamus
a sugar that serves as a primary energy source for the brain and rest of the body
Glucose
highly specialized neurons that can detect glucose levels in the fluid outside the cell
• When glucose levels drop, glucostats signal the hypothalamus that energy supply is low and hunger increases
Glucosats
a hormone secreted by the pancreas; helps cells store circulating glucose for future use
Insulin
horomone secreed in stomach and stimulates stomach contractions and increase apptite
• Also secreed in hypothalamus where it functions to decrease appetite
Ghrelin
as intestines expand, neurons release CCK and communicated with hyp that it is time to stop eating
Cholecystokinin (CCK)
Sucrose can stimulate release of neurotransmitter ______ in the nucleus accumbens (brain region associated with reinforcing effects of substances such as amphetamines and cocaine)
dopamine
• Eating is more than just maintaining homeostasis
Taste as another powerful force behind our motivation to eat
Why dietary fat can be so tempting?
• Fats in food such as red meat, ice cream, cheese
• Why are people so driven to consumer these fatty foods?
• Taste is based on pattern of stimulation of receptors on the tongue and mouth
o Help us decide what food to eat or reject
Long-term consumption of food with high fat content is associated with cardiovascular disease and other health problems
• We crave fats bc we have receptors on the tongue that are sensitive to the fat content of food
• These receptors send messages to the brain and stimulate release of endorphins and dopamine (responsible for the sense of pleasure and reward)
touch receptors in mouth detect the textures and relay the info here; contributes info to overall sensation of eating
• Distinguishing from runny vs thick sauce
Orbitofrontal cortex
directly to stomach for nutrients without the experience of eating and feeling textures
• The pleasure of food is motivation enough to eat even though we do not actually need the nutrients
Tube feeding
- How food avaiablity affects how much we eat
- The bottomless bowl – we cannot keep track of how much we have consumed
- Unit bias – tendency to assume that the unit of sale or portioning is an appropriate aount to consume
Food Variety and Eating
- It is more than just a physical drive; there are social motives to eat as well
- Presence of people seems to increase motivation to eat or decrease food intake
Eating and the Social Context
Social facilitation – eating more
Impression management –eating less; minimal eating norm
Modelling – eating whatever they eat
disorder of postive energy balance; energy intake exceeds energy expenditure
Obesity
Anorexia and bulimia
• Anorexia nervosa – an eating disorder that involves
o 1) self-starvation
o 2) intense fear of gaining weight and distorted perception of body image
o 3) denial of serious conseuqnece of severly low weight
• Bulimia nervosa – characterized by period of food deprivation, binge-eating and purging
the motivation for sexual activity and pleasure
On average, men become sexually aroused more often, fantasize more , masturbate more, and desire more sexual partners than women
Libido
- Humans have many motives for pursing and having sex
* Notable observation – sex frequently occurs without the end goal of reproduction
• Sex serves many purposes other than reproduction
• Alfred Kinsey researched on human sexuality by interviewing students about their sexual histories (back when it was offensive to apply science to sexuality)
A Continuum Sexual Orientation
• Physical, personal, and social fators underlie sexual motivation
o In Meston and Buss study, physical reasons were related to pleasure of sex itself as well as to orgasm
o Instrumental reasons - sex as a means of accomplishing a goal (financial or personal gain, or revenge)
o Emotional reasons – feelings of insecurity
• Masters and Johnson
phases of physiological change during sexual activity, which comprise of four primary stages:
• Sexual response cycle
o Excitement o Plateau o Orgasm o Resolution • Refractory period – time period during which erection and orgasm are not physically possible
inability to achieve or maintain an erection
• Viagra
Erectile dysfunction (ED)
- Medial treatments – estrogen replacement therapy
* May arise from depression or anxiety
Painful intercourse or lack of arousal
use of internet and computer equipment for sending sexually explicit images and messages to partner
“sexting”
cybersex
use of internet and computer equipment for sending sexually explicit images and messages to partner
“sexting”
sexual orientation
Long struggle to find a satisfactory explantion for variations in sexual orientation
- Freud – male homosexuality could be traced to presence of domineering mother and weak father figure
- Ellis and Ames – homosexuality caused by experiencing seduction from an older sibling or playmate
- Based on choices or biological related factors
LeVay compared brains of gay males vs heterosexual males
Found that the hypothalamus of gay males were smaller
- “nature vs nurture” issue
- patterns of brain activity…more on 414
horome involved in developemf of sex characteristic sa nd motivation of sexual behvariour (found in both females and males although typically higher in males)
• Surges in testosterone assoacited w elevaeted sexual arousal
• Long-term effect on sexual development
• During huan development, amount of testosterone the fetus encounters influences behaviour later in life
o Excess amount = boys who are more masculine or females that show typical male behaviour or homosexual behaviour
o Low levels = feminization (even if fetus is female or male)
testosterone
gay males tend to have larger number of older brothers than hetero male (415)
Prenatal testosterone
• Sexual orienation may be influences by a combination of genes
• Evidence from twin studies:
o Higher genetic correlations bt identical twins vs fraternal
Motivation seeks to meet our complex social and personal needs
SOCIAL AND ACHEIVEMENT MOTIVATION
- Besides basic needs for survival, there are other neecessities such as meaningful relationships and continuing with uniquely human needs such as self-esteem and self-actualization (finding purpose for life)
- Abraham Maslow conceived increasingly complexity of motivational needs
- “hierarchy of needs” (419)
The Need to Belong
Belonging is a Need, Not a Want
aka affiliation motivation; motivation to maintain relationships that involve pleasant feelings such as warmth, affection, appreciation, and mutual concern for each person’s well-being
• Need to belong
Research on loneliness
More prone to stress and illness
psychological perspective asserting that the human fear of mortality motivates behaviour, particularly those that preserve self-esteem and sense of belonging
Terror management theory
concepts and beliefs that prevent death-related anxiety
Anxiety buffers
an increased awareness of death
Morality salience
drive to perform at high levels and to accomplish significant goals; desire to master a task
Achievement motivation
desire to understand or overcome challenges
Mastery motives
gearded toward gaining rewards or public recognition
Performance motives
enjoyable and pleasant incentives that we are drawn toward (i.e. praise or financial reward)
Approach goals
unpleasant outcoemes such as shame, embarrassment, or emotional pain, which we try to avoid
Avoidance goals
psychological experience involving three components:
• Subjective thoughts and experiences
• Accompanying patterns of physical arousal
• Characteristic behavioural expression
emotion
Autonomic Reponse: Fight or Flight
– generally increases energy and alertness to enable you to handle frightening situations (fight or flight response)
• Sympathetic nervous system
part of brain
critical to emotional processing
Limbic system
part of brain
assessing and interpreting situations to determine which emotions are appropriate; connect perception/interpretation of these situations to brain regions that stimulate the physiological responses required for action
Amygdala
body is readied for action before the stimulus is fully perceived and interpreted
fast pathway
involves conscious recognition of stimulus and situation
slow pathway
- physiological reaction to stimuli (racing heart) precede and give rise to emotional experience (fear)
- Sense of fear determined by how your body responds
The James-Lange and Cannon-Bard Theories of Emotion
• Emotions (fear or happiness) occur simultaneously with their physcolocal compoennts
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
if emotional expression influence subjective emotional experience then the act of forming a faical expression should elicit the specific corresponsing emotion
Facial feedback theory
• Patterns of physical arousal and cognitive labels we attach to them form the basis of our emotional experiences
Scachter’s Two-Factor Theory
Emotional Dialects and Display Rules
Emotional dialects – variations across cultures in how common emotions are expressed
Display rules – unwritten expectations we have regarding when it is approtaite to show a certain emotion
