Chapter 11- Motivation Flashcards
Motivation
-the moving towards one’s goal
accomplishing a task
Needs
- biological states of deficiency (cellular or bodily) that compels drives
- ex: food, water, oxygen
Drives
-tension caused by deficiency in needs
come from the body
-push us into action
-ex: hunger, thirst
Motivated behaviours
needs and drives
Incentive
- anything from the environment that motivates behaviour
- pull us into action
ex: money is the incentive to get a job, getting a uni degree is the incentive behind studying
Evolutionary theory of motivation
Major motives all involve basic survival and reproduction needs and drives: hunger, thirst, body-temperature regulation, oxygen, and sex
Desires, wants, and needs have been shaped over the course of evolution to guide behaviour either toward adaptive or away from maladaptive actions
Study of Sexual Motivation
Women kept a diary of their clothing style across their menstrual cycle
Women took picture every day, men rated clothing as sexier and the women more attractive during the fertile phase
Sexual behaviour in humans is enhanced at times when the chance of conception is most likely
Instinct
an inherited behavioural tendency
helps ensure survival
do something because it feels good, stop because it feels bad
Drive reduction model
maintaining homeostasis
Homeostasis
- physiological balance
- maintaining equilibrium around a set point
- feedback loop
Yerkes- Dodson Law
moderate levels of arousal lead to optimal performance
-low and high arousal leads to bad performance
Optimal Arousal Model of Motivation
Humans motivated to be optimally aroused (not too much and not too little)
Needs like: curiosity, learning, interest, beauty-aesthetics, competence, challenge, flow states and optimal experiences
Having a person lie down on a bed or in a sensory deprivation/salt water tank
People can’t remain in sensory deprivation for more than
People can’t remain in sensory deprivation for more than 2-3 days even if paid double their daily wage for staying
When stayed for only a few days, “pathology of boredom” developed
Long periods of sensory deprivation people begin to:
Hallucinate
Depleted cognitive and concentration
Develop childish emotional responses
long term sensory deprivation in rats
Shrinks brain regions that are involved in the deprived senses
Another example of plasticity in the brain
“Flow”
people perform best and are most creative when they are optimally/moderately challenged
Maslows hierarchy of needs
1) Physiological needs
2) Safety and security needs
3) Love and belonging needs
4) Esteem needs
5) Self actualization
only once lower levels have been satisfied, can you reach the highest levels
physiological needs
-lowest level
food, water, oxygen body temp
safety and security needs
-safety and protection from danger
love and belonging needs
need to have friends, family, a mate, sex, children
esteem needs
need to be appreciated and respected
self actualization
full realization of your potential and abilities
Kenrick’s Evolutionary Model of Motivation
replaces self actualization with 3 reproductive goal
1) acquiring a mate
2) retaining a mate
3) parenting
Two basic drive states
hunger and sex
metabolism
rate at which we consume energy
-When our energy has been depleted, hunger drives us to replenish it by eating
Drive-reduction perspective of hunger
being hungry depends not only on how much food we have consumed recently, but also on how much energy is available for organ function
4 biological components of hunger
Stomach
Blood
Brain
Hormones and neurochemicals
The Stomach
-Growling results from gastric secretions hat are activated by the brain when we think of, see, or smell food
Hunger can also cause the stomach to contract
contractions
Contractions : occur when he stomach and small intestine have been relatively empty for about 2 hours
Do not cause hunger : people who have their stomachs removed for medical reasons still feel hunger, rats with severed nerves between stomach and brain still feel hunger
Blood
has glucose
a simple sugar in blood that provides energy for cells throughout the body, including the brain
Some organs, like the brain, can only use glucose for energy
When we go without eating:
When we go without eating:
Blood sugar levels drop
Hypothalamus triggers the drive to obtain food
Hypothalamus
- master of all major motives, regulates hunger by monitoring glucose levels
- some parts lack a blood brain barrier
- crucial role in sexual behaviour
lateral hypothalamus
Stimulation promotes feeding (even in overweight rats)
increases hunger
Destruction results in losing weight
Ventromedial Hypothalamus
promotes satiety (feeling full)
-decreases hunger
Stimulation leads to under feeding and weight loss
Inhibits the parasympathetic nervous system
Destruction leads to overfeeding and weight gain
Stimulate feeding hormones
Ghrelin Neuropeptide Y (NPY) Orexin Melanin Endocannabinoids
Ghrelin
-the hungry hormone
released from digestive system; levels rise when we are hungry and fall after we eat
Neuropeptide Y (NPY)
released in hypothalamus when an animal is hungry
Endocannabinoids
Naturally occurring neurochemicals that can increase appetite
Blocking receptor sites for endocannabinoids leads to a decrease in eating and to weight loss
Hormones that suppress appetite
Cholecystokinin (CKK)
Leptin
Insulin
Peptide YY (PYY)
Insulin
Produced by the pancreas
Production stimulated by rising glucose levels
Transports glucose out of blood and into cells, thus decreasing hunger
Food preferences
shaped by evolutionary forces
Most humans crave the basic nutrients out bodies require and that were scarce during ancestral times: salt, sugar, and fat
Choice of what we eat
driven by culture
Different cultures expose children to different flavours
However, exposure does not immediately lead to preference
Often takes multiple exposures, 8-10, before children like a food that they initially disliked
Visual or auditory cues associated with food through classical conditioning
an trigger feeding, even with people who have aren’t hungry
Participants were told to eat as much tomato soup as they liked, either from a normal bowl or a secretly self-refilling bowl
Those who had soup from self-refilling bowl consumed more calories than the control group, even though they both estimated that they ate the same amount
we rely on our eyes, not our stomachs, to tell us when we are full
Anorexia Nervosa
Cannot maintain 85% of their ideal body weight for their height
Have an intense fear of eating
Have distorted body image
Do not recognize that they are unusually thin or that they have an eating disorder
Unknown causes
Factors like reactivity to stress, genetics and personality put people at risk
Bulimia Nervose
Characterized by binge eating and feeling a lack of control during the eating session
Regularly engages in self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives or diuretics, strict dieting, or fasting in order to prevent weight gain
STUDY: More than 31,000 fraternal and identical twin pairs (both male and female) from Sweden
Examined the genetics of anorexia nervosa
56% of variability in whether or not people develop anorexia nervosa is due to genetics
38% attributable to the common environments shared by family members
People who are more prone to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem were more likely to develop anorexia
Anorexics
higher in neuroticism
more conscientious
more introverted
less open to new and novel situations
Body Mass Index (BMI)
BMI= weight
height
healthiest BMI range: between 20 and 25
overweight: 26 to 29.9
obese: 30 or aboveCanadian Community Health Survey reported that over
__ of adult Canadians were overweight and roughly ___ were obese
1/3
23%
Genes appear to be responsible for ___of adult weight
70%
STUDY
Adults who had been adopted as children
were much closer in weight to their biological parents than to their adoptive parents
Certain types of obesity are caused by a mutation to the gene that produces the
leptin hormone
Genes also control the number of fat cells a person has
Sexual behaviour
actions that produce arousal and increase the likelihood of orgasm
first studied by Masters and Johnson
Human Sexual Response
1) Excitement
2) Plateau
3) Orgasm
4) Resolution
1) Excitement
vaginal lubrication in female
erection in male
2) Plateau
-high excitement levels, pre orgasm
Men: short plateau phase but orgasm always follows
Women: long plateau phase and orgasm doesn’t always follow
3) Orgasm
Some women can have multiple orgasm
Men always have a refractory period immediately following orgasm where the erection is lost and orgasm is not possible
4) Resolution
the end
Arousal only happens in women if women have
the right balance of thoughts and feelings dealing with intimacy, closeness, trust and lack of fear and anxiety
Men’s sexual response
-only one pattern
sometimes second orgasm after refractory
Women’ sexual response
Response pattern like men, but can achieve multiple orgasms
Women gets aroused and stays at plateau level, never reaching orgasm
Women gets aroused and excited, skips the plateau phase and has a quick resolution
lesioning the hypothalamus leads to ____ sexual behaviour
decreased
stimulating the hypothalamus leads to ___ sexual behaviour
increased
The part of the hypothalamus involved in sexual behaviour is larger in
men
Brain during orgasm
-deactivation of amygdala and hippocampus, parts of cortex
-faked orgasms activated these areas too
men show deactivation in left amygdala
Testosterone
Major male sex hormone
Controls sex drive in male and women
Produced by adrenal glands
Sexual Desire Cycle in Females
Female initiated sexual behaviour peaks around ovulation, before menstruation and after menstruation
As women approach ovulation, the frequency and intensity of their fantasies involving sex with men other than their partner increase
Such an increase makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, its most likely to become pregnant during ovulation
There are three kinds of societies in terms of sexual attitudes
1) Restrictive societies: restrict sex before and outside marriage
2) Semi-restrictive societies: prohibits sex before and outside marriage but not enforced
3) permissive societies: few restrictions on sex
Parental Investment Theory
explains the gender difference in attitudes about casual sex
Cost of sex is much greater for women than men, pregnancy, lactation
If pregnant, women has to contribute 9 months of pregnancy and many years to care for the child
Men only have to contribute sex
Women are less motivated to have sex with little emotional commitment- can have consequences that endure a lifetime
Been harshly criticized for being too narrow and failing to consider other equally plausible explanations
