motivation Flashcards
What is motivation ?
the process that determines the initiation, maintenance, direction and determination of behavior
- its what keeps us doing something
Psychologist Clark Hull
- believed that animals were motivated by physiological needs (ex: need for warmth, foood)
What is the need reduction theory about?
states that organisms are motivated by the fulfillment of needs
- physiological need for food
- hunger drive
- behavioral response
- Need reduction
Whats a primary motive ?
an internal state that pushes an organism to fulfill a deficiency
Set point ?
the desired target value of a system
Drive
an internal state that pushes an organism to fulfill a deficiency
what is homeostasis ? what does Hull believe ?
Refers to the tendency of biological systems to maintain a stable internal environment
- the key structure in the performance of this function is the hypothalamus
- hull believes animals are motivated to fulfill those needs through homeostasis
Non homeostasis drive
a drive that is not aimed at fulfilling a physiological need
what are some limitations of the need reduction theory?
this theory does a good job at explaining the motivation to fulfill physiological needs however not all behaviours can be explained by it
- as most of our behaviours are motivated by non-homeostatic drives
What is the arousal theory ?
the theory proposing that an organism motivation to act is based on the organism’s state of physiological activity
Arousal
the state of physiological activity of an organism
Arousal continuum ?
the continuum of arousal states associated with various activities ranging from low to high
Yerkes-Dodson Law
the relationship between performance and levels of arousal, performance is related to levels of arousal in an inverted U function, with both extremely low and extremely high levels of arousal being detrimental to efficient performance
Arousal levels, The arousal continumm
arousal levels range from low to high
- very low levels of arousal are associated with sleep
- very high levels of arousal are associated with extreme excitement
arousal levels and personality
people differ in their basal levels of physiological arousal
- some people have inherited levels of arousal that are higher than others
- you may have hear that some people are high sensation seekers
- they are looking to raise their arousal levels
Reward deficiency syndrome ?
a proposed syndrome in which highs sensation seekers have inherited a low number of dopamine receptors in the striatum and prefrontal cortex
- it has been found that high sensation seekers have inherited a low number of a type of dopamine receptors (D2) in the striatum and prefrontal cortex
leaves them with a deficit in experiencing positive moods
Kenneth Blum (1990)
proposed the reward deficiency syndrome
- he proposed that sensation seekers have inherited with low D@ receptors
- are constantly motivated by the search for more intense sources of reward
- negatively they me prone to problems with self-control, drug abuse, risky sexual behaviour, aggressive behaviour
Pleasure seeking and reward ?
- people often seek activities they know will provide them with pleasure
James Olds and Peter Milner (1950s)
Experiment: rats would return to an area of a desktop where they received electrical stimulation of the Brain
- they wanted to know if rats learned to press a lever to receive the same stimulation
- they found that the area stimulated was the ventral-tegmental area (VTA), from which dopamine neurons project to the nucleus accumbens and widespread areas of the forebrain, including the prefrontal cortex
Roy Wise
- such as the antipsychotic drug pimozide (a dopamine receptor antagonist) , reduced the amount of work rats would do to receive a food reward
- it was later suggested that the neurochemical basis of reward was the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine
Pimozide
this drug blocks the actions of dopamine, this means that dopamine has an effect on motivation.
- when dopamine is blocked, rats have less motivation to do the task in order to get the food reward
What is the prediction error concept?
- another concept related to dopamine
- its the extent to which the conditioned stimulus predicts the presence of the unconditioned stimulus
Wolfram Schultz
- recorded the electrical activity of dopamine neurons int he mesolimbic dopamine system (VTA and substantia during a task in which monkeys learned the association between the presentation of a visual stimulus and a juice reward. )
- this experiment tells us that dopamine seems to be involved in the prediction of reward but not the pleasure that an organism feels when the reward is provided
Dopamine ramping?
- the way in which dopamine is released in increasing amounts as the steps required to obtain a reward are completed
explain dopamine ramping using examples
dopaminergic neurons are found in the striatum.
- dopamine concentrations are high when a rewarding goal has been reached, they fall of if achieving the is not rewarded
- the dopamine level in the striatum gradually increase as the steps toward the delivery of a reward are completed
The incentive salience theory , proposed by Robinson and Berridge
- proposed that the conditioned stimuli associated with a a reward act as powerful cues to its delivery and that exposure to those cues create a state of “wanting”
- for example individuals suffering from drug addiction, this state of wanting, after being exposed to cues they have associated with it is characterized by intense cravings and may lead to seeking behaviours
- according to this theory the state of wanting is generated by the activity in the mesolimbic dopamine system
Drug addictions
state of wanting, after being exposed to cues they have associated with taking a drug
- characterized by intense cravings that may lead to drug seeking behaviours
- the relief that is felt after having ingested the drug creates a state referred to as “liking”
Theories of motivation include the need reduction theory and the arousal theory.
Need reduction theory is based on biological need to maintain homeostasis. Arousal theory is based on the idea that organisms are motivated to maintain optimal levels of arousal. However people and other organisms are motivated not just to maintain homeostasis or optimal levels of arousal, they are also motivated by stimuli that provide pleasure.
The reward system
- refers to a group of structures that are activated whenever we experience something rewarding like taking a drug
- when exposed to rewarding stimulus, our brain responds by the release of neurotransmitter dopamine
the pathway mostly associated with reward ?
the mesolimbic dopamine pathway
- which starts in an area of the brain called VTA (ventral-tegmental area)
the pathway connects it with the nucleus accumbens (which is found in the ventral striatum)
another pathway is the mesocortical pathway which also originates in the VTA but travels to the cerebral cortex (especially the frontal lobes)
