Unit 2 Instincts and Drives Flashcards
What is motivation?
Force acting within an organism to give behaviour it’s energy (strength and intensity), direction (the specific goal), and persistence (behaviour sustained over time)
What is a grand theory? What were two early grand theories in the study of motivation?
All-encompassing theory that seeks to explain the full range of
motivated action.
The two early theories stated that motivation revolved around instincts and drives –> physiology is the primary determinant of behaviour
What is an instinct?
- “Hardwired” or “programmed in” bits of behaviour
- innate —> don’t require learning
- occur in response to some environmental trigger
How did William James and William McDougall view human instincts
William James
- Instincts are similar to reflexes and are elicited by sensory stimuli
- Occur blindly the first time without knowledge of outcome
- BUT subsequent behaviour may be modified by experience through 1. learning to control or suppress them and 2. some instincts are transitory (have a specific time frame)
-DID NOT THINK ALL BEHAVIOUR WAS DUE TO INSTINCTS
William McDougall
-Instincts are primary drivers of ALL human behaviour
-Instincts consist of 3 components
-1. Cognitive: recognition of an object that can satisfy said instinct
2. affective: feeling/emotion that the object arouses us
3. Conative: Moving towards or away from the object
-BELIEVED ALL HUMAN BEHAVIOUR CAN BE EXPLAINED BY INSTINCTS
What were the criticisms of early instinct theoris?
- No agreement in how many instincts existed
- Nominal fallacy i.e. just being able to name something does not mean you can explain its mechanisms
-Circular reasoning –> behaviour isn’t proof of instincts
-Insufficient recognition in the role of learning
-Instincts shouldn’t be considered a “grand theory” –> shouldn’t be all encompassing.
Define ethology.
The study of animal behaviour in
natural settings through systematic and objective observations
Define fixed-action patterns.
Pre-programmed
behaviours that are triggered by a specific stimulus.
Define sign stimulus.
A specific stimulus that will trigger a specific action
Define stereotyped behaviour.
A predictable, fixed behaviour in response to a sign stimulus
i.e. aggressive behaviour in beta fish in response to a rival male
What is evolutionary psychology? What are evolutionary psychologists primarily interested in?
Study of how evolutionary
processes have shaped human mind and behaviours –> primarily interested in how evolutionary pressures have shaped adaptive functions of behaviour.
What is natural selection? What are its three key components?
Process through which certain traits become more or less
common in a population over time due to pressures of the environment
Variation: individuals in a population vary in traits (e.g., size, color, behavior).
Heredity: variation is passed down from parents to offspring (through genes)
Differential fitness: not all individuals in a population survive and reproduce equally
What is an adaptation?
Traits that increase chances of survival & reproduction in a given
environment and that are gradually accumulated over generations
What are baby schemata? What response do they evoke? What might this response be adaptive from an evolutionary perspective?
Baby like features are a sign stimulus for eliciting caregiving motivation
Evokes emotions of pity and protective urges towards adult-baby faces because they are perceived as warm, naive and weaker
This response was adapted to ensure babies receive the proper care and protection they need to survive.
Describe and contrast survival selection and sexual selection.
Survival selection: Adaptations that increase odd of survival I.e. camouflage to avoid predators
Sexual selection: adaptation that increase odds of securing mate and reproducing. i.e. colorful plumes to entice females
Describe and contrast intrasexual selection and intersexual selection
Intrasexual –> Driven by competition among individuals of the same sex. i.e. bucks fighting over female
Intersexual –> Driven by mate choice i.e. traits that attract opposite sex.
Summarize gender differences in aggression.
How do evolutionary psychologists explain these differences, and what evidence supports their hypotheses? Evolutionarily, what is the link between sexual motivation and aggressive motivation?
- Men are WAY more likely to engage in physical aggression that women
- Evolutionary psychologists believe that men’s greater propensity towards violence derives in part from their historically greater need to compete for mates in order to pass on their genes.
- When men are sexually primed (i.e. list 5 things that made you feel sexual desire), they assaulted same-sex (but not opposite-sex) participant with louder and longer blasts of painful noise. This effect was not seen in women.
- Men are not more aggressive when primed with other means (i.e. were told they were the strongest/weakest of all the men there) suggesting that aggression in men is sexually motivated to compete for mates
From an evolutionary perspective, what adaptive functions might aggression serve?
-Defense against predators & adversaries, competition for limited resources (survival selection)
- Competition for mates (intrasexual selection)
-Attracting mates (intersexual selection)
What is the counter view of gender differences in aggression? What is the evidence that socialization and culture may contribute to these differences?
Alternative view: men are socialized
according to social norms that encourage physical aggressiveness.
i.e. When PS viewed a startled baby, if they were told its a boy then they thought he was angry, if told its a girl they believed she was afraid.
What are cultures of honour? What research evidence supports this idea? Why are cultures of honour thought to be more prevalent in certain regions? More broadly, what does this research indicate about the nature or aggression?
Cultures that place high value on social reputation, feel strong obligation to defend their honour. Are more likely to respond with anger/aggression to insults.
i.e. Compared to northerners, southern student were more likely to think their masculine reputation was threated and subsequently behaved more aggressively, after being bumped and insulted by confederate.
i.e. Southern companies were more likely to respond positively to applicants who murdered someone out of honour (but not theft) relative to Northern companies. SPECIFIC to honour
Cultures of honour are more prevalent in regions like the south because they were historically herding economies where your livelihood was tied to your livestock. Therefore threats to resources or honour often prompt aggressive responses to maintain your status and prevent theft
This research suggest that aggression may not be entirely due to natural selection but due to differences in socialization
What is a drive? What is the overarching idea behind drive theories?
Drives are bodily deficits experienced psychologically as internal states of tension that motivate us to restore equilibrium.
Drive theories posit that behaviour is motivated to the extent that it served the bodily needs of the organism and restores biological homeostasis.
What is homeostasis?
Process by which organisms
maintain stable internal environment despite changes in the external environment
Summarize Freud’s drive theory in broad terms. What are defensive strategies according to this theory?
-Believed that bodily imbalances like hunger create psychic energy. This build up of energy causes anxiety which causes a drive to restore balance.
Source: Bodily deficit (physiological origin)
Impetus: Increase in intensity which causes urgency
Object: what can satisfy the drive
Aim: The goal directed behaviour
2 Categories of drives
-Eros: Maintains life and preservation
- Thanatos: Manifests as aggression, destruction and harm towards self or others
Defense strategies: learned strategies for managing sexual and aggressive drives, allowing them to be channeled in socially acceptable ways.
Summarize Hull’s drive theory in broad terms
- Drive is an accumulation of all current bodily deficits summed up.
- Behaviour is motivated by drive reduction, but the drive doesn’t tell you how to act, it just propels you to do something
- Habits are reinforced following relief (negative reinforcement), which will subsequently direct behaviour
- Behaviour is also influenced by external rewards (value of stimulus in quantity or quality)
Thus behaviour is a function of DRIVE (biological motivation like hunger), HABIT (probability of the behaviour acquired through learning, and INCENTIVE (environmental reward)
What are the limitations of drive theory
- Not all motivations derive from physiological deficits
i.e. rats will explore new environments even when not hungry/thirsty
-Underemphasis of psychological needs that also motivate us.
