PSYC 111 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Paraventricular Nucleus Of Hypothalamus, Arcuate Nucleus, Ventromedial Nucleus Of The Hypothalamus
18 Jun 2018
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Textbook Outline: Chapters 9-11, 13
❖Chapter 9: Motivation and Emotion pg 302- 337
■Motivational Theories
○Motives are the needs, wants, interests and desires that
propel people in certain directions
○Motivation involves goal-directed behavior
➢Drive Theories
○Homeostasis: a state of physiological equilibrium or
stability
●I.e. a body shivering/sweating to maintain safe
body temperature of 98.6 degrees
○Drive: a hypothetical, internal state of tension that
motivates an organism to engage in activities that should
reduce this tension
●When individuals experience a drive, they’re
motivated to pursue actions that will lead to drive
reduction
●When you are hungry the discomfort of an empty
stomach is the tension or drive that motivates you
to obtain food, eating restores equilibrium
○Drive models emphasize the role of homeostasis
➢Incentive Theories
○Incentive: an external goal that has the capacity to
motivate behavior
○Drive is a push theory while incentive is a pull
●According the drive theories, motivation lies
within the organism whereas in incentive theories
the motivation lies outside the organism
○Incentive models emphasize the role of environment
➢Evolutionary Theories
○Motives of humans and other species are products of
evolution
○Natural selection favors behaviors that maximize
reproductive success
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●Explains motives such as affiliation, achievement,
dominance, aggression and sex drive
○Motives can be best understood in terms of their adaptive
uses and problem solving
●Dominance increasing mating success
○Affiliation motive: need for belongingness
●Help with offspring, collaboration in hunting and
gathering, mutual defense, sexual opportunities
○Biological motives: hunger, thirst, sex
○Social Motives: needs for achievement, affiliation,
autonomy, dominance and order
○Most studied motives are that of hunger, sex, and
achievement
➢Goals: Compare drive, incentive and evolutionary approaches
to understanding motivation
■The Motivation of Hunger and Eating
➢Biological Factors in the Regulation of Hunger
○Brain regulation
●Hunger is controlled in the hypothalamus
➢Hypothalamus is a tiny structure involved in
a variety of biological needs related to
survival located in the center of the brain
●40s/50s theory
➢Lateral hypothalamus: regulates the desire to
eat
➢Ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus:
controls the ability to recognize satiety
(fullness)
●Current Thinking
➢Arcuate nucleus and the paraventricular
nucleus modulate hunger
●Contemporary Theories
➢Focus on neural circuits through the
hypothalamus that depend on a large variety
of neurotransmitters rather than anatomical
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centers
○Digestive and Hormonal Regulation
●The stomach can send signals to the brain that
inhibit further eating
➢Vagus nerve: stretching of stomach
➢Other nerves send satiety messages
depending on the nutrients in stomach
content
●Hormones in bloodstream
➢Ghrelin: secreted by stomach causing
contractions and promotes hunger when the
body goes without food
➢CCK: secreted by upper intestine, delivers
satiety signals to the brain reducing hunger
➢Leptin: produced by fat cells, released in
bloodstream to regulate hunger on a long-
term basis by providing the hypothalamus
with information about the body’s fat stores
➢Insulin: secreted by the pancreas also senses
fat fluctuations
➢Environmental Factors in the Regulation of Hunger
○Food Availability and Related Cues
➢Humans and other animals are often
motivated to eat for the pleasure of eating
●Palatability: the better food tastes, the more of it
people consume
●Quantity available: people tend to consume what is
in front of them. Larger plate and more selection
causes one to eat more food
●Variety: increase of consumption when a greater
variety of foods are available
➢Sensory-specific satiety: as you eat a
specific food, its incentive value declines.
The more foods available, the more people
eat
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Document Summary
Chapter 9: motivation and emotion pg 302- 337. Motives are the needs, wants, interests and desires that propel people in certain directions. Homeostasis: a state of physiological equilibrium or stability. I. e. a body shivering/sweating to maintain safe body temperature of 98. 6 degrees. Drive: a hypothetical, internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension. When individuals experience a drive, they"re motivated to pursue actions that will lead to drive reduction. When you are hungry the discomfort of an empty stomach is the tension or drive that motivates you to obtain food, eating restores equilibrium. Drive models emphasize the role of homeostasis. Incentive: an external goal that has the capacity to motivate behavior. Drive is a push theory while incentive is a pull. According the drive theories, motivation lies within the organism whereas in incentive theories the motivation lies outside the organism. Incentive models emphasize the role of environment.
