PSY 3109 Lecture 3: Physiological processes and motivation
26 Jan 2019
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Monday, January 21, 2019
Physiological processes and motivations
Instinct !
-Konrad Lorenz→ Did the experiment where you got ducklings to believe that he was their
mother !
•Fixed action pattern→ Complete sequence triggered by observing a somewhat round
object near the bird’s nest!
-Brought on by environmental stimulus !
-Type of action where the frame of mind of the person or duck is irrelevant!
-Instincts→ Energy→ Channels behaviour in appropriate direction!
-Behaviour is hard-wired into the nervous system!
-It provides survival value!
-More common in lower animals !
-Doesn’t meet the complexity of most human behaviour!
-Modified by experience→ All organisms do this !
-Instincts are a hypothesis/ theory→ Doesn’t describe any brain components!
•This is an in-direct way of understanding our behaviour !
-Criticisms:!
•Circular explanation→ It is definitional !
-Ex: A person is agressive because they have an agressive instinct!
•No biological factors are taken into account!
•Only account for motivation in animals!
•They were limited in the types of motivations that they attempted to explain→ Sexual and
aggressive!
•Provide a parsimonious explanation of motivating factors → It’s neat, but weak and
doesn’t provide enough insight !
Drive!
-Clark Hull→ Drive reduction theory !
•We have drives which compel us to do stuff,, express need when fulfilled and then will
stop the drive !
•Level of homeostasis changes between people !
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Monday, January 21, 2019
-Motivation→ Series of needs and forces !
•Act in order to respond to these needs !
-Human motives are extensions of basic needs !
-Drive→ Intense internal force that motivates behaviour!
-A formula was created in order to make the theory more mathematical!
•Don’t need to know it!
-Excitatory potential is determined by:!
•Drive→ Internal arousal state produced by deprivation or stimulation!
•Incentive motivation→ The internal arousal produced by the reinforcer!
• Habit strength→ The strength of the connection between the stimulus and the response!
-Can be innate or acquired through experience!
•Inhibition→ Suppression caused by previous responses facing to produce reward!
-Sources:!
•Threat to survival:!
-Sex partner !
-Predator!
•Those that don’t threaten survival:!
-Highly desirable stimuli!
•Ex: Sugar!
-Highly aversive stimuli!
•Ex: Mild foot shock!
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Monday, January 21, 2019
-Elimination of behaviour:!
•Unsuccessful behaviour causes a drive to persist!
•If drive persists, all behaviour is inhibited!
-Hull’s ideas reflect important aspects of human behaviour!
•Intense arousal can reinforce behaviour !
•Environmental stimuli can develop the ability to produce arousal and motivate behaviour!
•Failure to distinguish learning and performance!
-Acquired drive→ Internal drive state proceeded when an environmental stimulus is paired
with unconditioned source of drive!
•Works through classical conditioning→ very pavlovian!
-Critiques:!
•Behaviourists→ Not observable and too reliant on intervening variables!
•Humanists→ Dehumanizes humans and ignores individual differences !
•Formula→ Fantasy because it assumes that learning is continuous when it is not!
-Drive reduction:!
•Strengths:!
-Primary drives are satisfied !
-Homeostasis for biological needs!
•Weakness:!
-Humans and other animals seek new experiences!
-Doesn’t explain:!
•Curiosity !
•Sensation seeking !
•Animals want to increase level of arousal !
•Exploration !
•Risk taking !
-Drive reduction theory explains basic things, but not much more than that !
Hunger !
-Theories of hunger are based on biological components !
•Cannon and Washburn→ Ballon Study!
-A ballon was inserted into his stomach and then filled with air→ He did not feel hungry !
-Those without stomachs still fill hungry!
-Implication→ Hunger doesn’t come from the stomach !
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Document Summary
Konrad lorenz did the experiment where you got ducklings to believe that he was their mother: fixed action pattern complete sequence triggered by observing a somewhat round object near the bird"s nest. Type of action where the frame of mind of the person or duck is irrelevant. Instincts energy channels behaviour in appropriate direction. Behaviour is hard-wired into the nervous system. Doesn"t meet the complexity of most human behaviour. Modi ed by experience all organisms do this. Instincts are a hypothesis/ theory doesn"t describe any brain components: this is an in-direct way of understanding our behaviour. Criticisms: circular explanation it is de nitional. Clark hull drive reduction theory: we have drives which compel us to do stu ,, express need when ful lled and then will stop the drive, level of homeostasis changes between people. Motivation series of needs and forces: act in order to respond to these needs. Human motives are extensions of basic needs.
