PSYC 1010 Lecture Notes - Extreme Weight Loss, Human Sexual Response Cycle, Periventricular Nucleus

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: all

Document Summary

What is motivation: a process that influences the direction, persistence and vigour of goal- directed behaviour. Instinct theory: little support, simplistic explanations, circular reasoning problems, heredity partly accounts for motivational differences among people. Modern evolutionary psychology: adaptive significance motivated to engage in behaviours that promote survival advantages. Drive theory: psychological disruptions to homeostasis produce drives to behave in a certain way (e. x thirst influences drinking) Incentives: stimuli that pull an organism toward a good. An instinct is a fixed (rigid and predictable) pattern of behaviour that is not acquired by learning and is likely to be rooted in genes and the body. Instincts evolutionary perspective: other species have genetically programmed instincts motivating their actions, we may have general patterns of behaviour which can be explained as emerging through natural selection. This restores homeostasis, a steady internal state: need drive drive reducing behaviours.