PSY 1101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Abraham Maslow, Blood Sugar, Lateral Hypothalamus

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1101
• Professor: Najwa Haddad

Document Summary

Motivation: a need or desire that energizes behaviour and directs it towards a goal. 4 perspectives psychologists have used in their attempt to understand motivated behaviours: Instinct theory (now replaced by evolutionary perspective) Drive-reduction theory (emphasizing the interaction between inner pushes and external pulls) Arousal theory (emphasizing the urge for an optimum level of stimulation) Abraham maslow"s hierarchy of needs (describes how motives are, if unsatisfied, more basic and compelling than others) In early 20th century, psychologists started naming thousands of human instincts in order to classify them. Instinct: a complex behaviour that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned. Human behaviour exhibits certain innate tendencies, including simple fixed patterns; but other psychologists view human behaviour as directed by physiological needs and by psychological wants. Although instinct theory failed to explain human motives, the underlying assumption that genes predispose species-typical behaviour is still as strong as ever.