PSYA02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11.1: Ventromedial Nucleus Of The Hypothalamus, Lateral Hypothalamus, Allostasis

• School: UTSC
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYA02H3
• Professor: Kyle Danielson

Document Summary

Hunger is a biological drive that influences what we pay attention to and interacts with our past experiences and current mental states such as excitement and anxiety. Motivation: concerns the physiological and psychological processes underlying the initiation of behaviours that direct organisms toward specific goals. Drive: a biological trigger that tells us we may be deprived of something and causes us to seek out what is needed such as food or water. When drive is satisfied reward centres of our brain are activated. Motivation contributes to homeostasis: the body"s physiological processes that allow it to maintain consistent internal states in response to the outer environment. Motivation is not only influenced by current needs, but also by the anticipation of future needs. However, our ability to predict our future needs is not perfect and this is why psychological variables such as stress can have a strong influence on behaviour such as hunger and thirst.