PSYC 100B Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Thermostat, Ovulation, Basal Metabolic Rate

• School: University of Victoria
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100B
• Professor: Louise Chim

Document Summary

Psychologists define motivation as a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. Our motivations arise from the interplay between (cid:374)ature (cid:894)the (cid:271)odil(cid:455) (cid:862)push(cid:863)(cid:895) a(cid:374)d (cid:374)urture (cid:894)the (cid:862)pull(cid:863) from our thoughts). Example: aron ralston was motivated to cut off his own arm in order to free himself from a rock that had pinned him down (motivation for survival). To qualify as an instinct, a complex behavior must have fixed (rigid and predictable) pattern of behavior throughout a species and cannot be unlearned. Instinct theory failed to explain most human motives, but its underlying assumption continues in evolutionary psychology: genes do predispose some species-typical behavior. The physiological aim of drive reduction is homeostasis the maintenance of a steady internal state. Not only are we pushed by our need to reduce drives, we also are pulled by incentives positive or negative environmental stimuli that lure or repel us.