Chapter 10: Motivation and Emotion
Brain Regulation (hypothalamus)
- Hunger is controlled in the brain, in the hypothalamus - It is a tiny structure involved in the regulation of a variety of biological needs related to survival
Biological factors of hunger
- Hunger is not caused by stomach contractions as once thought - Correlation is no assurance of causation
Settling-point Theory
- Instead, weight tends to drift around the level at which the constellation of factors that determine food consumption and energy expenditure achieves an equilibrium.
Hormone Regulation (Insuline)
- Insuline must be present for cells to extract glucose from the blood - Inadequate supply of glucose cause diabetes - Secretion of insulin= increased hunger - Just the sight of food can stimulate secretion of insuline
Gender Differences in mate preference
- Males look for partners with high reproductive capabilities - Evolutionary Theory suggests men look for partners with youthfulness, attractiveness (for health and fertility) - Women look for partners who have material resources and could protect family
Motivation and emotion
- Motivation to avoid failure -> linked to fear - Emotion can cause motivation ~ Ex: Anger towards job will motivate one to look for another - Motivation can also cause emotion ~ Ex: motivation to win a contest can lead to anxiety, sadness if you lose, joy if you don't
Evolutionary Theories
- Motives (for human's and other species) are the products of evolution - Natural selection values behaviours that maximize on reproductive success, aka passing on genes to the next generation - SO, motives such as affiliation, achievement, dominance, aggression and sex drive are explained in terms of their adaptive value - These motives solved adaptive problems for our hunter-gatherer ancestors - Men's need for dominance= could improve their reproductive success.
Normative vs Sensory external cues
- Normative: indicators of socially appropriate food intake (what, when and how one should eat). - Sensory: Characteristics of the food itself (ex: palatability) that make people more or less likely to consume it. - *Herman and Polivy argue that it is sensory external cues that obese people are especially sensitive too*
Orgasm Phase
- Occurs when sexual arousal reaches its peak intensity. It discharges in a series of muscular contractions that pulsate through pelvic area. - Heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure increase sharply. - Very similar for men and women
Expectancy-value models (& 2 factors of motivation to pursue a certain course of action)
- One's motivation to pursue a particular course of action will depend on: 1) Expectancy about one's chances of obtaining incentive 2) Value of desired incentive
Schachter's Two-Factor Theory
- People look at *situational/environmental cues* to differentiate among alternative emotions. - The experience of emotion depends on: 1) Autonomic Arousal 2) Cognitive interpretation of the arousal - When you experience visceral arousal, you search your environment for an explanation. - People look for external rather than internal cues to differentiate and label their emotions - "If I'm aroused and your obnoxious, I must be angry"
Resolution Phase (& refractory period)
- Physiological changes subside - *Refractory Period*: Time following orgasm during which males are largely unresponsive to further stimulation.
Incentive Theories
- Propose that external stimuli regulate motivational states - Don't operate on the principle of homeostasis - Emphasize environmental factors and downplay biological bases of motivation
Critic of Theory
- Sight, smell, and sound of grilling steak (external) could can elicit insulin secretions (internal) that lead to increased hunger - This blurs Schachter's key distinction between internal and external determinants of hunger. - Also found that not all overweight people were hypersensitive to external cues and vice versa.
Obesity and genetics
- Some are more vulnerable to becoming obese
Parental Investment Theory
- Species matting patterns depend on what each sex has to invest- in term of time, energy, and survival risk- to produce and nurture offspring. - Sex that has to devote the least (males) will compete with others for the sex that devotes the most (females), while the sex that has to devote the most (females) will be more selective about who she mates with.
Externality Hypothesis
- Stanley Schachter's (1968) Study - Obese people are extra sensitive to external cues that affect hunger and are relatively insensitive to internal physiological signs, whereas the eating of normal-weight individuals is regulated by internal signs.
Role of amygdala
- The acquisition of conditioned fears - It lies at the core of complex set of neural circuits that process emotion
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
- The conscious experience of emotion results from one's perception of autonomic arousal - Different patterns of autonomic activation lead to the experience of different emotions - SO.. *It's the inner bodily arousal of a situation that leads to the conscious experience of a certain emotion* - Ex: pulse racing leads to feeling of fear.
Situational Determinants of Achievement Behaviour
- The strength of one's *motivation* to achieve success (viewed as stable aspect of one's personality) - One's estimate of the *probability of success* for task at hand - The *incentive value of success*. Depends on the tangible and intangible rewards for success on the specific task
Drive Theories
- View motivational forces in terms of drives - Explored most fully by Clark Hull (1940s-1950s) - Apply the concept of homeostatis
Incentive
An external goal that has the capacity to motivate behaviour. Ex: Good grades, money, friend's approval, juicy steak
Affective Forecasting
Efforts to predict one's emotional reaction's to future events
Affective Neuroscience
Focus on the examination of neurobiology of our emotions
Motivation
Goal directed behaviour
Emotion
Involves: 1) A subjective conscious experience (the cognitive component) 2) Bodily Arousal (the physiological component) 3) Characteristic overt expressions (the behavioural component)
Polygraph or lie detector based on..
The connection between emotion and autonomic arousal
Which parts of the brain are viewed as 'the seat of emotions'?
The hypothalamus, amygdala, and adjacent structures in the limbic system
The Achievement Motive
The need to master difficult challenges, to outperform others, and to meet high standards of excellence.
( & Gender Differences)
~ Women more likely to be multiorgasmic (experience more than one climax) ~ However, women more likely to not orgasm at all Why? - Evolution (for men to reproduce) - Socialization of guilt feelings about sex (not good for women) - Relationship quality more of a factor for women than men.
Other areas of the brain involved in the modulation of emotion?
*Prefrontal Cortex*: Contributes to efforts in voluntary control of emotions. Also seems to modulate emotions associated with the pursuit of goals *Cingulate Cortex*: Implicated in processing of pain-related emotional distress. Also activated when people wrestle with emotion-laden conflicts about choices. *Mesolimbic dopamine pathway* : Plays major role in the experience of pleasurable emotions associated with rewarding events. Activated by cocaine and other abused drugs. *Mirror Neurons*: Are activated by seeing an action or seeing another perform same action. Play crucial role in emotion of empathy.
Through time...
- *1940s-1950s*: lateral hypothalamus (LH) and the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) were thought to be the brain's on/off switches for the control of hunger - *Today * : - These 2 parts are elements that regulate hunger, but are not key elements. - The Arcuate Nucleus and the Paraventricular Nucleus play a larger role in the modulation of hunger - More focus on neural circuits that pass through areas of the hypothalamus, rather than on anatomical centres
Glucose Theory
- *Glucose*: A simple sugar that is an important source of energy - Fluctuations in blood glucose level are monitored in the brain where they influence the experience of hunger
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
- An increase in the electrical conductivity of the skin that occurs when sweat glands increase their activity - Prominent part of emotional arousal
Drive
- An internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities - Viewed as disruptions from the preferred equilibrium - Individuals re motivated to pursue activities that lead to *drive reduction* --> Ex: Eating when hungry reduces hunger drive and restores physiological equilibrium
Cannon-Bard Theory
- Argued that physiological experience can occur without the experience of emotion and the visceral changes are too low to precede the experience of emotion. And, different emotions such as fear, joy, and anger, exhibit almost identical patterns of autonomic arousal. - Instead, emotion occurs when the thalamus sends signals *simultaneously* to the cortex (creating the conscious experience of emotion) and to the autonomic nervous system (creating visceral arousal)
Plateau Phase
- Arousal builds at a slower pace - In women: tightening of vagina entrance - In men: Secrete a bit of fluid at the tip of penis, may contain sperm
Excitement Phare (Vasocongestion)
- Arousal rises rapidly *Vasocongestion*: Engorgement of blood vessels - In males: Erection and swollen testes - In females: Swelling and hardening of the clitoris, expansion of the vaginal lips, and vagina lubrication
Evolutionary Theories of Emotion
- Believe that emotions developed because their adaptive value. ~Ex: Fear can could help avoid danger. - Emotions considered to be largely innate reactions to certain stimuli. - Believe that emotion evolved before thought
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- Can measure a subject's need for achievement - A projective test; one that requires subjects to respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal personal motives or traits
Limitations of Drive Theory
- Cannot explain all motivation - Not all human motives are linked to homeostasis. Ex--> "Thirst for knowledge" - Motivation may exist without drive arousal
Dietary Restraint
- Chronic dieters are 'Restrained eaters'-> go hungry most of the time but are constantly thinking about food - When they fail at their diet (cognitive control disrupted), they become disinhibited and eat to excess - "I've already blown it, might as well enjoy as much as I want" - Dietary restraint is thought to *lead to frequent overeating and thus contribute to obesity* -Also thought to overeat even before getting on diet
Learned preferences and habits
- Culturally Learned - Generation Differences
Push-vs-Pull theories
- Drive theory -> Internal states of tension *push* people in certain directions - Incentive theory -> External Stimuli *pull* people in certain directions
Other Environmental Cues
- Exposure visuals of food increases hunger - Social Norms can govern eating habits
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
- Facial muscles send signals to the brain that help the brain recognize the emotion that one is experiencing - SO.. Smiling can actually make you happier :)
Other hormones (ghrelin, leptin)
- Ghrelin --> Causes stomach contractions and promotes hunger - Leptin--> Ultimately provides the hypothalamus with information about the body's fat stores. High levels of fat=high levels of leptin = less hunger
Homeostasis
-A state of physiological equilibrium or stability
Set- Point Theory
-The body monitors fat-cell levels to keep them (and weight) fairly stable. - Why people who diet have a tendency to regain weight they lost and people forced to gain weight have trouble keeping it on.
Digestive Regulation
After you have consumed food, cells in the stomach can send signals to the brain stem that inhibit further eating
Food availability and related cues (+sensory-specific satiety)
1) *Palatability*: The better food tastes, the more people consume. 2) *Quantity Available* : More available=More Eaten 3) *Variety*: Greater Variety=Greater Consumption - '*Sensory-Specific Satiety*' --> As you eat a specific food, it's incentive value declines. (Why people eat more at buffets) 4) Presence of Others: More people present=more people eat (about 44%) more - People use each other as guides for how much to eat - Women in the presence of men do not know and tend to eat less.
Environmental Factors in the regulation of hunger
1) Availability of Food 2) Learned Preferences and Habits 3) Stress
Four Stages of Sexual Response Cycle
1) Excitement 2) Plateau 3) Orgasm 4) Resolution - Study by Masters and Johnson (1960s)
Anorexia Nervosa
A disorder in which (mostly) young women literally starve themselves, sometimes to death.
Sexual Orientation
Refer's to a person's preference for emotional and sexual relationships with individuals of the same sex, the other sex, or either sex. Heterosexual seek emotional-sexual relationships with members of the other sex, bisexuals with members of either sex, and homosexuals with members of same sex.
Bulimia Nervosa
Related disorder where (mostly) young women alternate between binge eating and purging.
Theory of Emotional Efference
Suggests that changes in facial muscles and expressions change the temperature of blood going to the brain resulting in distinct emotions.
