Chapter 8 Outline: Motivation and Emotion

Motivation - Feelings or ideas that drive us towards a goal

Theories of Motivation:

Drive Reduction Theory - Our behavior is motivated by the needs of the body and the
mind
Our needs can be based on survival or other necessities
Our drives are impulses to satisfy needs; ex: hunger
Another need could be for homeostasis

Need classification: Primary is biological needs; secondary is learned needs

Arousal Theory - We seek arousal and excitement

We are motivated by activities to reach a needed state of arousal

Yerkes-Dodson Law - We might perform an easy task at high levels of arousal,

but high level arousal will negatively impact the performance on difficult tasks.

Opponent Process Theory - People are usually at a normal, baseline state

Tasks take us away from this state
May be fun at first, but we are eventually drawn back

We want to get back to the baseline state

Drugs that are addictive help us, but tolerance increases

Incentive Theory - We are drawn to stimuli, due to learning or other things.

We associate stimuli with rewards and punishments

We seek the rewards

 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological needs - satisfy hunger, thirst and sex
Safety needs - safety, security and out of danger
Belonging and love needs - feeling accepted, like you belong
Esteem Needs - To achieve and gain approval
Self actualization needs - To achieve your own potential

Hunger Motivations
Biological Basis of Hunger
Lateral hypothalamus - Makes us desire to eat
Ventromedial Hypothalamus - Makes us desire to stop eating

Set point theory - The hypothalamus wants to maintain a certain optimum weight
Metabolic rate increases and decreases as we go under and under the setpoint

Psychological Factors in Hunger Motivation