Motivation

Objectives for the lecture

1. Know about Instinct, Drive
Reduction, & Arousal Theories
2. Know how the brain is involved
in motivation
3. Learn about hunger
Understand Eating Disorders

4. Learn about a non-regulatory

drive

Motivation
Champions are not made in gyms. Champions
are made from something they have deep inside
thema desire, a dream, a vision. They have to
have the skill, and the will. But the will must be
stronger than the skill.
Muhammad Ali (1972)
Put a lot of emphasis on trying hard and
effort is praised, we WANT to increase each
others motivation
Higher level motivation:
Curiosity
Exploration
Non-homeostatic

Defining Motivation

a need or desire that serves to energize

behaviour and to direct it toward a goal

Some Definitions to keep in mind throughout

motivational state (i.e., a drive): internal
condition that orients toward a goal
incentive: a reinforcer, reward, or goal
Getting something good, a positive reinforcement

Perspectives on motivation
Instinct
Constant, you reflexively have this, it is not learned

drive reduction
arousal

Instinct

mplex, unlearned behaviour pattern that is constant within a

Comes from evolutionary
theory
Darwin

Ducks imprinted on Lorenz

Critical period 14 hours post
hatching

But: Must combine

physiology and
psychology
we do things for all kinds of
reasons
We are complex
Sometimes we want to do
things that make us feel
uncomfortable

Drive Reduction
a physiological need creates an arousal state, driving
organism to reduce need (e.g., thirst)

followed instinct theory

the need in the body creates a desire in the
mind to reduce the need and so fulfill the
desire
Remember the infants and food choosing example
- Drive reduction = reduce need and fufill desire
- Works in an acrylic fashion
- The drive is not to be hungry/sad/tried but to be
normal (homeostasis)
- An incentive allows us to maintain homeostasis

The Drive Reduction Cycle

ostasis the maintenance of a constant bodily state (e.g., bod

ive positive events (stimuli) that attract or repel us

Physiological
need

drive
reduction

Psychological
desire

Behavio

Arousal
Response to problems with Drive Reduction
motives arent all homeostatic
what about curiosity? exploration?
Motivated behaviour may decrease OR increase arousal
good meal vs. car racing
The Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908)
try to optimize arousal
we try to put ourselves in a situation that puts us in a situation of
optimal arousal
Varies person to person
Some people wait last minute to get enough arousal and motivation to study
for an exam but some people are the opposite
There are the rare people that will do something for 10 cents and some that
will only do it if there is a gin to their head, most people will just do the task
for 10 dollars

Relationship to performance
We usually want to do something well

Motivated behaviour usually wants to balance out arousal

It increases/decreases

Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908)

must be optimally aroused to perform at
peak
varies person-person

Performance

goo
d

poo
r
low

Motivation / Arousal

hig
h

Maslows Hierarchy of
Needs

Abraham Maslow

We need to satisfy the

base first
Needs, motives, and
arousal are all organized
in a hierarchy
Esteem needs are things
like getting a higher
education so other
people think highly of
you
Self-actualization is
determining who you
are, your identity, goals
etc.

Maslows Hierarchy of
Needs
In other wordsTypes of drives
1. Regulatory (hunger)
2. Safety (safety of neighborhood)
3. Reproductive
4. Social
5. Educative

Maslows Hierarchy of
Needs
In other wordsTypes of drives
Educative
Social
- social and educative = play
and exploration
Safety
Regulatory and reproductive

Social and Achievement Motivation

Belonging
affiliation motivation, must feel permanent
- Has health benefits!!
- There are two types of extroverts/outgoing people
- People who have many many people that are not all necessarily close
friends
- People who have a small (but still fairly big) group of really close friends
with deeper connections

Achievement
perform at high levels and accomplish goals

Two motives: Mastery and Performance

Desire to understand/overcome vs. reward/recognition
Intrinsic goals
Because you really really want to learn something

Two Goals: Approach and Avoid

Enjoyable incentives vs. unpleasant consequences

Extrinsic goal
Based on an external incentive such as grades
1) APPROACH

Enjoyable incentive

2) AVOIDANCE GOALS

Unpleasant consequence such as avoiding getting a really really bad grade but it causes anxiety so its not ideal

Neural Mechanisms of
Motivation
Central-state theory of drives
different drives correspond to activity
in different sets of neurons
Central drive system: set of neurons;
activity in the set causes particular drive
How does a central drive system work?
get info from body, prepare various parts of the
body for action

Neural Mechanisms of
Motivation
The hypothalamus!
Responsible for action of many drives
Centrally located so connected to base of
brain and higher areas (the cortex)
Direct connections to nerves that bring input
from internal organs and regulate autonomic
motor output
Highly sensitive to (what is going on in the
blood because it has a lot of capillaries), and
controls, release of many hormones

Liking, Wanting, and Reinforcement

Neural mechanisms of reward
Will work hardest to stimulate the medial
forebrain bundle: A tract connecting the
midbrain and nucleus accumbens

Midbrain nucleus accumbens limbic system and

cerebral cortex

= medial forebrain bundle

Liking, Wanting, and Reinforcement

Neural mechanisms of reward
Medial forebrain bundle and nucleus
accumbens are brains natural reward
centres
If damaged, most motivated behaviours
disappear

Liking, Wanting, and Reinforcement

Neural mechanisms of reward
Many neurons here release dopamine
wanting; also learning

Others release endorphins

liking

Liking, Wanting, and Reinforcement

Neural mechanisms of reward
Drugs can mimic or promote effects of
dopamine and endorphins in the nucleus
accumbens

The Physiology of Hunger

hunger
vs. satiation
the point when are not motivated to eat
full
The hypothalamus is involved
Maintain homeostasis of calories
When glucose in blood is low = hungry

Feedback control
Hunger and satiety are meant to regulate
our eating
Thermostat analogy
But we know that eating is motivated in
other ways

How hunger is meant to

work
Hypothalamus
Neurons in the arcuate nucleus: master
control centre for appetite
Two classes of neurons
appetite-stimulating (e.g.,
neuropeptide Y, NPY)
appetite-suppressing (e.g., peptide YY,
PYY)

How hunger is meant to

work
What should make us start/stop eating?
Short term
body temperature
Increase after you eat

glucose levels
Increase after eating

distention of stomach
Some neurons are specialized to notice this

production of PYY in intestines

Long term
Leptin
Produced by fat cells

What else causes us to

eat/not?
The Psychological aspects of hunger
Can be a more powerful reinforcer than a drug
sucrose (ordinary sugar) and fats stimulates dopamine in
nucleus accumbens
Can control a craving by thinking about it
When you cook the food yourself you actually eat less than the
people watching you cook

Taste
evolved to prefer taste of fat
Tube feeding experiment
consume the same amount of food
Regardless of the amount of calories you intake, you will
snack the same amount as someone who has not eaten

What else causes us to

eat/not?
The Psychological aspects of hunger
The unit bias: tendency to think the unit is an appropriate
serving size
bottomless bowl experiment
People with the bottomless bowl ate a lot but they did not feel
full because their brain thought they only ate one bowl of food

You you are given any size bag of chips you will most
likely eat all of it; whether it is a small bag or a family
sized bag

The social context

Social facilitation: eating more
Impression management: eating less
Modeling: eat what they eat

Problems of Eating
Overeating
Obesity
Binge eating disorder

Under-eating or otherwise disordered

eating
Anorexia
Bulimia
Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified

Why is studying these disorders

important?
Affects many people (24 million Americans)
Highest mortality rate of any mental illness
Only 1/10 people with EDs receive treatment
91% of women on college/university
campuses have dieted; 35% of dieters
progress to pathology
95% ppl with EDs aged 12 25
BMI IN TEXTBOOK

Womens Body Images

Thinnest

Womens
ideal
What women What men
believed men actually
preferred
preferred

Womens
current
body image

Largest

Dieting
Why do we do it and how does it work?
- Is very rule based
- If you plan on eating healthy all day and end
up eating something bad by accident you
say what the hell, I already messed up, I
might as well just keep eating unhealthy for
the day because I messed up

An illustration of why women do it

Milkshake study: Insight into Dieting

MILKSHAKE
PRELOAD

UNLIMITED ICE
CREAM

LOW
CALORIE

Dieters
Nondieters

HIGH
CALORIE

Dieters
Nondieters

Milkshake Study
Told every subject to drink a milkshake
Half of them drank a high calorie milkshake
and the other half had a low calorie
milkshake
They were then told to eat as much ice
cream as they wanted
The milkshake did not matter, all the dieters
ate the same amount of ice cream
However, the non-dieters ate more if they
were non-calorie and less if they were calorie

Anorexia Nervosa
A disorder in which a person diets and
becomes significantly underweight (15%
or more), yet still feels fat and continues
to starve

Anorexia
Health risks
Abnormally slow and/or irregular heartbeat
Low blood pressure
Anemia
Muscle loss and weakness (including the
heart)
Dehydration/kidney failure
Memory loss/disorientation
Bone density loss/Osteoporosis

Bulimia = Frequent binging followed by purging

Health risks
Electrolyte imbalances that can lead to
irregular heartbeat
Dehydration
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
Inflammation/rupture of the esophagus
Chronic kidney problems/failure
Tooth decay

Binge Eating Disorder

Recurring episodes of eating
significantly more food than most
people, while feeling guilt or lack of
control
eat quickly when not even hungry
at least once per week over 3 months
embarrassment, disgust

Binge Eating Disorder

Health risks

Overweight or obese
Type II Diabetes
Increased blood pressure
Chronic kidney problems
Heart disease
Gallbladder disease
Sleep apnea

EDNOS (Eating disorders not

otherwise specified)
Typically for disorders that dont fit
criteria for the main disorders

Sociocultural influences

Causes of eating disorders

Biological Factors
Heritability: .5 .8
Anorexia: if mom/sibling, then 12x more
likely, 4x more likely develop Bulimia

Causes of eating disorders

Social Factors
Observational learning
Narrow defn of beauty
Models thinner than 98% of North
American women

Causes of eating disorders

Psychological Factors
substantial co-morbidity (depression,
anxiety, OCD)
personality disorders
elite athletes

Eating Disorders
anorexia nervosa
Prevalence remained mostly stable over
recent history (note textbook incorrect)
Highly heritable
That is why it has remained constant

bulimia nervosa
Prevalence rising significantly over recent
history

EDNOS/binge eating
Most common (rising)

Eating Disorders in Men

On the rise
2007 study: ~25% participants with A.
or B. male

binge eating disorder

40% males

common traits similar to females

perfectionism
low self-esteem
depression/anxiety

Sex A non-regulatory drive

Men
Hypothalamus medial preoptic area is
crucial for drive
Testosterone most crucial hormone
responsible for desire (if low, can function
but little desire)

Sex A non-regulatory drive

Women
- Also produce testosterone
Hypothalamus ventromedial section
Estrogen and progesterone most crucial
hormones
Most non-human females no drive when not
fertile, human female drive during infertile
windows controlled by testosterone
arousability vs. proceptivity (initiate it
mainly during fertility)

The three components of sexual

orientation
Arousal
who are you attracted to?

Behaviour
who do you engage in sexual activity with?

Identity
how do you describe yourself?

How is it determined?
Genetics and environment

Effects of Sex Hormones

Activating
Those just discussed

Differentiating
before birth (sometimes just after)
cause biological differences in sex drive
and orientation

Can have a different genetic than

biological sex.

Sternbergs triangular theory of love

Passion
sexually excited by someone high
testosterone

Intimacy
attachment, closeness, connectedness

Commitment
closeness & security; decision to remain

Forms of Love

Forms of Love
Three components interact to form
1. nonlove: majority of our interactions
2. Liking/friendship: intimacy only. closeness
and warmth but no intense passion or
commitment
3. Infatuated love: passion only. Romantic love
often starts this way but will disappear
suddenly if intimacy does not follow
4. Empty love: commitment only. Can begin
empty and evolve or turn empty.

Forms of Love
Three components interact to form
5. Romantic love: intimacy and passion.
Bonded intimately and passionately but
without sustained commitment.
6. Companionate love: intimacy and
commitment. Stronger than friendship
because committed long-term.
7. Fatuous love: passion and commitment. But
lacking the stabilization of intimacy.
8. Consummate love: complete