Chapter 3 gives the reader a description of different parts of the brain that have an impact on an individual’s internal motivation and emotion. When reading Chapter 3 there are a lot of parts of the brain that I didn’t know had such a large impact on motivating an individual or changing their emotion based on their environment. The fact that murders go up in hot weather is enough to catch my attention because I had no idea that the temperature could affect a person’s actions that much.
The information that was most confusing to me was how the septo-hippocampal circuit can anticipate or forecast emotions associated with certain events. The book goes into detail about how the nucleus accumbens and the hippocampus affect how your body will react to a specific situation that is either expected or unexpected. I think it is fascinating that your brain is able to perform this function.
After reading Chapter 3 the topic I would like to learn more about would be more in depth analysis of the effects of the hormones, cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin in specific situations such as athletics. It would be interesting to learn how high the levels of these hormones are in the most successful athletes in the world. The results could be surprising and could help future athletes to train more efficiently.
My understanding of motivation has changed quite a bit after reading this chapter. Before reading the chapter I thought that motivation was mostly a cognitive process where a person decided something that they wanted to achieve and motivation was the effort they showed day in and day out to accomplish it. The chapter didn’t completely change my understanding of it but it showed me how the brain reinforces the event that rewards you and makes you desire it even more. The last thing that my understanding really changed was the prefrontal cortex. I didn’t realize that this part of the brain had such a large impact on what you were motivated to achieve and how you were motivated.
Chapter 4 is about the physiological needs of the human body and the drive it produces to fulfill them. The body has three main physiological needs; thirst, hunger, sex. The body produces a biological reaction known as drive to motivate the individual to fulfill these needs. The rest of the chapter goes on to summarize the specific bodily functions associated with each physiological need.
What was the most interesting thing that I learned in this Chapter –
The most interesting thing that I learned in this chapter was the drive theory. When I think of drive I think of cognitive thought process that pushes an individual to go after their goals or desires on a daily basis. The chapter defines drive as a theoretical term used to depict the psychological discomfort stemming from the underlying and persistent biological deficit. The definitions don’t exactly match but the chapter’s definition does help to understand where drive originates from. The question that I have is would the cognitive thought process that I outlined above still be considered drive? If the goals that you have are to help you eat, drink, and have sex wouldn’t this still be considered part of drive?
Were their Ideas or Concepts you are unclear on right now?
Other than what I listed above the chapter does a good job of thoroughly explaining the ideas and concepts over the needs of thirst, hunger, and sex.
How does physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation?
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation by prioritizing your motivation. Physiology and physiological reactions make sure that eating, staying hydrated, having sex, and whatever it takes to fulfill these needs are at the top of an individual’s motivations. Everything else that a person is normally motivated to do is put aside for the physiological needs.
What differentiates physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms?
The difference between physiological and brain mechanisms is that physiological needs can’t be ignored and you have no control of them. Brain mechanisms can be manipulated and controlled by one self and physiological mechanisms and needs cannot. It is impossible to eat and drink as till your body can’t take it anymore but convince your body you are still starving. You can however set off false warnings in your hippocampus by convincing yourself that the situation isn’t safe and secure.
The character Chuck Nolan begins the movie with a comfortable life; he has a girlfriend, a good job, lots of friends, and a promising future. As the movie progresses he experiences a catastrophe when the plane his on crashes during a storm off of its regular course. He then endures several psychological and physiological hardships. The two main physiological hardships he is forced to overcome are hunger and thirst. The first psychological hardships he is forced to overcome are that his body’s hypothalamus is putting him into fight or flight because of the crash. The next psychological hardship he endures is his hippocampus responding to the unfamiliar environment of the island. The last psychological hardship he is forced to deal with is the lack of relatedness with anybody while he is stranded.
The first hardship that he is forced to deal with is before and after his plane crashes into the ocean his hypothalamus is activating his flight or fight mode. It is hard to imagine how much epinephrine his body released during the crash activating the fight or flight. The only problem is that neither one will help him in his current situation; all that he can do is brace for impact. After the plane has crashed, he is underwater briefly before his raft inflates taking him to the surface. Once he is on the surface he is stuck in the middle of a huge storm with nowhere to go and nothing to do to save himself. Again, his hypothalamus was probably going crazy sending alerts to the endocrine system to fight or flight. During this scene Chuck looked like he was in physical pain from the lack of control or resolution to the current environmental conditions around.
The hardship that Chuck is faced with next is when he wakes up on an island in the middle of the ocean. At this point in time his hippocampus is analyzing the environment. His body goes into “not okay” or anxiety-ridden behavioral inhibition and his anxiety and attention rise in an attempt to figure out the current environment. When the hippocampus activates the “not okay” mode it releases endorphins to relax the brain but because Chuck is stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean it is going to take a while for him to come out of it. As he explores the island the anxiety is apparent but eventually starts to relax as his environment becomes more familiar.
The lack of relatedness that he experiences is the last psychological hardship he endures. Relatedness is defined as the psychological need to establish close emotional bonds and attachments with other people, and it reflects the desire to be emotionally connected to and interpersonally involved in warm relationships. Chuck has no one on the island to share emotional bonds or attachments with so he creates Wilson. Wilson fulfills Chuck’s need of relatedness by giving him something to grow those interpersonal emotional bonds with and giving him someone to share his experience with. In the character of Chuck’s eyes Wilson is a real person who he has established emotional bonds so when Wilson floats away in the ocean it is as if a person dies. The pain of losing Wilson appeared to take the drive and will out of Chuck as is shown when he doesn’t putt any effort into paddling like he did when he first left.
The first physiological need that Chuck has to fulfill is his thirst for water. Thirst is defined by the textbook as the consciously experienced motivational state that readies the body to perform behaviors necessary to replenish a water deficit. Thirst motivates Chuck to hurl coconuts at a rock wall in an attempt to break them open and drink the water like substance inside. His attempts are very hurried as his body is likely suffering from cellular dehydration and is very motivated to get hydrated again. The most important environmental influence for drinking is taste according to the book. In Chuck’s situation his thirst has propelled him past any influences other than his extreme thirst for water being satisfied. This is highlighted by the scene in the movie where Chuck is in the cave lying on his stomach drinking from a grayish pool of water on the ground.
Hunger is the last physiological need that Chuck has to fulfill. The textbook defines hunger loosely as a “depletion-repletion” model that is activated food deprivation. Chuck attempts to fulfill this need by chasing fish around in the shallow water of the beach with a sharp stick. Eventually he gains more control of his hunger and tries to gain food in smarter way. It is likely that he was experiencing maximum hunger with almost no food left in his stomach. This could cause him to be highly motivated to fulfill his hunger and satisfy his empty stomach.
The article is written about the effect that movies have on someone’s brain that could cause them to start smoking or have a relapse back into their smoking habit. It also talks about the chance smokers have to quit smoking and how many will fail even with help. The article also calls out the tobacco company CEOs who claim that smoking isn’t addictive. The information in this article makes it clear that this is not the case and that even an ex-smoker can still relapse into their former habit.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
After reading the article, my first thought was that the seven CEOs of the tobacco companies weren’t very nice people to say the least. It is amazing to me how they can act naïve about smoking when it has caused so many people’s lives to be short lived. Also, I thought that whoever gave the CEOs their information should be fired. Another thought that arose was that if seeing people smoking on TV and in movies makes people want to smoke and relapse would it be possible to use these same industries to get the viewers to find smoking revolting? If this were possible it would be a big step in helping the 50% of people who want to quit smoking every year quit for good.
What is most interesting to me?
The part of the article that was interesting to me is that smoking prevents wounds from healing and is a major reason for poor outcomes on of surgery and fractures. I’ve known multiple smokers who have broken bones and have taken an excessive amount of time to heal. Even today after years of time to heal and constant smoking they are not fully recovered. A good question to ask these people would be if they knew that smoking was inhibiting the healing process would they quit?
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
The aspect of the article that I decided to learn more about is what the tobacco industry is doing about their CEOs’ claims that their products are not addictive. I found that the tobacco industry is not only still finding new ways to market their products as safe but are even going as far as creating cigarettes that have sweet tastes to hide the normally bad taste of smoking. These are obviously designed to attract new smokers who won’t be exposed to the harsh taste of the former flavor. They are designing special cigarettes to target different demographics to maximize the effectiveness of their new marketing techniques.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
My understanding of the concepts from chapter 3 allows me to understand this article because of the limbic system. The effect that smoking has on the limbic system is a good explanation for how a person becomes addicted to it. The first time a person smokes a cigarette they could have a great relaxing feeling that causes the release of dopamine. From that point on that person’s hippocampus associates the relaxing feeling with smoking and leads to repetition of the act.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
The information in the article has taught me that my previous belief that all a person had to do to quit was put their mind to it could be wrong. It may take much more then that as the article has said that it is not just an addiction it is a habit that has formed over the duration of time that said person has smoked. If we can find a way to use the media to broadcast smoking as revolting in the same way that it has been shown in the past as attractive it could be much easier for smokers to quit.
Author Profile Page Trevor Carlson | January 27, 2011 5:46 PM | Reply
Chapter 5 covers intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and the regulation of motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined as the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges. An example of this would be to read a new book that is by your favorite author. Extrinsic motivation is defined as the motivation that arises from environmental incentives and consequences. Examples would be rewards or punishments for performing an act such as how much you study for a test determines your grade. There are three main types of regulators of behavior; incentives, consequences, and rewards. Incentives is defined as an environmental even that attracts or repels a person toward or away from a initiating a particular course of action. An example of an incentive would be your phone vibrating letting you know you have a text message. There are two types of consequences: reinforcers and punishers. The book states that there are positive and negative reinforcers. A positive reinforcement is any environmental stimulus that when added increases future probability of the desired behavior. A negative reinforcement is any environmental stimulus that when removed increases the future probability of the desired behavior. A punisher is defined as any environmental stimulus that when presented decreases the future probability of the undesired behavior.
What was the most surprising/interesting thing you learned?
The most surprising thing that I learned was that punishers work poorly when trying to influence future behavior. If you think back throughout your day you don’t have to look very far before you notice an act that you could’ve committed that would’ve received punishment. An example would be speeding; even though there is punishment involved for getting caught speeding you still most likely don’t drive the speed limit. If you look at the examples in the book it states clearly that even the act of spanking as a punishment has 10 long-term effects on children.
Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid?
It is possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid if you are paid for the right thing. If you are paid for doing the act that you are already intrinsically motivated to accomplish you will lose the intrinsic motivation. If you are paid for doing a particularly good job or achieving success in what you are intrinsically motivated to do and you are rewarded by payment for that it will inspire you to reach that success or accomplish the quality of work again.
What are some examples of how you are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated?
An example of how I am extrinsically motivated would be when I achieve a certain level of achievement after passing all of my finals with A’s and the satisfaction I feel from accomplishing that goal. An example of intrinsic motivation would be the feeling I get when I am out on the golf course enjoying the beautiful weather and relaxing with my friends.
How will information from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
It is hard to say how my motivations will change after reading this chapter but it is clear that there are better ways that I can be motivating myself compared to how I am doing it now. The only motivations that I currently used are negative reinforcers for my school/career success. I think that if I try to implement a reward system and add positive reinforcement to some of the more mundane tasks that are necessary for success I will achieve much more than I previously thought was possible.
Please read the following link:http://www.psychologicalscience.com/kim_maclin/2010/01/i-learned-it-at-the-movies.html as well as the 3 resource links at the bottom of that article.This semester's movies:Teen DreamsCast…
Chapter 3 Reading Blog
Chapter 3 gives the reader a description of different parts of the brain that have an impact on an individual’s internal motivation and emotion. When reading Chapter 3 there are a lot of parts of the brain that I didn’t know had such a large impact on motivating an individual or changing their emotion based on their environment. The fact that murders go up in hot weather is enough to catch my attention because I had no idea that the temperature could affect a person’s actions that much.
The information that was most confusing to me was how the septo-hippocampal circuit can anticipate or forecast emotions associated with certain events. The book goes into detail about how the nucleus accumbens and the hippocampus affect how your body will react to a specific situation that is either expected or unexpected. I think it is fascinating that your brain is able to perform this function.
After reading Chapter 3 the topic I would like to learn more about would be more in depth analysis of the effects of the hormones, cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin in specific situations such as athletics. It would be interesting to learn how high the levels of these hormones are in the most successful athletes in the world. The results could be surprising and could help future athletes to train more efficiently.
My understanding of motivation has changed quite a bit after reading this chapter. Before reading the chapter I thought that motivation was mostly a cognitive process where a person decided something that they wanted to achieve and motivation was the effort they showed day in and day out to accomplish it. The chapter didn’t completely change my understanding of it but it showed me how the brain reinforces the event that rewards you and makes you desire it even more. The last thing that my understanding really changed was the prefrontal cortex. I didn’t realize that this part of the brain had such a large impact on what you were motivated to achieve and how you were motivated.
Chapter 4 Reading Blog
Summarize the Chapter –
Chapter 4 is about the physiological needs of the human body and the drive it produces to fulfill them. The body has three main physiological needs; thirst, hunger, sex. The body produces a biological reaction known as drive to motivate the individual to fulfill these needs. The rest of the chapter goes on to summarize the specific bodily functions associated with each physiological need.
What was the most interesting thing that I learned in this Chapter –
The most interesting thing that I learned in this chapter was the drive theory. When I think of drive I think of cognitive thought process that pushes an individual to go after their goals or desires on a daily basis. The chapter defines drive as a theoretical term used to depict the psychological discomfort stemming from the underlying and persistent biological deficit. The definitions don’t exactly match but the chapter’s definition does help to understand where drive originates from. The question that I have is would the cognitive thought process that I outlined above still be considered drive? If the goals that you have are to help you eat, drink, and have sex wouldn’t this still be considered part of drive?
Were their Ideas or Concepts you are unclear on right now?
Other than what I listed above the chapter does a good job of thoroughly explaining the ideas and concepts over the needs of thirst, hunger, and sex.
How does physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation?
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation by prioritizing your motivation. Physiology and physiological reactions make sure that eating, staying hydrated, having sex, and whatever it takes to fulfill these needs are at the top of an individual’s motivations. Everything else that a person is normally motivated to do is put aside for the physiological needs.
What differentiates physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms?
The difference between physiological and brain mechanisms is that physiological needs can’t be ignored and you have no control of them. Brain mechanisms can be manipulated and controlled by one self and physiological mechanisms and needs cannot. It is impossible to eat and drink as till your body can’t take it anymore but convince your body you are still starving. You can however set off false warnings in your hippocampus by convincing yourself that the situation isn’t safe and secure.
Castaway Blob
The character Chuck Nolan begins the movie with a comfortable life; he has a girlfriend, a good job, lots of friends, and a promising future. As the movie progresses he experiences a catastrophe when the plane his on crashes during a storm off of its regular course. He then endures several psychological and physiological hardships. The two main physiological hardships he is forced to overcome are hunger and thirst. The first psychological hardships he is forced to overcome are that his body’s hypothalamus is putting him into fight or flight because of the crash. The next psychological hardship he endures is his hippocampus responding to the unfamiliar environment of the island. The last psychological hardship he is forced to deal with is the lack of relatedness with anybody while he is stranded.
The first hardship that he is forced to deal with is before and after his plane crashes into the ocean his hypothalamus is activating his flight or fight mode. It is hard to imagine how much epinephrine his body released during the crash activating the fight or flight. The only problem is that neither one will help him in his current situation; all that he can do is brace for impact. After the plane has crashed, he is underwater briefly before his raft inflates taking him to the surface. Once he is on the surface he is stuck in the middle of a huge storm with nowhere to go and nothing to do to save himself. Again, his hypothalamus was probably going crazy sending alerts to the endocrine system to fight or flight. During this scene Chuck looked like he was in physical pain from the lack of control or resolution to the current environmental conditions around.
The hardship that Chuck is faced with next is when he wakes up on an island in the middle of the ocean. At this point in time his hippocampus is analyzing the environment. His body goes into “not okay” or anxiety-ridden behavioral inhibition and his anxiety and attention rise in an attempt to figure out the current environment. When the hippocampus activates the “not okay” mode it releases endorphins to relax the brain but because Chuck is stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean it is going to take a while for him to come out of it. As he explores the island the anxiety is apparent but eventually starts to relax as his environment becomes more familiar.
The lack of relatedness that he experiences is the last psychological hardship he endures. Relatedness is defined as the psychological need to establish close emotional bonds and attachments with other people, and it reflects the desire to be emotionally connected to and interpersonally involved in warm relationships. Chuck has no one on the island to share emotional bonds or attachments with so he creates Wilson. Wilson fulfills Chuck’s need of relatedness by giving him something to grow those interpersonal emotional bonds with and giving him someone to share his experience with. In the character of Chuck’s eyes Wilson is a real person who he has established emotional bonds so when Wilson floats away in the ocean it is as if a person dies. The pain of losing Wilson appeared to take the drive and will out of Chuck as is shown when he doesn’t putt any effort into paddling like he did when he first left.
The first physiological need that Chuck has to fulfill is his thirst for water. Thirst is defined by the textbook as the consciously experienced motivational state that readies the body to perform behaviors necessary to replenish a water deficit. Thirst motivates Chuck to hurl coconuts at a rock wall in an attempt to break them open and drink the water like substance inside. His attempts are very hurried as his body is likely suffering from cellular dehydration and is very motivated to get hydrated again. The most important environmental influence for drinking is taste according to the book. In Chuck’s situation his thirst has propelled him past any influences other than his extreme thirst for water being satisfied. This is highlighted by the scene in the movie where Chuck is in the cave lying on his stomach drinking from a grayish pool of water on the ground.
Hunger is the last physiological need that Chuck has to fulfill. The textbook defines hunger loosely as a “depletion-repletion” model that is activated food deprivation. Chuck attempts to fulfill this need by chasing fish around in the shallow water of the beach with a sharp stick. Eventually he gains more control of his hunger and tries to gain food in smarter way. It is likely that he was experiencing maximum hunger with almost no food left in his stomach. This could cause him to be highly motivated to fulfill his hunger and satisfy his empty stomach.
Psychological, Physiological, Hunger, Thirst, Hypothalamus, Hippocampus, Relatedness, Epinephrine, Endocrine System, Anxiety-Ridden Behavioral Inhibition, Anxiety, Motivation, Cellular Dehydration, Taste, Depletion-Repletion model, Food Deprivation.
Book Report Choice
I would like to write my book on "Awakening the Giant Within" and have it due April 26.
Topical Blog 1/27
Summarize the Article –
The article is written about the effect that movies have on someone’s brain that could cause them to start smoking or have a relapse back into their smoking habit. It also talks about the chance smokers have to quit smoking and how many will fail even with help. The article also calls out the tobacco company CEOs who claim that smoking isn’t addictive. The information in this article makes it clear that this is not the case and that even an ex-smoker can still relapse into their former habit.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
After reading the article, my first thought was that the seven CEOs of the tobacco companies weren’t very nice people to say the least. It is amazing to me how they can act naïve about smoking when it has caused so many people’s lives to be short lived. Also, I thought that whoever gave the CEOs their information should be fired. Another thought that arose was that if seeing people smoking on TV and in movies makes people want to smoke and relapse would it be possible to use these same industries to get the viewers to find smoking revolting? If this were possible it would be a big step in helping the 50% of people who want to quit smoking every year quit for good.
What is most interesting to me?
The part of the article that was interesting to me is that smoking prevents wounds from healing and is a major reason for poor outcomes on of surgery and fractures. I’ve known multiple smokers who have broken bones and have taken an excessive amount of time to heal. Even today after years of time to heal and constant smoking they are not fully recovered. A good question to ask these people would be if they knew that smoking was inhibiting the healing process would they quit?
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
The aspect of the article that I decided to learn more about is what the tobacco industry is doing about their CEOs’ claims that their products are not addictive. I found that the tobacco industry is not only still finding new ways to market their products as safe but are even going as far as creating cigarettes that have sweet tastes to hide the normally bad taste of smoking. These are obviously designed to attract new smokers who won’t be exposed to the harsh taste of the former flavor. They are designing special cigarettes to target different demographics to maximize the effectiveness of their new marketing techniques.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
My understanding of the concepts from chapter 3 allows me to understand this article because of the limbic system. The effect that smoking has on the limbic system is a good explanation for how a person becomes addicted to it. The first time a person smokes a cigarette they could have a great relaxing feeling that causes the release of dopamine. From that point on that person’s hippocampus associates the relaxing feeling with smoking and leads to repetition of the act.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
The information in the article has taught me that my previous belief that all a person had to do to quit was put their mind to it could be wrong. It may take much more then that as the article has said that it is not just an addiction it is a habit that has formed over the duration of time that said person has smoked. If we can find a way to use the media to broadcast smoking as revolting in the same way that it has been shown in the past as attractive it could be much easier for smokers to quit.
Author Profile Page Trevor Carlson | January 27, 2011 5:46 PM | Reply
http://dpi.state.wi.us/sspw/pdf/tobrjrgoodcitizen.pdf
This is the link I used for my research
Summarize the chapter –
Chapter 5 covers intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and the regulation of motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined as the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges. An example of this would be to read a new book that is by your favorite author. Extrinsic motivation is defined as the motivation that arises from environmental incentives and consequences. Examples would be rewards or punishments for performing an act such as how much you study for a test determines your grade. There are three main types of regulators of behavior; incentives, consequences, and rewards. Incentives is defined as an environmental even that attracts or repels a person toward or away from a initiating a particular course of action. An example of an incentive would be your phone vibrating letting you know you have a text message. There are two types of consequences: reinforcers and punishers. The book states that there are positive and negative reinforcers. A positive reinforcement is any environmental stimulus that when added increases future probability of the desired behavior. A negative reinforcement is any environmental stimulus that when removed increases the future probability of the desired behavior. A punisher is defined as any environmental stimulus that when presented decreases the future probability of the undesired behavior.
What was the most surprising/interesting thing you learned?
The most surprising thing that I learned was that punishers work poorly when trying to influence future behavior. If you think back throughout your day you don’t have to look very far before you notice an act that you could’ve committed that would’ve received punishment. An example would be speeding; even though there is punishment involved for getting caught speeding you still most likely don’t drive the speed limit. If you look at the examples in the book it states clearly that even the act of spanking as a punishment has 10 long-term effects on children.
Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid?
It is possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid if you are paid for the right thing. If you are paid for doing the act that you are already intrinsically motivated to accomplish you will lose the intrinsic motivation. If you are paid for doing a particularly good job or achieving success in what you are intrinsically motivated to do and you are rewarded by payment for that it will inspire you to reach that success or accomplish the quality of work again.
What are some examples of how you are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated?
An example of how I am extrinsically motivated would be when I achieve a certain level of achievement after passing all of my finals with A’s and the satisfaction I feel from accomplishing that goal. An example of intrinsic motivation would be the feeling I get when I am out on the golf course enjoying the beautiful weather and relaxing with my friends.
How will information from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
It is hard to say how my motivations will change after reading this chapter but it is clear that there are better ways that I can be motivating myself compared to how I am doing it now. The only motivations that I currently used are negative reinforcers for my school/career success. I think that if I try to implement a reward system and add positive reinforcement to some of the more mundane tasks that are necessary for success I will achieve much more than I previously thought was possible.