Read Chapter 3 of your textbook.
Summarize the chapter, then answer the questions. What information was most surpising to you? What information was most confusing to you? What information do you want to learn more about? How is your understanding of motivation changed now that you've learned about some of the biological/physiological bases of it?
The brain is an important structure when dealing with motivation and emotion. The chapter identifies important brain structures that are associated with motivation and emotion, discusses how motivational brain structures are stimulated, and mentions how every day life events can affect motivation. Different structures/biochemical’s in the brain can increase or decrease motivation.
The information that I found to be the most surprising was how the hormones present in the body can influence motivation and emotion. The discussed three hormones: Cortisol, Testosterone, and Oxytocin. Cortisol is correlated with stress and causes negative effects such as poor health and low intellectual functioning. Testosterone is associated with motivation in regards to sex. Testosterone is tied into mating and same-sex competition. Oxytocin is identified as the bonding hormone. Oxytocin is believed to play a role in the seeking behavior for support or counsel from others during stressful times.
The most confusing information discussed in the chapter was about the structures and their roles in motivation. It was hard for me to keep all of the different structures straight as well as their roles in motivation. The cerebral cortex is involved in regulating emotion and motivational states such as goal setting. The structures that are apart of the limbic system are: the hypothalamus, amygdale, hippocampus, septal area, and VTA. The hypothalamus is involved with pleasure and wants for food, water, and sex. The hypothalamus also regulates the pituitary gland, which is in charge of the hormonal system(endocrine). The medial forebrain is associated with pleasure and reinforcement. The orbitofrontal cortex allows individuals to weigh out their options and choose between different choices. The amygdala is associated with detection and responses to threatening events, causing us to fear dangers that we encounter. The nucleus accumbens allows us to experience pleasure from naturally occurring reinforcers and also plays a key role in pleasure from drugs that lead to addiction. The septo-hippocampal circuit causes anxiety states that control our behavior. The reticular formation’s role is in arousal of the brains motivational and emotional concerns. The prefrontal cortex deals with conscious goals. Thoughts that stimulate the right prefrontal cortex cause us to have negative and avoidant feelings. I would really like to learn more about the brain structures and their roles in motivation and emotion because I’m still not fully comfortable with the topic.
Since reading chapter three, my view on motivation has changed because I now understand that the study of motivation is truly based on science. I now know that motivation and emotion are highly correlated with different brain structures and hormones, which can decrease or increase motivation. I also now know that motivation is not always in our consciousness. Our moods, desires, needs, motives, etc. are not always in our conscious awareness.
Chapter 3 introduces the biological and physiological principles that are connected with motivation and emotion. Looking inside the brain we can learn how biochemical agents stimulate specific brain stricter and then how does that work with our motivation and emotions. The author emphasizes that brain is not only a thinking brain but it is also a center of emotions and motivation. Specific brain structures are responsible for different functions of motivation. For instance, hypothalamus increases hunger, thirst and mating; neurotransmitters and hormones are also very important in motivation.
Amygdala regulates emotions involved in fear, anger, and anxiety. One interesting and surprising thing was that once amygdala got removed from someone’s brain, the person become calm and emotionally indifferent Also, amygdale send projections to almost all parts of the brain, yet the information usually does not return back to amygdale, so that can explain why emotions and usually the negative overtaking cognition.
Neurotransmitters like I mentioned before are important in emotions; dopamine associates with good feelings, serotonin influences mood and emotion, endorphin associated with pain, fear, and anxiety, norepinephrine regulates arousal and alertness.
Hormones like testosterone, oxytocin and cortisol have a big role in motivation and emotions as well. Cortisol is the hormone that activate more in social threats like public speaking.
Oxytocin is the bonding hormone. And testosterone associates with high sexual motivation. Interesting thing was that when a guy is married or in a relationship he has less testosterone that a single guy.
To summarize, the author emphasizes that motivation cannot be separate from social context and that we are not always aware of the motivational basis of our behavior.
I think that a little bit confusing thing was to really understand how our brain works in terms of motivation and emotions. Although the author did a good job to explain every part in the brain and what is the role of it, it is still a little bit confusing to understand how really brain does work for our motivation and emotions. I would like to learn more about hormones and their roles in motivation and emotions.
After reading this chapter I definitely have a better understanding how and from where our emotions come from and how does it work.To understand the basic of biological function of the brain helps in better understanding our emotions.
This chapter discussed the brain and its structures and how it relates to motivation and emotion. The brain generates cravings, needs, desires, pleasure and emotion. Brain structures are responsible for reacting to a change in the environment. For example, the hypothalamus is responsible for the fight or flight mechanism and the prefrontal cortex is responsible for the response and outcomes of events. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine allow good feelings that are associated with a reward. Dopamine increases if a reward is unexpected or underpredicted. There are many hormones in the body that underlie behavior; cortisol, testosterone and oxytocin. Motivation in the brain is not localized to one specific structure in the brain; what occurs in one area of the brain affects another part of the brain. It is important to remember that motivation cannot be separated from its social context and that we are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis of our behavior.
The information that was most surprising to me was the fact that the prefrontal cortex has a left and right lobe that “argue” with each other. The right cortex generates negative and avoidance feelings, whereas the the left cortex generates positive and approach feelings. An individual may be especially sensitive to the right or left side of their prefrontal cortex. If one is sensitive in the right lobe, they are vulnerable to negative emotions. We can measure how sensitive versus insensitive a person is to incentives and the experience of positive emotion and how sensitive versus stable a person is to threats or punishments.
The most confusing part of this chapter was all of the brain structures that were discussed and how they are all related. I understand that they all influence one another, but the information is overwhelming. I would want to learn more about these structures and their role behind motivation and emotion in more depth. I feel that the book only provided the basic information. I would also like to learn more about wanting and liking and how wanting can occur without liking.
My understanding of motivation has changed after reading this chapter. I learned that each individual has their own energy and direction behind their own motivation and it varies in intensity and why we sustain it. Now I understand that the brain also greatly influences our motivation. Neurotransmitters play a significant role. Dopamine has the greatest flow when we receive unexpected or underpredicted rewards, but the flow is smaller if we do not experience these rewards. Our brain chemistry influences how motivated we are, not just our actions and reasoning behind our motivation.
This chapter is about how our brain is involved in our motivation. Our brain does not only perform cognitive and intellectual functions, which is how I thought of it before, but it is very much involved in our emotional and motivational states as well. There is the thinking brain, which is what we usually comes to mind when we think of the brain, but there is also the motivated brain, which determines whether we want to do a behavior or not, and the emotional brain, which determines what our mood is while doing the behavior. There are three principles of brain activity when involved with motivation. The first is specific brain structures generate specific motivational states, the second is that biochemical agents stimulate these brain structures, and the third is day to day events cause biochemical agents to activate. In the motivated brain, an environmental event activates the biochemical agent which stimulates the brain structure to create a motivation for us to perform a specific behavior to fulfill that need (such as hunger or thirst). In the emotional brain, it works the same way where an environmental event sets of the biochemical agent which activates a brain structure and gives us the appropriate emotion to that environmental event (such as happiness and doing well on a test). This chapter also discusses specific brain structures and what their role is in motivational or emotional experiences. There are both approach- oriented structures, such as the cerebral cortex which is responsible for us making plans and setting goals, and avoidance-oriented structures, such as the amygdala which is responsible for us experiencing fear in a dangerous situation. This chapter also discussed dopamine, and how if we perform a behavior and we receive dopamine from it, we will be motivated to do that behavior again because it makes us feel good. We learn which environmental events are associated with pleasure and we will want to experience those again. Hormones in the body that are involved in emotion and motivation were also discussed in the chapter. These hormones are cortisol (stress hormone), testosterone (high sexual motivation hormone), and oxytocin (bonding hormone).
What was most surprising to me was how much our brains are involved in our motivational and emotional experiences. I had never really thought about what motivates me to eat before, and that it is because of food deprivation (environmental event), which causes ghrelin, the biochemical agent for hunger, to be released, which stimulates the hypothalamus and creates the psychological experience of hunger (aroused motivation). The most confusing thing about the chapter was trying to figure out all of the different brain structures. It seems like they would be hard to keep straight and remember exactly what each of them does and how they are involved with motivation. Something I would want to learn more about is dopamine and how it is important to feel good when trying to accomplish something, because dopamine release causes emotional positivity which causes enhanced functioning. That concept is interesting to me and I had never thought about it before. My understanding of motivation has changed after reading this chapter because instead of just knowing that we are motivated to perform certain behaviors, I now know why we are motivated to do these behaviors and that it comes from our brain. We don’t just randomly become motivated to eat, we do it because there is a process in our brain that occurs letting us know when we are in need of food and therefore motivates us to eat something so we survive.
Some people believe that the brain is solely in charge for all the body's functioning while other people believe that the brain, in the enviroment that the body lives, is in charge for the body's functions. No matter what you believe, chapter 3 discusses all 3 principes that play into this. 1. specific brain structures generate specific motivations. This is identified in the book as, if one part of the hypothalamus is stimulated, one will become hungry. The second principle mentioned in chapter 3 is, Biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures. This would be hormones stimulating a specific brain site, resulting in a specific feeling. The third principle mentioned in chapter 3 was, Day to Day Events stir biochemical agents into action. The book gives sleep deprivation, increasing ghrelin, decreasing leptin, and then ultimately increasing appettite as an example of this. It was interesting to read about the different principles and to learn about the different ways my brain is motivated to do things. It was even more interesting to realize that sometimes, i am motivated without evening knowing because it never reaches my concious, whereas other times, I am fully aware of where my motivation came from.
I have always considered human beings to be ultimately responsible for their well being and happiness; in control of how they feel and present themselves. However, it was very confusing for me to realize that in some cases, more often than not, it is the brain that is ultimately responsible for all that.You can do stuff to help you brain out but in the end, it appears that the brain makes all the shots. This part of the chapter really made me think about my outlook on life.
The part that i found most intriguing and one that i would like to learn more about was the shaded section about antidepressants. I, myself, live life with clinical depression and although I have been on lexapro for several years now, I have never fully grasped how they work. All it took was that little tid bit in the chapter to get me on board. I found it very interesting when the book, in Box 3 said "antidepressant drugs not only supply serotonin, but also "hijack" dopamin epathways to some degree and inadvertently blunt feelings of love, romance, and attachment to others." "Few people taking antidepressants, for instance, have expereince of falling in love." These two sentences really hit home with me, and thanks to the book, I will be asking my doctor about the newer antidepressants that instead of increasing serotonin, they decrease cortisol.
The Chapter talked about how chemicals and parts in the brain influence/control how the brain operates. It described how certain chemicals in or detected by the brain influence our actions such and eating and our emotions.
I would have to say that the most surprising would have to be the Hormones in the Body section. I found this interesting because I feel that there is still a lot to learn about hormones that are found in different levels in men and women that explains (or contributes to) gender difference.
Sadly enough, all the words that I didn’t know before like the different chemicals and structures in the brain. When I took Intro to Psychology at Hawkeye, the instructor went REALLY fast. So I feel like I should have known more the parts of the brain but was still having to go back and re-read parts that explained the structures of the brain. To me the words just get really jumbled together if I try to focus on them all at once.
What other differences can be found in the brain that contribute to the difference in gender between males and females. I only find this interesting because I once heard that men remember/work better with information involving numbers (turn right in 5.6 miles) while women remember/work better with information that involves descriptions (turn at the red house with the white door). I think this stuff is cool because I encounter stuff like this at work. I remember what rooms are used for/titled as (2’s room, infant’s room, Mrs. W’s room) while a co-worker of mine (who is male) knows the rooms by what number they are.
I knew that chemicals in the brain played a big part to how we act/react. But now I have the feeling that they play a bigger part then I expected. Chemicals in the brain determine our emotions and drives by what is released and detected by the brain.
Chapter three focused mainly on the brain and the different ways the brain is influenced by and influences behaviors. There are three basic principles of how the brain works and acts to motivate behavior. The first is there are certain brain structures that create specific motivations. These brain structures are stimulated to create a motivation to do a certain behavior. An example of this is the hypothalamus creating hunger in a person. The second principle is there are biochemical agents that stimulate certain brain structures. These agents are neurotransmitters and hormones such as dopamine creating happiness in a person’s brain. The third principle is that day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action. These events include seeing someone you wanted to see or dieting often. These stir certain biochemical agents into action in the brain by making a person feel happy or hungry. The different regions of the brain control different motivations or emotions in a person. These include the hypothalamus (controls motivations for hunger, thirst, and sex), the Medial Forebrain Bundle (pleasure center), the Orbitofrontal Cortex (processes incentive-related information), the Amygdala (motivates fear, anger, and anxiety), the Septo-Hippocampal Circuit (plays role in pleasure from natural reinforcers), the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (control mood, volition, and choice making), the Reticular Formation (plays key role in arousal), and the Prefrontal Cortex (receives incoming sensory stimulation). Lastly, chapter three talks about the specific neurotransmitters that control brain functions and how incentives and environmental factors can control the release of these. Humans are not always consciously aware of their behavior because the brain controls a lot of it, but the social world and personal values can also influence behavior in people.
I found it most interesting that the brain controls so much of what we do day-to-day without us even really knowing. A lot of what we do every day we do without even thinking much or at all about it. I’ve always assumed that people choose to do absolutely everything they do, but now that I understand how biochemical agents and brain structures control our behaviors I have a better understanding. We do choose some behaviors, but the behaviors are almost always stemmed right from the chemicals in the brain. I would like to learn more information about the different chemicals that are available in the brain and how they actually work on the brain to motivate certain behaviors.
Chapter 3 was about how motivation affects and is affected by the brain. The chapter went into the ways that chemicals in the brain tell us when we need something, this in turn motivates us to fulfill the need. For example, the chapter mentioned how dieting or not eating for a while will lead to an increase in ghrelin which is a chemical, that when released into our blood, tells our hypothalamus to signal to our body that we are hungry and need food. This relationship between environmental events, such as dieting, and biochemical agents, such as ghrelin, is what allows us to fulfill the needs of our bodies. The chapter also discussed other biochemical agents such as dopamine, cortisol, and testosterone. These chemicals occur naturally in our bodies and can increase or decrease naturally throughout our days or from stimulants, such as drugs. The chapter then went into how different brain structures influence our behaviors. For example, the amygdala is responsible for responding and detecting threatening stimuli. When we feel fear, our amygdala is hard at work. This was one thing I found really interesting. When the amygdala is impaired, we feel a lack of emotional responsiveness, we feel okay when confronted with threatening stimuli, and we also have an impaired ability to learn that a stimulus is being used as positive reinforcement. I also learned that the amygdala is involved in our perception of other’s emotions, facial expressions, and even in our own mood. Learning that the amygdala has so many responsibilities that deal with processing emotional information was really interesting. I am very interested in the brain and its structure’s functions, I would like to learn more about what each brain structure is responsible for and how it affects our decisions and our mood.
The chapter was surprisingly not confusing for me. The brain is really complex and there is a lot to know and learn about it, but as a sophomore I took a class called Biology of the Brain and I think that class really helped me to understand the basics about the brain and how it works and I think it helped me understand this chapter a lot better than I would have had I not taken that class. I also felt the author wrote very clearly and his examples were really helpful for understanding the information and for being able to relate it to real life situations.
From this chapter my understanding of motivation and how it works has become a little clearer. This chapter did a really nice job of providing examples to explain the icky scientific facts about how the brain influences our motivation and behaviors. The examples about dopamine were especially helpful. I thought it was interesting that anticipating a rewarding event will trigger dopamine release and lead to a pleasurable feeling. One thing I found surprising was that dopamine release is the actual reinforcer, instead of the feeling of pleasure being the reinforcer. I think this chapter is also helpful for understanding how we can be more effective in our lives, whether it is at work or in school. The chapter discussed how cortisol is associated with feelings of stress and when our cortisol levels are high it impairs our intellectual functioning, our creativity, and our health. I think understanding specific biological factors like this can help us change our behaviors to increase our mood, our motivation, and our productivity.
Chapter three is about the brain and how it can affect motivation and emotion. There are three types of brain functions; the thinking brain, motivated brain, and the emotional brain. The thinking brain is the cognitive processes and the intellectual functions. The motivated brain controls whether you want to do something or not. The emotional brain controls your mood prior or during your behavior. This chapter explained a lot of good information about the functions of the brain. It also discussed the biochemistry involved to help us get an understanding of what takes place inside the brain.
I find it very interesting that our brains basically control everything we do in every aspect of our lives! For example; we get the signals that we are hungry because if we didnt we would never eat... If we dont eat we can die. In the chapter it brings up the point that food deprivation activates the ghrelin release that stimulates the hypothalamus to create our hunger. It is stunning how all that happens just for us to get a little hunger cramp or growl.
The information that I find hardest to understand is just keeping the different parts of the brain separate from each other. There are so many parts of the brain, and they all play different roles in how we behave. There is the cerebral cortex, the prefrontal cerebral cortex, septal area, hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, amygdala, hippocampus, and the reticular formation. It is unreal how each one of these items help motivate us in different ways. I think that I could understand it better but it is going to take some time to know all the different functions that the brain does.
I want to learn more about what brain dead means and how it is defined to people. If someone gets into an accident and looses a specific area of the brain they cant do the functions that, that part of the brain controls. But when someone is considered brain dead does that mean they shouldnt be alive at all since nothing else works. Yes, the heart is still beating but they cant function in any way. I find this subject very interesting.
This chapter taught me a lot of new information I never knew before. It showed me where our emotions really come from. I now know after reading this that there are essential hormones that underlie our motivation, emotion, and behavior.
The basic summary of chapter 3 revolves around three principles. 1) Specific brain structures generate specific motivational states. 2)Biochemical agents stimulate brain structures. 3) Day-to-day events are the events in our lives that stir brain-stimulating biochemical agents into action. The chapter discusses in detail which specific brain structures are associated with positive and negative feelings and which neurotransmitters or chemical messengers are associated with positive and negative feelings as well. The final two important things emphasized in the chapter were 1)motivation cannot be separated from the social context in which it is embedded and 2) we are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis of our behavior.
It is surprising to learn that we are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis of our behavior. We like to think that we make decisions freely and that we decide for ourselves but the underlying factors contributing to the decision making process are more influential then free will on the choices we make. The book mentions cases where hot temperatures influence crime rates and pitchers hitting batters intentionally. The pitchers might say "I hit the guy because I don't like him" but really, the temperature influenced his motivation to hit the batter.
This information is surprising but it is also the most confusing to me. Does this mean that I have little to control over the decisions I make? Are my brain structures and neurotransmitters CONSTANTLY influencing every move I make? Is free decision making just an illusion? It seems like we could use what we know about neurotransmitters and brain structures to our advantage and maybe in the future do surgery or take drugs to increase motivation. But it also seems like we've barely scratched the surface in this research.
I would like to learn more about things we can do to increase motivation. I am also interested in the motives behind the motives behind the motives. For example, a pitcher throws a certain pitch at a specific batter. He throws fastball because its his best pitch and that batter is known to struggle against the fastball. He throws his best pitch because he wants a strike. He wants a strike because it helps his team win. He wants his team to win because it helps secure his job. He wants to secure his job because it provides satisfaction for his basic needs. Motivation is just a very complicated, interesting topic.
I think its pretty obvious that I've learned that motivation is more than just our own conscious decisions. Evolution and biology both have very big impacts on the choices we think we are consciously making.
Chapter three emphasized the importance of science in the study of motivation. The chapter went in depth to describe the numerous brain structures that influence our motivation without our conscious recognition. These brain structures may trigger emotions that we like, such as pleasure and reward, or trigger emotions that we tend to avoid, such as threat and danger. There are also several chemical messages that our brain sends to the rest of our body to allow us to respond appropriately. These chemical messengers may come in the form of neurotransmitters or hormones. Neurotransmitters such as Dopamine and Serotonin, generates positive feelings. If these neurotransmitters are decreased, it can lead to negative feelings or clinical depression. Our bodies are also responsive to hormones. The hormone Cortisol is activated when we are exposed to a stressor. The hormone testosterone is linked to sexual motivation. Although hormones and neurotransmitters have various roles, they can alter our motivation and emotion in both positive and negative ways.
The information that surprised me the most was learning about what happens biologically when you diet. I knew that dieting initially helps people lose wait, but then they gain it back quickly after dieting. I never understood the biology behind it. In this chapter I learned that food deprivation activates Ghrelin release that stimulates the hypothalamus, which causes you to feel hungry.
The information that was most confusing was keeping all of the brain structures straight. I was familiar with a few of the structures, but there are a lot more part of the brain involved in motivation and emotion than I initially thought!
My understanding of motivation has changed greatly because I can appreciate the science behind this class. When I signed up for this class I thought it was going to be based mostly on cognitive psychology. As with any psychology course, understanding the anatomy of the brain is key to learning how and why we function the way we do.
Chapter three in our text book was about the brain and its role in motivation and emotion. It covers how different brain structures can affect our motivation and emotions and how some structures have more affect on certain motivational and emotional states than other structures do, such as approach or avoidance orientation and what behavior change in the event of brain damage. It also covers how biological agents, such as neurotransmitters and hormones can also affect which brain structures are stimulated. These agents can cause a change and variation in motivational and emotional states by deficiency or over stimulation. Another way our motivational and emotional states can change is due to our day-to-day and environmental events. The things we must deal with and the ways we live our lives can change affect which brain structure is stimulated and which chemical is released to cause changes in states. The chapter goes on to explain the roles of every major part of the brain and which state they have the most affect on when stimulated. It also broke down the biological agents into hormones and neurotransmitters, especially the affects of dopamine, to describe how they individual affect the brain and in which ways. It goes on to discuss how through this stimulation we learn whats causes negative and positive motivational and emotional states and thus we learn reward and reinforcement for these acts. The chapter concludes with some words on how a individuals motivational state is deeply embedded in society and a lot of our motivation is subconscious.
I found the amount of work the body and brain do to help me perform the simplest of tasks surprising, nay amazing. I had never put much thought into the small details behind my actions and my body's natural reactions until this chapter.
I wouldn't say the information was confusing but initially attempting to remember the names of the structures and agents and attempting to remember the function of each was quite difficult, but other than the initial complications it became quite clear to me.
I want to learn more about the role of biological agents. I, myself, am treated for a mood disorder and so its safe to say my motivational and emotional states are quite different from everyone else' and I was told it was because I suffer from a chemical imbalance I was born with. Knowing more about how these agents can cause certain responses when there is too much or not enough could help me better understand by condition.
After this reading I learned how physical motivation really is. Its not just something you create yourself. There is a biological element that plays a huge role in your motivation and I always thought it was more a subject of character than biology.
In this chapter the author points out that the brain is used for more than cognitive and intellectual functions. The brain does more than that as it is the center for motivation and emotion. Chapter three is mainly about what role each part of the brain plays when it comes to motivation and emotions. For example the hypothalamus controls the motivations of eating, drinking, and mating, and the cerebral cortex (frontal lobes) controls setting goals, making plans, and formulating intentions. There are about ten more brain structures that I did not talk about that also regulate motivation and emotions we experience throughout life. Neurotransmitters also play a role in our motivations and emotions. There are four motivationally significant neurotransmitter pathways, which include dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphin. Dopamine is associated with good feelings. Serotonin regulates mood and emotion. Norepinephrine causes arousal and alertness. Endorphin slows up pain and fear by producing good feelings to get rid of the negative emotions. There are three hormones in the body that are important to motivation and emotion. Cortisol the stress hormone, testosterone which is related to increased sexual motivation, and oxytocin also known as the bonding hormone. This chapter was very interesting to me and explained a lot about the different functions each part of the brain plays when it comes to motivation and emotion.
I was more surprised by the fact that each part of our brain plays a crucial role in how we react and respond to specific situations. I did not realize that our motivations and emotions we experience on a daily basis are all controlled by specific parts of the brain. I have learned about this in other classes I have taken but they never really broke it down like this book did.
This information that was most confusing to me was the different roles each part of the brain plays in motivation and emotion. There were so many of them and I could not keep them straight. Even though I read the chapter I would not be able to tell you which part of the brain controls what without looking at my book. The information about neurotransmitters is also confusing to me. I do not understand how the different pathways work.
I would like to learn more about the section of this chapter that talked about addictions and liking and wanting. These sections were not very long and I feel like there is a lot more information that I could learn about this.
Before reading this chapter I did not realize that specific brain structures produce specific motivations, and that chemicals stimulate specific brain structures, which has changed my thoughts on motivation.
Chapter 3 was about the brain’s influence on motivation and emotion. The chapter talked about the different brain structures and what they deal with in terms of what types of biochemical agents are produced and what is controlled by that specific structure. It was explained that there are 3 main principles that are looked and when analyzing the brain’s motivational processes. The chapter also explained that the motivation can be a positive or negative reason for any of the processes to happen. The chapter also talked about the 4 main neurotransmitters and what they do.
The information about dopamine and all its effects was the most surprising to me. When the book talked about how not only does dopamine release generate a good response but it also actives your voluntary goal-directed approach response, I found that very interesting. It made me wonder how many times I have responded because my dopamine levels were up.
The most confusing thing to me is remembering which cortex does what. I can probably fix that a little more if I just create a mnemonic device to remember it or study them a little more than I have.
I personally would like to learn more about how the different processes for brain motivation kick in and maybe learn more on how long it can take different people to react to the same situation given their different genetic makeup.
I basically knew about this stuff before reading the chapter but it was a good refresher and I made me realize I don’t remember as much as I thought I did. With dealing with motivation though, it made me realize that a lot more comes into play when you make certain choices even though it basically just your brain making those choices.
Chapter 3 of our textbook essentially describes the characteristics and functions of the brain. The brain is responsible for just about everything involved with life as a human being. Common knowledge reveals that the brain is responsible for the cognition and motor control, but it also does way more than that. The saying, “Do you think with your head or your heart?” (which is greatly paraphrased), is rather misleading. Yes, you can think with your head, but additionally, the textbook reveals, the way of thinking generally associated with the heart stems from parts of and chemicals released by the brain. No, I did not originally think that emotions truly came from the heart; I knew they were from the brain, but I certainly didn’t lend much thought to the idea at all. The textbook explained which parts of the brain did what (i.e.: the hypothalamus is responsible for various biological functions, the amygdala for anger and fear) and what chemicals caused what (i.e.: dopamine gave a pleasurable feeling, ghrelin hunger, etc). In other words, the brain is responsible for much more than we generally give it credit. Granted, most of us knew that the brain controlled all of that, but very few of us actually gave it thought and even fewer realized that it was chemicals that were released rather than the brain itself that caused certain motivations and emotions.
The single piece of information that was most surprising to me was that a chemical called ghrelin was what made me feel hungry. I was always under the impression that I felt hungry because my stomach no longer had any food to digest, which I suppose is true in a very roundabout, elementary way. It also explains a lot. I have been fairly busy in college, and have been known to miss meals, because I forget to eat. A few times, I have missed several meals in a row. Dr. Maclin’s explanation of this in class and what the book said regarding ghrelin was rather enlightening. I was always confused as to how I could forget to eat, but my body realized that it reminding me did little or no good (as usually it was during class, a meeting, or a time when the dining center was closed).
The most confusing aspect of the chapter was the sheer amount of terminology thrown at me. Usually, I have a pretty good memory and I plan on reading the chapter again to pick up a better working knowledge of the vocabulary, but the myriad number of words and similar words caused a great amount of confusion. Part of this could be that I read in the wee hours of the morning, but, in general, it was too much to take in in one go around.
I’d also like to learn a little bit more regarding the part in the chapter subtitled “We are Not Always Aware of the Motivational Basis of Our Behavior.” The fact that sometimes we are not aware of the real reason why we do things is rather interesting. Granted, people will lie to others and even to themselves as to their true motivations, but that we sometimes don’t even know is very captivating in a way. I’d like to learn more about this so I can begin to prevent it in my own life. I would really like to be able to know the true motivations behind the majority of my actions. Even if it is that a certain chemical was released in my brain or body.
Chapter three discusses the structures between the brain and motivation and emotion. The brain is not just for functioning in day to day life, but it also is responsible for making someone feel hungry, happy, or sad. When one’s body is hungry the brain detects it and there is a release of ghrelin which is what makes you feel hungry. Your body will keep releasing ghrelin until you put food inside your body, or if you wait long enough it will stop and basically “give up.” If you get really happy your brain releases a bunch of dopamine, which makes you feel really happy. There is a part in the brain that is responsible for all of you every day emotions and motivations. The brain plays a big role in it.
Hormones released in your body affect your emotions and motivations. I thought that was the most surprising. There are several different hormones and each do something different. Testosterone in guys makes them develop their sexual drive right away and when they have had enough testosterone it is turned into estrogen. Girls have estrogen and so they grow taller before boys, but when they have had enough estrogen the estrogen is turned into testosterone. The hormone cortisol is responsible for stress. When you are feeling stressed you release that hormone and if you have too much released it is bad for you health.
I think the information that is the most confusing was each part of the brain and what its key roles were. I would really like to learn more about each hormone that are released and what it does. I found that to be very interesting and I would like to learn more about their certain roles with motivation and emotions. After reading this chapter I understand a lot more about how and why we feel the way we do. The brain has a lot to do with why we feel hungry, or when we are happy, or sad. It makes it a lot easier to understand why I am feeling a certain way or why someone else may be.
This chapter focused on the biological processes of the brain and how they influence on motivation and behavior. The main 'parts' included the hormones and chemical agents of the brain and the brain structures they affect. The chapter also reminded us that even though much of our behavior is influenced by these chemicals, we cannot separate motivation from social context. Environmental events naturally stimulate the brain processes that motivate us.
I was surprised by the amount of biological information, and pleasantly surprised by it as well. It was a nice touch for a class I anticipated wouldn't involve much science in that area. It was a good review of the biological factors that motivate us, and helped narrow down the stuff I learned previously in biological psychology. At first it was confusing trying to remember all of the brain structures and chemicals, but it caught back on after a few times reading through.
I would really like to learn more about how all of the factors influencing motivation and emotion work with and against each other. There are so many competing factors in the science of what makes us behave the way we do. A large part of the interest for me has to do with understanding my own motivations better, since it can feel sometimes as though your motivations fight each other to win out. I'm looking forward to this course providing a lot of the answers I didn't know I was looking for.
My understanding of motivation is improved from this chapter. The biological processes involved were laid out clearly and helped to remind me of information I have learned before. The chapter also did a great job of weaving together biological factors, emotional factors, and day to day situational factors to explain the complicated way all of these factors work on us.
Chapter 3 explains how the components of the brain are directly involved with the process of motivation. Everyday situations trigger chemicals in our body that stimulate different structures within the brain. These brain structures then elicit motivational states. Some of the main brain structures that are involved with motivation include the hypothalamus, the amygdala, and prefrontal cortex. The hypothalamus influences motivations for hunger, satiety, thirst, and sex. The amygdala is the brain structure that deals with threat response.
The part of this chapter I found most surprising was the notion of dopamine release. I had understood that dopamine elicited feelings of pleasure. However, I thought it was interesting that more pleasure is experienced during the cognition stage before an activity rather than the activity itself. It makes sense as the anticipation of something gets you excited about something, I had just attributed the feelings of pleasure to the activity rather than the thoughts behind it.
I think the part of the chapter that was a bit harder to follow was how all the brain structures complemented each other during the process of motivation, but also had there separate responsibilities. This was confusing more so due to the fact that there were a lot of different structures to keep track of. I feel that a good week or two could be spent on learning the structures. However, to get the basic information needed to understand the biological process of motivation, the book did a fairly decent job at explaining the different structures.
Prior to reading this chapter on the brain and motivation, I didn't fully understand how the brain influenced motivation. Naturally it made sense that motivation would have some functional beginnings in the brain, but I didn't know the extent of life events influencing brain chemicals which communicate to structures in the brain and then in the end, producing motivation. The process of motivation seems significantly more complex, but also significantly more interesting due to the extended pathway that occurs between the life event that motivates you.
The motivation and emotion of humans is very deeply rooted in brain functioning. The daily occurrences of our lives lead to biochemical action within our bodies that stimulates brain structures. Those brain structures are in control of some very specific motivations. From hunger to sex drive, liking, and even anger, anxiety, and fear, our brain is telling us how to react to our lives. However, with motivation driven by our brains, we only get part of the motivation process. Social context is necessary in determining the actions we take and those are very diverse between people. The most interesting part for me was the concept that reoccurred about brain damage. I’ve taken biopsychology and know quite a bit about the brain structures already. Reading about them from a motivational angle is similar but also differing enough as to surprise me. I really would like to know more about the areas that control specific functions and how those can be impaired after brain damage. We read about many interesting cases in biopsych and it is a field that has always been very intriguing so I was surprised, in a very good way, to read a bit about it here. I honestly didn’t find much of this confusing, as I mentioned, I’ve taken biopsych. A lot of the brain functioning and connection in this chapter was review for me. That being said, my understanding of motivation and emotion has shifted greatly upon reading this chapter and discussing it in class. I have never been one to diet and man am I happy about that. The biological causes of all our motivations for doing things and feeling the ways we do are fairly important concepts to understand. One cannot fully understand motivation and emotion as cognition and decisions we consciously make, it is highly biological as well. Much of the process is unconscious and our body can take over on auto-pilot to tell us how to survive happily.
This chapter expresses the incredible role the brain plays in a human life that most people do not realize. Not only does it think and learn, but it also regulates motivations and emotions throughout the day. It consists of multiple segments that all control a certain motivation or emotion. These structures of the brain use three principles that can affect the motivation and emotion occurrence. First, certain brain segments control the actions itself. For example, the orbit frontal cortex controls decision making while the amygdale controls emotional anger, fear and defensive behavior. Second, biochemical’s are transmitted through the brain. These can be neurotransmitters such as dopamine that affects positive feelings, or they can be hormones such as cortisol which is released during a stressful time. Third, the brain uses day to day activities to activate these biochemical’s. This can take place when someone is dieting. The body will release more ghrelin hormones to let it know it is hungry.
The one thing I found most surprising was how personality is affected by a certain structure of the brain. A person will be likely to have negative emotions if their right prefrontal lobe is sensitive. If the person’s left prefrontal lobe is sensitive, they express positive emotions. It is surprising to me that one part of the brain can have such on impact on how a person reacts and their attitude about something.
This chapter was simplistically laid out so I didn’t have a hard time understanding it. However, at times, it was hard to keep up with all the interactions between two parts of the brain. Many times, I had to slow down and create a mental picture of how the structures and neurotransmitters all worked together to create a response. For instance, the amygdale is activated when we are in danger. This stimulates fear and other body reactions which arouses other brain structures in the vicinity. Those structures then release neurotransmitters to respond to the affects of fear such as a racing heart.
Although the interactions between the brain structures are slightly confusing, I am interested to learn more about them. It is intriguing to know how each part of the brain controls every response and action that takes place.
All of the processes that take place in our brain have changed my view on motivation. It is crazy to think about how the brain works together through biological processes to create motivations in our body, and how biochemicals are such an important part in creating the motivations. The brain structures control a ample amount of why we act the way we do.
Writing these reflections are difficult, because of the multitude of topics of interest. There wasn’t much that stuck out to me as completely surprising to me in this chapter, as I have already taken biopsychology class and have been released to the awesome phenomenon of the brain. One minor concept that was novel to me was ghrelin. I could have assumed that a hormone controlled hunger, but did not know the details until now. I think it’s amazing that a tiny little hormone like ghrelin can control such strong desires.
Along with that, I find the brain structures, and their ability to control behavior, is simply incredible. Take the hypothalamus for example. It is only about 1% of the brain, yet it controls some of our strongest desires: hunger, thirst, and sex drive.
Something that amazes me, yet confuses me at the same time, is brain surgery. The book talks about cases where brain surgeons operate with the patient awake. First of all, I find it odd that the brain, the most important organ of the body, has no pain receptors. I’m also confused how the surgeon can accurately electronically stimulate areas of your body through the brain. I also find it confusing that people can have entire areas of their brain removed or ruined, yet their brain as a whole still functions to the point where only specific behaviors of the person have changed.
In relation to what I find confusing, I would like to learn more about how specific areas of the brain affect such specific areas of behavior and emotion. I think the structure of the brain is amazing.
I think overall, I find it awe inspiring, nearly unconformable, that all of our motivations, emotions, and desires are determined almost completely by our brain and the hormones and neurotransmitters it emits. It makes me feel like humans are no better than robots. I’ve been starting to think about all the desires and actions that I do on a regular basis in terms of what my brain is emitting.
Chapter three discusses the major functions of the brain in regards to motivation and emotion. It goes into some detail explaining which parts of the brain, as well as what hormones or connections, are responsible for what functions, especially those relating to motivation and emotion. The main three functions of the brain are can be described as cognitive-intellectual, motivational, and emotional. Two key points concerning the motivated and emotional brain are: 1) Motivation cannot be separated from the social context in which it is embedded; and 2) We are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis of our behavior.
The most surprising thing I learned in the chapter was that scientists are able to pinpoint/stimulate so many responses or functional areas within the brain. It was interesting to read about how over the years scientists have been able to figure out the functions and connections of the different parts of the brain and the different hormones—that a lot of work on this issue has been studied by using rats, but now also use more advanced techniques of study, such as fMRI observation.
I really enjoyed learning about the different functions of the brain parts and the different functions of the hormones and other chemicals. This was the part I found most confusing, also. I feel like it was confusing because it is so complex. There are so many different aspects to think about. I feel like if I took a more in-depth course and just studied the brain and its functions/physiology I would find it more manageable. I took Anatomy in high school and have always thought the body (and certainly the brain) a most amazing functioning thing. I am looking forward to learning more about the specific motivation- and emotion-controlling parts of the brain.
Previously, I thought I always had a high level of control over my motivations, actions, needs, desires, etc. After reading this chapter and discussing it in class, I realize that I DO NOT have that much control. This was definitely another reality check for me (we all have to have them at some points in life) that I am only a small contributor to this world, and that I don’t have the control that the media aids in feeding me to believe that I do. I now realize that the biological/physiological bases are the huge majority of what determines my motivations and behavior. It is a humbling lesson, and excites me to learn more.
Chapter 3 covered the biological component to motivation and emotion. It explained how day-to-day events stir biological agents like dopamine, ghrelin, etc into action which then stimulate specific brain structures (like the hippocampus, hypothalamus, amygdala, etc) which generate specific motivations and/or emotions(i.e., hunger,fear, pleasure, etc).
Chapter 3 also discussed how certain brain structures play a role in certain motivational or emotional experiences. For instance, the amygdala is responsible for detecting and responding to threatening and emotionally significant events while the cerebral cortex is responsible for making plans, setting goals, and formulating intentions. Going along with this, the chapter grouped the brain structures into categories: approach-oriented structures, aviodance-oriented structures, and arousal-oriented structure.
The remainder of the chapter mainly dealt with the biological agents. Specifically, dopamine, cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin. Dopamine has a major role in motivation and emotion because dopamine generates positive and rewarding feelings that help us to seek out certain behaviors that stimulate its production. Thus it is critical for the approach-oriented structures to make sure that the behaviors that need to be done to get done.
I was a little confused by the information concerning the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and the Behavioral Activation System (BAS). I understand that people who have greater activity in their BIS are more sensitive to negative emotions, avoidance-oriented behaviors, and punishments and those who have greater activity in their BAS are more sensitive to positive emotions, incentives, and rewards. What confuses me is how I can apply this knowledge to have a better understanding of a person's general motivation. While reading the chapter, I was using the perspective of how to apply this information to help me develop different ways to approach and motivate the clientele that I interact down at the probation/parole office.
I would really like to learn more about the hormone oxytocin. While reading the small section that covered it and listening to the lecture today in class, I really started to think a lot about its effects on our behaviors. When I heard about the experiment where the people who were injected with oxytocin tended to help others more, I wondered if the level of oxytocin could also have a role in criminality, especially as it pertains to those who have committed violent crimes against a person. The theory that I generated is that offenders who committed a violent crime would have a significantly lower level of oxytocin than people who did not. I think it would be very interesting to find out whether this theory would hold true or not.
Since reading this chapter, I've come to realize that motivation and emotion is a very vast and complex topic. Often times, we do not think of motivation in terms of being biological or how much biology does play a role in our motivations to perform certain behaviors. However, this couldn't be further from the truth.
Chapter 3 addresses specific brain structures, stimulation through biochemical agents, and how those daily events impact biochemical actions. This is all examined with motivation and emotion in mind. The limbic system, which include such brain structures as the hypothalamus and amygdale generate feelings associated with motivation and emotion like appetite, pleasure, and needs. The neurotransmitters act as the biochemical agents to which information is transmitted within the central nervous system. The motivational neurotransmitters are dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and norepinephrine. The specific hormones correlated to motivation and emotions are cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin. The things that happen throughout ones day are the events that stimulate biochemical actions to occur.
I don’t know if there was something that I read that I would say surprised me, but I would say that it was definitely interesting to me. The reading assignment seemed to fly by for that reason. I think the amount of information that we know about the brain is amazing especially when you look at the past theories and now look at how it structurally works. Makes me think about what we will know about the brain structure 50 years from now.
There was a lot of information about so many brain structures that I think it would be easy to get a structure and function mixed up. Kind of information overload of so many similar things.
After reading how motivation and emotion are tied to the actual anatomical part of the brain I would be like to learn more about how motivation and emotion are impacted after brain injuries. Specifically, looking at the anatomical structural damage. What new and up and coming treatments are available and what research is being done.
This chapter has helped me a great deal to better understand motivation and emotion. I must confess I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to anatomy and very much enjoy learning about the body. It is easier for me to understand the motivational and emotional aspects of the brain now that I can put it with a structure, kind of helps me bridge the gap between the two.
Chapter three introduces how the brain influences motivation. Different biochemical agents and brain structures were named and the enormouse effect they have on eachother and the way they contribute to motivation was explained. One of the most important as well as one of the most interesting things the chapter touched upon was how closely and inextricably intertwined physiological, biochemical and social contexts were when it comes to playing a role in how and why we are motivated. The chapter discussed how environmental events affect biochemical agents. Those biochemical agents stimulate different brain structures which causes different emotions. One of the most interesting things to me was just thinking about the brain functions beyond controlling more intellectual aspects of life-- for example hunger, happiness, fear, anger, etc. To think about how environmental events are so intertwined with our hormones and how those hormones affect our motivation was a real eye-opener. I think the most confusing thing within the chapter was just each completely understanding and remember each brain structure and how they effect each other and work together to stimulate motivation. It was just difficult because there are so many different important structures to learn. Because this is the most confusing to me now, it it also what I would like to focus on learning more about.
This chapter explains that the brain is behind all of our emotion and motivation. When talking about how the brain controls motivation there are three basic principles. First that specific brain structures generate specific motivations. Secondly that there are biochemical agents that stimulate these specific brain structures. Finally, that the day to day events which we encounter stir these biochemical agents into action. This chapter is spent explaining and defining the elements of these three principals. It covers the different brain structures, such as the Amygdala, and what the structures control. It also explains the 4 main neurotransmitters involved with motivation (norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, and endorphin) as well as the three basic hormones involved in motivation and emotion (cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin).
The thing that I found to be most surprising as well as the most interesting was learning how the four common neurotransmitters work to control our motivation. I’m currently also in an abnormal psychology course and we recently learned about the most common neurotransmitters that are involved in psychological problems. The top three most common ones are dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. So it was very surprising to see these three are also very involved in motivation.
I was not really confused by any part of this chapter. However I do find it very strange to thing about the fact that the brain controls all of these things. Take hunger as an example. I’ve always thought about hunger as my stomach getting empty. When it gets empty I get hungry. It’s just very strange to think about it as my brain sending out elevated levels of ghrelin because it senses that I need more nutrients.
My understanding of motivation has definitely changed. I now understand the basic biological processes behind our motivation. However what I would like to learn a lot more about is how this biological process works with much more complicated motivation, such as the motivation to succeed in school and get a good job. I don’t think that something that broad could be broken down to one single neurotransmitter or hormone levels.
Chapter three teaches about the structures of the brain that are involved in motivation and emotion. There was an emphasis of how these structures go about influencing our emotions and motivations using different neurotransmitters and chemicals in different situations. The author also explains how different daily events help to trigger these chemical processes that cause the different regions of the brain to start firing, and in some cases what causes them to stop firing.
The most surprising thing to me was that we so few chemicals control such a range of emotions. Not only do these chemicals control emotions but they often also have an effect on our motivation.
I found little to nothing in the chapter that was confusing. I have taken biopsych and we studied many of these topics in depth so this chapter was more of a refresher for me than learning new material.
I would like to learn more about specifically how many different neurotransmitters are involved in emotion and what having larger or smaller amounts leads to.
I would like to learn more about the changes that happen between adolescence, young adulthood, and to when you're brain is finally fully developed. How do these changes look when viewed from a strictly physiological viewpoint, and what are the major structural changes that take place?
As stated in chapter 3 the brain is not only an agent of thought, but also an agent of Motivation and Emotion. It generates a full range of emotions such as but are not limited to the following, pleasure, needs, and cravings. To truly understand the process of the brain Motivational researchers sent a great amount of time on three principals 10 mapping out which brain structures that are associated with motivational states, 2) investigating how the brain structures that are associates with motivational states become activated, and 3) understanding how day to day events in people’s lives create this activation process.
Chapter also talked about the anatomical location of several key brain structures related to motivation and emotion. For example we have they approach-oriented structures such as: they Hypothalamus, the Medial forebrain bundle, orbit frontal cortex, septal area, nucleus accumbens, anterior cingulated cortex, cerebral cortex, left prefrontal cerebral cortex, and medial prefrontal cerebral cortex. The avoidance-oriented structures, the right prefrontal cerebral cortex and the amygdala and they hippocampus. And lastly the arousal- oriented structures including the reticular formation. The book also discussed the four motivationally relevant neurotransmitter pathways 1) dopamine ( which generates good feelings associates with reward, 2) serotonin ( which influences mood and emotion 3) norepinephrine (which regulates arousal and alertness and 4) endorphins ( which inhibits pain, anxiety, and fear.
And lastly its last emphasis was that motivation cannot be separated from the social context in which it is embedded ( or as Professor Maclin said in class the brain is a social structure you can isolate, nor have one without the other, essentially the world acts as natural stimulators of the brain). and that we are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis of our behavior.
The chapter discussed how the brain plays a part in motivation and emotion. The brain tells our body what to do to stay alive and healthy. The areas of our brain are have different duties such as maintaining our temperature, controlling hunger, and causing fear. Through neurotransmitters, these structures are able to do their jobs. Everyday events can also trigger emotional and motivational states.
I found the end of the chapter to be the most interesting. After reading the beginning of the chapter, it’s easy to think that the brain simply controls the body and we have to do what it says. The end of the chapter puts it back into perspective that humans are social beings and that triggers in our everyday life can act as natural stimulators to our brain. In class we discussed how the brain can’t just float by itself, it needs a context to exist in. I think that’s an important thing to remember while we learn about motivation in the following chapters. I found a lot of the chapter to be confusing prior to going to class, but now most of it I’ve figured out. The one thing I would like to know more about still is the septo-hippocampul circuit. From what I understand, it is a area of the brain that operates together to control emotions. This circuit is made of a number of different parts. The book didn’t explain very well how the parts work together or what they really were so it’s still kind of vague.
I’ve never taken a course in biopsychology, so the main thing that changed my understanding of emotion was just how much of it is controlled biologically. It’s easy to think that we’re “unmotivated” or we have to find something to “motivate” us, but actually our brain is what does the motivating. To gain motivation, we have to understand how our brain works and take that into consideration while choosing our environments.
When reading this chapter the one thing that came to mind most often was, do I control my body or does this system of hormones and neurotransmitters do? I mean it seems like that a lot of the human body is ran off of is impulses from some part of the body secreting something or something just turns on when it something reacts to it.
What I found pretty interesting was the hormone ghrelin because I thought that when your just feeling sluggish and tired people always just figured that it means they’re just hungry. I had no idea that it was this process of activating a hormone which would keep pumping out until it felt satisfied or it gave up until you ate again and then would work overtime to get you to eat as much as possible. Another thing I found really interesting was that fear and anger were in the same area of the brain. I guess it makes sense because though they are two opposite emotions, they go together like happy and sad or peanut butter and jelly.
I think another unique, but maybe a little freaky is that our brains are like computers if you click on this program…this happens and when you send a small jolt of electricity to this part of the brain this will happen. Like the book mentions how they tried this type of stimulation to schizophrenic patients and how their reactions did a 180. For instance from a depressive state to a more optimistic attitude and that they were more alert and more pleasant to be around. It just makes me think that with improvements in technology we could start helping people who have difficulty functioning mentally or have any other mental issues.
I would say that even though that this part of psychology usually doesn’t interest me, I actually found this chapter really interesting to read about and found me wanting to continue and not just reading it because I have to.
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The basis of this chapter was to make you realize just how big of a factor the brain and its functions play a role in motivation and emotions. Three main concepts of understanding motivation by brain mechanisms are: knowing what each structure is associated with, realizing which structures are activating the certain actions/thoughts/feelings, etc., and seeing what in our daily lives create these actions and processes. The thought of this was once so perplexing, but is now so easy. Advancements with the fMRI, tiny scopes, and other surgical procedures have made research for these findings much easier to access. With these discoveries, we have now learned certain behaviors all the different areas of the brain are known for, such as the approach, avoidance and arousal structures. Our brain is far more complex than what this chapter tells us about and ends on a conclusion that states we sometimes don’t even recognize our actions as being motivational.
Something that really caught my attention was that the different hormones and chemicals seem more complex than other things. The fact that ghrelin creates hunger, where leptin satiates hunger. Had I not taken biopsychology before this class, I wouldn’t have known anything about these two chemicals. Even though I did know of these, I completely forgot about them and after thinking about it made me wonder… with so many diets and weight loss fads out there, why don’t we see more having to do with these chemicals and finding a balance like we have with anti-depression medications.
Though, each structure was laid out and explained separately, it was hard to keep everything that each did from jumbling together. Without reading it several more times, I don’t think I would be able to tell you which structure did what function and what caused the function.
Now that I’ve been given a little background about the biological and physiological processes of the brain, it makes it easier to realize everything we are doing is some sort of motivation. Like I said earlier, I probably will never keep them straight, but I have a greater insight to realizing what is going on and what is provoking such actions in different situations.
This chapter is a difficult one to summarize; it had many different parts with numerous terms. The point of this chapter was to familiarize the reader with the different parts of the brain that are involved in motivation and emotion. It focuses on the biological/physiological basis of motivation and emotion. It starts by talking about the different areas of the brain involved and briefly describes each one. In each one, it explains how they separately are stimulated, what happens when they are, and how this affects motivation. There are more areas in the brain that work towards a pleasure/approach motivation than an aversive/avoid motivation. After you get the basic understanding of these different areas, it explains what neurotransmitters and hormones are and which ones are vital for motivation to occur. The most important neurotransmitter is dopamine, which triggers positive feelings as well as approach motives and the difference between wanting something and liking something. The important hormones are testosterone, cortisol, and oxytocin. While this chapter is laid out well, it is full of technical/medical jargon and takes reading a couple times to get a clear picture.
Since I had taken biopsychology last semester, not much of it was really surprising to me. In biopsych, we didn’t pick apart the limbic system quite as much as this chapter did, so there were some areas that I was not familiar with. It did still surprise me just how much of the brain is devoted to emotion and emotion. It is the central part of the brain, or the primitive part of the brain. That part is the one that was needed when we were lesser creatures, and motives were very much instinctual. I guess if something surprised me, it would probably be just how complex the process of motivation is. Day-to-day events stimulate biochemical agents, which in turn stimulate specific parts of the brain, which in turn generate specific motivations. It is amazing how much one little day-to-day thing can affect your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I also was surprised about how dieters continually had higher levels of ghrelin after they had lost the weight and maintained it. I was also told that once your body gets used to eating much less, your stomach shrinks and you are not as hungry as you used to be. Reading about ghrelin makes me think that that was false or partially true since ghrelin is actually higher afterwards. That was a tad confusing since I had always understood it a different way. If I had not taken biopsych, I would have been much more confused reading this than I was.
I think learning about the different ways neurotransmitters and hormones affect your motivations would be cool. After reading just this introduction to the topic, I already am starting to think about my motivations from a biological/physiological point of view, wondering if a specific behavior is caused by some neurotransmitter or hormone. It is definitely interesting to think about in those terms. It also makes me wonder how many cases of crime could be attributed to such sources, like the famous “Twinkie defense”. I think that would be something really cool to learn more about; however, that’s probably just the criminologist in me talking. I’ve always been interested in this branch of psychology; heck, I was a pre-med major until a couple years ago. I wanted to be a Neuro-Surgeon, so it is no surprise to me that this interests me.
I think this chapter has definitely changed my understanding of motivation. I realize there are a lot more causes of motivation than I previously had thought and that a lot of motivation and behavior is not always consciously obvious. I have also been more anchored toward the cognitive side of psychology, so I didn’t really attribute motivation being always embedded in the social context that much. It definitely brings psychology and science into a category together in my mind. I also now understand much better that my reason for my behavior may not be the actual motivation behind it. Our brains naturally try to rationalize everything, even if we do not know why.
When giving the task of summarizing this chapter, I automatically know I need to start with describing that the brain, along with cognitive and intellectual functions such as learning and critically thinking also deals with emotions and motivation. For example, it produces cravings, pleasure and all of the various emotions. We have three ‘types’ in the brain. The first one is the thinking brain which deals with the cognitive, memory and decision making. The second is the motivated brain which deals with whether a person is interested and carries out an act. The third is the emotional brain which deals with what mood one is in. There are three principles of motivated and emotional brain. 1. Brain structures generate specific motivational states 2. Biochemical agents stimulate these brain structures 3. Day to day events stir biochemical agents into action. We learn in this chapter that different parts of the brain are responsible for the different functions that occur. For example, the hypothalamus is connected to an increase in hunger. This all helps to explain how the brain plays a role in the actions and emotions of people.
The most surprising thing in this chapter was how doctors can take a look at your brain through a camera being inserted into one’s nostril. I have never heard of this option and to me it is pretty impressive that our technology has come this far.
This whole chapter was a little confusing to me. It is not one of my strengths to be able to follow how biologically the brain works. However, even though it was the most confusing to me, it is also the subject that I want to learn more about. Even though it’s not my strength to be able to follow where dopamine goes after it generates good feelings, I still want to learn more about what stimulates what to get a certain reaction.
My understanding of motivation has changed now that I’ve learned the biological bases of it. I now understand how motivation biologically occurs through things such as dopamine and ghrelin instead of assuming that fear or anger has generated one’s motivation. Instead of thinking of emotions being separate from the biological, I now think of them as intertwining.
Chapter 3 focuses on the brain and its importance in motivation and emotion. The brain is the very center of motivation and emotion. There are three basic principles to understanding brain-based motivational processes: how specific brain structures generate specific motivations; how biochemical agents such as hormones and neurotransmitters stimulate specific brain structures; and how day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action. All three of these principles give us an understanding of how motivation and emotion center around the brain. As the book illustrates, there is a specific chain of events set in action when the brain becomes motivated. First there is an environmental event that begins the motivation. Second a biochemical agent is produced in the body, which then thirdly stimulates or alerts a specific brain structure, and that brain structure results in an aroused motivation. Each brain structure, from the hypothalamus to the medial forebrain bundle to the amygdala, plays a role in motivation. The brain structures are stimulated by neurotransmitters and hormones. Each neurotransmitter has a distinct role as well. The book focuses in particular on the neurotransmitter dopamine. The brain is the control center of motivation and emotion and an understanding of the brain is essential.
I took Biopsychology last fall semester, so I had a pretty solid understanding of the brain structures and neurotransmitters. But I don’t recall learning how each particular brain structure is linked to motivation and emotion, so that was very interesting for me to read. The section I found confusing was the section on liking and wanting. While it kind of made sense to me, I just had a hard time wrapping my mind around what is being said. I have never really thought of the difference between liking and wanting, so it is more difficult to understand than other sections in the chapter.
I always find information on addictions and drugs interesting, so I’d like to read more information on how these relate to motivation and emotion. There is a strong physiological component to addiction, and having more information on the subject would be very interesting. Now that I’ve read the chapter I have a better understanding on how motivation and emotion is linked to physiology and the brain. The brain has a tremendous influence on motivation and emotion – it is the very center of motivation and emotion. It’s very important to listen to our bodies, for they are usually telling us what is best for our well-being.
Chapter 3 focused on the brain and different hormones that can play a significant factor in our lives. It discussed the importance of how our brain is responsible for all our emotions such as our cravings for pleasure and our various needs whether it be to satisfy our need for thirst or hunger. This chapter also discussed how we are not always consciously motivated about our actions or behavior. It emphasized various brain structures and motivational states they may play a part in. For example, the amygdala which is responsible for dealing with threatening events, detecting fear, and recognizing people's emotions, facial expressions etc. Something I find surprising in this chapter is all the different hormones and what a large role they can play in our emotions such as cortisol and testosterone. It is surprising how some people are prone to higher levels of each of these hormones and how they can be brought about to handle various situations. I find it very interesting too how our brain handles certain addictions to drugs. Addictions would be something I would like to learn more about. I would like to learn more about how the brain handles different psychostimulants and what effects it has on hormones that affect our motivations and emotions. This chapter helped me understand that we are not always consciously aware, or able to control certain motivations within our body. I have become more aware of how the brain and the physiological aspect play a large part in our motivational behavior by telling us what is we desire or need.
The content of this chapter deals largely with brain structures and the brain mechanisms associated with motivation. The chapter starts out by going over the basic brain structures associated with motivation, and the behaviors that they are associated with, such as approach-oriented structures, avoidance-oriented structures and arousal-oriented structures.
Approach-oriented structures include structures such as the hypothalamus (associated with pleasurable feelings gained from eating, drinking and sex), the medial forebrain bundle (associated with reinforcement of behaviors), the orbit-frontal cortex (making choices), the septal area (sociability and sexuality), the nucleus accumbens (pleasurable experiences relating to rewards), the anterior cingulate cortex (mood), cerebral cortex (goals and intentions), the left prefrontal cortex (motivational and emotional tendencies), and the medial prefrontal cerebral cortex (learning response).
Avoidance-oriented structures include the right pre-frontal cerebral cortex (withdrawal of motivational and emotional tendencies), the amygdala (associated with fear, anxiety and anger), and the hippocampus (behavioral inhibition system). The structure that happens to be arousal-oriented is the reticular-formation located on the brain stem, and is obviously, associated with arousal.
Aside from brain structures, the chapter also covers neurotransmitters (chemical messengers within the brain) such as dopamine (released from the ventral tegmental area, associated with pleasurable feelings). Not only does dopamine provide feelings of pleasure, but also because it provides feelings of pleasure, it is also important in understanding approach-oriented behavior, since, when one is having these “feel good” feelings, one is more likely to engage in approach-oriented behavior.
From here the chapter moves on to the topic of hormones located within the body, primarily three of them that guide and motivate our behavior. These three important hormones include coritsol, testosterone, and oxytocin. Cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone, is released during social-evaluative threats, such as when one’s social status is in question. Too much cortisol can lead to weight problems as well as poor intellectual functioning. Testosterone, which is the primary male sex hormone, drives sexual behavior as well as competition. The third hormone mentioned within the chapter is that of oxytocin, otherwise known as the bonding hormone, which is associated with falling in love with an individual and confiding in a close-friend.
I thought that it was interesting that the chapter gave a theory to the hormone oxytocin being related a third response (in relation to the fight-or-flight response) in women. This response, the chapter theorizes, is associated with women looking to seek counsel in times of stress, which is often seen much more often in women than in men. I suppose this is something else I would also like to learn more about, because it is a theory that I have never heard before but one that makes complete sense to me and sparks an interest in me.
My understanding of motivation has changed because I am now able to see how neurotransmitters and hormones interact within certain brain structures to help guide and direct behavior. Understanding the brain mechanisms behind motivation has got me wondering if there is anything we can do in guiding motivation related behaviors through pharmaceutical drugs. Obviously there are already drugs such as Xanax (lowering levels of anxiety), but it would be interesting to see if there was any sort of drug that could work on areas such as the cerebral cortex in order to help direct goals and the intentions of others (could be a scary area in science if intentions were misguided).
Chapter 3 is about how the brain is connected to motivation and emotion. The brain is the biggest player in experiencing motivation and emotion. This chapter takes you through the brain to show you what parts are stimulated when a person experience things such as hunger, excitement, thirst, pleasure, sadness, etc. The hypothalamus is stimulation for what the body wants, pleasure, and needs (ex: food, water, sex). The medial forebrain bundle is the “pleasure center”. The Orbitofrontal Cortex is the structure that helps people make choices between options. The amygdala is detects and responds to threat and emotional anger and helps a person learn from new emotional associations. The anterior Cingulate Cortex controls the day-to-day mood. The reticular Formation is in control of the process of awakening the brain’s motivational and emotional concerns. And stimulation of the cortex activates automatic emotional reactions. This chapter also goes into detail about what happens when biochemicals such as neurotransmitters and hormones are stimulated in a person’s body and how that stimulates motivation and emotions.
The most surprising thing to me after reading this chapter is how unaware I was of what goes on in my brain when I am motivated to do something. I realize that all of the structures in my brain are there to do something, but I never thought how some of them are the key motivators to my choice making. I always thought I was motivated because it was something that I wanted to do or something that I felt like I should do, not actually because my body was telling me to. The same thing goes with my emotions. I thought I felt the way I did just because of the things that are going on around me, not inside of me.
The most confusing part to me is just the complexity of our brain. There are just so many parts that do so many things, I just still don’t really understand how structures get stimulated in the first place. I understand that things get triggered then are sent through neurotransmitters and hormones to trigger something else, but I just don’t get how and what gets triggered in the first place. Also, if the brain is always what motivates us to do everything, how come I am not constantly motivated?
I would like to learn a little more about all of the brain structures and how they are interconnected to motivations and emotions. It really interests me, but it is still something that I do not fully understand because our brain is so complex.
After reading this chapter, my understanding of motivation and emotions has changed a lot. I now realize that our motivations and emotions are so much more complex and internal than I had ever thought. That the reason I am experiencing things such as hunger, thirst, excitement, pleasure, etc is not just because I think it’s what I want, but it is what my body wants and needs. I will now know and be able to see and understand why I think I want/need something.
This chapter was definitely not my favorite. I have never been a fan of all the internal brain activity and information in the field of psychology. Science was never my strong subject! Chapter 3 was about the brain and the structures within the brain that play a role in our motivation, without us even knowing it. All our emotions are triggered by certain structures in the brain, and these emotions range from pleasure and happiness to pain and anger and our brain is responsible for letting us know when we are hungry. All these signals from our brain to our body are part of the reason why we are motivated, or why we choose to make a decision. How does our brain communicate with our body to let us know our emotions or how we're feeling? Little messages in the brain, called neurotransmitters are sent from the brain to the body, and our body processes these transmitters. Some examples of these messages that get sent to our body are Dopamine, Serotonin and Grehlin. Grehlin lets our body know when it is hungry, wheres Dopamine and Serotonin makes us feel happy and positive. When we are stressed out, that means our brain has sent Cortisol to the body, and the feeling "stressed" is because of that shot of Cortisol our brain sent the body. That was just a few types of things that effect our emotion and motivation. Our brain has a lot of control on whether we are happy, mad, stress, hungry or any other emotion.
The piece of information that surprised me the most was the part on addictions. I am not addicted to anything, but I know people who are addicted to cigarettes, alcohol and gambling. I have smoked once or twice, and I drink occasionally, plus I have been to casinos. But I never feel the need to keep smoking or drinking or gambling. I always thought it was just self control...if you wanted to stop you can. Just be strong about it. But I did now know that addictive substances actually physically effect the brain...they cause Dopamine-induced neural hypersensitization which the book said could last for years. Still, I am unsure on how all this brain stuff works when it comes to addictions.
Definitely the most confusing for me in chapter three was all the specific brain structures and what their exact job is to do. Like I mentioned at the beginning...science and the human brain and body have never been my strong subjects. My understanding of motivation has changed, because I never know how complicated the human brain was, and never knew that no matter how hard I try to do a certain behavior (or not to do that behavior), it still might happen, because my brain is sending many many messages and transmissions to my body that I am unaware of. They just happen.
Chapter three addresses the link among daily events, biochemical agents (neurotransmitters and hormones), and specific brain structures and how they interact to affect motivation and emotion. Social context and motivation are inseparable, and we are often subconsciously stimulated by the environment to act or react in certain ways (innate survival mechanisms or conditioned).
What is most confusing to me is how the brain is in charge of the body, and yet it still has to get information from various systems. Why does the brain need a hormone (ghrelin) to tell it that the stomach is empty and to please relay the message to the human that he should eat? Why couldn’t the brain just get a direct “feeling” of emptiness (like pain when you’re cut, or to squint when it’s bright out)? If these biochemical agents are so responsive, why do we need other motivations? Shouldn’t the dopamine release be enough to motivate us, regardless of our other psychological and social needs? Why do we need so many needs? Wouldn’t the world be a much simpler place if all of our needs and motivations be purely biologically based?!
To what extent can we control our biological motivations? Obviously, we can consciously override our body’s best interests (overeating, self-inflicted pain, repeating mistakes, etc.), but is it also possible to manipulate them for good? Or is it reversible? For instance, people who suffer from PTSD: if a negative event has induced severe negative emotional patterns, isn’t there a way to introduce a strong POSITIVE event to counter the negative and reverse the effects? (In other words, if an EVENT can alter the brain’s chemistry, couldn’t a separate event alter it back?) I’d like to learn more about mental illnesses and how the brain’s chemistry can be altered in ways that don’t involve pharmaceuticals.
Chapter three was all about the brain and how it relates to motivation. There are several different brain structures that are directly related to motivation. First of all is the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is very small, but has a lot of important functions. One of the main functions it controls in the autonomic nervous system. Some of the other brain structures include medial forebrain bundle, orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala septo-hippocampal circuit, anterior cingulate cortex and reticular formation. Each of these brain structures is associated with both positive or negative feelings and motivation. The next section of the chapter talks about neurotransmitters. These are chemicals in the brain that send different messages. The four main neurotransmitters related to motivation are dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine and endorphin. One key point from this chapter was that motivation always has to be looked at in whatever type of social context or situation the person is in. Although the brain is biological, motivation comes from different social contexts as well.
The most surprising thing from this chapter was learning that we are not always aware of the different types of motivation that direct our behavior. This was interesting to me because people always try to figure out why behaviors are occurring or what the reason is behind certain behaviors. It is nice to know that sometimes we can’t be aware of why we are acting in a certain way.
The most confusing is remembering the different brain structures and what their purpose is. It is easy for me to remember the amygdala and hippocampus, but after that all of the brain structures are just a jumble of words to me. I would like to learn how to remember the different brain structures so that I can be aware of what their functions are. My understanding of motivation changed a little because now I know that there is a biological basis to it and it’s not always social in nature.