Read Chapter 4
Summarize the chapter. What was the most interesting thing you learned in this chapter? Were their concepts or ideas you are unclear on right now? How does physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation? What differentiates physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms (from chapter 3)?
This chapter talks about the physchological drive which help to motivate certain behaviors. This chapter talks about the drive theory and how physiological depreviations allow for bodily needs or wants to be satisfied. These needs cause drive, which causes motivation within a person. Once those bodily needs are met then there is a drive reduction, reducing the motivation of a behavior. The three big physiological needs are thirst, hunger, and sex.
The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter was how important facial metrics are toward people and how they find someone attractive. There are three main catergories that people place faces within and this is how they judge whether a person is attractive or not. The three categories are; neonatal features, sexual maturity features, and expressive features. In women, the neonatal features are associated with physical attriactiveness. These features include large eyes, small nose and small chin. They also have some sexual maturity attributes (thinness) and expressive characteristics to them too that make them attractive (eyebrow height and smile). Men's faces are more rated and associated with sexual maturity characterisics. These include thick eyecbrows and prominent chin. They also have expressive features like the smile and width of the smile.
Two of the concepts I have a little trouble getting or understanding is the intraorganismic and extraorganismic mechanisms. I understand the "extra" ones better, but just have trouble understanding some of the types or ways the "intra" ones work.
Physiological reactions relate to motivation because these reactions are due to a bodily need needing to be met. When deprevations occures these reactions send messages to the brain or body that in return causes physiological reactions that cause motivation for these needs to be met and achieved to reach a homeostatis.
The brain is what causes the cravings, appetites, needs, desires, pleasure, and all the emotions realated to motivation. The physiological mechanisms are just those needs that need to be met and are essential for life, growth and the well-being of a person.
This chapter explained how our physiological needs work. Hull’s drive theory is used to show how our biological and psychological drives work together. I found this part of the chapter to be the most interesting. A biological need occurs when we are in need of food, water, or sleep. If we don’t do anything to satiate this need, it comes to our attention psychologically. An individual could not consciously realize that they are hungry or thirsty if their body didn’t inform their brain of a biological need. We then do the work of reducing the physiological drive. This may include finding food or water. This is also called regulation. Our bodies are aware of what levels are needed to run most efficiently. For example, if we have enough food/water, we do not feel hungry/thirsty. Another physiological need is sexual motivation. Hormones such as androgens and estrogens drive sexual motivation. Other external factors such as facial metrics, sexual scripts, and sexual orientation determine sexual motivation. Attempting to regulate these physiological desires is extremely difficult and often result in self-regulation failure.
I found the drive acting as an intervening variable aspect of this chapter to be confusing. More specifically, how pain can act as an intervening variable. I think the main difference between the brain and physiological mechanisms in chapters 3 and 4 are the locations of the action. A brain mechanism signals that we have a “need” and signals to the body to satiate this need. Physiological mechanisms occur in the body and signal to the brain that we have a need. The brain then makes us consciously aware of this need and as humans we act to fulfill it.
To summarize what chapter 4 is all about I would say that it is telling us how motivation is not only pyschological but pysiological as well. On page 77 they say "Damage can be to the body, so motives arise from physiological needs to avoid tissue damage and to maintain bodily resources." I thought that this sentence was a good summation of what the chapter talks about. It just goes into further detail about thirst, hunger, and sex. I would say that the section about the hypothalamus and Kidneys on page 86 is what I am unclear about. I just find it kind of confusing. Physiology and Physiological reactions relate to motivation in many different ways. One way is when people feel that they are hungry and want to eat one of the reasons is because their blood glucose has dropped. I found that the fact that womens correlation between physiological arousal and psychological desire is low where as teh mens correlation is very high. It makes sense because women are more emotional than men, I just never thought about it like that. Physiological mechanisms differintiate with brain mechanisms in the way that pysiological needs are the things that tell the brain what we need.
This chapter describes how motivation is a combination of psychological and physiological needs or wants, they are not just one or the other. This chapter describes the drive theory a bit in more detail and how the drive theory contains both psychological and physiological needs. The most interesting thing I found in this chapter is the topic of facial metrics and how certain aspects are associated to attractiveness in men and women. Women are found more attractive if they have neonatal features (Small nose, large eyes, etc.) and expressive characteristics like smile and eyebrow length and width. Men are found more attractive when they have more sexual maturity features like thick eyebrows and expressive features like smile height and width. The section on hypothalamus and the kidneys was a bit confusing to me and unclear. I just didn't get some of the concepts in how they work. Physiological and psychological needs are related to motivation in that they both work in relation to controlling or triggering motivation. It all works as on big cycle between both types of needs. The drive theory showed that physiological deprivations and deficits give rise to bodily needs which causes the body to have psychological drives toward motivation. The motivation is due to the consummatory behavior to meet the physiological needs and cause drive reduction. Psychological needs are signals to the brain that the body needs a certain deficit or need fix or met. The brain then takes these messages and makes us aware of these needs that are in deprivation and puts the body into action to satisfy these needs.
This chapter was about the physiological needs our bodies have and how we react to these needs. The part that was most interesting to me was on page 77, where the book talked about what a need is, and what happens if we don't fulfill that need. I didn't know so much damage could happen to our body, both physical damage and psychological damage if we don't fulfill needs, along with our social relationships can also be affected if we fail to satisfy these needs. The rest of the chapter continues to go over what 'needs' are and how we regulate them. The chapter mainly focused on hunger, thirst and sex.
The most confusing piece of information was the part on Short-Term Appetite and the Long Term Energy Balance, on pages 88-90. I've always had a hard time understanding how all the energy, brain structures, and internal body stuff works.
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation, because if we are uncomfortable, or feeling hungry or thirsty, our brain kicks in and we become motivated to go find food or water to satisfy ourselves. If something physiologically is bothering us, we will be motivated to ease the problem by finding something to help get rid of that problem.
To put it simply, brain mechanisms sends a signal to the body to let it know there is a need which wants to be satisfied, whereas physiological mechanisms a signal to the brain about a need.
Chapter four discusses the three physiological needs: thirst, hunger, and sex. A need is defined as an condition within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth and well being. We develop physiological needs when a biological condition is not being satisfied, for example thirst. Physiological needs turns into psychological drive which then leads us to a behavior to satisfy that need. Once the drive is reduced, the cycle can repeat again.
The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter was the about how we view bitter, salty, sour, and sweet tastes. I had never put much thought into taste before, and began to realize that how we view different tastes depends on the intensity. Also, the pleasantness of these tastes vary from person to person.
I was confused when reading about short-term hunger. The hypothalamus is in control of hunger but there are separate parts of the hypothalamus that produce and terminate hunger. The brain is very complex and it can be difficult to understand when it in concentrating on two different areas of the same structure.
Physiological needs can turn into phycological drive as discussed above.
A brain mechanism releases a biochemical agent from a specific brain structure in order to arouse motivation and create a need. When this physiological need is developed, a message must be delivered back to the brain to communicate that we are satisfied and the need has been met.
This chapter is about physiological needs and how those influence our motivation. The different physiological needs are hunger, thirst, and sex. These needs generate energy and direct us in performing behaviors that will satisfy our needs and help us restore homeostasis. Drives can come from multiple inputs, such as feeling thirsty after working out and sweating or eating salty foods, and drives also have multiple behavioral responses that can satisfy the feeling of thirst. Intraorganismic mechanisms include the biological regulatory systems that activate our physiological needs, such as the hypothalamus with hunger, and extraorganismic mechanisms include the environmental influences that activate our psychological drives. For example, we may not be thirsty but might still drink alcoholic beverages in order to be social at a party. This is extraorganismic mechanism that motivates us to perform the behavior of drinking. There are environmental influences that affect eating behavior, such as the time of day, stress, and the sight, smell, and appearance of food. The process we go through to satisfy our needs includes having a physiological deprivation (such as a water defecit), then if we have a prolonged deprivation of water, it will produce the need of thirst. This need intensifies and gives us a psychological drive, which will result in goal-directed motivated behavior as an attempt to gratify this drive (such as going down the hallways, looking for a drinking fountain). Once we find water, consummatory behavior occurs, and we drink the water. This results in the drive being reduced and we return to a satiated state.
I thought the most interesting thing from this chapter was talking about self-regulating our physiological needs and why we fail to do so. One reason people fail at this are that people underestimate how powerful a motivational force or biological urge can be unless they are actually experiencing it at that time. For example, it is easy to think that going on a diet will be no problem when you are not hungry and experiencing that biological urge to eat. Another reason people fail at this is that they have unreasonable standards, such as losing a bunch of weight in only a few weeks. When they don’t meet that standard, they give up on it. A third reason is that people fail to monitor their behaviors. For example, they might get distracted and eat more than they should and not realize how much they really ate. Something I am unclear on is some of the processes that go into thirst and hunger, such as long term energy balance and short term appetite. Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation because they are what motivate us to perform certain behaviors. If we feel hungry, our brain signals us that we need to go eat, therefore motivating us to engage in the behavior of finding something to eat. The difference between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is that physiological mechanisms tell the brain that we have a need, and then the brain tells us to take care of that need. The brain sending a signal to tell us to take care of a need is brain mechanisms.
Chapter 4 briefly discussed the different needs we have. As our textbook states, "a need is any condition within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being." Our needs fall within three different categories: physiological (the main focus of the chapter), psychological, and social.
Physiological needs are bodily needs that if left on met could cause damage to our bodies. Examples of physiological needs are hunger, thirst, and sex. The physiological needs operate through an internal state called homeostasis. When the body detects a deficiency, the body is no longer in homeostasis and starts to generate a physiological need to replenish the deficiency. The need intensifies and becomes what is known as a psychological drive which motivates our behavior to act in a way in which we somehow consume the thing that we need to replenish the deficiency. Once this happens, our body returns to homeostasis and we feel satiated.
For me, the most interesting thing about the chapter is how it all connects together to generate motivation for seemingly simple behaviors. Take for instance thirst. From the time we are really young, we learn quickly what it feels like to be thirsty and that when we have that feeling, we need to get something to drink. It's pretty straightforward. However, we take for granted just what processes take place to generate that feeling (or in this case, drive) to motivate us to take a drink. It's insane to think that there are so many complex things and mechanisms going on in our body that direct even our simplest of behaviors. That is something that is easier to realize in more complex thoughts and motivations, like understanding why we may fear certain things and why we may not fear other things. This is a seemingly complex thought process that most people would agree upon. However, most people would not view or at least not think twice about the complexities that are involved with the simpler behaviors that stem from our physiological needs.
Right now, I am struggling to understand the whole concept of multiple inputs and outputs. I am confused as to whether multiple inputs can be or are extraorganismic and intraorganismic mechanisms. To me, they both seem like they are the same thing. They both activate psychological drives. This was the one question that I got wrong during the quiz (everything else I knew).
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation because our body requires us to maintain homeostasis. When our levels are not stable, the body sends out signals that activate our drive for the thing that is needed to return our body back to homeostasis. Take thirst for example again. When our cells are dehydrated, our body sends out a signal that they need to be hydrated. We then begin to experience the psychological drive of thirst which motivates us to seek out fluids to rehydrate our cells. The main thing about physiology and motivation is that our physiological needs can generate psychological drives that are extremely overpowering cognitively. If we do not act upon these drives, soon our thoughts will be consumed by them because our body is warning us that damage could be done to our tissues. I like to think of the whole process like a gas light on our car. When the gas gauge reaches a certain point, the warning light comes on to remind us to get gas. In my car, if I ignore that gas light for too long, it starts to ding at me repeatedly until I either get more gas or I break down on the side of the road.
Even though both the brain mechanisms and the physiological mechanisms of motivation and emotion fall under the general category of biology, they do differ in their own ways. The brain mechanisms of motivation and emotion are responsible not only for alerting our consciousness of our physiological needs but also for rewarding or punishing our behaviors through the release of certain hormones regardless if the behavior helps us maintain life. So the satisfaction or pleasure we receive from doing an activity we enjoy (say reading a book, hanging out with friends, etc) is activated through the brain mechanisms and from that pleasurable experience we learn to repeat the behavior because we liked the feeling we got from it. The physiological mechanisms of motivation and emotion are strictly limited to the physiological needs that are necessary to maintain life. Thus the motivations and drives we experience are a result of a deficiency within the body (lack of food, water, etc) that we need to replenish to ensure our body can operate efficiently.
This chapter explains what needs are and how they influence our everyday lives. Needs are described as any condition with in the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well being. There are three types of needs that make up the need structure: Physiological Needs; thirst, hunger, and sex. Psychological Needs; autonomy, competence, relatedness. Social Needs; achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power.
What I found most interesting about this chapter was how extraorganismic mechanisms influence how we behave. These are all the environmental influences that play a part in activating, maintaining, and terminating psychological drive. For example, after I eat a meal with my family and then my friends want me to go out for dinner and margaritas at my favorite mexican restaurant I always tell myself I'll just get a margarita and hang out. Once I sit down and see everyone else eating the delicious food I always break down and get something even though I'm not that hungry. Extraorganismic mechanisms can always somehow get in the way of our everyday lives and shapes cultural influences. Cognitive, environmental, social, and cultural influences all shape the physiological needs we have as humans.
Drive as an intervening variable is what I found most confusing in the chapter. There are so many inputs and outputs that can take place and the figure 4.4 was a little difficult to read.
physiological reactions relate to our motivation because they give us the urge to do something. Our brain lets us know when we are hungry or thirsty. As the hunger or thirst intensifies it drives our motivation to get up and get something to drink or eat eventually.
Although many people believe that physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms are considered the same thing, they actually are quite different. Physiological mechanisms happen in our bodies, like our mouths getting dry and our voice getting horse. This then gets sent to the brain and signals for us to get a cup of water. Brain mechanisms realizes that there is a need to for-fill, we then for-fill it because the brain tells the body to do so.
In short, Chapter 4 was our physiological needs and how our behavior changes during deprivation and satiety. It describes how a need is something that is essential for our lives. It goes into describing the fundamentals of regulation. First, the physiological need which is the deficient biological condition; the body needs something in order to be satisfied. The psychological drive is the conscious feeling behind underlying biological needs. Then, homeostasis is the body's ability to regulate and maintain a state of equilibrium. Negative feedback is the body's stop system. It activates the behavior that tells the body to stop a certain behavior after the needs has been sated. The concept of multiple inputs and outputs plainly means that there is more than one way to activate drive and there is also more than one way to satisfy the drive. Intraorganismic mechanisms include all the biological systems that activate, maintain and terminate the physiological need behind drive; brain structures, organs, etc. Extraorganismic mechanisms include all environmental influences; social, cultural, cognitive, etc. Using these seven fundamentals, the rest of the chapter goes one to apply this need cycle to the physiological needs we experience as humans such as thirst, hunger and sex. It goes on to explain why we get thirsty, how complex the motivation behind eating and hunger and how and why we find certain people attractive using the need cycle that includes all seven fundamentals. It also discusses how people try and fail to control such basic physiological needs.
The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter was the body and its response to hunger. Reading this chapter gave me a new perspective on how we eat and why as well as why diets fail. I thought it was very interesting to get right into the basic element of something a lot of people struggle with and try to identify why people overeat and so on. Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation because they are the force behind what we do and do not do. For instance, how tired we are, how hungry, how thirsty all determine how we live out our day. A person who has a cold has the physiological need for sleep and fluids and the body will remind you of this through weakness and thirst. What the body needs is a top priority and the body with do whatever it takes to try and get all the replenishment it needs. The difference between physiological and brain mechanisms is that the physiological mechanisms are the ones that tell the brain there is something wrong and then the brain mechanisms release biological agents and so on to combat this.
Chapter 4 described how physiological needs work and the physiological need structure. Physiological needs, biological systems, motivational states, and behavior act with one another to achieve stable physiological regulation. Physiological needs being thirst, hunger, and sex. Psychological needs being autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Social needs being achievement, affiliation, and power. Much of the chapter was based off of Hull’s drive theory which states physiological deprivations and deficits create biological needs, if the need continues unsatisfied, it becomes potent enough to generate psychological drive.
The pattern of psychological drive involves seven important processes: need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms. Homeostasis is the body’s ability to maintain a stable internal state, negative feedback is the “stop system”, and inputs come from different sources and motivate different goal-oriented behaviors known as outputs. Intraorganismic mechanisms regulate the body systems internally while extraorganiismic mechanisms are environmental influences.
Thirst and hunger were also described in this chapter. Thirst comes from intracellular and extracellular deficiencies that activate thirst. The mouth and stomach are involved in this activation process as well as the hypothalamus and kidneys. Water restoration is what satiates thirst. Environmental influence for drinking is taste and taste is influenced by sweet, sour, salty, and bitter things. Drinking occurs for the following reasons: 1) water replenishment, 2) sweet taste, 3) an attraction or addiction to something in the water.
Hunger follows a depletion-repletion pattern, food deprivation does activate hunger. Hunger regulation involves short-term and long-term physiological models and cognitive, social, and environmental stimuli. According to the lipostatic hypothesis, shrunken fat cells are what cause hunger whereas normal or large fat cells inhibit it. Eating behavior is influenced by sight, smell, and taste of food, the presence of others, situational pressures, and the amount and variety of food.
Sexual motives increase or decrease due to many factors such as hormones, external stimulation, facial metrics, cognitive scripts, sexual schemas, and evolutionary motivation. Sexual motivation for males and females is different. Male motivation can be noted in that it is a desire-arousal-orgasm mechanism. Female motivation revolves around emotional needs. Sexual orientation is determined a great deal by genetics; prenatal development influences and that people become aware of sexual orientation rather than choose it.
In terms of weight loss or being able to self-regulate appetites people fail to do this by 1) underestimating how powerful motivational forces can be, 2) lack realistic information on how long it takes and what it takes to loose weights, 3) people fail to monitor what they are doing.
The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter had to do with hunger. I thought it was interesting that what a pregnant woman eats can influence what types of foods the child would like to eat down the road. If obesity is genetic, the mother has the power to have a negative or positive impact on the child’s future diet. Makes me wonder if there should me more intense diet education offered to pregnant women and the outcome that has on their child’s diet decisions later on in life.
I feel like I have a good grasp on what is being covered right now. Sometimes I feel like it is information overload and I may have to read a passage again to make sure I fully understand it or take a break and come back to it.
Physiology relates to our basic needs to maintain life and the physiological reactions are what tell us that we are hungry or need water. So physiological reactions motivate us to get something to eat or drink something because something is depleted.
Although brain mechanisms and physiological mechanisms may be similar in that they are biological, they are also different. Brain mechanisms play a role in pleasure, learning, decision making, thinking, and emotions. Neurotransmitters and hormones stimulate the day to day events that make us feel good or sad. Physiological needs are simply what we need to maintain life, like food and water. Brain mechanisms may tell us how we feel, but physiological mechanisms tell us what we need to sustain life.
It was very interesting reading this chapter because a lot of the chapter talked about the most of the basic needs like food and water and how different influences or just things in our ordinary life that affect the way we operate.
I’ve never thought to break hunger or thirst down in so many levels or steps, that the body it is satisfied to a certain point and then it sends out ques that seem to get louder or more irritating until you satisfy the bodies need for food or water (homeostasis) and then eventually the whole process happens all over again though varies from person to person. And then the different influences of our internal and external mechanisms that help play a part in when we eat, how much we eat, smells, seeing food, or social pressures that can decide our eating habits. The book discussed a lot about cognitively running our diet and having less physiological means of when we eat and portion control. It discusses that environmental influences such as if you were on a diet and being around the food we love, but is bad for us and when our friends are there too and it is very tempting for most people to give in and eat the bad food. With still talking about food, the body has different hormones that turn on eating (ghrelin) and turn off eating (leptin) and that is what helps us regulate a healthy eating schedule, but for instance when people eat too fast the leptin doesn’t have enough time to kick in so that’s is when people overeat and is good theory of why people are overweight. Then continuing on in the chapter, we get to the drive of sex and not only the action of it, but of the attraction part, the idea of it, and so on. Like the book discusses how men and women have different ideas about sex like men it is desire, arousal, and orgasm and also have an easier way to self-report when erectile response and self-reported desire happens, than women. For women it’s not as simple to put desire and arousal together just by observing her physiological changes, but that there is a higher need of emotional intimacy and relationship that gets women to feel sexual arousal. Also, the chapter goes on about when finding someone attractive what in men and women find in their gender of preference that is attractive. For instance, in women we find it is large eyes, small nose, and small chin, and for men it is thick eyebrows, prominent chin length, and facial hair. They continue to talk about sex and the side of sexual orientation of what gender we prefer and that it isn’t a choice of what gender we prefer, but that prenatal care and hormones are big indicators of what helps us gravitate to one side or another.
I would probably say that my favorite part of the chapter is how we choose a mate because I would never have just sat down and thought about what things in the female face that what I find attractive about, but I can see now that it has major indicators of how we choose someone.
The differences between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is that physiologically you are either deprived of water and or food, or are in pain and that then kicks the brain into gear to do something about it like find food or get away from the problem that is causing you pain.
Chapter four explains our physiological needs and how we go about satisfying them. Our physiological needs include thirst, hunger, and sex. It also explains your psychological needs, which includes antinomy, competence, and relatedness. Social needs are also talked about in this chapter. Social needs include achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. If you are only slightly thirsty your drive for getting up and getting something to drink is not that great, but the thirstier you get the more your drive to satisfy your need increases. Once you satisfy your thirst your drive returns to a normal state. There is two kinds of water depletion: inside, which is intracellular thirst, and outside, which is extracellular thirst. For both hunger and thirst you may be driven to drink something but it doesn’t necessarily relate to being actually thirsty. Rather it is from water being around or an addiction to something or sweetness.
I really liked the taste part that was discussed. How sweetness had the most satisfactory reaction and bitterness had the least satisfactory reaction. The salt and sour tastes were in the middle. I also thought it was interesting talking about how when you are pregnant you are more sensitive to bitterness.
What confused me the most was the part about short-term hunger and long-term hunger. Also the whole part about the hypothalamus did not make much sense to me. It controls your hunger, but there are several parts to the hypothalamus. I just did not really understand any of that.
If you have a physiological need and it is strong enough your drive to satisfy the need, whether its hunger, thirst, or sex, you are eventually going to be motivated enough to satisfy it. If you are not that thirsty or hungry you will not be that motivated to get up and get something to drink or eat.
When you have a need that your body wants satisfied, your brain mechanisms are going to send signals to a certain area so you know and can feel that you need to satisfy your need. A physiological mechanism is going to send signals to your brain when you have a certain need.
I found this chapter to be very interesting because i enjoyed learning the many, complex processes behind two daily functions that i literally cannot live without; eating and drinking. I also fouund the underlying principles of this chapter to be a little ironic. That is, i thought it to be rather, almost funny, that as humans our three basic physiological needs are thirst, hunger, and sex. We are still in fact, quite primate. The main point of this chapter, no matter what need we were focusing on, was that in certain cases our body will have physiological needs that lead to psychological drives. The main difference between this chapter and our last reading assignment was that in this cahpter we discussed how the body will tell the brain when motivation is needed to start a certain behavior well as in the last chapter we learned about other circumanstances where the brain will tell the body when motivation for certain behavior is needed. In this chapter, we also learned the very basic definition of the word "need. We learned that thirst is more a personal need, affected only by internal processes. Wheres hunger and sex are two needs that are totally seperate from but highly influenced by our social envioronment and externalorganismic mechanisms. (straight from Maclin's lecture). It was fun to learn about these needs because it helped me gain an understanding of how diet plans work. It also helped me understand when my body actually "needs" things and when i think i "need" something.
Chapter four goes into great detail about the physiological needs humans’ experience. It then explains what a need is. A need is any condition that an individual has that is necessary for life, growth and well-being. There is a theory called the Hull’s biologically based drive theory. This theory is a main topic throughout the chapter. It basically says that physiological deprivations lead to bodily need states which then leads to psychological drive and motivates consumption. The key element looked at in the chapter are thirst, hunger and sex. Thirst deals with the body when it is in a state that needs water. Hunger and eating processes are very complex. Dieting is also talked about in this chapter. Sexual motivation is a result of several factors, all of which influence the outcome. Some influences include hormones, external cues and desire. The chapter sums up by saying that it is very difficult to have mental control over physiological needs.
The most interesting thing to me was the section on weight gain and obesity. I liked how the book explained that in order to have success in weight loss, people need to pay attention through self-regulating which means becoming aware of environmental influences, increase physical activity and have mindfulness.
There are no concepts that are unclear to me right now.
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation in the sense that our body requires certain things and if we are not motivated our body will not function in the way that it should. Our bodies strive for homeostasis and it is important for us to be motivated in order to function correctly.
Physiological mechanisms refer to the body giving off cues. For example, if I hadn’t eaten in 6 hours my stomach would physically hurt because I would be deprived of food. Brain mechanism would send a single so that I would be more motivated to eat. They both influence each other but have different duties as well.
Chapter four discussed needs and how motivation helps our body satisfy our needs. The topic that I found most interesting in chapter four was facial metrics. Facial metrics is the study of attractiveness based on facial characteristics. There are three categories in which facial characteristic are judged to be attractive: neonatal features, sexual maturity features, and expressive features. Neonatal features are facial structures that are characteristic of newborns, such as a small nose or large eyes. Sexual maturity features are facial features that develop after puberty. An example of a sexual maturity feature is thick facial hair. Expressive features are facial characteristics that express openness and happiness. An example of an expressive facial feature is a wide smile. For women, neonatal facial features are highly correlated with physical attractiveness. For men, sexual maturity facial features are associated with physical attractiveness. I also found the topic regarding the evolutionary basis of sexual motivation to be very interesting. According to chapter four, men tend to value youth and chastity in their mates. Women tend to value men’s resources, career potential, social status, and ambition. Intelligence and kindness are characteristics that both sexes view as necessities. Family commitment, sexual fidelity, humor, liveliness, creativity, and exciting personality are also highly ranked characteristics.
There are three types of needs: physiological, psychological, and social. When any of the previously mentioned needs are not being met, the neglect will cause damage that can affect biological or psychological well-being. Motivation is what keeps the damage on our well being from occurring. Physiological needs relate to biological conditions such as dehydration, malnutrition, physical injuries etc. For example, water is a physiological need because without it, we would die from dehydration within a few days. Thirst is an example of a motivational state that prevents the damage of dehydration from occurring. If physiological needs are not met right away, the need turns into a psychological drive. Psychological drives are motivated by goal directed behavior, which function to satisfy the drive. Psychological needs are apart of human nature such as competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Motivation plays a role in the psychological need of competence by influencing the desire for challenges.
Brain mechanisms play a role in the rise and fall of physiological needs. Brain structures and biochemical’s play an active role in activating, maintaining, and terminating physiological needs (Intraorganismic mechanisms). The brains biochemical’s and structures drive our behavior to meet our needs. The brain is in charge of activating drive to get our physiological needs met before damage occurs. For example, if an individual is food deprived Ghrelin stimulates the hypothalamus which creates hunger. The hunger drives us to eat, and the brain releases dopamine which rewards us for our eating behavior.
A need is a condition necessary for life, growth and well being. Chapter 4 discusses our physiological needs; thirst hunger and sex. There is a cyclical pattern when dealing with the rise and fall of psychological drive. Need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/outputs, intra/extra organismic mechanisms. This pattern occurs when we want to regulate our needs. We are driven by intraorganismic mechanism that will activate, maintain and terminate our physiological needs and our extraorganismic mechanisms include our environmental influences to maintain and terminate our needs. All in all, there are many needs that we need fulfilled from physiological (thirst, hunger, sex), psychological (autonomy, competence) and social (achievement, intimacy).
One thing I found very interesting was that appetite rises and falls in response to nonbrain based cues (mouth, stomach distension and body temp). The stomach empties itself at a calorie-constant rate so one’s appetite returns more quickly after a low calorie meal than after a high calorie meal. Restaurants also keep their air on full blast because cold temperatures stimulate hunger. (I don’t know about you, but I eat as fast and little as possible to get out of the restaurant faster when it’s cold!) One concept I am unclear on is the difference between inputs and outputs and intra and extra organismic factors and how they work together/if they are the same thing.
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation in that our body tries to maintain homeostasis. When our body is not at this point, our brain signals us for example, that we may be hungry. Therefore, we find something to eat to reach homeostasis again. If we continue to ignore our physiological needs, it will soon consume our thoughts until we take action. For example, if one skipped breakfast and lunch, they will be so hungry that they will not be able to focus in their night class lecture because all of their thoughts are consumed about food and reaching a comfort level. Until they are satisfied (and reach homeostasis) they will not be able to think about other things.
Physiological mechanisms are the needs we need to satisfy for life, growth and well being, such as thirst, hunger and sex. If our body is deprived of these needs, we are motivated to take care of them to reach homeostasis. Brain mechanisms influence how motivated we are, how intense our motivation is and why we sustain it through the influence of the environment and neurotransmitters. If we are rewarded for our behavior, or enjoy doing it, then we will continue to be motivated to continue the behavior.
Our needs as humans are broken down into three main types: physiological, psychological, and social. A need is anything essential to oneself for growth and development. Chapter four explains physiological needs. Physiological needs are further broken down as thirst, hunger, and sex. Take thirst for example. We get thirsty and sometimes dehydrated when we lose water in our bodies or don’t replenish them enough. Water is essential to our growth and development, without it we would not be able to live. Our bodies are continuously working to achieve a homeostatic balance. When our bodies are deprived of our physiological needs a process takes place. Our needs gradually intensify and a psychological drive occurs. Motivational behaviors occur where we do whatever it takes to reduce our drive and eventually back to a satiated state.
The most interesting thing I learned from this chapter dealt with the need hunger. There is over a 50% chance of becoming obese if a friend recently became obese. People tend to eat more when there is more of a portion offered. Social occasions also make us tend to eat more than when we are by ourselves. These are examples of environmental influences. The most interesting thing I learned overall was this sentence from the chapter, “After the dieters drank the high-calorie food, they became increasingly vulnerable to binging, a phenomenon known as restraint release and a pattern of bingeing described as counterregulation.
I was a little unclear of the exact differences between set point and settling point.
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation when our bodies lose a homeostatic balance. When we go through the physiological need deprivation, such as hunger, our bodies give off information that it is time to eat. This helps motivate us to seek out food to fulfill this hunger pain that may exist. We attempt to regain a homeostatic balance of satiation.
Brain mechanisms include the release of hormones and other chemical messages that tell the body a certain physiological need must be met. Our physiological mechanisms work to signal the brain that this need is being neglected. They are both working interchangeably to identify a problem and satisfy the need.
Chapter 4 discussed Physiological Needs such as: hunger, thirst, sex. The author also explained what is Need- it is any condition that is essential and necessary for life, growth. There are three types if Needs: physiological, psychological, and social needs. The psychological needs include autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In turn, social needs include achievements,power, intimacy, and affiliation.
Psychological drive go under this pattern: first need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback ( drive activates behavior, negative feedback stops it), multiple inputs/outputs which basically means that drives come from different sources -input and motivates are a number of different goal behaviors (output). The last two points for the psychological pattern are intraorganismic mechanism that includes all the biological regulatory systems, brain structure, and extraorganismic mechanism are cognitive, environmental, social or cultural.
Thirst is one of the physiological needs. Our bodies are mostly water, about 2/3. The dehydration occurs when the person loses more than 3 percent of water volume.
Hunger process includes short term apatite, long term energy balance, hunger regulation, environmental influences, cognitively regulated eating style, weight gain, set point.
Physiological regulation in sexual behavior is influences by hormones but not determined.In women, sexual arousal is more complex than in men. The correlation between physiological arousal and psychological desire is low. Women's sexual desire is highly responsive to emotional intimacy.
Chapter 4 also discussed some evolutionary basis of sexual motivation and what attracts women to men and men to women. The main thing what attracts women in men is high status and powerful, and men attract the most physical appearance and young.
At the end of this chapter the author summarize why people fail to self regulate physiological needs: They underestimate their goals, make them unrealistic, and fail to monitor their behavior.
The most interesting in this chapter was discussion about human sexual behavior and what attract us to the opposite sex.Physiology and physiological reaction are related to motivation. The physiological mechanism of motivation depends on physiological needs.
Physiological mechanism sent the information to the brain when something is wrong and then from the brain are sent some agents that to fix that.
This chapter focused more on the physiological needs that generate motivational states, more specifically thirst, hunger, and sex. The theory that best encompasses the subject material is the Hull drive theory, which is the idea that physiological needs translate to psychological, motivational drives. This cycle continues as we try to maintain a state of homeostasis.
The part of the chapter I found most interesting was the opening situation involving the idea that people struggle with gaining weight when they need to and similarly for when you want to lose weight. In addition to being interesting, it really set up the notion that our body has it's own idea in regards to the different levels of thirst, hunger, and sex that are necessary for our body to remain working. Although we may try to tamper with those drives, our body will ultimately employ certain motivational states when necessary.
As discussed in the summary of the chapter, physiological mechanisms go hand in hand with psychological mechanisms. Our physiological needs or bodily deprivations elicit the psychological drives that generate motivational states in our body. So, the route to motivation is physiological to psychological to motivation.
Physiological mechanisms generates messages that get sent to the brain that there is Bodily need that needs to be attended to. Brain mechanisms trigger chemicals in our brain to act upon needs or deficits in our body.
I thought Chapter 4 was extremely interesting. It explained physiological needs—how they are correlated to motivation, and also psychologically “driven” (Hull’s drive theory) into behavior. The different physiological needs described in the chapter were thirst, hunger, and sex. The body ultimately desires a homeostatic level on all accounts and our physiological need-driven motivation helps this to occur.
There were a few things I found very interesting in this chapter. I thought that the section on hunger as a physiological need. I have wondered many times what makes one person become overweight (or underweight) and another person to be within the “normal” weight range. What motivates one person to eat one piece of pie, and another the whole pie. The glucostatic and lipostatic hypotheses were very informative. I also thought facial metrics was a very interesting topic. I had previously heard of the general facial characteristics (and other attributes) that women and men find attractive in a potential mate, but didn’t realize that it was broken down into such detailed parameters. So many measurements!
I was a little unsure of the difference between set point and settling points. I think I understand the settling points analogy of the ocean, but am having trouble applying it to the body, and how that would work if that is the determining factor for motivated action.
As I stated previously, the body desires homeostatic levels in order to function at its best. When it is not at a homeostatic level (deprivation), the brain sends out “signals” in order to fix this. These signals come in the form of stimulation of biochemicals, which create a psychological drive/urge, which motivates a behavior to fix the deprivation in aims of resulting in drive reduction because the need is taken care of.
Brain mechanisms entail the three main functions of the brain—cognitive-intellectual, motivated, and emotional functions. The brain mechanisms control how one thinks, learns, and problem-solves, what the motivational bases are, and how one will feel while performing an action. Physiological mechanisms are the triggers that aim to meet the needs of thirst, hunger, and sex for a person. Both types of mechanisms work together to create a body in homeostasis.
This chapter was about our body’s physiological needs, such as thirst, hunger, and sex. The chapter defined a need as “any condition within a person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being”. Our needs disrupt our biological and psychological well-being and signal to us that our body needs something. Our motives come from our needs to avoid tissue damage, maintain bodily resources, move toward growth and adaptation, and to preserve our identities, beliefs and values. The chapter pointed out that our psychological needs are inherent in everyone, but our social needs are unique to our own personal experiences. Our psychological and social needs involve our central nervous system. The chapter also discussed that needs differ in the way they direct and affect our behaviors. Our physiological needs direct our attention to a need for our body. The process of homeostasis (our body’s tendency to maintain a stable internal state) involves a physiological need arising that tells our brain to lets our body experience a psychological drive, such as feeling hungry from a shortage of blood sugar. When we have met our homeostasis, a negative feedback loop lets our body know that we can stop the behavior, such as eating. The chapter discussed that our drive has multiple inputs that motivate different goal-directed behaviors, which are the outputs. These multiple inputs and outputs are what make drive and motivation so complex. The chapter discussed intraorganismic mechanisms which are all the biological regulatory systems in our body that activate, maintain, and terminate the physiological needs that direct our drive and motivations. Extraorganismic mechanisms are all the environmental influences that play a part in activating, maintaining and terminating psychological drive. There are cognitive, environmental, social and cultural influences. In the section about thirst I thought it was interesting that water consumption does not fully alleviate thirst and stop drinking unless it hydrates our bodily cells because there are multiple negative feedback systems for thirst like our mouth, stomach, and cells. One example of how physiology and psychological reactions relate to motivation is when we are thirsty. Our brain monitors intracellular shrinkage that is caused by low-water levels. When they are low we release a hormone into our blood plasma which tells our kidneys to conserve water. Our hypothalamus monitors our kidney’s behavior and also gives our body the psychological feeling of being thirsty and that then directs our behavior towards finding a drink. This process exists for many of our physiological needs that influence our psychological feelings that motivate us towards a specific behavior. I really liked the section on hunger from this chapter. It is interesting how complex our hunger system is and how many different thing can affect our eating habits. When people diet and try to bring their eating behaviors into cognitive control, they have a really hard time doing so. Dieters also have an increased likelihood of bingeing because they are constantly monitoring their eating behaviors and trying to control them rather than just eating when they feel hungry without much thought. When people diet and they are under stress or anxiety they are likely to have restraint release. What I really thought was interesting was that during a study, people who were on a diet ate less ice cream than people not dieting; however, they actually ate more than non dieters when everyone first had a 15 oz milk shake. This shows that after the shake, they became increasingly vulnerable to bingeing, or restraint release. Physiological needs are things like thirst, hunger, and sex. We feel these things when there is a deficiency of some kind that sends chemical messages to the brain, which in turn brings the need into conscious awareness so that we can change our behavior to satisfy the need. Our physiological needs are brought to our consciousness through brain mechanisms.
Chapter four focuses on physiological needs that are motivated in the body. Needs are any conditions in the body that are essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being. When these needs are satisfied, a person feels good and when these needs aren’t being met drive comes into play and motivates a person to fulfill their needs. There are physiological needs, psychological needs, and social needs. All of these needs have to be met for a person to feel a sense of well-being or homeostasis (maintaining a state of equilibrium in the body). Negative feedback occurs if a person is over-satisfying their needs such as eating too much. The body will then shut off the drive for that need so the person will stop fulfilling it. There are many different inputs and outputs to make drive active in the human body. These can be internal or external. Three examples of need were discussed in the book including hunger, thirst, and sex. The book explains how the body works to feel drive for these needs and how the need is fulfilled.
I found it very interesting that the female and male sex drive is so much different. Males’ sex drive is pretty much completely physiological while a females’ is psychological also. Also it was interesting to learn how people are sexually attracted to one another. It’s crazy to know that it’s been proved that measurements on a person’s face determine how good looking that person is and how that leads to sexual drive. I wasn’t really confused or found any ideas unclear in the book. It all seemed pretty clear to me.
Physiological and Psychological reactions both relate to motivation in that there are needs that have to be satisfied to feel good. Physiological needs deal mostly with physical needs such as thirst hunger and sex, while Psychological needs are more emotional and include autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Both require motivation or drive to fulfill the need and make a person get a sense of well-being.
The difference between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is that physiological mechanisms are more physical such as thirst, hunger, and sex. Any brain mechanisms are more mental and deal more with emotions and feelings. Brain mechanisms also determine how motivated a person is and influence a person to feel drive to fulfill needs.
Chapter 4 focused on the physiological factors behind motivation, extending past brain function and chemical signals. The three main physiological needs (a condition within a person that needs to be completed for life, growth, and well-being) that the book covered were thirst, hunger, and sex. Each of these needs can manifest in psychological ways called drives, which consciously influence us to satiate our needs. Hunger, thirst, and sex are all run by complex systems that give us multiple inputs and multiple outputs, otherwise explained as many reasons for the drive and many ways to address it.
I really enjoyed the section and box 4 which discussed obesity, weight loss, and weight loss failure. It was interesting to see the hypothesized reasons behind the obesity epidemic, as well as why so many people who attempt to lose weight fail. It makes common sense, but underestimating our own drives, having unrealistic standards, being ill-informed on the topic, and a failure to monitor ourselves all feed so directly into this issue. Since I myself have been attempting to lose weight and generally be healthier for a long time now, it was refreshing to see some of the basic issues explained from a psychological viewpoint.
In class I was somewhat unsure what the flavors of sweet, sour, salt, and bitter had to do with physiological drives. Going back and reviewing the section again in the book I feel a little more clear, but could probably stand to study the section more so I understand its application to the chapter.
Physiological reactions relate to motivation because alongside brain chemical messages, they are one of the unconscious things our bodies do to make us consciously aware of what we need in order to survive. By taking an unconscious need and making us aware of it, it motivates and influences us to behave in the ways we do. The difference between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is that brain mechanisms send a message to the body about a need, and physiological mechanisms do the reverse and send messages to the brain about needs. It is just a cycle of needs being passed back and forth between brain and body, the difference lies in where the message is coming from and going to.
The chapter talked about how our different basic needs control our behavior. It all seemed to center around the body’s want for homeostasis (the body’s natural equilibrium). The elements used in the book that kept the body in homeostasis are food, thirst and sex (mating and elements of mating partner).
Personally I found the body’s need for water (thirst) interesting. This is mainly because I have been severely dehydrated before. What interreges me is how the body sends out so many signals to drive the person to seek out water. When I was dehydrated (within the span of less than 20 hours), I didn’t get thirsty until I was already at the hospital. If the body sends out a lot of signals in the event of dehydration, then why did it take my body so long to say “Hey! Get something to drink!”.
Physiology needs usually come before psychological drives. Physiology results from the body in need for equilibrium (homeostasis) that if left unattended could result in injury to the body. Psychological drives can stem from physiology drives but instead set goals that results in specific behavior to bring the body back to homeostasis.
Brain mechanisms are how the brain functions and figures out what the body is lacking (dehydration). While physiological mechanisms are the needs and drives that the brain sets in motion to bring the body back to homeostasis.
This chapter deals with the needs we all feel on a day-to-day basis. The book defines a need as, “any condition within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well being.” The book goes on to describe three different types of needs including physiological needs, psychological needs and social needs.
When looking at physiological needs, the book lists hunger, thirst, and sex as being the three general needs that everybody experiences. Psychological needs the book lists include autonomy, competence and relatedness, while social needs include achievement, affiliation/intimacy and power.
The book moves on to state just how these needs are met through a cyclical pattern, which shows the rise and fall of the psychological drive (the tension and restlessness stemming from the underlying and persistent biological deficit, pushing the organism into action to satisfy these needs). This section of the book helps to show how physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation. This fundamental pattern of need regulation starts at a need having to be met and moves to the second stage known as the psychological drive, which is a conscious awareness of a need having to be met. From here, the cyclical system moves into a process of the body trying to maintain homeostasis, which is completed by negative feedback telling the body that the need has been fulfilled and there is no longer, a need for a behavioral drive. The fifth step in this cyclical pattern includes the concept of multiple inputs (drive arises from different a wide number of different sources) and multiple outputs (motivated goal-directed behaviors to satisfy the input). The sixth step in this cyclical pattern is that of intraorganismic motivation, where an individual’s biological regulatory systems act to either give way to or terminate the psychological drive. This relates to the final process of need regulation, which is that of extraorganismic mechanisms, which are the environmental influences that play a part in either activating or terminating the psychological drive. It is easy to see then, how physiological mechanisms are different from that of brain mechanisms (where the body uses physiological mechanisms in order to have a physiological need met, whereas brain mechanisms are usually used with the stimulation of certain brain areas in order to help provide the motivation to drive an individual to fulfill a need).
The book continues on discussing the needs of thirst and hunger, most of which I believe can be applied to the pattern of need regulation described above. I believe that the chapter gets very interesting when discussing the topic of sex though. Personally, I find it interesting that sex is considered a physiological need for humans. At first I found it hard to believe, but after giving quite a bit of time and thought to the topic I can see why it would be considered a physiological need. What I found to be very interesting came from the sexual script section of the book, where it discusses the differences of sexual scripts between males and females. I found it interesting how much you can see the concept of Triver’s logic in male and female sexual scripts, where, for males, sexual encounters are preferred to be short and physical, whereas for females it is seen as much more of part of building up an intimate relationship with somebody.
Chapter 4 mainly discussed the physiological needs of hunger, thirst, and sex as they relate to motivation. The text also elaborated on Hull's drive theory and discussed the aforementioned physiological needs in that context. Through the use of daunting flowcharts, the text explained "the cyclical pattern depicting the rise and fall of psychological drive" as divided into seven core processes: need, drive, homeostasis (our old friend from high school biology!), negative feedback, multiple inputs/multiple outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms.
Probably the thing that intrigued me most while reading, or that I got most "stuck" on, was the series of experiments on thirst as described on pages 85-86 of the textbook. I thought it was interesting how each component of the alimentary canal seemed to have its own thirst inhibitory mechanism. I also wondered, What exactly did they do, procedurally, to the poor animals in those experiments?
The concepts seem clear to me right now, with the benefit of having heard them discussed today in lecture.
Physiology and physiological reactions fuel psychological drives, which motivates one to behave in a certain way to satisfy or "reduce" that drive.
Physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms are like the curtain and the man behind the curtain. The physiological mechanisms tell the brain that there is a need of some sort. The brain's mechanism communicates back that we need to do Thing X and Thing Y to satisfy Need Z.
Chapter 4 focuses on the physiological needs of humans. It describes a need as “any condition within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being” (page 77). Needs are subdivided into three broad categories: physiological needs, psychological needs, and social needs. These three categories influence our actions and motivate us towards certain behaviors. Our needs are regulated through drives. According to drive theory, “drive is a theoretical term used to depict the psychological discomfort stemming from the underlying and persistent biological deficit” (page 79). So while a need is biological, a drive is psychological and based off needs. There are many inputs that influence a drive, including the intraorganismic mechanisms and the extraorganismic mechanisms. Likewise the drive exhibits multiple outputs. Ultimately the body is trying to achieve homeostasis, or a balance within the body. The book then goes on to describe the three most basic physiological drives in humans: thirst, hunger, and sex. Each of these is regulated by numerous organs and body parts to achieve homeostasis. They also are all influenced by the environment and various other inputs.
The most interesting part of the chapter for me was Box 4, which is titled Obesity Therapy: Reversing Self-Regulation Failure. It describes the obesity epidemic in American and throughout the world, and relates the issue to the influence of motivation. I found it very interesting that our genes have changed very little in the last 25 years, yet it is our environment that is rapidly changing and causing the obesity epidemic. Our large portion sizes, high caloric intake, and low exercise amounts all contribute. While our country is going through this epidemic, we continue to not be motivated to exercise everyday or reduce portion sizes, and therefore the obesity epidemic will continue.
Our body and physiology influence motivation because of the needs our body presents. There are certain physiological needs, most importantly thirst and hunger, that must be met or else real harm could befall our bodies. Therefore we must listen to our bodies and our needs. Out of our needs come drives when the needs aren’t met, and we are motivated to fulfill these drives to achieve homeostasis once more.
Brain mechanisms and physiological mechanisms are closely related, for without one we couldn’t have the other. More specifically, brain mechanisms relate directly to the brain, its specific areas, and how those areas direct our bodily functions. Physiological mechanisms, on the other hand, relate to the body as a whole, and doesn’t specify on one particular organ.
A need is a condition within a person that is necessary for life, growth and well-being. When needs are met, the body is satisfied. However, when needs are not met it disrupts the biological well-being. When a need is not met, motivational states kick in leading one to take action to satisfy the need before damage occurs. There are three types of needs: physiological, psychological and social needs. Phsiological needs include thirst, hunger and sex. Psychological needs include autonomy, competence and relatedness. Social needs include achievement, affiliation, intimacy and power. Psychological and social needs are a lot alike yet there is the difference where psychological needs are generally the same for everyone where social needs vary between people due to their cultures, ect. Intraorganismic mechanisms include all internal systems that act to activation and maintain a person’s drive. For example brain structure, endocrine system and bodily organs. Extraorganismic mechanisms include all environmental influences that play a part in drive. When people are motivated to carry out a certain action such as losing weight, they fail due to three reasons. 1. They find that biological needs are stronger than what they imagined 2. They have unrealistic standards 3. They fail to monitor what they’re doing and get distracted by environmental pressures, ect. Overall, this chapter teaches us the different aspects of needs which leads to a drive to satisfy those needs.
The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter was the process of the body fulfilling a need. I always knew that when a need is present there is a process that one goes through to fulfill that need. However, it was not until actually reading through and learning the details of the process that I have now become more aware of what my body goes through and I do believe that from now on I will be able to recognize what stage I am in.
There are not any concepts or ideas that I am unclear on. The chapter did a really good job at explaining the different ideas and concepts along with illustrating them.
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation in a way that lead to drive which leads to action being taken to satisfy the need.
A brain mechanism is where a biochemical agent is released to create a need. After this need is created, a signal is then sent back to the brain to let it know that the need has been satisfied.
This chapter discusses how our body reacts to the needs that it faces everyday. There are three different types of needs as described by the textbook; physiological, psychological, and social. Our body seeks to maintain homeostasis and the main theory looked at to describe the manner in which it is maintained was Hull's Drive Theory.
I found the section on thirst to be the most interesting. Specifically the fact that animals who live in places where water is scarce drink more water than those that live in a place where it is abundant. I have certainly felt thirsty at one time or another but rarely have I thought that it was because my body actually needed more water. Perhaps after working out or going a long period without water, but sometimes it seems like even if I drink plenty of water I still find myself as thirsty as I would be had I not consumed any at all.
The author could have been more clear on the set point/settling point section.
The physiology relates to motivation because when our body experiences deficits it uses physiological mechanisms to motivate a person to restore the body to homeostasis.
Physiological mechanisms are the catalyst to brain mechanisms.
Chapter Four, focuses almost entirely on needs, which might be why it is entitled “Physiological Needs.” The three physiological needs the chapter touched on were thirst, hunger, and sex, respectively. Thirst, as one would imagine, centers around finding a source for water. The textbook defines thirst as the ‘consciously experienced motivational state that readies the person to perform behaviors necessary to replenish a water deficit” (Reeve, 2009). Hunger focuses on eating which involves a ‘complex regulatory system of both short-term and long-term regulation. Which, from the lecture and reading the material seem to mean that when one is trying to control hunger, essentially to diet, he or she needs to look at what he or she feels now and what he or she feels down the road. They need to plan, in other words. Additionally, one should also remember the other influences towards hunger such as the presence of other people, the appearance or smell of food, etc. Sexual motivation is affected by a wide array of factors, differing for each of the genders. Males, according to the textbook, seem to be rather straightforward. It is called a desire-arousal-orgasm force. Which essentially means the male is driven by a psychological desire for sex and a physical attraction to the potential partner. At least, that’s how I took it. Women, on the other hand, view sex, according to the textbook, as an emotional intimacy.
As to ideas and/or concepts I was a little unclear on, I thought I was fairly sure of the different gender motivations for sex until I started explaining it in the above paragraph. I’m not sure I was entirely correct as I was finding it difficult to explain.
Physiology relates to motivation by way of the drive theory, which essentially states that motivation is sometimes biologically based. The process that illustrates this is as follows 1) Satiated state 2) Physiological deprivation begins to develop 3) Deprivation continues and eventually produces bodily need 4) Need intensifies, becomes a psychological drive 5) Goal-directed motivated behavior occurs as attempt to gratify drive 6) Consummatory behavior begins 7)Drive is Reduced 8) Repeat. So, in my own words, this means that when our bodies are in need of something, it lets us know by creating certain feeling, releasing certain chemicals, which then prompts us to do something about it (i.e. motivates us).
I’m actually not too sure about the differences. Originally, I was going to say brain mechanisms didn’t involve any outside pressures and used hormones and other chemicals within the body, but thinking again, I’m having doubts as to the correctness of that statement.
Chapter 4 was rather intriguing in the fact that it talked (and I learned more about) needs. Which include physiological needs(thirst, hunger, and sex), psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and social needs( achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power). Physiological needs, biological systems, motivational states, and behavior act in concert with one another to achieve stable physiological regulation. `
Drive: a theoretical term used to depict the psychological discomfort stemming from the underlying and persistent biological deficit. It is drive that energizes directs activity toward particular behaviors, and also energizes the animal into action. When dealing with need-drive-behavior there is a process that emerges and as we found in our reading this process is called the cyclical pattern which looks a little like this: one must first have a physiological deprivation that develops gradually, then the individual must have a prolonged physiological deprivation that produces a bodily need, then the need intensifies then a goal directed motivated behavior occurs as an attempt to gratify drive, this is followed by consuming behavior, so then the drive is reduced and said individual has reached a satiated stage.
We also learned in this chapter that Thirst, hunger, and sex, are physiological needs when neglected, bodily harm or pathology follows. trying to exert conscious mental control over physiological needs often does more harm than good. People fail to self regulate for three reasons; 1) they underestimate how powerful motivational force biological urges can be when they are not currently experiencing then, 2) they lack standards or have inconsistent standards and lastly 3) they fail to monitor what they are doing as they become distracted from their cognitive regulation and default to pent-up physiological needs.
(drive, psychological needs, physiological needs, )
Chapter 4 summarized the basic physiological needs of thirst, hunger, and sex while explaining the human behaviors associated with meeting these needs via Hull’s “Drive Theory.” His theory explains that a body keeps itself in its optimal homeostatic state by sending “start” and “stop” signals that initiate and terminate motivation. A physiological deficit (“antecedent condition”) will signal an awareness of the body’s need for something (food/water), which will then initiate a sense of DRIVE caused by some uncomfortable emotion (tension/restlessness), which in turn results in some goal-directed action (“behavioral consequences”). Upon reaching homeostasis, negative feedback prompts the body/brain to stop this behavior once the previously perceived need has been met.
While thirst can have cultural (socio-environmental) and physiological (addictions, etc.) influences, it is the most basic of the three human needs. Hunger has both primary, short-term (“glucostatic”) physiological models, long-term (“lipostatic”) physiological models, and cognitive-social-environmental models. The latter is what makes hunger-based needs and drives so complex. Any time we are given the opportunity to make cognitive choices about how to satisfy our bodily needs, things are likely to become complicated!
At the risk of oversimplifying, sexual desire in men and women is very different, where men have a standard “action-reaction” response (arousal cuts to the chase and leads straight to orgasm), and women are more responsive to emotional intimacy needs and other relationship factors (with a low correlation between sexual arousal and desire).
The concept of Facial Metrics was the most interesting thing to me from this chapter. While facial metric ratings are considered objective, and “beauty” is generally agreed upon across cultures, it is not the actual metrics (or measurements) that make a face “beautiful,” but the characteristics that these metrics represent. If one values youthfulness, status, or happiness/openness, they will find these representative dimensions attractive in the person who possesses them. So beauty really is in the eye of the beholder…..’s value system!
What I am most unclear on is the difference between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms. Physiological equilibrium is controlled by signals from the hypothalamus via biochemical agents (hormones, neurotransmitters, etc.) that indicate deficits/needs in various organ systems.
Physiological needs prompt psychological drive to initiate action that will bring the body back to equilibrium. Similarly, environmental factors affect a body’s sense of both need and drive. Day to day events prompt emotions (excitement, stress, distress, anger, anxiety, etc.) that also stimulate biochemical reactions that affect motivational states. I don’t understand how you can really separate the two.
Another question is what exactly is considered “DRIVE”? Is thirst drive, or is it the antecedent condition that leads to drive? If it is the latter, are the emotions of tension, restlessness, discomfort considered drive?
This chapter first explains that there are three different needs that we have; psychological, social, and physiological. The chapter mainly describes the last of these three which is our physiological needs. These are our basic biological needs to survive and maintain a state of growth and well being. Our physiological needs can be split up into thirst, hunger and sex. The chapter then goes on to discuss how these three forms of physiological needs are related to our motivation. When these needs are met they are put off to the side so that we can focus on our psychological and social needs. However it explains that there is a whole process of motivation that happens to fulfill these needs when we do not fill them on our own. This includes the psychological discomfort we feel when we fail to fulfill these needs which is our “drive”.
The most interesting thing that I learned in this chapter was more or less the whole section on sex and sexual arousal. It was incredibly interesting to me to read that a woman’s arousal was far more dependent upon emotional intimacy rather than hormones. I mean I think we can all agree that men and woman are wired a little differently as far as what gets them excited but I guess I didn’t realize it was really a fundamentally different process for a woman and a man to feel psychological desire. The book explains that men “excited” and therefore feel the psychological desire. While a woman’s excitement is not a clear indication of psychological desire. This is so fascinating because I guess I knew men could generally be more easily excited, but I didn’t know that for women just feeling the physiological need doesn’t make the actually feel the psychological desire.
Right now there seems to be nothing in this chapter that I found to be unclear. Physiological needs are clearly connected to motivation in this chapter. Our bodies need to maintain its state of homeostasis is a driving force towards the motivation we feel when it comes to hunger thirst and sex.
The biggest difference between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is where the signal is coming from and being sent to. Our brain mechanisms are signals being sent out to the body. Whereas physiological mechanisms are signals that our body is sending to our brain to let us know that the needs have either been met or need to be met.
This chapter focuses on physiological needs, such as thirst, hunger, and sex. Our bodies have a way of telling us when we need or want these physiological needs. The drive theory states that physiological deprivations create biological needs. So the lack of water, food, and sleep generates a psychological drive when these biological deprivations are powerful enough to seek attention. The term drive is used to represent the psychological discomfort coming from the biological deficit. Drive directs humans towards behaviors that are capable of satisfying our bodily needs. The book talks about a cycle of physiological need, psychological drive, and behavioral action process to further explain this process of regulating our bodily needs. There are seven basic processes in this cycle: need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/multiple outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms. Thirst is when a person needs to replenish themselves from lack of water. Lack of water inside (intracellular thirst) and outside (extracellular thirst) the cells activate thirst. When we drink we cannot drink forever, so there is something that alerts the body when to stop drinking. This is important because if we drink too much water cellular dysfunction may occur and can threaten death. Hunger and eating involve a system of both short-term and long-term regulation. A short-term hunger cue is when we eat meals, the size of our meals, and when our meals are over. Long-term regulation is when the fat cells are shrunken they initiate hunger, and when the fat cells are normal or larger they inhibit hunger. The book also states that eating can be affected by environmental influences such as the time of day, stress, and the sight, smell, appearance, and taste of food. People tend to overeat when there are a lot of different foods sitting out on a table at a party. People also eat more when they are surrounded by others in social settings who are also eating. There are many factors that influence sexual motivation, including hormones, external cues, and sexual schemas. Men and women react to sexual desire in completely different ways. Women’s sexual desire is highly responsive to relationship factors, for example emotional intimacy. Men’s sexual desire can be predicted and explained in the context of their sexual arousal unlike women’s sexual desire. The last section of this chapter talks about three reasons why we fail to self-regulate our bodily appetites. We do not realize how powerful our biological forces are when we are not currently experiencing them, we have inconsistent standards, and we fail to monitor what we are doing.
I thought this entire chapter was interesting. It is fascinating to me to learn the specific behaviors of how our body works and functions. I never really thought about what my body was really doing when I was hungry or thirsty, and now that I have read this chapter I understand what my stomach is telling my when it growls and how this all works.
Right now I feel like I understand this chapter. However, I am not as confident about what I read when I look at the short-term and long-term section of this chapter. There were a lot of terms that confused me and I am sure these sections can be broken down into something much simpler than what the authors of this book wrote.
The physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation because when your body is telling you that you are beginning to become hungry or thirsty you may be able to hold off until you are closer to a resource that can fulfill your needs. However, if your body is really giving you signals that you are hungry and thirsty, such as your stomach growling every minute and your throat becoming so dry that you can barely speak, then you will find the resource right away that can fulfill your hunger or thirst no matter how far away it is or what you have to stop doing to eat or drink.
Physiological mechanisms tell us what we need and when our need is satisfied. Brain mechanisms tell us to fulfill our needs.
Chapter 4 is all about physiological needs which are: Hunger, Thirst, and Sex. Thirst is the consciously experienced motivational state that readies the person to perform behaviors necessary to replenish a water deficit. (106) Hunger and eating involve a complex regulatory system of both short-term (glucostatic hypothesis) and long-term (lipostatic hypothesis, including set-point theory) regulation. (106) Sexual motivation rises and falls in response to a host of factors, including hormones, external stimulation, external cues, cognitive scripts, sexual schemas, and evolutionary presses. (106)This chapter is based around drive theory which basically states that physiological needs lead to bodily/biological needs, which lead to psychological drive, which causes someone to relieve their needs resulting in drive reduction. The majority of the chapter is based around the 3 needs and the processes the body goes through to satisfy them.
I read on page 97 that both men and women rate slim females as attractive. That is TOTALLY generational. Wayyy back in the day larger women were found to be the most beautiful because it meant wealth and health. It was weird that they used that fact in the book as if it were always true.
The physiological needs that we all have help to spur the drive to satisfy biological and psychological needs. When chemicals like ghrelin are released in the brain telling us that we need to eat, we feel hungry and our stomach reacts by growling, we then make psychological decisions to go eat something reducing the drive. In extreme an extreme case, we the physiological need would even drive us to eat something that we normally wouldn’t like a granola bar that has been sitting in the car for months.
As far as something being unclear, I would say I am not totally sure what separates physiological mechanisms from brain mechanisms. It is my understanding that the physiological need puts the brain mechanisms into motion telling us that we need to satisfy the need. We may not realize that the need we are satisfying is physiological because it is an unconscious need that kind of works on autopilot. Doesn’t the brain work as a whole unit though? How can we be certain that all of these mechanisms work independently of one another? When I researched hunger and eating further, I found there are several theories on why we feel hungry. Some say it is based on learned responses. If we eat every day at 1200 noon, we will naturally always feel hungry around that same time. Another theory states that hunger and social pressures cause us to feel hungry. If we are not originally hungry but go out to eat with friends we become hungry simply because we like the restaurant and others are eating. If we see a yellow banana we are hungry for it but if it is red we are not. As stated previously, It is my understanding that physiological need like lack of nutrients cause brain mechanisms to fire motivating us to eat but I’m not totally sure. If I had all the time in the world to study this topic I might understand more clearly but as of right now it’s still kind of muddy.
Everyone has needs. Sometimes I think I need things like a bike, or a large snowstorm from Four Queens. Although I may think I need those things, there is so much more that goes into what are real “needs.”
There are three different types needs: physiological, psychological, and social. Physiological needs are needs that have to do with your biological system, like hunger, thirst, and sex. Psychological needs are needs that are within all of us by human nature, such as autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Social needs deal with our interactions with others and our place in society, and vary between person-to-person, including achievement, affiliation, and power. A person’s needs can be dependent on outside environmental factors as well.
This chapter dealt with primarily people’s physiological needs. Physiological needs are bodily processes that keep a person alive/functioning. Basically, a person starts at a satiated state (by homeostasis), then starts to feel a physiological deprivation. Once feeling deprived, they develop a need, which drives them to consume or satisfy their need. They then return to their satiated state. In the case of thirst, their total bodily fluid goes 2-3% below the average, which causes someone to feel thirsty. Once the person drinks water, then they have fulfilled their need and return to the satiated state. The same process applies to hunger and sex drive.
The chapter made a lot of sense, and most things were very clear. One of the things I had a tough time understanding was the concept of multiple inputs / multiple outputs. I had to re-read the part about many antecedent conditions producing multiple behavioral consequences.
Physiological reactions have a lot to do without our motivations. Basically, our biological needs need to be met before any other needs. If we are not alive, we obviously cannot focus on any psychological or social needs. Therefore, our bodily needs are an underlying and primary focus for our motivation. For example, if I am very thirsty, that will supercede any other motivation I may have. If I just finished running a marathon, my first instinct is not to go talk to a pretty girl right after the race. No matter how much I want to get to know this girl, I am going to get water first.
Physiological mechanisms are bodily functions, such as the body’s ability to regulate and determine how much food it needs, whereas brain mechanisms are functions performed by the brain, such as the hypothalamus telling the body that it is full by releasing leptin. They are similar, and go hand in hand. We would not survive without both.
Chapter 4 was about physiological needs, such as thirst, hunger, and sex. It discussed how our body works to create drive and motivations. It is based on Clarke Hull’s theory of psychological drive. Our body may become deprived of physiological needs, such as enough water, etc. When it gets to a certain point, it creates an urgency in our brain to get more water, which creates a psychological drive motivating and guiding us to drink water to replenish our lost water in our cells and body. We have multiple inputs for psychological drives, such as sweating, working out, eating certain foods that diminish our water supply, etc. We also have multiple outputs of replenishing the need (water). We also have intraorganismic mechanisms that regulate or physiological needs. These are our biological systems, such as cells, brain, etc. We may not even know that we are thirsty because our physiological deprivation has not become enough that it triggers our psychological drive. We also have extraorganismic mechanisms that influence our drive. These are the ones in the environment or situation that drive us to eat/drink/sleep/etc. We may not feel thirsty physiologically, but we may be at a party and seeing other people drinking may trigger us to feel as if we are thirsty and drive us to get a drink. Other extraorganismic mechanisms may be the time of day, stress, sight, smell, and appearance of food. Another part of the text explained how our body has regulation systems that are looked at from different theories. We have a homeostasis component that makes our bodies strive to be at a certain level, so if it is low, we consume, and if it is high, we deprive. There are different theories such as glucose theory and fat stores theory. The chapter ended by talking about sexual needs and drives and how they differ between men and women.
I found most of the chapter interesting, especially the part about the difference between sexual drive in men and women. I found it kind of appalling that women are driven more based on men’s status and wealth, but according to the text, this is a sound result from studies taken from both African Americans and Caucasians. I think that this would probably be accurate because women think in terms of supporting a family and having a family. Men that can do that will be more attractive and sexually desirable than men who do not appear to be able to support even themselves. Males are typically most attracted to physical appearances, which is no surprise. I also thought it was interesting when they were talking about how men’s sexual arousal is a quick process, mostly hormonal and physical, while women’s is more about relationships and emotional intimacy. On another note, I thought that the discussion about how weight may be affected primarily by genetics was interesting. More and more researchers are coming to find out that our bodies are regulated by genetics and I thought the set-point idea was interesting. It talked about how our bodies say we should be a certain weight, even if that is overweight (because of genetics), so our chemicals are released based on this. That is why it is so hard to lose weight for some people. I thought most of the information was clear and interesting.
Physiological mechanisms are those that are things such as hormones, chemicals, and other intraorganismic mechanisms that affect our brain mechanisms. The hormones and such tell our brains hey this isn’t right or this is good. Our physiological mechanisms deal much more with the rest of the body while brain mechanisms deal with the brain, obviously, after our physiological mechanisms are at work. I am excited to learn more about both of these, since they are so different and one affects the other.
Chapter 4 explains about the human needs but mainly focuses on the physiological needs in this chapter. There are 3 main subsets to the physiological needs. Those needs are thirst, hunger, and sex. It also explained how our bodies regulate the needs and the processes the body goes through to develop a need or drive.
The most interesting thing that I learned in this chapter was the negative feedback for the regulations. I like the examples that were given about the sorcerer’s apprentice and then the further explanation from class with the rapid eating then realizing you are too full. I have found that I eat slow enough that I don’t have a big problem with that.
I was somewhat unclear on the different definitions for a need and the definition for psychological drive. The quiz in class pretty much cleared that up but I will continue to make sure that I know that difference.
Physiology and physiological reactions relate motivation because if we need something then those reactions create the motivation in order to satisfy those needs. So, if someone was thirsty then that person would be motivated to satisfy that need because of the physiological needs for the water.
The thing that differentiates physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is the fact that the brain mechanisms are what are used to satisfy the physiological mechanisms. Such as, the hypothalamus releases the hormones in order to create the need to satisfy something like hunger and create the physiological drive.
This chapter summarized how physiological mechanisms play a part in our motivations and needs. It discussed the structure for needs and the categories it is broken down into such as: physiological, social, and psychological. Physiological needs are those that within our biological system need to be satisfied such as the need for thirst, hunger and sex. Psychological needs consist of needs that need to be met such as independence or competency. Social needs range from our personal experiences and make each of us unique. For instance, the social need for affiliation or achievement helps us form an identity of ourselves. I found the "Hull" theory to be very interesting and how after an amount of time a deficit of a need can form a drive within us. Therefore, it seems as those this "drive" just takes over within our bodies making it detrimental that we satisfy this deprivation our body is telling us we are lacking. Overall, I find the psychological drive of our unconscious very interesting and how it leads to certain behaviors. There is nothing I am completely unclear about but some of the physiological responses or mechanisms I get mixed up that occur within our body. Physiological reactions relate to motivation because they can be a trigger for many of our unconscious biological needs such as thirst and hunger. By this I mean, they send out chemicals, hormones, and signals that motivate us to satisfy us this need. Therefore, it differentiates from the brain because it sends out signals of what we need to satisfy, whereas the physiological mechanisms are responsible for fulfilling what information has been sent by the brain.
This chapter discusses how important our physiological needs in our everyday lives that are
essential. A need is necessary for everyday life and to maintain the well being of an individual.
The body stays at a homeostasis state when needs are met. Thirst, hunger and sex are the
three physiological needs. Thirst is essential for our bodies to continue through the day. Hunger
is a complex process that uses both short-term and long-term regulation. Sexual motivation is
different in men and women. By ignoring a need, a person biological or psychological well being
is at risk.
The most interesting thing I learned about this section was our how our body produces
chemicals to regulate our hunger. It is interesting how all the organs in our body work together
to send important signals to our body. For example, the liver sends out signals to the LH when
the glucose levels are low to ignite the feeling of hunger.
Physiological reactions are important to our motivations. Physiological reactions make sure
that our needs are met. When we are thirsty, our physiological reactions send signals to answer
those needs.
The brain mechanisms and physiological mechanisms work in such a correlation, yet have
distinct differences. A brain mechanism uses biochemical’s to send signals that we have needs
and alerting our consciousness about these needs. Physiological needs send signals to the body
when something isn’t right or lacking such as when a person is thirsty.
Chapter 4 is about the cyclical nature of need and motivation. It begins with a biological need. Following that need, a separate psychological drive occurs to fulfill that need. If a drive is hunger, the need could be many things including lack of nutrients or increased levels of ghrelin. In fulfilling that need, homeostasis is being maintained. A body has certain points at which it prefers to stay and when it goes out of balance, it seeks to return to its previous balanced state; that’s homeostasis. Part of the drive state is its activation. When a drive occurs, there are many possible activating needs that could have caused it. There are also many possible ways to satisfy a drive. Those two concepts together are multiple inputs/outputs. In the multiple inputs category, there can be internal or external stimuli causing the drive state. The three main internal stimuli are organs, brain structures, and the endocrine system. Those stimuli are considered intraorganismic mechanisms. There are also extraorganismic mechanisms; environmental (external) stimuli such as cultural and social influence, cognition, and environment. The chapter then goes into depth explaining the process of satiation for the three main physiological needs, thirst, hunger, and sex.
Personally, the most interesting points in the chapter is the entire section about sex. There are just so many things in that section that are interesting. The facial metrics part was very interesting, how people consider others attractive based upon small measurements of the face and how objective beauty can be partially measured. Also how different the male and female sexual response cycles are along with the concept of the sexual script. I really haven’t found any of the concepts in this chapter unclear.
Physiological reactions are a big part of motivation because they can motivate us very highly to maintain our bodies’ homeostasis. When we need something our body simply tells us, through the need and consequent drive state, what to do to fulfill that need. Our physiological mechanisms are things we need for survival and personal well-being. In the previous chapter, motivation was discussed in terms of brain structure and they are a part of the physiological chapter in that they produce the signals needed to get us to do what we should to survive and flourish. The brain structure chapter also included states that are not “needs” and were parts of the brain active in things such as happiness, fear, and anxiety. Those states are not physiological like hunger and thirst.
Chapter 4 is about physiological needs and how our needs effect a person’s motivation. The three main physiological needs that were discussed are thirst, hunger, and sex. This chapter goes in depth of what makes a person thirsty, hungry, and sexually aroused. There are many different reasons that drive a person to drink or eat whether it is internal or external and various internal body processes tell us to when our needs are satisfied. What motivates sexual arousal is very different between women and men. Men are sexually aroused by the fantasies that they desire; where as in females are sexually aroused by feeling intimately close.
The part that was most interesting to me was what influences eating behavior. A person’s eating behavior is influenced by stress, sight, smell, appearance, taste, and who you are around. I think it is interesting how in general, a person eats more when they are with a group of people and if there is more of a variety of food. Also, it is interesting that more times than not, diets don’t work because they are trying to control their eating cognitively instead of having physiological control. When this happens, in the end the person who is trying to diet ends up binge eating and gaining more weight rather than a person who listened to their body to tell them when they are hungry or full.
The part of this chapter I had trouble understanding were the terms intraorganismic mechanisms and extraorganismic mechanisms. I guess am just not really sure how they work and how they effect a person’s physiological needs.
Our physiology and physiological reactions effect our motivation because when a need in our body is being deprived (ex: with thirst, hunger, or sex) our body tells our brain. Then depending on how badly we need whatever we are being deprived of, depends on our motivation to do it. An example of this would be if I wake up in the middle of the night and feel thirsty. Depending on how much my body is telling me that it’s being deprived of water will be whether or not I am motivated to get out of my bed to get a glass of water.
The difference between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is that it’s your physiology that tells your brain that you are hungry, thirsty, sexually aroused, etc and it is your brain that makes you aware of your emotions, pleasures, hunger, thirst, etc.
Chapter 4 is about physiological needs and how our needs effect a person’s motivation. The three main physiological needs that were discussed are thirst, hunger, and sex. This chapter goes in depth of what makes a person thirsty, hungry, and sexually aroused. There are many different reasons that drive a person to drink or eat whether it is internal or external and various internal body processes tell us to when our needs are satisfied. What motivates sexual arousal is very different between women and men. Men are sexually aroused by the fantasies that they desire; where as in females are sexually aroused by feeling intimately close.
The part that was most interesting to me was what influences eating behavior. A person’s eating behavior is influenced by stress, sight, smell, appearance, taste, and who you are around. I think it is interesting how in general, a person eats more when they are with a group of people and if there is more of a variety of food. Also, it is interesting that more times than not, diets don’t work because they are trying to control their eating cognitively instead of having physiological control. When this happens, in the end the person who is trying to diet ends up binge eating and gaining more weight rather than a person who listened to their body to tell them when they are hungry or full.
The part of this chapter I had trouble understanding were the terms intraorganismic mechanisms and extraorganismic mechanisms. I guess am just not really sure how they work and how they effect a person’s physiological needs.
Our physiology and physiological reactions effect our motivation because when a need in our body is being deprived (ex: with thirst, hunger, or sex) our body tells our brain. Then depending on how badly we need whatever we are being deprived of, depends on our motivation to do it. An example of this would be if I wake up in the middle of the night and feel thirsty. Depending on how much my body is telling me that it’s being deprived of water will be whether or not I am motivated to get out of my bed to get a glass of water.
The difference between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is that it’s your physiology that tells your brain that you are hungry, thirsty, sexually aroused, etc and it is your brain that makes you aware of your emotions, pleasures, hunger, thirst, etc.
Chapter 4 talks about motivation and how it is the combination of psychological and physiological needs and wants. It is not one or the other, but they work together. Our three main needs are hunger, thirst, and sex. The chapters goes into greater details about our needs and what can happen to our bodies and relationships if we don’t fulfill these needs. Our brain sends out signals to our body about the needs that we have. The thing I found most interesting was how I could easily relate this chapter to another course that I am taking. It’s a holocaust class and she speaks about how people think hunger is the worst thing you could experience, but how in all actuality thirst was what bothered her the most.
This chapter outlines the ways in which physiological needs can give rise to psychological urges. Ideally, the human body would like to maintain a stable internal state, or homeostasis. However, we do not have an innate knowledge of what is necessary for our body to continue functioning, so we inevitably deprive our bodies of necessary resources and fall into psychological need states, which in turn triggers a psychological drive that motivates us to regulate these deficits. Examples of these psychological drives include hunger, thirst, and a desire for sex. These motivations can be activated through multiple inputs - for example, you can feel thirsty from sweating, eating salty foods, or due to a particular time of day. Naturally, the body should not continue satisfying these deficits beyond the level of biological need, so a stop system called negative feedback exists to inhibit drive-motivated behavior. This is shown through the glucostatic hypothesis, a system by which appetite rises and falls according to corresponding changes in blood glucose. When glucose is low, ghrelin is secreted to stimulate the lateral hypothalamus to increase hunger, and once glucose levels are high leptin is released to stimulate the ventromedial hypothalamus and reduce hunger.
The section of the chapter I found most interesting was the exploration of how facial metrics relate to perceived attractiveness. I love how the features that are deemed most attractive do not vary much cross-culturally. I also find it fascinating that facial attractiveness can be broken down into three factors, neonatal features, sexual maturity features and expressiveness features. Physiological mechanisms relate to motivation because changes in our physical chemistry can produce motivational states that are nearly impossible to ignore. The main difference between these mechanisms from those found in the previous chapter is that they are not limited to occurring within the brain. Physiological needs signify a back-and-forth relationship between brain and body, with the brain regulating and responding to several systems of physical feedback.