iological Motives and Homeostasis How important is air in your life? Water? Sleep? Food?

Gateway THEME Our behavior is energized and directed by motives and emotions.

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9781285519517, Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior with Concept Maps and Reviews, Thirteenth Edition, Coon/Mitterer – © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.

Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy once commented, “Music is the shorthand of emotion.” So true, as any American-born, Grammy Award–winning glam rocker with a wicked fashion sense could tell you. But there is more to motivation and emotion than getting you all gaga about an upcoming concert. The words motivation and emotion both derive from the Latin word movere (to move). Even getting out of bed in the morning can be difficult if you are unmotivated. And if you are unaware of your emotions, you will be vulnerable to health problems, such as depression or addiction.

In this chapter, you will learn how motives provide the drumbeat of human behavior and emo- tions color its rhythms. As we will see, both play complex roles in our daily lives. Even “simple” motivated activities, such as eating, are not solely under the control of the body. In many instances, external cues, expectations, learning, cultural values, and other factors influence our motives and emotions.

Let’s begin with basic motives, such as hunger and thirst, and then explore how emotions affect us. Although emotions can be the music of life, they are sometimes the music of death as well. Read on to find out why.

Gateway QUESTIONS 10.1 What is motivation and are there different types

of motives? 10.2 What causes hunger, overeating, and eating

disorders? 10.3 What kinds of biological motives are thirst, pain

avoidance, and the sex drive? 10.4 How does arousal relate to motivation? 10.5 What are learned and social motives and why are

they important?

10.6 Are some motives more basic than others? 10.7 What happens during emotion? 10.8 What physiological changes underlie emotion,

and can “lie detectors” really detect lies? 10.9 How accurately are emotions expressed by the

face and “body language”? 10.10 How do psychologists explain emotions? 10.11 What does it mean to have “emotional

intelligence”?

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Motivation and Emotion

9781285519517, Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior with Concept Maps and Reviews, Thirteenth Edition, Coon/Mitterer – © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.

Chapter 10332

Motivation—Forces That Push and Pull

Gateway Question 10.1: What is motivation and are there different types of motives? What are your goals? Why do you pursue them? When are you satisfied? When do you give up? These are all questions about motivation, or why we act as we do. Let’s begin with a basic model of motivation and an overview of types of motives. Motivation refers to the dynamics of behavior—the ways in which our actions are initiated, sustained, directed, and terminated (Deckers, 2010; Franken, 2007).

Can you clarify that? Yes. Imagine that Stefani Joanne is study- ing biology in the library. Her stomach begins to growl and she can’t concentrate. She grows restless and decides to buy a snack from a vending machine. The machine is empty, so she goes to the cafeteria. Closed. Stefani Joanne drives to a nearby fast food outlet, where she finally eats. Her hunger satisfied, she resumes studying. Notice how Stefani Joanne’s food seeking was initiated by a bodily need. Her search was sustained because her need was not immedi- ately met, and her actions were directed by possible sources of food. Finally, achieving her goal terminated her food seeking.

A Model of Motivation Many motivated activities begin with a need, or internal defi- ciency. The need that initiated Stefani Joanne’s search was a short- age of key substances in her body. Needs cause a drive (an ener- gized motivational state) to develop. The drive was hunger, in Stefani Joanne’s case. Drives activate a response (an action or series of actions) designed to push us toward a goal (the “target” of moti- vated behavior). Reaching a goal that satisfies the need will end the chain of events. Thus, a simple model of motivation can be shown in this way:

NEED DRIVE RESPONSE GOAL (NEED REDUCTION)

Aren’t needs and drives the same thing? No, because the strength of needs and drives can differ (Deckers, 2010). For example, it is not uncommon for older people to suffer from dehydration (a bodily need for water) despite experiencing a lack of thirst (the drive to drink) (Farrell et al., 2008).

Now, let’s observe Stefani Joanne again. It’s a holiday weekend and she’s home from school. For dinner, Stefani Joanne has soup, salad, a large steak, a baked potato, two pieces of cheesecake, and three cups of coffee. After dinner, she complains that she is “too full to move.” Soon after, Stefani Joanne’s aunt arrives with a straw- berry pie. Stefani Joanne exclaims that strawberry pie is her favorite and eats three large pieces! Is this hunger? Certainly, Stefani Joanne’s dinner already satisfied her biological needs for food.

How does that change the model of motivation? Stefani Joanne’s “pie lust” illustrates that motivated behavior can be energized by the “pull” of external stimuli, as well as by the “push” of internal needs.

Incentives The “pull” of a goal is called its incentive value (the goal’s appeal beyond its ability to fill a need). Some goals are so desirable (straw- berry pie, for example) that they can motivate behavior in the absence of an internal need. Other goals are so low in incentive value that they may be rejected even if they meet the internal need. Fresh silkworms, for instance, are highly nutritious. However, it is doubtful that you would eat one no matter how hungry you might be. Regardless, because they are also easy to grow and produce few waste products, silkworms may become the preferred food on long space voyages (Yang et al., 2009). (Attention, aspiring astronauts: Are you ready for silkworms and motion sickness?)

Usually, our actions are energized by a mixture of internal needs and external incentives. That’s why a strong need may change an unpleasant incentive into a desired goal. Perhaps you’ve never eaten a silkworm, but we’ll bet you’ve eaten some pretty horrible leftovers when the refrigerator was bare. The incentive value of goals also helps explain motives that don’t seem to come from internal needs, such as drives for success, status, or approval (• Figure 10.1).

(b) Low-incentive value goal

Need Drive Response

(a) High-incentive value goal

Need Drive Response

• Figure 10.1 Needs and incentives interact to determine drive strength (above). (a) Moderate need combined with a high-incentive goal produces a strong drive. (b) Even when a strong need exists, drive strength may be moderate if a goal’s incentive value is low. It is important to remember, however, that incentive value lies “in the eye of the beholder.” No matter how hungry, few people would be able to eat the pictured silkworms.

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9781285519517, Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior with Concept Maps and Reviews, Thirteenth Edition, Coon/Mitterer – © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.

Motivation and Emotion 333

Motivation Internal processes that initiate, sustain, direct, and terminate activities.

Need An internal deficiency that may energize behavior. Drive The psychological expression of internal needs or valued goals. For

example, hunger, thirst, or a drive for success. Response Any action, glandular activity, or other identifiable behavior. Goal The target or objective of motivated behavior. Incentive value The value of a goal above and beyond its ability to fill

a need. Biological motives Innate motives based on biological needs. Stimulus motives Innate needs for stimulation and information. Learned motives Motives based on learned needs, drives, and goals. Homeostasis A steady state of body equilibrium. Circadian rhythms Cyclical changes in body functions and arousal levels

that vary on a schedule approximating a 24-hour day.

Types of Motives For our purposes, motives can be divided into three major categories:

1. Biological motives are based on biological needs that must be met for survival. The most important biological motives are hunger, thirst, pain avoidance, and needs for air, sleep, elimination of wastes, and regulation of body temperature. Biological motives are innate.

2. Stimulus motives express our needs for stimulation and information. Examples include activity, curiosity, exploration, manipulation, and physical contact. Although such motives also appear to be innate, they are not strictly necessary for survival.

3. Learned motives are based on learned needs, drives, and goals. Learned motives, which are often social in nature, help explain many human activities, such as standing for election or auditioning for America’s Got Talent. Many learned motives are related to learned needs for power, affiliation (the need to be with others), approval, status, security, and achievement.

Biological Motives and Homeostasis How important is air in your life? Water? Sleep? Food? Tempera- ture regulation? Finding a public restroom? For most of us, satisfy- ing biological needs is so routine that we tend to overlook how much of our behavior they direct. But exaggerate any of these needs through famine, shipwreck, poverty, near drowning, bitter cold, or drinking ten cups of coffee, and their powerful grip on behavior becomes evident.

Biological drives are essential because they maintain homeostasis (HOE-me-oh-STAY-sis), or bodily equilibrium (Cooper, 2008). The term homeostasis means “standing steady” or “steady state.” Optimal levels exist for body temperature, for chemicals in the blood, for blood pressure, and so forth (Franken & Dijk, 2009; Levin, 2006). When the body deviates from these “ideal” levels, automatic reactions begin to restore equilibrium (Deckers, 2010). Thus, it might help to think of homeostasis as similar to a thermo- stat set at a particular temperature.

A (Very) Short Course on Thermostats The thermostat in your house constantly compares the actual room tem- perature to a set point, or ideal temperature, which you can control. When room temperature falls below the set point, the heat is automatically turned on to warm the room. When the heat equals or slightly exceeds the set point, it is automatically turned off or the air conditioning is turned on. In this way, room temperature is kept in a state of equilibrium hovering around the set point.

The first reactions to disequilibrium in the human body are also automatic. For example, if you become too hot, more blood will flow through your skin and you will begin to perspire, thus lower- ing body temperature. We are often unaware of such changes, unless continued disequilibrium drives us to seek shade, warmth, food, or water.

Circadian Rhythms Our needs and drives can change from moment to moment. After eating, our motivation to eat more food tends to diminish, and a few minutes in the hot sun can leave us feeling thirsty. But our motivation can also vary over longer cycles. Scientists have long known that body activity is guided by internal “biological clocks.” Every 24  hours, your body undergoes a cycle of changes called circadian (SUR-kay-dee-AN) rhythms (circa: about; diem: a day) (Beersma & Gordijn, 2007; Franken & Dijk, 2009). Throughout the day, activities in the liver, kidneys, and endocrine glands undergo large changes. Body temperature, blood pressure, and amino acid levels also shift from hour to hour. These activities, and many others, peak once a day (• Figure 10.2). People are usually more motivated and alert at the high point of their circadian rhythms (Bass & Takahashi, 2010; Chipman & Jin, 2009).