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(i) James (1890) proposed humans are more reliant on
instinct than other animals, stating both human and
animal behaviors are purposive, serving important
purposes in the organism’s adaptation to its
environment
(ii) Freud (1915) proposed that humans experience drive
states arise from life and death instincts, calling the
drive state psychic energy
(iii) Behaviorist data indicating behaviors and emotions
are learned rather than instinctive in nature helped to
found instinct theory as an explanation for motivated
behavior
4. Expectations and Cognitive Approaches to Motivation
a) An expectation is an idea about the future likelihood of getting
something that is wanted
b) Significant human motivation derives from the individual’s
subjective interpretation of reality
c) Social-learning theory developed the importance of
expectations in motivating behavior. The probability of
engaging in a given behavior is determined by:
(i) Expectation of attaining a goal that follows the
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activity
(ii) Personal value of that goal to the individual
(iii) A discrepancy between expectations and reality can
motivate the individual to perform corrective
behaviors
d) Heider posited that behavioral outcome can be attributed to:
(i) Dispositional forces, such as lack of effort or low
intelligence
(ii) Situational forces, such as a biased exam or instructor
(iii) Attributions influencing the way the individual will
behave
II.Eating
A. The Physiology of Eating
1. Regulation of effective food intake requires organisms to be equipped
with mechanisms that accomplish four tasks
a) Detect internal food need
b) Initiate and organize eating behavior
c) Monitor quantity and quality of food eaten
d) Detect when sufficient food has been eaten and stop eating
2. Peripheral Responses
a) Cannon (1934) proposed gastric activity in an empty stomach
was the sole basis for hunger, an unsupported position on
discovery that stomach contractions are not a necessary
condition for hunger
b) Research shows gastric distension caused by ingestion of
food causes the individual to stop eating
3. Central Responses
a) Early theories about brain centers for initiation and cessation
of eating were built around observations of the lateral
hypothalamus and the ventromedial hypothalunus, leading
to the dual-center model of response
b) Dual-center model discredited after learning that the two
basic signals that initiate eating come from receptors
monitoring levels of sugar and fat in the blood
B. The Psychology of Eating
1. Psychological focus is on circumstances in which people try to
exercise control over the consequences of eating
2. Obesity and Dieting
a) Resting metabolic rate is the rate at which an individual’s
body bums calories that maintain basic functions
b) Biological predisposition may or may not “cause” an
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individual to become obese
c) Key is how individual thinks about food and eating behaviors
d) Herman and Polivy propose the dimension underlying the
psychology of eating behaviors to be restrained vs.
unrestrained eating
(i) Restrained eaters put constant limits on amount of
food they will let themselves consume
(ii) Restrained eaters gain weight even when dieting,
because they become periodically disinhibited and
indulge in high-calorie bingeing
(iii) Psychological consequences of constant dieting can
create circumstances more likely to lead to weight
gain than to weight loss
3. Eating Disorders and Body Image
a) Anorexia nervosa: Individual weighs less than 85% of expected
weight, but continues to express fear of becoming fat. These
individuals may also be bulimic
b) Bulimia nervosa: Characterized by periods of intense, out-ofcontrol
eating, or bingeing, followed by efforts to purge the
body of excess calories through:
(i) Self-induced vomiting
(ii) Misuse of laxatives
(iii) Fasting
c) Both disorders result in systematic starvation of the body that
may have serious medical consequences
d) Prevalence of anorexia nervosa in late-adolescent and young
adult females is about 0.5 to 1.0 percent
e) Prevalence of bulimia nervosa during late-adolescent and
young adult females is about 1.0 to 3.0 percent
f) Females suffer eating disorders at approximately 10 times the
rate of males
III. Sexual Behaviors
A. Nonhuman Sexual Behaviors
1. Nonhuman sexual behaviors have reproduction as their primary
motivation
2. Sexual arousal is primarily physiologically determined by
a) Secretion of hormones
b) Stereotypical sexual behaviors for all members of a given
species
c) Arousal may be initiated by environmental stimuli (e.g.,
ritualized behavior by potential partners may be a necessary
condition for sexual response)
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d) Chemical signals, pheromones, are secreted by some species to
attract suitors
B. Human Sexual Arousal and Response
1. Hormonal activity has no known effect on sexual receptivity or
gratification in most men and women
2. Sexual Arousal is the motivational state of excitement and tension
brought about by physiological and cognitive reactions to erotic
stimuli
a) Erotic stimuli, which may be physiological or psychological,
give rise to sexual excitement or feelings of passion
3. Research by Masters and Johnson provided four basic conclusions
regarding human sexuality
a) Men and women have similar patterns of sexual response
b) Although the sequence of phases of the sexual response cycle
is similar in the two sexes, women are more variable, tending
to respond more slowly but often remaining aroused longer
c) Many women can have multiple orgasms, while men rarely
do so in a comparable time period
d) Penis size is generally unrelated to any aspect of sexual
performance (other than the attitude of the male regarding
having a large penis)
4. Phases of the sexual response cycle, according to Masters and
Johnson:
a) Excitement: Vascular changes in pelvic region, including
erection of penis and clitoral swelling; sexual flush appears
b) Plateau: Maximum level of arousal is reached, with increased
heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure; vaginal
lubrications increase and breasts swell
c) Orgasm: Intense, pleasurable release from sexual tension; very
high respiration rate and blood pressure, and heart rate may
double
d) Resolution: Body returns gradually to normal, pre-excitement
state. Most males enter a refractory period during which no
further orgasm is possible. With sustained arousal, females
are capable of multiple orgasms in rapid succession
C. The Evolution of Sexual Behaviors
1. Evolution may have led men and women to different strategies that
underlie their sexual behavior
a) Male role tends toward short-term mating, giving signs of
loyalty and commitment followed by leaving the female
b) Female role is more inclined to long-term mating, attraction of a
loyal male who will remain with her, helping to raise her
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children
D. Sexual Norms
1. Sexual norms are culturally acquired behaviors that are considered to
be appropriate for expression of sexual impulses
2. Sexual scripts are socially learned programs of sexual responsiveness
that include prescriptions (usually unspoken) of
a) What to do
b) When, where, and how to do it
c) With whom or with what to do it
d) Why it should be done
3. Sexual scripts include not only expectations of appropriate behavior
for ourselves, but also expectations of appropriate behavior for our
partner(s)
4. Date Rape
a) Research with college students indicates date rape is an area
of devastating conflict between sexual scripts of males and
females
(i) Research indicates that for both genders, unwanted
sex was related to perceiving male-female
relationships as adversarial
(ii) Specific correlation was the male script that females
will offer token resistance to avoid appearing
promiscuous
E. Homosexuality
1. Homosexuality should not be considered a deviation from
heterosexuality but like all sexual behavior, involves a combination of
both internal and external motivational forces, including the
excitement and tension brought about by physiological and cognitive
reactions to erotic stimuli
2. Homosexuality is set apart from heterosexuality by the continuing
hostility toward homosexual behaviors from many areas of society
3. Many gay men and lesbians suffer internalized homophobia or
internalized homo-negativity as a result of societal hostility
4. Much anxiety attached to homosexuality is a function of the
individual’s need to reveal or conceal his/her homosexuality from
family, friends, and co-workers, rather than being a function of
actually being homosexual
5. Data suggest much of the stress associated with homosexuality is not
from the sexual motivation itself, but from the ways in which people
respond to the revelation of that sexual motivation
IV. Motivation for Personal Achievement
A. Need for Achievement
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1. Murray postulated a need for achievement (n Ach) as a variable that
fluctuated in strength in different people, and influenced their
tendency to approach success and evaluate their own performances
2. McClelland used the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) to measure
strength of n Ach
3. n Ach reflected individual differences in the importance of planning
and working toward attainment of one’s goals
a) High scores on n Ach reflected upward mobility
b) High n Ach individuals typified by a need for efficiency
c) Level of n Ach may derive from parenting practices
B. Atttibutions for Success and Failure
1. Attributions are judgments about the causes of outcomes that can
impact level of motivation
2. Attributions can vary along three dimensions: locus of control,
stability versus instability, and global versus specific
a) Locus of control orientation is a belief that outcomes of our
actions are contingent on:
(i) What we do (internal control orientation)
(ii) Environmental factors that are outside our personal
control (external control orientation)
b) The dimension of stability versus instability can be assessed by
asking to what extent is a causal factor likely to be stable and
consistent over time?