Transcript Motivation - HomePage Server for UT Psychology

Motivation
Today we cover
• How does motivation activate, direct, and
sustain behavior?
• How do people achieve personal goals?
• What is addiction?
– Drugs and Alcohol
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Opiates
MDMA
Marijuana
LSD
Alcohol
Motivation
• A need or desire that energizes or directs
a behavior
• A hypothetical state within an organism
that propels it toward
- Instigation and maintenance of a
behavior
- Achievement of a goal
Some Definitions …
• Instinct: A complex unlearned behavior rigidly
patterned throughout a species
• Homeostasis: A tendency to maintain a constant
internal state
• Drive-reduction theory: A physiological need
creates arousal which motivates an organism to
satisfy the need
Definitions
• “Needs” are states of deficiency
• “Drives” are psychological states activated to
satisfy needs
• Needs produce states of arousal which drive
behavior
• “Incentives” are external motivators that
motivate behaviors
Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs
• Crandall & Jones
(1986): Scale
• Satisfaction of
lower level needs
creates upper level
needs
• Motivation enables
satisfaction of
needs
The pleasure principle
• Motivational states
arouse behaviors that
solve adaptive
problems and produce
pleasure
• Pleasure is associated with dopamine release,
and many pleasurable behaviors exceed
adaptive needs
Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic motivation
• Extrinsic motivation = external goals
• Intrinsic motivation = value or pleasure of an
activity for its own sake
• Intrinsic motivators
– Curiosity
– Play
– Creativity
– Problem solving
What happens when you give extrinsic motive for an
intrinsically motivated activity?
What Is Addiction?
Addiction Has Psychological
and Physical Aspects
• Physical vs. psychological dependence
• Both negative and positive reinforcement operate
in producing addiction
• Both social and individual levels of analysis
contribute to causation
• Experimenters are better adjusted than abstainers
Dependence
• Physical Dependence
• Psychological Dependence
– “kicking the habit”
– “going cold turkey”
Negative and Positive Reinforcement
• Drugs operate via negative and positive
reinforcement
– Using: positive reinforcement
– Withdrawal unpleasant: using again =
negative reinforcement
– Withdrawal symptoms: positive punishment
Psychopharmacology
• The study of the effects of drugs on mood,
sensation, consciousness, or other
psychological or behavioral functions
Stimulants
• Increase behavioral and mental activity
• Activate the sympathetic nervous system
• Interfere with the normal reuptake of dopamine by
the releasing neuron
• Some stimulants also increase the release of
dopamine
• Caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines
Amphetamine Psychosis
• Psychosis resulting from the use of
amphetamines
• Paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, and
thought disorder
MDMA (Ecstasy)
• stimulates the release and inhibits the
reuptake of serotonin (5-HT)
• “Tuesday Blues”
• Therapeutic applications?
Neurotoxicity of MDMA
Marijuana
• The most widely used illegal drug
in North America
• Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
• THC receptors in the hippocampus
• Impaired focus, attention, comprehension
• “Cognitive impairment from heavy marijuana
use may linger for a week or longer, but it does
not appear to be permanent" -Harrison Pope
Opiates
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Analgesic properties
Opium, heroine, morphine, codeine
Highly addictive
Cocaine developed as a cure for opiate
addiction
Hallucinogens
• D-Lysergic acid diethylamide, Psilocybin,
mescaline
• LSD: actions at multiple receptors
• Not physiologically addictive, no withdrawal, and
no documented toxic fatalities
• Psychosis: sometimes prolonged
• Flashbacks and Hallucinogen
Persisting Perception Disorder
(HPPD)
What is Alcohol?
• Alcohol is a sedative
• It is primarily used for recreation, not
medicine
• 2nd most commonly used psychoactive
drug in the world
(first is caffeine)
Alcohol Is the Most
Widely Abused Drug
• Alcohol’s believed effects motivate drinking
• The balanced placebo design helps
researchers separate alcohol effects from
alcohol-expectancy effects
• Believing one has consumed alcohol can
produce learned disinhibition of social
behaviors
The Pharmacokinetics of
Alcohol: Absorption
• Alcohol is soluble in both fat and water
• This means alcohol is absorbed though
the gastrointestinal tract and through the
blood brain barrier
• 20% is absorbed through the stomach the
other 80% through the upper intestine
Concentration-Effect Relationship
BAC [%] Effects
0.02-0.03 Mood elevation. Slight muscle relaxation.
0.05-0.06 Relaxation and Warmth. Increased
reaction time. Decreased fine muscle
coordination.
0.08-0.09 Impaired balance, speech, vision, hearing,
muscle coordination. Euphoria.
0.14-0.15 Gross impairment of physical and mental
control.
0.20-0.30 Severely intoxicated. Very little control of
mind or body.
0.40-0.50 Unconscious. Deep coma. Death from
respiratory depression
The Pharmacokinetics of
Alcohol: Distribution
• Alcohol easily crosses the blood-brain
barrier because it is lipid soluble
• Alcohol can even cross the placental
barrier and cause fetal alcohol syndrome
(FAS). FAS occurs in 30% to 50% of the
infants of alcoholic mothers.
Genetic Variation in ALDH
Acetaldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH)
varies in Whites, Blacks and Asians.
50% of Asians have inactive ALDH
Elevated acetaldehyde cause increased
flushing, tachycardia (elevated heart rate),
nausea, vomiting & hyperventilation.
Metabolism of Alcohol by Men and
Women
• Since men have less fat then women and larger
blood vessels, men have a lower Blood Alcohol
Concentration (BAC) than women
• Also, women have 50% less enzyme then men,
thus the metabolism rate is slower for alcohol
absorption, so it takes longer for females’ bodies
to rid themselves of the alcohol