Motivation

Today we cover

• How does motivation activate, direct, and sustain behavior?

• How do people achieve personal goals?

• What is addiction?– Drugs and Alcohol

• 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

Fig. 9.6

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

• 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

Marijuana

Opiates

• Analgesic properties

• Opium, heroine, morphine, codeine

• Highly addictive

• Cocaine developed as a cure for opiate addiction

• 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)

Hallucinogens

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

Fig. 9.16

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 RelationshipBAC [%] 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.

Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure:

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

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