PSYC 181 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Aron Ralston, Abraham Maslow, Evolutionary Psychology
Document Summary
Psycholo gy chapter 10 motivation and emotion-lecture 1 notes. Motivation: a need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it toward a goal. Aron ralston cut off his arm when trapped under a rock in the utah desert. Perspectives on motivation: there are different ways of thinking on how motivation works, all relate to the push of biological processes and the pull of culture, social forces, and ideals, instinct theory. Evolutionary perspective: drive reduction theory, arousal (organization) theory, hierarchy or needs/motives. Do instincts direct human behavior: an instinct is a fixed (rigid and predictable) pattern of behavior that is not acquired by learning and is likely to be rooted in genes and the body. Human babies show certain reflexes, but in general, our behavior is less prescribed by genetics than other animals. We may, however, have general patterns of behavior which can be explained as emerging through natural selection.
