PSYC-2004-1,Motivation and EmotionAplication week 2

Week 2: Biological and Physiological Aspects of Motivation

Introduction

Have you ever heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? What motivates you to fill your cereal bowl or drive to the drive-through window? Perhaps, when you wake up, your growling stomach sends you to the cupboard. Or is it the scent of bacon wafting through the air when you stroll past your neighbor's open window? You may be motivated by the texture of the whipped cream cheese displayed beside the bagels at a nearby store. In some circumstances, you might stop at the doughnut counter because you are stressed about your work presentation.

Perhaps you don't eat breakfast. Maybe you drink a cup of coffee and skip it altogether. What motivates you to do so? This week you will explore motivation as it relates to hunger and eating behaviors. In addition, you will examine another topic that often is considered when studying biological and physiological aspects of motivation: addiction.

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

• Apply factors related to the motivation to eat and to stop eating
• Apply theories of addiction
• Identify and apply definitions and concepts related to addiction, hunger, and eating

Please proceed to the Learning Resources.

Learning Resources

Please read and view (where applicable) the following Learning Resources before you complete this week's assignments.

Readings

• Course Text: Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental
  • Chapter 4, "Addictions and Addictive Behaviors" (pp. 84–104)
  • Chapter 5, "Homeostasis: Temperature, Thirst, Hunger, and Eating" (pp. 122–138)

With these Learning Resources in mind, please proceed to the application

Application: Theories of Drug Addiction

In Week 1, you learned that motivation moves you to action. That action provides an end result that is pleasing. Some people are motivated to use drugs to achieve the pleasure they are seeking. A subset of drug users is motivated to maintain drug use on a regular basis. These individuals become addicted as a result of their initial motivation. Therefore, theories of addiction are an integral part of the study of motivation.

Nicotine is one of several psychoactive drugs that people are motivated to use because of its immediate pleasurable effect. Since nicotine is found in cigarettes, smoking cigarettes can become an addictive behavior. There are a number of theories that attempt to explain how motivation to use drugs leads to addiction. One theory is physiological and explains that there are pleasure centers in the brain that respond to psychoactive drugs. Two other theories, psychological theories, such as opponent-process theory and incentive sensitization theory, suggest that people are motivated by positive feelings they experience when ingesting a drug and the ensuing cravings for the drug. Similarly, conditioning theories posit that drugs are linked to a positive experience and that individuals become addicted in order to repeat the feeling associated with the good experience.

The use of legal psychoactive drugs such as alcohol and nicotine is of concern to some employers. Addiction to these drugs may decrease effectiveness in the workplace. Additionally, individuals who drink too much alcohol and smoke cigarettes are more likely to experience health problems than those who do not use these substances. The cost of company-sponsored health care plans may increase when the plan participants engage in unhealthy behavior.

To prepare for this assignment:

• Review Chapter 4 (pp. 84–104) in your textbook, Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental. Pay particular attention to the section on theories of drug addiction.
• Think about the following scenario:
  Jason, a lifelong smoker addicted to nicotine, works for an employer who is decreasing health care benefits for employees who smoke. Jason hired a law firm to help him maintain his current benefits. The law firm has determined that the best way to defend Jason is to prove that addiction to smoking stems from motivational theory, and it cannot easily be controlled. You are a psychologist who specializes in theories of addiction. You are serving as an expert witness for the law firm. Your role is to help the law firm make a convincing argument that motivational theories can explain Jason's addiction. Additional witnesses will testify that if Jason is motivated by scientific theories of addiction, he should not be deprived of health care benefits.
• Choose one theory of addiction that might explain the motivation for Jason's addiction.
• Select two theories of addiction that cannot completely explain Jason's addiction on their own, but in combination, they can explain his addiction. Choose two theories that are different from the one you chose in the previous step.

The assignment (1–2 pages):

• Using the first motivational theory you selected, briefly describe the theory and then write a statement that you would use in court to explain how that one theory might explain/motivate Jason's addiction.
• Using the two theories you chose, briefly describe each of the theories and write a statement that you would use in court to explain how both theories work together to explain/motivate Jason's addiction.

Support your Application Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list only for those resources not included in the Learning Resources for this course.