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PSY 355 MOTIVATIONAL PROCESSES IN HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY 02 22 2011 03 28 2011 Week 3 day 7 MOTIVATION
AND THE BRAIN The human body is
an amazing combination of gestalt parts working in concert together. To
maintain the concert with perfect timing, rhythms, and chemistry requires the
brain to have a portion devoted to maintaining homeostasis. That portion of
the brain which regulates homeostasis is the hypothalamus (Braine, 2009). The
number of life critical areas and dietary concerns the hypothalamus controls
is the biochemical system of the body. The hypothalamus has many different
portions responsible for maintaining homeostasis. Which include temperature
regulation, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleep, and circadian cycles (Cabrera,
2010). All areas of the brain and body require
specific sets of items to run optimally. How we work with those internal
needs is up to some percentage of extrinsic pushes from those around us. An
individual’s intrinsic wants, needs, and desires which play out in the brain
in unique ways. Some of those ways the hypothalamus control. Our heredity
i.e. our genetic makeup as well as the culture in which we come from. The
environment in which we are raised in. Last but not least is
our drive and or motivation which causes the person to make a decision about
what they want to eat to maintain pleasure, nutrition, emotional balance with
what they eat, and what they like to eat. The adult homo
sapiens sapiens brain is approximately 3.6 inches
high, 6.3 inches long, and 5.5 inches wide. 124.74 cube inches is an approximation of
the mass of the brain. An almond sized portion of the brains 124.74 cubic
mass is responsible for allowing both the brain and body to maintain homeostasis. Homeostasis Homeostasis in
biological units is the ability to maintain a proper balance in all the
differing biochemical and neurological needs the body requires to function (Horvathova, 2010). Each portion of the body gives off
hormones to indicate what chemicals in what proportions it needs in order to
continue to function properly. The Hypothalamus is primarily responsible for
maintaining homeostasis. The hypothalamus sends out the signals of what is
needed to the subconscious and conscious mind, enabling the pull or intrinsic
values to go out and get the nutrition needed to maintain Homeostasis. Functions The hypothalamus is an almond shaped area approximately
(3 to 4 millimeters [.118 to .157 inches] in thickness) of tightly compact
neurons. Located below the thalamus, above the pituitary gland, and posterior
to the optic chiasma. The hypothalamus is one of
the most important foundation portions of the brain. It controls most aspects
of homeostasis. All biological bodies must remain in an extremely complicated
biochemical and bioelectrical balance. When interruptions in the balance
occur, it is the job of the hypothalamus to make corrections to the extrinsic
intrinsic and emotional portions of the body. The corrections are within the
temperature regulation, hunger (nutrition needs), thirst (what liquid is
needed), fatigue, sleep, and circadian (allowing the subconscious emotions to
play a part in decision making) cycles. All areas of the brain and body
require specific sets of items to run optimally. Extrinsic Friends, family,
community, culture, etc push the individual into
actions they might not want to do. But the rules of sociology many times
through both history and an individual’s life make choice sometimes
irrelevant. The stronger the extrinsic push from the
community the harder the intrinsic needs are to follow (Lei, 2010). A large portion of
the intrinsic needs of the self are controlled by extrinsic values our
friends, family, communities, and environment push onto our conscious mind
also known as peer pressure. Humans make a great deal of decisions based on
extrinsic values of our environment and those around us. Our diet is in a
large portion controlled by the push of others. No matter what the source of
the extrinsic the influences are strong. Not strong enough to overcome base
wants, needs, and desire but strong enough to overcome “I do not want to eat
that.” Then be talked into eating it anyway. Intrinsic No matter what the
society and or family are doing, the body wants what the body wants. Nothing
can easily deviate the body from achieving what the
body wants. Wants, needs, and desires pull a person toward what their needs
are. Our diet is also controlled in part by the individuals pull needs. Those
pull needs are in part communicated to the persons conscious mind by the
sleep and circadian rhythm patterns which the hypothalamus also controls.
Dreams communicate in part what we need to think about in order for the
hypothalamus to receive the nutrients needed to maintain homeostasis. “The need for iron
exists when the amount in the body is so low so that the blood’s capacity to
carry oxygen is reduced. This condition results in feeling tired and weak and
being unable to perform manual work without extensive feelings of fatigue” (Deckers, 2010). Heredity Hereditary actually
plays a more important role in the development of what a person eats and
their exercise level. Our heredity is most closely associated with the
culture we are from. Each culture has set acceptable dietary parameters. What
is acceptable versus unacceptable to consume per culture, in varying
portions, controls what an individual will be conditioned response to
consume. Differing heredity background set parameters the culture, family,
and person start to depend on the feedback loop. The feedback loop between
the nutrition requirements and the environment in which the individual lives.
For example Rasputin the so called “Mad Monk” was raised in an area of Russia
where the environment had a remarkably high amount of cyanide (Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin.
2011). Consequently when he was being assassinated by cyanide poisoning, his
family line were accustomed to lethal doses of cyanide. His heredity was from
a family stock who had lived in the area for
generations had developed a partial natural immunity to cyanide, but only if
the child was raised in the area and spent years developing their own
immunities. Environment Each environment is
slightly different. The nutrition needed to maintain homeostasis is
consequently different. For example of hot versus cold climates. Extremely
cold climates a dramatic increase in food volumes i.e. caloric increase is
necessary to maintain sufficient fuel to maintain body temperature. Hot
climates differ but are still no less specific nutrition requirements are necessary
to maintain homeostasis. Instead of maintaining a sufficient body
temperature, hot climates homeostasis is geared toward reducing internal and
external heat. Sweat, massive amounts of vitamin D, etc
are all different conditions in which the hypothalamus must adjust the
biochemical nutrition requirements. The foods craved change accordingly. Motivation Different people
from around the world like different kinds of foods. No matter what a
biological units internal requirements, external pressures, heredity
concerns, environmental adjustments, etc a individual will eat what they
want to eat. Some adjustments based on education and cultural movements for
example the last several decades of “eating healthy” the west has been
experiencing; what an individual wants to eat they will be drawn to eat. For
a wide variety of reasons “we want to eat what we want to eat.” It is very
difficult to convince the emotions to consume proper foods when issues arise
which causes the individual to eat other less than nutritious and or
dangerous to maintain homeostasis foods. Conclusion What a person is
drawn to eat is in no small portion controlled by a gestalt assembly of
internal, external, environmental, heredity, and what a person wants to eat.
As it has been pointed out eating is one major way humans maintain
homeostasis. What we eat to maintain both good nutrition and what is
encouraged to consume changes based on where the input comes from. The
hypothalamus is responsible for maintaining or at least trying to maintain a
good balance between all of them, and keep the mind well regulated and
balanced. Of the many aspects of homeostasis the hypothalamus controls sleep
and the circadian rhythm are the functions most closely associated with
allowing humans to express their motivations to the conscious mind through (Gu, 2010). Our heredity i.e. our genetic makeup and
culture play significant but difficult to quantify affects
on both the hypothalamus and what we want to eat. Overall a biological unites
attraction to food and what is chosen to be consumed is an extremely
complicated mechanism. References Braine, M. (2009). The role of the hypothalamus, part
1: the regulation of temperature and hunger. British Journal of
Neuroscience Nursing, 5(2), 66-72. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Cabrera, G., & Schub, T.
(2010). Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder: an Overview. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Deckers, L. (2010). Motivation: Biological,
Psychological, and Environmental (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn
& Bacon. Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin. (2011).
In Encyclopædia Britannica.
Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/491776/Grigory-Yefimovich-Rasputin
Gu, F. F., Kim, N., Tse, D. K.,
& Wang, D. T. (2010). Managing Distributors' Changing Motivations over
the Course of a Joint Sales Program. Journal of Marketing,
74(5), 32-47. doi:10.1509/jmkg.74.5.32 Horvathova, M., Ponka, P., & Divoky, V. (2010). Molecular basis of hereditary iron
homeostasis defects. Hematology, 15(2), 96-111. doi:10.1179/102453310X12583347009810 http://www.biologyreference.com/Ho-La/Hypothalamus.html Lei, S. A. (2010). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation:
Evaluating Benefits and Drawbacks from College Instructors' Perspectives. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 37(2), 153-160. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Week 4 day 7 What are
the differences between physiological and psychological needs? One
of the things that has plagued mankind
since the very beginning of thought is why does the individual need x and not y. For instance x could be
cold refreshing water, y could be sea water.
“Water water everywhere and not a drop to
drink” is a poetic phrase meaning humans crave water, but we can only ingest
a small percentage of the water on the planet. Consequently to discover what
we can and cannot ingest the academic fields of developed. Over the millennia of cultural advancement's;
physiology advanced from just basic biochemical needs to the study of how
every biological unit functions. Physiology is an academic discipline
dedicated to discovering how each step in the process from subatomic
construction all the way up to charting out the pathology of how the most
complicated biological system works. Science is about charting out how every
biological unit works according to the rules and guidelines of the scientific
method. The scientific method is a western culturally accepted format for
carefully charting out how biological units work. Measuring/charting/mapping
out how the biological system works is only half the picture. Biological
systems move because the nervous system and motivation cause the biologic to
move and achieve tasks. The academic field of psychology developed as a result of attempting to chart out what
the nervous system is doing. Those actions going into a chart to measure
motivation over time, among many different participants. The
academic field of psychology came
out of a very convoluted and confusing time for all of western culture. The
very end of the almost 3000 years (recognized) history of the Roman empire
finally collapsed for the last time circa 1806 c.e.
Consequently the 3000-year collected works (753 b.c.e -
1806) of some of the greatest scholars western cultures had seen were
finally available to the scholarly community (Holy Roman Empire. 2010). When
those collected codexes were finally open to the
academic community, the entire stage for the advancements of western
technology could finally come out of the Iron Age and leaps forward in
technology were finally possible. One leap forward in technology was the
field of psychology. Psychology
was developed in part in central
and Eastern Europe in the area known collectively as Germany. The modern
academic philosophers were able to gain
access to ancient philosophers collected works and find the framework for a
specific field inside. That field would be called the study of the mind i.e.
psychology. Psychology
is a field of both academics and science devoted to applying the scientific
method to behavior. Thus, charting out
behavior asking a questioner to discover what the subject being studied was thinking and feeling. For
species without the ability to speak the researchers specific language,
complicated observation-based tests were developed to try to make a link between behavior and what a biological
unit may be thinking based on memory, food reward, pain risk, etc. One
example of the study applied to humans is in the movie “Murphy’s romance,” in one particular scene, an old
timer was riding in the car with the title character. The main character has
an original model t. A
model t can only travel so fast. The character of the “old timer” sitting in
the back seat could not deal with 30 mph. His physiological and psychological understanding of life was at the
speed of a horse, i.e. three - 15 miles an hour. He could not deal with 30
let alone 75. He had been on trains that could go up to 55 maybe 70, but he
was alright emotionally with the infrastructure surrounding him of the
tracks, the conductor, and the organization that allowed no or few impacts.
What he could not deal with was a car going 30. The
book interview with the vampire Anne Rice discusses the metaphoric concepts
of the mythological creature of a vampire (Benefiel,
2004). One of the characters discusses
his understanding of what happens to the oldest of vampires. “I am the
oldest living Vampire, all the older ones I know after centuries, millennia,
or so have no idea how to relate to the people surrounding them. They
eventually grow tire of the same thing over and over. Eventually allowing the
inevitable to occur.” Anne Rice was explaining; instead of shying away from
the light, they go out into it, and are consequently destroyed by sunlight (DRACULA, 1989). Their
body might work fine, but their mind just cannot deal with living generations
removed from what they are comfortable with. The dominant paradigm a psyche
living within (which is not prepared) cannot deal with living far removed
from that paradigm. The farther away from key parameters and the person
simply cannot deal with the new “reality” of the way people live their lives. Psychology was partially developed to study the long-term effects of
behavior within the metaphoric concept differing cultures operate within. The
scholarly works the ancient Greeks wrote is sometimes a challenge to
understand their meaning 3000 years later, when most of the parameters their
dominant paradigm existed within and our parameters are so vastly different. Each
age or generation produces specific sets of criteria for its citizens to
adhere too. The closer to that adherence the more later
in life that person has a profound difficulty with the next sequence of specific
criteria. What
is the relationship between arousal and behavior? A biological unit
in a state of arousal is a slightly complicated concept. Defining arousal is
not difficult. To be in a state of arousal can be defined as a biological unit areas within the
brain and body are active. The areas in which arousal works are the
following, the reticular
activating system in the brain stem, the autonomic nervous system, and the
endocrine system, etc. To be in a state of arousal means similar to the above
metaphoric description of why a vampire chooses to live for centuries to
millennia and why they eventually grow tire and in effect commit suicide,
becoming aroused “to go onto the next great adventure” J. M. Barrie (Hollindale, 2005). Both
the human desire to live forever and the tired of living let me die are
states of arousal. Some aspects of the motion of the body are subconscious
such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, the reflex of the nervous
system, etc. The conscious mind controls other aspects of the body. Those
other aspects are defined as
behavior. Our emotions play a large part in what our body does. Behavior is
what the body does, be it conscious or
subconscious. Most of the motions we do with our body are done
subconsciously. Does
this relationship impact performance and affect? The relationship between
arousal and behavior is one of the hardest aspects in the study of
psychology. Any given human will respond with their own unique personality to
any given criteria. Arousal causes a person to react in the way they feel most comfortable. Each human’s
level of comfort can be seen as a direct impact between how they feel about
something and what they do about it. The doing about it is classified as behavior. Assess
the long-term and short-term effects of stress on the body, brain, and In
order to survive in a predator prey world specific physiological conditioning
was developed. Humans have not always been at the top of the food chain. Not
long ago most large predator were not only higher on
the food chain but our ancestors were unable to come up with sufficient defense mechanisms at the time to
prevent being constantly hunted. Consequently specific mental, corporeal,
and behavior patterns were created in
order to ensure some in the species would survive to continue living (Chauhan, 2011). These
traits are generally classified as
the “fight or flight” instincts (Jian, 2010). The
behavior patterns surrounding these traits are as follows. Suppose a predator
comes around looking for food (our ancestor was the food), in order to
survive a number of things would need to occur in order to avoid being
dinner. Starting in the corporeal systems, the blood pressure would skyrocket
to pump enough blood to all the areas of the body that would in a few second
desperately need all the fuel they could receive. The digested system would
partially shut down, allowing the energy of the system to be diverted to more
survival-oriented portions of the
body. Respiration would increase allowing oxygen to be circulated into the
body, air being a major component of the above-mentioned fuel. In the brain
the nervous system would start sending out complicated hormones that would
allow the body to react much faster than normal. Combined with the body
flooding the blood system with endorphins and adrenaline, another fuel
source. The endorphins and adrenaline also allow the muscles, nerves, etc. to
react faster. The mind with all that fuel, heightened nervous system response
(heightened awareness), ect. The mind could start
to have the tools necessary to either engage in battle. The best tool to use
at this point would be the ability to strategies. Strategizing whether to
fight off the predator or turning the predator into prey. The prey becoming
dinner for our ancestor, allowing us to survive. Stress comes in many forms
for the body; many of the reactions to lesser non-life threatening stress are
the same. The lesser stresses similar body, mind, and behavior patterns are
present in reduced severity. The survivors over time were able to developed
faster cognitive skills to strategize faster. They were able to come up with
better defensive plans. They were able to work within the parameters of their
mind and body’s limitations, and survive. Long
term stressful conditions can produce a concept labeled Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (Lilly, 2010). PTSD affects different aspects of
the mind, body, and eventually behavior patterns. Although lesser stressors
over time can deal phenomenal damage to the body without producing PTSD.
Symptoms of long stress can include; headaches, muscle aches, gigestive issues, hard to forget memories, in some cases
flashbacks, behaviorally the person would learn to avoid situations even
vaguely similar, etc. Benefiel, C. R. (2004). Blood Relations: The
Gothic Perversion of the Nuclear Family in Anne Rice's Interview With the
Vampire. Journal of Popular Culture, 38(2), 261-273.
doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.2004.00111.x Chauhan, S., Malik, M., Malik, V., Chauhan, Y., Kiran, U., & Bisoi, A. K. (2011). Extra corporeal membrane oxygenation
after pediatric cardiac surgery: A 10 year experience. Annals of Cardiac Anaesthesia, 14(1), 19-24.
doi:10.4103/0971-9784.74395 DRACULA,
THE VAMPIRE LESTAT, AND TESOL. (1989). Journal of Education, 171(1),
116. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Hollindale, P. (2005). A Hundred
Years of Peter Pan. Children's Literature in Education, 36(3),
197-215. doi:10.1007/s10583-005-5970-3 Jian, S., Kushnir,
A., Betzenhauser, M. J., Reiken,
S., Jingdong, L., Lehnart,
S. E., & ... Marks, A. R. (2010). Phosphorylation of the ryanodine
receptor mediates the cardiac fight or flight response in mice. Journal of
Clinical Investigation, 120(12), 4388-4398. doi:10.1172/JCI32726 Lilly, M. M., & Graham-Bermann, S.
A. (2010). Intimate Partner Violence and PTSD: The Moderating Role of
Emotion-Focused Coping. Violence & Victims, 25(5), 604-616.
doi:10.1891/0886-6708.25.5.604 |
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