Reading Blog due Monday 1/30 @ midnight

Chapter 4 focuses on Physiological needs such as thirst, hunger, and sex. There are seven steps that help explain the up and downs of a physiological drive. Drive is something that can detect our psychological discomfort and motivate us to satisfy that bodily need and to reduce that discomfort or anxiety of the drive. The seven steps are need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/multiple outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms. Need is an unmet or unsatisfied biological condition, such as sex. Drive helps the individual to act in an appropriate behavior to satisfy that need, such as engaging in intercourse or masturbation. Homeostasis maintains an equilibrium of the body’s different states it enters when a need takes place, such as engaging in sexual contact resulting in an orgasm to get back to a ‘normal’ state like before. Negative feedback helps tell the brain and body when the behavior should be stopped to satisfy the drive, such as satiety of pleasure/orgasm. Multiple inputs/multiple outputs involve inputs of seeing a sexual experience on TV or seeing another attractive human being causing a want of sexual contact and outputs of that would be to engage in sex to satisfy that signal of inputs. Intraorganismic mechanisms involve the biological systems of needs, which are brain structures, the endocrine system, and bodily organs that help in the rise and fall of physiological needs. Extraorganismic mechanisms are outside cues that affect physiological drive states through cognitive, environmental, social, and cultural influences.

Thirst is one of the physiological needs. The physiological regulation of thirst involves intracellular fluids, all the water in the cells, and extracellular fluids, water outside the cells but within the plasma. Thirst is caused by depletion of water within these cells, known as osmometric thirst for intracellular dehydrated cells(which is the main cause of thirst) and volumetric thirst of extracellular dehydrated cells. Thirst satiety involves several feedback systems, which are the mouth, stomach, and cells. The hypothalamus and the kidneys work together as well to help replenish the body of water by sending messages to one another. Taste is the most influential environmental cue when it comes to thirst and sweet is the preferred incentive value compared to sour, salty, and bitter.

Hunger is another physiological need that is slightly more complex than thirst. Two models are involved within the need of hunger: the Short-Term Appetite model and the Long-Term Energy Balance model. The Short-Term Appetite helps cue regulation of the want for meals, the size of meals, and termination of meals through glucose levels in the liver, the ventromedial hypothalamus, release of gut peptide cholecystokinin, leptin, mouth, stomach distensions, and body temperature. The Long-Term Energy Balance helps balance fat, and its energy use. Hunger activation and satiety depends on the size of fat cells, not the number. Genetics plays a huge role when it comes to the number of fat cells, but a homeostatic set point helps determine how large those cells should be when trying to maintain hunger. The Comprehensive Model of Hunger Regulation helps show that hunger motivates eating and eating satiates hunger through physical activity, environmental influences, and self-regulatory motivation. The time of day, stress, and the sight, smell, appearance, and taste of food are all strong environmental influences on hunger. It has been found that people will consume way more food when around other people or with a large variety of food in front of them. Emotions also play a huge role on the homeostasis of hunger as well. Obesity is a huge issue in America and it is found that three motivations are used to help this issue: self-regulation of food intake, mindfulness over one’s environmental influences, and exercise motivation.

Sex is the third physiological need and is strongly influenced by hormones. Men have a triphasic sexual cycle, which involves desire, arousal, and orgasm. Women’s sexual desire depends on relationship factors such as intimacy and trust. Facial metrics involve chemical (smell), tactile (touch, auditory (voice), and visual (sight, appearance) that attract certain people to others. There are three parts to these facial metrics which are neonatal, or babies faces, sexual maturity, such as masculinity and feminity of a face, and expressive, which involves smiling. Sexual scripts are the layout of what an individual believes should happen during sexual intercourse, and if both individuals’ scripts do not match up, then sexual intercourse can become very awkward and not positive. Sexual orientation is what one prefers in another partner, but it is not really a choice of the individual. Men look to youth and physical attractiveness while Women look to social status. Overall, chapter 4 explains our physiological needs and why or how we approach and overcome these needs, but many of us fail at self-regulation due to the power of underlying biological urges, lack of standards, and distractions.

The most interesting thing I learned in chapter 4 is how every individual has a sexual script. I have always been strongly curious as to why individuals like certain people and not others and how men and women are different in that way. I think it’s highly interesting that these scripts come from masturbatory fantasies, so males tend to be stricter with theirs because they will masturbate at a younger age than women do. Also, the fact that past experiences strongly shape our sexual performances and is always a product of desire or anxiety issues is highly fascinating to me and helps me realize that communication can be the key to a successful sexual relationship.

After taking Biopsychology much of this information was clear to me, but the only confusing aspects were the Short-Term Appetite and Long-Term Energy Balance models that went along with hunger. I just did not understand the difference between the two, but will wait until class to have a better explanation.

Physiological reactions relate to motivation because our physiological needs creates a motivational drive to conduct a behavior that will rid of that need for the time being. Motivation is always need with every need because we need to have a want to solve whatever need is causing us psychological discomfort. Also, we are not always consciously aware of our needs or our motivation to conquer those needs.

Physiological mechanisms differ from brain mechanisms in that physiological mechanisms focus more on environmental influences and the actual drive caused by those cues to perform an appropriate drive-reducing behavior in which we are aware we are performing. Brain mechanisms focus on the chemical structure and action of what is going on inside us without our knowing.

Terms: physiological needs, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/multiple outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, extraorganismic mechanisms, thirst, intracellular fluids, extracellular fluids, osmometric thirst, volumetric thirst, hunger, ventral medial hypothalamus, The Short-Term Appetite model, The Long-Term Energy Balance model, obesity, triphasic sexual cycle, sexual script, sexual orientation

This chapter was entirely about physiological needs. First of all, needs are any conditions within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being. If we don't meet these needs, damage can be done to the body. Damage can also be done to the self and one's relationship to the social world. The chapter then talks about the steps to a physiological drive. This is a cyclical pattern that shows the rise and fall of psychological drive. This pattern involves seven different steps: need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs and multiple outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms. This model is also known as the model of need-drive-behavior sequence. The three basic physiological needs that this chapter talks about are thirst, hunger, and sex. It goes into talking about how we satisfy these needs and when we stop trying to satisfy these needs. When the right amount of water is met then thirst stops. The same goes with hunger. When we are hungry we eat. Our body tells us when we are hungry and when we are full. It also talks about how we eat and drink sometimes due to environmental influences. For example, there is no physiological need being met when drinking alcohol but people still do it anyways. Same with food. Sometimes people eat because something smells good or looks good. The chapter finishes talking about sex. They talk about what the cultural appearance of the face is. It also discusses how men and women are different when it comes to the sexual script. Men are more consumed with the physical activity of sex and women are more steeped in relationship factors.

I found two things that really interested more than others in this chapter. I found the experiments that involved lab animals to be very interesting. The experiments that involved the negative feedback mechanism was very interesting. It was trying to find out which part of the body was responsible for someone to stop drinking. What they found was that not one body part was responsible for the negative feedback system but a couple were including the mouth, stomach, and cells. The other interesting thing I found was mentioned very briefly but I had never known why they do it. It was talking about appetite and body temperature. Researcher's found that cold temperatures stimulate hunger which is why restaurants run their air conditioners on full blast. I have noticed this in many restaurants but had never known why.

The thing that I found most confusing was the short-term appetite section in the reading. I think it was confusing to me because they were talking about things like oxerins and other types of things I had never heard of before. Most of the terms seem to be bodily and I find it kind of hard to understand if I can't see it, if that makes sense.

Physiology relates to motivation in the way that we need to meet our physiologial needs in order to to live. Our motivations decide how we meet these physiological needs. What physiological needs provide is a range of motives taht serve us as an individual. People differ in the ways that they perform these needs.

Physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms do differentiate. In Chapter 3, we learned that brain mechanisms focus on brain structures and things like neurotransmitters. Brain mechanisms are more concerned with chemical reactions in the brain which differs from physiological mechanisms. Like I've talked about already, it deals more with things like satisfying needs like thirst, hunger and sex.

Terms: physiological needs, pshychological needs, social needs, drive, mulitple input, multiple output, negative feedback mechanism, sexual script

Chapter four focuses on Needs, Thirst, Hunger and Sex.

The first part of the chapter takes about needs. A need is any condition within the person that is essential for life, growth and well being. This goes on to talk about the need structure and it involving psychological, psychological and social needs. We also contain fundamentals of regulation which involves a 7 step process starting with a satiated state and finishing when drive is reduced. We also have physiological needs, psychological drive, homeostasis, negative feedback multiple inputs/outputs, intraorganismic mechanicisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms. All of these terms deal with drive and how it starts, is maintained and how it is resolved.

The next part of the chapter dealt with thirst. Since our body is made up of 2/3 water at about 2% to water loss we feel thirsty and 3% is dehydration. Thirst is regulated in both intrecellular and extracellular cells. Our mouth, stomachs, and intestines also help regulate the amount of water we drink so that we do not over drink and cause ourselves harm. The kidneys and the hypothalamus also play a part in thirst regulation. We also have environmental influences for drinking, like taste which is the most important. Water drinking occurs for three reasons, one water replenishment, two is a sweet taste and three and addiction to a substance in the water.

The next section of the chapter talks about hunger. Hunger regulation is complex and it involves short term processes for homeostasis and long term for metabolic and also deals with cognitive-social-environmental issues. Short term regulate meals sixes and amount of meals. It also acts on glucose levels. Non brain based cues also have a part in the mouth, stomach distentions and body temp. Long terms monitors fat cells and when they drop below homeostasis then hormones are released to promote weight gain, and visa verse. This also argues that we have a set body weight that is made at birth. finally we have environmental influences which include time of day, stress, and sight or smell or taste of food. There are also cognitive states that can regulate eating or not.

the last part the chapter focuses on is sex. Human sexual behavior is influenced by hormones like androgen's and estrogen s. This is controlled by the hypothalamus. Men and women experience and react to desire very differently. Unlike men women's desire cannot be explained by their psychological needs. We also have triggers from one's partner like smell touch voice and appearance. Faces are a big part of this.

What I found really interesting in the chapter is that people will eat more when in a social group then when alone. I figured in a social group people would eat less to appear more attractive or better in control.

I would like some more clarification of all the little components of the various biological systems. For example in needs, the psychology vs. the social and things of that nature. It seems like lots of little things like social and psychological exist in all of the things we talked about and the differences are small.

This related to motivation in the way we are motivated to eat, drink something. When out body detects we are low in something we are triggered by various factor to start something, continue it and stop it.

The brain regulates both in some instances but it seems like hunger and thirst are very different from neurotransmitters. Both are important in what they do for our body and systems and both have specific motivations. The biggest difference I can see is how they are triggered and what stops the behavior.

This chapter focused on the physiological needs thirst, hunger, and sex. Generally speaking, a need is a condition within a person that is essential for necessary for life, growth, and well-being. The motives arising from thirst, hunger, and sex arise to avoid tissue damage and maintain these resources. While all needs generate energy one differs itself from another by the directional effects on behavior. For example, thirst and hunger differ not in the amount of energy they generate but by the ability to direct the attention and action to seeking it out. Some also generate a deficiency in motivation instead of growth motivation. For example, one can quiet a hunger deficiency by eating food. One can define deficiency motivations by the emotions most commonly portrayed (tension, anxiety, pain, stress). There is also negative feedback associated with a drive to fulfill these physiological needs. This stops the drive activating the behavior. For example, if people didn't have this mechanism they could eat themselves to death because they wouldn't know when they were full.

Thirst is a physiological need because the body continually loses water. The body recognizes this by osmometic thirst (extra-cellular vs. intra-cellular) or dehydrated cells. Satiety is reached by the negative feedback system in the mouth, stomach, and cells. It also discussed different environmental influences that make people drink more even when unnecessary. When drinks have a taste, especially sugar, more of it is consumed. Addictions to caffeine or other drugs can also cause the negative feedback mechanism to be inhibited, again, drinking more than necessary.

Hunger is more complex than thirst because of long and short-term appetite. A short-term appetite means that a person is low on glucose, which triggers the liver to send hormonal signals to the lateral hypothalamus in the brain, stimulating the hunger feeling. Once hunger is satisfied, the ventromedial hypothalamus is triggered telling the body it is full. It acts as the negative feedback mechanism. When it comes to long term energy balance, fat tissue is involved instead of glucose. The Lipostatic hypothesis states when fat levels drops below homeostasis, adipose tissue secretes hormones causing a person to gain weight. The Set Point hypothesis claims each person's weight is biologically determined by genetics therefore hunger depends on the size of their fat cells. Hunger is also influenced by environmental influences such as time of day, stress, group of people you are with, and whether or not you are dieting.

Lastly, sex - this motivation occurs during female ovulation. It takes a physiological need and turns it in to a psychological drive. It must be regulated as well; this is done by androgens and estrogens, sex hormones. A male's sexual cycle is very simple compared to a female's. A male goes through a linear triphasic response: desire, arousal, orgasm. A female's sexual cycle revolves around emotional intimacy needs to the point of orgasm.

What I found most interesting and most confusing in this chapter was the complexity of hunger. I had no idea, to put it simply. I found figure 4.7 helpful to explain it all. There are so many factors that go into hunger - do you eat, are there environmental factors, are you motivated enough to actually eat, how quickly you use energy, and if it is short term or long term energy use? All of these play a role in your life; it's whether you pick up that Big Mac or not. I would still like to go over this further in class to get a better and more complete understanding of this concept.

A person's physiological reactions relate to motivation because it gives them a motivational drive to stop the behavior. Like the hunger example I used earlier, if a person eats it's to subside hunger. They must eat to fulfill their bodily needs. A person doesn't like to be in any kind of discomfort, so when they eat they are fulfilling their physiological and psychological need. They won't be thinking about eating if they are not hungry anymore.

Brain mechanisms differ from physiological mechanisms by their specific function. The brain controls intracellular activities like neurons and hormones. It happens without us knowing, we can't consciously control it. On the other hand, physiological mechanisms are driven by our physical needs. It is pretty hard to ignore when you are hungry or thirsty. We are able to recognize the signs and reduce the signal by eating or drinking.

TERMS: physiological needs, thirst, hunger, sex, drive, growth motivation, deficiency motivation, negative feedback, osmometric thirst, environmental influences, lateral and ventromedial hypothalamus, Lipostatic hypothesis, Set Point hypothesis, androgens, estrogens, linear triphasis response

Chapter 4 talks about the Physiological Needs of humans, like, thirst, hunger, and sex (the 3 the book talks about). A need is any condition within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being, basically anything you need to survive is considered a need. Chapter 4 also talks about Clark Hull’s Drive Theory. Drive is what makes you move into action. There are 7 fundamental processes: physiological need, psychological drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs and outputs, intraorganismic influences, and extraorganismic influences.

The book then goes into talking about thirst. Thirst is a physiological need because 2/3’s of our body is made up of water and because we multiple outputs, like sweating, urinating and even breathing, we have to continue to re hydrate ourselves. Once out body’s water volume falls 2% we become thirsty and if we do not hydrate ourselves, dehydration will kick in if the water volume falls 3%, which is we do not hydrate ourselves we would die in about 2 days

The next part of the book talks about hunger and hunger is more complex than then thirst, and is divided in to short-term appetite and long-term appetite. Short-term appetite has to deal with glucose and stimulates eating by activating the lateral hypothalamus. Long-term eating shrunken initiate eating, where as normal or larger than normal fat cells inhibit eating.

Sex is the final section of chapter 4. Sexual motivation rises and lowers based on several things, including hormones, external cues, external stimulation, sexual schemas, and evolutionary presses. When it comes to sexual motivation men and women are different. Men is fairly straight forward to the sexual response cycle, desire-arousal-orgasm, whereas women’s sexual motivation revolves around emotional intimacy needs, which is when the correlation between genital response and psychological response is low.
Someone's physiological reactions relate to motivation because it motivates them into action. Like when I talked about people needing to hydrate to stay alive, if people don’t drink water they know the consequence can be death and know that with death comes pain and discomfort and nobody wants to experience that so they’re motivated to hydrate.

Physiological mechanisms differentiates from brain mechanisms because physiological mechanisms are things that we do and we control over doing them, while brain mechanisms are things that are happening inside our bodies and are things that we don’t have any control over them.

Terms Used: Drive, Need, Thirst, Hunger, Sexual Motivation, Short-term hunger, Lon-term hunger, Emotional intimacy needs

Chapter 4 focuses on physiological needs. A need is described as any condition within the person that is needed for life, growth and well being. Without satisfying your personal needs, it can cause damage to the body. There are 7 processes that controls the rise and fall of the psychological and physiological drive. These are need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms and extraorganismic mechanisms. This chapter continues to elaborate on how each of the processes effects our drive. Next the chapter goes into detail about the types of needs; thirst, hunger and sex and how physical and psychological effects control our behaviors and actions.
Thirst is a need because our bodies are 2/3 water and when we loose 3% of water volume, dehydration occurs. We lose water consitantly, sweating, urination, breathing, vomiting etc. There are different types of cell deficits. Osmometric thrist arises when intracellular fluid is low. Osmometric thirst is the primary cause of thirst activation because of the dehydrated cells. Negative feedback is given when the body is replenished enough. The mechanism for this is in the mouth, stomach, intestines, bloodstream and cells.
Hunger has two models that influence our appetities. The short term appetite model is when blood glucose (energy) becomes available it is constantly monitered and accounts for the onset and termination of hunger. The long term energy balance is when stored energy is available and used to regualte energy. Hunger is very much influenced by social environment and dieting can cause certain hormones to secrete to the bloodstream and cause more hunger.
Sex motivation and hormones are different amongst gender. Men are simple, when they get the desire, they then become aroused which will then lead to orgasm. They have a high correlation between physiological arousal and psychological desire. However, women have a low correlation between physiological arousal and psychological desire. Women are more intimate and emotional based.

The most interesting thing to me of this chapter was the facial metrics. I have always heard that certain parts of the face can make a face more or less attractive, but I was unaware of the study and how important it unknowingly is. For example the lenth of face, the width of smile etc. There are 3 categories that help explain why faces are judged. Neonatal feature are like newborns (small nose, large eyes). Sexual maturity features are related to the pubuscent features with strenth, status etc. Expressive features are wide smile, high eyebrows etc. These categories show youthfullness, strength/status, and happiness. These are the top things that many people are looking for in a mates face. I found this to be most interesting to me and caught my attention the most.

The hardest concept for me was in the hunger section with the short term appetite and the long term energy balance. It just didn't all click, but I think with more in depth studying and clarifying it will become more clear.

Physiological reactions relate to motivation because it stimulates areas that persuade our motivation to satisfy the need, hunger, thrist and sex.

Chapter 3 talks about the brain and how it functions without us even knowing it. This chapter talks about our physicological needs and how if we don't feed ourselves, or get a drink when needed than we will feel it and go satsify it. Physciological needs are physical needs and they are felt, unlike brain mechanisms.

TERMS: motivation, drive, needs, sex, thirst, hunger, short term appetite, long term energy balance, physiological drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, extraorganismic mechanisms, facial metrics

Chapter 4 was about physiological needs and how thirst, hunger, and sex are all physiological needs. A physiological need describes a deficient biological condition. They represent life-threatening emergencies. There is also psychological drive, not to be confused with psychological need, and this is the conscious manifestation of an underlying unconscious biological need. It has motivational properties. Homeostasis something we learned about in middle school science classes is also described in the chapter. Homeostasis is basically the body’s ability to return a system to its basal or normal state. Negative feedback is another term discussed in the chapter. Negative feedback stops behavior, so opposite of drive. But drive does have multiple inputs and outputs. For example body temperature is regulated by a person by putting on more clothes if they are cold or taking off the layers if they are to warm.

The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter is that if people have low glucose they feel hunger and want to eat more. This interested me because I had never learned about it before and now when I go to a doctor’s office and they talk to me about glucose levels I will somewhat understand what they are trying to describe to me, because my family does have a history of glucose issues. Glucose does produce energy and being a busy college student I need as much energy as I can get. So having a good amount of glucose in my diet could really help me!

Something that is still a little unclear to me right now is sexual orientation. I don’t fully understand how biologically a person can be heterosexual or homosexual. I feel that people learn sexual orientation by watching others. This is my personal opinion and I don’t fully understand the science of it all, so after learning more my eyes could be open to a new idea.

Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation because they are the underlying causes of drive. Making us do what we do. They are the things that connect with our brain to activate our thirst, hunger, and sex needs. For example we may have a higher desire for sex because of varying hormones or external stimulation.

The thing that differentiates physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is that physiological mechanisms focus on environmental factors and brain mechanisms look at the chemical structure of our brains and bodies.

Terms: physiological needs, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs, multiple outputs, hormones, thirst, hunger, sex, and sexual orientation.

Chapter four describes and explains what physiological needs are and the mechanisms involved in creating them. The three needs covered are thirst, hunger, and sex. A need is something that is necessary to live and a physiological need consists of needs that have a biological bases. Clark Hull came up drive theory to explain how physiological deficits can lead to biological needs. It basically states that these deficits lead to a drive that motivates one to take action to satisfy the need. In this model, it is a physiological need that leads to a psychological drive which gives us a goal-directed behavior.

There are two mechanisms covered in this chapter related to physiological needs, they are intra-organismic mechanisms and extra-organismic mechanisms. The first consists of the brain, endocrine system, and bodily organs. The second includes environmental, cognitive, social, a d cultural factors.

It was interesting to learn about the different mechanisms involved in thirst, hunger, and sex. The thirst need is pretty straightforward but can become more complex when one incorporates flavored drinks that are sweet and caffeine and alcohol addictions. Hunger is more complex and consists of short-term, long-term, and environmental influences. We gain some insight on why dieting is so hard because once your body becomes accustom to the weight that you are it fights very hard to remain at that weight. Sex drive is different in males and females. Men’s sex drive is highly correlated with physiological desire while women sex drive is more complex, consisting of emotional and relationship factors.

The most interesting thing I learned was how men and women’s sex drive are so different. I knew they differed but I guess being a man I will never fully understand what it is like to be a woman and how they experience sex drive and relationships compare to men. It was also interesting to read how you sexual desire declines with age. Something we will all experience eventually.

Physiology and physiological reactions contribute to physiological needs and psychological needs which lead to motivation. For example, when your stomach is empty it releases hormones that tell you brain that you are hunger. Your brain telling you are hungry motives you to find and eat food.

Physiological mechanisms differ from brain mechanisms in that we don’t have much control over our physiological mechanisms. You can’t consciously tell your stomach to release certain hormones. Brain mechanisms can have some conscious influence in terms that one can attempt to consciously regulate our food intake.

I am a little unclear on why the book would discuss sex as a physiological need instead of sleep. Maybe sex is more interesting. I know sex is needed to reproduce for a species, but on the individual level it is not a need. Some people report being asexual, meaning they have no sex drive. Sleep, on the other hand is a clear physiological need. Just like food and water, without sleep you will die.

Terms: physiological needs, drive theory, psychological drive, intra-organismic mechanisms, extra-organismic mechanisms, psychological needs, physiological mechanisms, brain mechanisms

Chapter 4 starts out by explaining the physiological needs by defining needs itself and bodily regulation. For instance, need is any condition within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being. Therefore, motivational states provide the energy to act before damage occurs to our well-being (pg. 77). Knowing this basis of what constitutes as a “need” will help the process of understanding why physiological needs are so important, especially in this course. The chapter also nicely covers the fundamentals of regulation. There are seven major processes that give way to the rise and fall of psychological drive, such as need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms. Each of these core processes directly affects our every-day actions such as eating. For example, our need to eat stems from food deprivation or a deficient biological condition. Then our drive kicks in to energize our bodies to eat, like appetite. After our drive which led us to eat, homeostasis begins by returning our system to its basal state. When we stop eating, it’s because of the negative feedback, which signals satiety well before the physiological need is replenished. The inputs and outputs that affect our hunger arise from different sources and motivate a number of different goal-directed behaviors, respectively. For example, the smell of food and the sight of it drive us to eat sooner or more. Meanwhile, the intraorganismic and extraorganismic mechanisms control the biological regulatory systems and the environmental influences, respectively. Chapter 4 also covered specific physiological needs such as thirst, hunger, and sex. By using the seven major processes of psychological needs for these specific needs, it helped better understand these processes in real-world examples that are applicable to all humans.

The most interesting thing I have learned from chapter 4, was that sexual motivation is not just a social or environmental influence, but developed from our ancestors. I learned that men and woman are hypothesized to have evolved distinct psychological mechanisms that underlie their sexual motivations and mating strategies (pg. 103). From an evolutionary standpoint, males generally seek out young, attractive females, perhaps to care for a child. On the other hand, females generally seek out powerful, high-status males, perhaps also to protect the child. Knowing that sexual motivation has a large basis not only in hormones but also in genes is not only interesting, but important in understanding the dynamics of why humans behave in the ways they do.

Chapter 4 offers diagrams and tables to help readers understand the main concepts and ideas discussed. Therefore there aren’t any unclear problems I have at this point from the reading. Although, I would like to understand more about why researchers generalize the population that people eat more when they are in the presence of others than when they are alone. This doesn’t make sense to me because I always thought people would eat more if they were alone because they don’t have the social pressure of others to watch what they eat, or having others judge what they eat. In this day and age I feel more people are more preoccupied about what others think about them and especially preoccupied with weight and food. If anything, this data depends on the type of group you are eating in front of. If its close friends, then the person may definitely eat more since they are comfortable around them, but if the person eats in front of a love interest then they may not eat a lot and try to seem healthy instead of eating what they want.

Physiological and psychological reactions relate to motivation because when the body has self-regulatory guides for bodily processes and needs and when these guides are upset, ignored, or rejected, then that’s when the motivational state arises (pg. 76). Hence, physiology presents the problem, hunger, by secreting ghrelin in the bloodstream. Then the psychological reaction to this increase in ghrelin is the consciousness that you are hungry. If the person avoids eating for a long period of time after being psychologically aware that your body needs food, then your body puts up defense mechanisms in order to protect itself. For instance it will start by damaging the biological and psychological well-being, bringing rise to the motivational states that lead the person into the corrected action of eating. Each need, physiological, psychological, and social, either act on deficiency motivation or growth motivation. Deficiency generates tension-urgent negative emotions and growth motivation generates positive emotions. These two types of motivation will lead the person to act appropriately to satisfy a specific need.

The physiological mechanisms include biological systems such as neural brain circuits, hormones, and bodily organs (pg. 78). The physiological systems regulate the body and activate the brain areas to get attention to its needs. Whereas the brain mechanisms include specific brain structures, biochemical agents, and environmental events (pg. 50). The brain system generates the psychological needs to produce the right action. Both of these mechanisms need each other to ensure the survival of the organisms. If anything in this process is lacking, such as the negative feedback occurring in the VMH, then an organism could potentially die.

TERMS: Needs, motivational state, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms, sexual motivation, self-regulatory guides, ghrelin, VMH

Chapter 4 focused on Physiological needs, specifically thirst, hunger and sex. The drive theory provided the basis for what these three needs are built from. When an individual’s needs are not being met it causes a direct action to happen for the person to fulfill the needs. There are seven sections that create motivation and action within individuals. These are physiological needs, psychological drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/multiple outputs, inorganic mechanisms, and extraorganicsmic mechanisms.

The physiological need is a deficient in something to do with the body. This could be loss of water in the body. The psychological drive is next. It is what creates the action within an individual. They know they are thirsty, so they go to the kitchen and pour themselves a glass of water. Homeostasis was the next to be mentioned. It is the body’s way to create a balance in all capacities. It can create motivation in bringing the body back to homeostasis. Negative feedback is referred to as homeostasis’ physiological stopping system. It tells a person when they are full, not tired anymore, no longer thirsty and to stop whatever action they were in the process of when trying to reach homeostasis. Another concept that is important to the drive theory is that there are multiple inputs and outputs. This means that there are many responses to physiological needs. One can have a certain need for many reasons, as well as reasons for the need being stimulated, there are also many responses to the needs. The last two sections of the circulatory model inorganic mechanisms and extraorgaic mechanisms include everything within the body and outside stimuli that plays a role in physiological needs. As I stated earlier, this chapter focused on thirst, hunger and sex as physiological needs.

Thirst was the section where I found my most interesting topic. I found it to be interesting that the lack of flavor in water is so important. We actually overdrink water or beverages that include water because of the sweet taste. It was also found that if the water had a sour, bitter or salty taste that they would not drink enough. This leaves the body at an unbalance. I also found it to be interesting that the reasons for drinking could be simplified down to three main points. We drink because we need water to rehydrate us, because we like the sweet taste and the value in drinking flavored water, or because we are addicted or attracted to a substance in the water (if one is drinking something with caffeine or alcohol).

Throughout the chapter I was only getting caught up on a few items. They all included when Reeve was trying to explain how the body tried to stay at homeostasis. They are complex concepts that after re-reading, they make more sense. If just seems as though there are many steps to each thirst, hunger and sex.

Our physiology is very interconnected with motivation. Through many steps we unconsciously at first, then very consciously we are aware that we are in need of a simple life source. First our body through, for example, glucose, is notified that we may be low in supply. This triggers our brain to notify us that we are hungry which creates a motivation to eat something. This to me is very interesting how complex each step is, but very simple at the gut of it.
I found physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms to be different in a couple ways. Neurotransmitters and hormones being passed through neurons and the blood system control the brain. This is something that humans cannot be completely conscious of, whereas, our body makes sure when it comes to physiological needs that we know what is going on. It is our job, rather than our brain’s job to take care of ourselves.

Terms used: Drive theory, physiological needs, psychological drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/multiple outputs, inorganic mechanisms, and extraorganicsmic mechanisms,

Chapter four is the discussion of physiological needs, namely thirst, hunger, and sex. These needs are biological and necessary for growth and well-being, not to mention they are essential for life. As needs are unavoidable for survival, their neglect would be damaging to our bodies. It is because of this possible damage that motivational states take action before psychological damage can take place.

There are three types of needs: physiological (which are discussed in this chapter), psychological needs (discussed in the next chapter), and social needs (which are discussed in chapter 7). As I mentioned before, these three needs are biological and involve: neural brain circuits, hormones, and bodily organs. All needs generate energy and are cyclical, meaning they follow a rise, fall, rise again pattern.
There are seven core processes involved in the Need-Drive-Behavior Sequence. These processes are: physiological need, psychological drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, extraorganismic mechanisms. The body, from beginning to end of physiological need, goes through these steps in order to return to a balanced state, without that need. The first, physiological need, describes a deficient biological condition. The second process involves the psychological drive (not biological), which has motivational properties. Next is the need for homeostasis, where the body, sensing a prolonged deficiency, produces a bodily need. Also involved in the seven processes is negative feedback, which is homeostasis’ personal stop system (e.g. when we are full, we will stop eating thanks to this). We also have what are called multiple inputs and outputs. Inputs are the result of the many sources that a certain drive arises from (i.e. “I burn my hand”- is an input), and outputs are the number of goal-directed responses or behaviors which may result (i.e. “I run my hand under cold water”- is an output). The intraorganismic mechanisms (brain structures, endocrine system/hormones, and bodily organs) act to activate, maintain, and terminate physiological needs. These mechanisms are constantly engaged in error control within the body. The extraorganismic mechanisms are all of the environmental influences that play parts in activating, maintaining, and terminating physiological needs that underlie a drive (cognitive, environmental, social, and cultural influences).

Chapter four discusses thirst and the drives involved with the satiety of this biological need. We are not fully satiated until intracellular hydration has taken place, stemming from osometric thirst, not just hydration in the mouth, esophagus, stomach, outer cells (volumetric thirst), and etcetera. We drink for replenishment, sweet taste, and addiction or attraction to something in the water (i.e. caffeine or alcohol). Hunger (and its regulation) is also discussed, and involves both short-term daily processes and long-term processes. Blood glucose is constantly monitored according to the glucostatic hypothesis, and according to the lipostatic model, fat mass is also used to supplement glucose-monitored energy regulation. The lateral hypothalamus is responsible for why we experience hunger. The LH get a signal from the liver, and the VMH or ventromedial hypothalamus acts as the negative feedback center and tells the body it is full.
Set-point theory states that we are all born with a biologically set weight and amount of fat cells, and there is nothing we can do about it. Robert Bolles disagrees with this theory. He claims that it is more of a “settling point”, and that we can change our weight and cell size and count. Bolles states that eating is external or based on many environmental factors, not internal, as we are more “social” eaters than eating when we are hungry. The social factor seems realistic when we consider that over 65% of Americans are overweight.

Lastly, sexual behavior is hormonally based. The sex hormones, androgens and estrogen release into the bloodstream from the adrenal gland and are controlled by the hypothalamus. Men follow the triphasic response model (desire, arousal, orgasm), while women are more relationship-based, wanting intimacy. Related to sexual behavior is the attractiveness aspect. What do various people look for in a mate? What makes one woman or man more desirable than another? One theory is that of facial metrics (there are 24 of these), or the study of peoples’ judgments of attractiveness of facial characteristics. Humans use sexual scripts and sexual schemas to aid in their encounters, and according to evolution, men want young, attractive mates, and women want mates with resources and power.
I found it interesting that we do not think about hunger and thirst on a daily basis simply because it seems to have come naturally to us all of our lives. When we were hungry, we ate, and so on. Not until you learn the intricacies of these biological functions are you able to stop and reflect on how the brain, and hormones and the hypothalamus are all involved with this “simple” need.
So far, I am relatively clear on the steps of the Need-Drive-Behavior sequence, but may need further review of these seven core processes. Physiology relates to motivation in that when we are hungry, our body goes through several steps to signal us to eat, to motivate us. Biological needs result in triggering motivational drives in order to get something accomplished. One big differentiation between this chapter and chapter 3 is that if our bodies did not go through the various steps, signaling a certain part of the body, or triggering a specific drive, we would not survive. These physiological needs (hunger, thirst) are necessary for us all in order to sustain life.

TERMS: physiological needs, needs, psychological drives, homeostasis, negative feedback, intraorganismic mechanisms, extraorganismic mechanisms, multiple input/outputs, hunger, thirst, sex, glucostatic hypothesis, lipostatic model, intracellular, osometric thirst, volumetric thirst, ventromedial hypothalamus, lateral hypothalamus, Set-point theory, facial metrics.

This chapter, as stated in the title, focuses on physiological needs. First we have to understand what needs are, and they are any condition within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being. When these needs are satisfied our well-being is stable and grows, but if neglected can become dangerous to the biological or psychological well-being. It is our motivational states that act before any damage occurs to psychological and bodily well-being. There are three types of needs that provide a person with their overall life, growth, and well-being; physiological, psychological, and social needs. This is where the physiological needs; thirst, hunger, and sex come into play. Physiological needs involve the biological systems, if unmet for a period of time can cause life-threatening situations. Just like the other needs they differ in their ability to direct attention and action toward a specific behavior with the energy they generate. They also differ in the kind of motivation generated if it’s deficiency or growth. Deficiency needs are the ones that activate when one hasn’t eaten in awhile and give you that anxiety, frustration, stress, and relief feeling. Were growth needs energize and direct behavior to better one self and comes with the since of interest and enjoyment.
Then there is the Drive Theory, which states that when a physiological need arises it creates a biological need and if that need it strong enough it generates a psychological drive. In simpler terms, it acts as an unobservable bridge that connects the biological deficit to the psychological discomfort, giving the individual the energy to take action and direct it as well. Drive leads us into the need-drive-behavior sequence, a seven step core process that explains the rise and fall of the psychological drive.
“(1) Satiated state, “a state of being full” (2) Physiological deprivation develops gradually (3) Prolonged physiological deprivation produces bodily need
(4)Need intensifies; gives rise to psychological drive (5) Goal-directed motivated behavior occurs as attempt to gratify drive (6) Consummatory behavior occurs (7) Drive is reduced” (Reeve, 80)
Within this cycle a few of the following are important to know: homeostasis – the body’s way of returning the body to an internal basal state, negative feedback – a homeostasis physiological stop system; the mechanism that stops one from eating too much. Intraorganismic mechanisms – is biological system that regulates, activates, and terminates the needs that underlie drive within the brain, endocrine system, and bodily organs. Extraorganismic mechanisms – are the environmental influences that start, maintain, and end psychological drive in the cognitive, environmental, social, and cultural influences.
Thirst is one of the first physiological needs because our bodies are always losing water through our day-today events. The physiological regulations of thirst are intracellular, fluids consists inside the cells, and extracellular, water outside of the cells but in the blood plasma. Thirst acts as a “double-depletion model” cause it depletes water from both intra and extracellular in a process known as osmometric thirst, the dehydration of the cells and volumetric the loss of water through bleeding or vomiting. Only through the process of either cellular hydration or hypovolemia can either one stop it. Thirst satiety is where out of the: mouth, stomach, intestines, bloodstream, and cells does the negative feedback mechanism lie? It seems it exist in the mouth, stomach, and cells. The hypothalamus and kidneys also play a role in keeping the body hydrated by working together on when to conserve water or release it into the body. One of the most important environmental influences for drinking water is taste. When given a taste sucrose-flavored (sweet) is the most pleasurable.
Hunger is a little more complex and broken down into two models. The first is short-term appetite model in where your main source of energy blood glucose is always being monitored. The liver is what keeps track of blood-sugar levels (glucose) the fuel for cells to produce energy. When blood glucose is low it sends a signal to the lateral hypothalamus (LH), the part of the brain responsible for the psychological experience of hunger. The negative feedback system, the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH), which is activated by the liver’s detection of low glucose, acts as the satiety center. Non-brain-based cues are can also influence the rise and fall of appetite such as the mouth, stomach, and body temperature. Long-term focuses on fat (adipose tissue), when the fat stored in the body drops the adipose tissue secretes hormones (ghrelin) but when the fat stored increases above normal adipose tissue secretes (leptin) into the blood stream to reduce food intake. There are also environmental influences that effect eating behavior like time of day or stress. Also eating is a social event and people tend to eat more when in the presence of others.
Then there is sex. For both men and women, androgen contributes to the sexual motivation of males and estrogen does the same for females. Both sex’s have both types of hormones, with the opposite effects of decreasing sexual desire. For males when it comes to sexual arousal they show a triphasic sexual response cycle: desire, arousal, orgasm. For comes to women their sexual desire lie in relationship factors, such as emotional intimacy, rather than the men’s erectile response which can easily be explained. It is more of an emotional intimacy that gives a woman that state of sexual desire that leads into being open and responsive to sexual stimuli. The one thing that all partners are looking for in a potential partner is the physical attractiveness. Standards for what qualifies as a sexual partner vary from one culture to the next partly due to acquired experience, socialization, and cultural consensus. When it comes to choosing a man, the main predictor women use is the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Facial metrics, the study of people’s judgments of the attractiveness of facial characteristics is the one thing that different cultures show a mutual understanding on’ what is attractive and what is not. With 24 different structural characteristics there are only three categories that explain which faces are judged attractive: neonatal, sexual maturity, and expressive features.
The thing I found to be the most interesting was the facial metric. That there were more than just the basic eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, they broke each of those down to even more detailed parameters. Not just that, the fact that other cultures show the same convergences. At the same time a person’s facial features can cue up a different perception for every person that looks at him/her judging how attractive that person’s face is. If they have their own facial metric rating for what is attractive, it can raise the question of whether or not beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I’d have to say nothing is unclear at this point, I think the book does a good job at breaking things down to a more understanding pint of view. Our physiological reactions relate to motivation in that if a biological need is strong enough it presents a psychological drive. That drive gives a motivational state of aim and action to satisfy the body’s needs. The difference between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms is that physiological mechanisms deal with environmental cues that actualize a drive behavior that we are aware of. Whereas brain mechanisms are chemical structures that happen involuntary without our knowing.
Terms: physiological needs, thirst, hunger, sex, drive, need-drive-behavior sequence, homeostasis, negative feedback, Intraorganismic mechanisms, Extraorganismic mechanisms, intracellular, extracellular, hypothalamus, hypovolemia, volumetric, satiety, osmometric, double-depletion model, sucrose-flavored, short-term, glucose, lateral hypothalamus, ventromedial hypothalamus, adipose tissue, ghrelin, leptin, long-term, estrogen, triphasic, androgen, facial metrics, waist-to-hip ratio, neonatal, sexual maturity, expressive features

This chapter was about physiological needs, and in particular it focused on thirst, hunger and sex. These are each necessary for survival. Individuals need water for intracellular fluid and extracellular fluid. The feeling of thirst is caused when the cells (intracellular or extracellular) need water. Hunger is caused by either short term appetite or long term energy. Short term appetite is the regulation of meals and long term energy is the bodies way of storing energy. Sex is important for reproduction and involves a lot of hormones from both the male and female, this is a biological need in order for procreation to occur. The body has created a way to motivate an individual to do certain behaviors in order to maintain homeostasis and ultimately for survival. The feeling of hunger is the physiological mechanism the body has to indicate when ghrelin is being secreted and the body needs to eat. This is a very strong motivator that drives us to do many different behaviors every day.
One of the ways that the book described the physiological response was Clark Hull’s Need-Drive-Behavior cycle. This cycle included 7 steps. These steps are satiety state, physiological deprivation develops gradually, prolonged physiological deprivation produces bodily need, need intensifies, goal-directed motivated behavior occurs, drive is reduced, and then the cycle continues back to satiety. This cycle shows how our physiology motivates us to do a behavior. This cycle can be applied to hunger. The feelings of hunger would continue to increase until step 6 when the individual eats (or does the behavior) and step 7 is negative feedback to stop that behavior, and then an individual returns to a satiety state.
The most interesting thing that I learned was about negative feedback. This is the physiological means by which the body inhibits a drive. When an individual is in need of food, this motivates the individual to eat, but after the individual has eaten enough, the negative feedback sends messages to the individual telling them to stop the eating behavior. This is very important for the body maintaining homeostasis. Food and water are necessities for survival, but an excess amount of either can have negative consequences such as throwing up, or weight gain which leads to health problems. It is important that the negative feedback signals to the individual when they have reached satiety so that they can equalize themselves and return to a homeostatic state.
I was unclear on what the difference between psychological and social needs is. From the reading I understand that social needs vary amongst individuals, but it didn’t seem to go into an in depth comparison. I was confused if a need could fall under both categories or if they are mutually exclusive from one another.
Physiological mechanisms relate to motivation, because it is a natural way that the body tries to get an individual to do something. If you feel hungry it is likely that you will eat, if you feel thirsty it is likely you will drink. This is because your body is physiologically indicating what it wants which will likely motivate them to do that behavior. These are basic needs that the body is trying to meet, so it is a very strong motivator for a behavior.
Physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms are different from each other because brain mechanisms happen without us knowing, and physiological mechanisms are physical and we know that this is happening. For example hunger in the brain mechanism is the production of ghrelin being released from the brain. The physiological mechanism is the feeling of hunger increasing until the behavior takes place and satiety is returned.

Terms: Negative Need-Drive-Behavior cycle, intracellular, extracellular, short-term appetite, long-term energy, negative feedback, physiological mechanism, inhibits, drive, motivation, homeostasis, satiety, psychological, social needs, grhelin, brain mechanism,

Summarize the chapter. Reeve tried to make about 3 points, failed, and then repeated the very same things a thousand times. Seriously, look at pp77-78: he repeats the exact same information at least 6 times! The main thrust of the chapter was that there is a difference between physiological needs (“inherent within the strivings of human nature and healthy development”) and psychological needs (“inherent within the workings of biological systems”). If it is not clear precisely how one set excludes the other, you are on your own - because, instead of actually clarifying the distinction in more explicit detail, Reeve simply repeats the same thing, in the exact same words. (There is also a difference between these 2 types of needs and social needs, but Reeve will require yet another chapter [ch 7] to beat that topic to death.)

To make matters worse, Reeve then goes on to describe various physiological needs (food, water, reproduction) in terms of physical/psychological/social behaviors, subsuming all three under the general heading “drives” - and only gives the excuse that this strategy (supposedly) provides the “theoretical advantage” of ‘simplicity’ (82).

I’m not trying to be a smart*ss (or a dumb*ss either, for that matter); I generally defer to the authority of the experts in these matters. This book, however, is terrible. Reeve is as loose with his terminology as he is with his rhetoric.

I think that what he was trying to say in chapter 4 is that there are biological needs (food, water, reproduction) that trigger psycho-physiological wants (hunger, thirst, sexual desire), which are in turn influenced by external factors (environment, learned behavior, social factors). (I should think that pain-avoidance would also be considered one of our primary biological needs, but Reeve simply dismisses it as an ‘intervening factor’ [82].)

What was the most interesting thing you learned in this chapter? I thought that Hull’s biology-based ‘drive’ theory had been pretty soundly rejected as being inadequate to describe behavior. This being the case, it was interesting to me that Reeve chose to base the entire content of the chapter on this theory.

Were their concepts or ideas you are unclear on right now? I would say that the distinction between physiological and psychological needs, and also the distinction between physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms, are both unclear to me. Reeve did not elucidate his position simply by repeating the same phrases over and over, or explaining one in terms of the other.

How does physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation? Our bodies have biological needs; physiological/psychological mechanisms are in place to help ensure that we fulfill those needs. According to Reeve, physiological needs do not, in themselves, motivate behavior; they do, however, trigger the “conscious manifestation of an underlying unconscious biological need”, or drive, which does motivate behavior (Reeve, 80). It is unclear to me how Reeve differentiates the need from the drive. (It seems like ‘hunger’ versus ‘appetite’ would come into this, yet this example is noticeably missing from Reeve’s description.)

What differentiates physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms (from chapter 3)? I honestly have no idea: to me, the distinction is not at all clear from the text. In ch 3, Reeve describes hunger/satiety as a brain mechanism (triggered by the release of ghrelin/leptin), while in ch 4 he says that these states are dependent upon a physiological mechanism. After reading this chapter, I can say “I need a drink” even though I am not thirsty - which seems to indicate either a psychological drive or possibly an extraorganismic environmental influence on a physiological mechanism, I’m not sure which.

Terms: needs, wants, appetite, desire, drives, behaviors, physiological mechanisms, brain mechanisms, extraorganismic, environmental, hunger, satiety, ghrelin, leptin, unconscious

Chapter 4 discusses Hull's biologically based drive theory. The theory states that physiological deprivations and deficits give rise to bodily need states, which gives rise to a psychological drive, which motivates the consummatory behavior that results in drive reduction. Thirst, hunger, and sex are the three physiological needs that the chapter discusses. The chapter talks about seven fundamental processes, which are physiological need. psychological drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs and outputs, intraorganismic influences, and extraorganismic influences.
The thing i found most interesting was that when we try to exert conscious mental control over our physiological needs often does more harm than good. This chapter says that people fail to self-regulate their bodily appetites for three primary reasons. One reason is that they underestimate how powerful a motivational force biological urges can be when they are not currently experiencing them. The second reason is they lack standards or have inconsistent standards. The third, and final reason is that they fail to monitor what they are doing, as they become distracted from their cognitive regulation and default to pent-up physiological needs.
Physiological mechanisms relate to motivation, because it is a natural way that the body tries to get an individual to do something. Physiological mechanisms and brain mechanisms are different from each other because brain mechanisms happen without us knowing, and physiological mechanisms are physical and we know that this is happening.

TERMS: drive theory, physiological mechanisms, brain mechanisms, physiological need. psychological drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs and outputs, intraorganismic influences, and extraorganismic influences.

If I had to describe chapter 4 in one word, I would use the word “Drive.” Drive applied to almost every aspect of the physiological needs. After defining physiological needs as hunger, thirst, and sex, the book went on to explain what makes our bodies aware of these needs. The process of the need-drive-behavior sequence has 7 steps, which occur in a cycle. The 7 phases are; need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/multiple outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms.
Need is described as a biological condition. A need becomes a need when it is necessary to function. Drive, however is the physiological wanting of the need. Drive has no biological bases but is still important to the sequence. Homeostasis is the necessary function of the body being able to maintain a stable level in the system. Homeostasis can be compared to putting a car in park, the motor is still running, but the car is resting. Negative feedback is simply what stops the behavior. If you are thirsty, drive causes you to take a drink. Negative feedback indicates the need being met and causes you to stop drinking the water.
Multiple inputs/multiple outputs are much simpler than they seem. Input is what is causing the need and output is what is satisfying the need. Multiple states that there is more than one possible option. An example of multiple inputs would be getting tired from working out, staying up late, or being on your feet for a long time. The multiple outputs would be taking a nap, drinking coffee, or sitting down. Intraorganismic mechanisms are simply the things in the body that process the need. The brain, endocrine system and the organs are all involved in making the need known. Extraorganismic mechanisms are the same thing but they include the influences outside the body. Things like goals, smells, peer pressure, and wanted end results are all environmental influences that determine our needs.
This chapter made me aware of how complex my needs really are. I had no idea that getting a drink of water involved 7 different steps. I had always considered needs something that was more mental but they are actually physiological, they are a biological deficiency in my body.
Physiological mechanisms involve the whole body and many different systems. Brain mechanisms mostly involve the endocrine system.

Terms used: physiological, need, drive, homeostasis, negative feedback, multiple inputs/multiple outputs, intraorganismic mechanisms, and extraorganismic mechanisms.

This chapter, aptly titled Needs, took a look at how our basic needs(psychological, physiological and social) act as powerful motivators for us to act in certain ways. It laid the basic groundwork of the ‘need structure’ in which we have a need, and positive and negative feedback loops which help us maintain a healthy balance in our bodies. Next it examined thirst, hunger, and sex in greater detail; in this they spoke of the satiety, activation, regulation, brain components active, and environmental factors. This was an excellent way to dissect three examples of relatable needs. The most interesting part of the chapter was the last part about failures to self-regulate physiological needs. After reading the rest of the chapter I completely agree with their assessment of why we tend to fail at our attempts to exhibit self control over such areas. Our basic, instinctual needs are extremely powerful motivational forces. When it covered thirst, hunger, and sex; 2 of the 3 are necessary for life and 1 for the continuation of the species, and when these are threatened we basically lose any ‘control’ we think we think we possess over them. This is why that performing activities like dieting and abstaining from sex are very difficult things to do. When I wrestled I had to cut weight from 120 to 112 and I didn’t have a lot of body fat to lose at 9% so I had to cut my water intake and eat very little. It got to the point where I was severely dehydrated and I had to go to the hospital to get fluids pumped into me. Some of the wrestlers on our team exhibited totally irrational behavior like eating a Subway sandwich the night before a meet and couldn’t make weight. When coach yelled at them, they simply responded with, “I couldn’t control it” or “ I couldn’t stop myself”. Same with sex and that is why in the Bible it says to have lots of sex in marriage(1 Corinthians 7:2-5), so that we don’t always have to fight to control ourselves. The one unclear or rather unsettling thing about this chapter was how our sexual drive could be broken into such primitive terms. Our hormones are still playing a big part in what we do long after puberty, even though we thought we were out of the woods. And yet again the book told of how different men and women are, especially in the relationship between physiological arousal and psychological desire(high in men and low/nonexistent in women). It is interesting how little we know about this area and continue to learn even though it’s been going on for a long time, otherwise we wouldn’t even be here. Physiological reactions and psychological reactions deal very closely with motivation in regards to our body wanting to maintain homeostasis. We experience physiological reactions when homeostasis is kicked off beat, either high or low, and lets our brain know what is up. The brain then takes control and sends signals to the rest of the body on how it should adjust to try and bring about the necessary changes. However, at the same time while our brain is dishing out orders we also develop the psychological sensation of wanting whatever we are lacking. If our body is low on glucose our brain will adjust the effecter organs and also give us an urge to eat to refill our storehouses. It is really cool how the physiological translates to the psychological. As laid out in the chapter physiological mechanism are the effecter organs in our system, such as the spleen, liver, kidneys and other vital organs and glands. In these areas there is constant detection going on to keep the body in a state of homeostasis. These mechanisms pick up on different oxygen levels, nutrients, H2O levels, and other essential factors. Brain mechanisms on the other hand also operate and monitor such levels and thus controls the effecter organs to behave in a manner that brings about homeostasis. If there isn’t enough water the hypothalamus (brain mechanism) tells the kidneys (physiological mechanism) to save water rather than releasing it. In this way they both work in tandem.
Terms: physiological, psychological, social needs, brain mechanism, motivation, negative and positive feedback, self-regulate, restraint, hypothalamus, homeostasis, kidney, environmental factors

Chapter four focuses on physiological needs. These types of needs include thirst, hunger, and sex. A need is something that is essential for a person’s survival. There are different kinds of needs including deficiency needs and growth needs. A deficiency need activates after a state of deprivation. A growth need stimulates motivational states that help advance development. To explain motivation, Clark Hall introduced the drive theory. The theory’s main argument comes from biology. According to the drive theory, physiological deprivation creates biological needs which in turn produce psychological drive. Drive activates a person into fulfilling or servicing their needs. The body is constantly trying to keep homeostasis by paying attention to its physiological needs. To maintain homeostasis the body implements negative feedback. This feedback signals the body when its needs are met and stops the action. Different structures of the body, such as brain structures, the endocrine system, and bodily organs, are responsible for the establishment, maintaining, and termination of physiological needs. The environment does the same thing through cognitive, environmental, social and cultural influence. Thirst, hunger, and sex are the three physiological needs discussed in the chapter. First, we look at thirst, the motivational state that enacts the body to replenish water. Thirst comes from intracellular and extracellular deficits. Although thirst mainly comes from these dehydrated cells the kidneys, hypothalamus and hormones play their own part. The hypothalamus is the location where the psychological feeling of thirst begins. Hunger is the second physiological need discussed. Both short-term and long-term processes are considered when looking at hunger. Short-term appetite is regulated by glucose levels. Appetite level changes when glucose is low or high. Low glucose in the body activates the lateral hypothalamus to increase hunger. High glucose levels decrease hunger by stimulating the ventromedial hypothalamus. There are two theories to support long-term energy balance. The lipostatic theory suggests when the amount of food in the body drops below its homeostatic balance, hormones are released to increase food intake and weight gain. When the amount of food in the body is above the homeostatic balance hormones that decrease food intake and weight gain are released. The second theory, set-point, suggests that everyone has a determined body weight according to their genetics. Hunger is controlled by the size of an individual’s fat cells. Environment plays its own part in eating behaviors. Food availability, large portion sizes, and social pressures contribute to people overeating. Sex is the third and final physiological need the book explores. Many differences related to sex occur in males versus females. For instance, male’s physiological arousal and their psychological desire strongly depend on each other, whereas females have a low correlation between the two. Physical attractiveness of a sexual partner is important to both males and females, however me base more of their criterion on physical features than women do. Women find the following physical features attractive; thick eyebrows and prominent chin length. Large eyes, small nose, and a small chin are features men find attractive in women. While men look for attractiveness in a mate, women prefer status and wealth. In conclusion the book states three reasons while people fail at self-regulating their physiological needs. The three reasons include; 1. Underestimating the power of biological urges 2. Inconsistent, conflicting, unrealistic, or inappropriate standards 3. Failure to self-monitor when distracted, preoccupied, overwhelmed, or intoxicated.

I found the “hunger” section to be the most interesting. We see people everyday struggle with weight loss and dieting. To understand the biology behind hunger could potentially be very beneficial to those battling weight issues. The environment and social pressures are the most practical way for people to control their eating habits. People eat more when they are around others, being conscious of what you put in your mouth when at a social event is important.

The section on intervening variables with multiple inputs and outputs was confusing. The examples helped but I still don’t think I’m completely comfortable with the topic. There is a lot of new terminology in the section making it hard to comprehend the first time through.

Needs are something the body must have in order for survival. Motives come from an imbalance of physiological needs to maintain homeostasis in the body. Needs create energy that puts motivation into action through drive. Drive puts an individual into action by satisfying the particular need. Once the need is satisfied the body balances itself and returns to homeostasis.

Brain mechanisms differ from physiological mechanisms by the way they regulate homeostasis. The brain mechanisms sometimes function without our knowledge and don’t always need our help in maintaining health. However, we are in control of satisfying our physiological needs for ourselves. Our body can’t eat or drink without our conscious action.

Terms: Physiological needs, thirst, hunger, sex, deficiency need, growth need, motivational states, drive theory, homeostasis, negative feedback, endocrine system, intracellular, extracellular, short-term appetite, long-term energy balance, lateral hypothalamus, ventromedial hypothalamus, glucose levels, lipostatic theory, set-point theory, multiple inputs/outputs

Chapter Four discusses Psychological Needs. These needs vary from Physiological Needs which include thirst, hunger, and sex to Psychological Needs which include autonomy, competence, and relatedness, to Social Needs which includes achievement, intimacy, and power. All of these needs are important in order to maintain homeostasis. Negative Feedback is provided when homeostasis is met. For example, if you are hungry, hunger is driving your behavior to eat. Once you eat your negative feedback will reinforce you to stop eating in order to avoid a stomach ache as an aversive consequence. There are more complex regulatory systems that include hunger and eating. Both of these can be influenced by the environment. For example, certain environments can either encourage or discourage an eating behavior. These can interfere with physiological factors that go along with eating. When an individual is put in a tempting environment to indulge in high calorie and high fat foods, they are likely to eat even though they are not hungry which leads to weight gain and obesity.

One of the most interesting things that I learned from this chapter is that all needs generate energy. Needs can differ from each other based on their directional effects on behavior. For example, having a thirst need and a hunger need is two different things. They both generate energy; however their ability to direct action and attention towards the end goal is different. If you are aware of your hunger need, you are more likely to seek out action to suffice that need as opposed to your thirst need because it is not as prevalent. I found this particular example to be interesting because the majority of people are dehydrated all day every day. Being dehydrated is often mistaken for being hungry. I find myself feeling really hungry at certain times throughout the day and then I realize I haven’t had any water all day. When I finally drink some, I usually feel satisfied and no longer hungry.

The concept of short-term appetite is something I understand, there is just a lot of chemical makeup that goes along with the description that does not mean a lot to me. The hunger cues that go along with short-term appetite help regulate meal times, size, and the termination of meals. Blood-sugar levels play an important role with hunger. When blood-sugar drops people often feel hungry and weak because their cells do not have enough glucose in them. This is about as much as I understand about this concept.

Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation because they are inherent within the working of biological systems. They relate to motivation because even if you do not think you are directly thirsty or hungry, your body will tell you when it needs nourishment. It is an amazing thing. When you are dehydrated you will become light headed. That is your body’s way of telling you it needs water. When you are hungry, your stomach will growl and you may feel weak. This is your body’s way of telling you it needs calories, vitamins, and minerals. Without these signals we would not be as balanced and unable to maintain homeostasis.

Physiological mechanisms differ from brain mechanisms in the way they are influenced by the environment. Physiological needs can be altered based on your surroundings. Such as, working in a bakery and being tempted by sweets all day is likely to lead to weight gain. Brain mechanisms involve actions induced by chemical structures.

TERMS: needs, physiological, autonomy, competence, relatedness, social needs, achievement, intimacy, power, homeostasis, negative feedback, regulatory system, aversive consequence, reinforce, generate, energy, directional effects, short-term appetite, environment

Chapter 4 was about the physiological needs of thirst, hunger, and sex. Satisfying needs is necessary for life, growth, and well-being. When needs are neglected, biological or psychological well-being is disrupted. Physiological needs deal with the biological system. Once there is a physiological need, psychological drive motivates the individual to engage in behaviors that cause drive reduction. This means that the drive is no longer there or is greatly lessened. The body tries to reach homeostasis, which is a stable and steady state. There are multiple inputs and outputs for drive. Inputs are the sources of motivation and outputs are the goal-directed behaviors. Thirst, hunger, and sex all have individual factors that vary with every passing minute. When the need arises, we focus our energy on meeting that need. I am pretty clear on the ideas presented in this chapter.

I thought the failures to self-regulate physiological needs were interesting. It’s ridiculous to try to squelch physiological needs, because it is impossible. In dieting, this leads to binge eating. Eventually, these needs show themselves very prominently and demand to be met. Self-regulation is when mental states regulate physiological needs. This is usually successful for only a short time because the individual might underestimate motivational forces, have inconsistent or unrealistic standards, or not monitor themselves. I was surprised that there are 7 steps in the Need-Drive-Behavior Sequence. I thought there would be about four: A need would arise, you would be motivated to meet it, you would meet it, and then you would be satisfied, or satiated.

Brain mechanisms are neurotransmitters and hormones that regulate body processes. We are not consciously aware of what is going on inside out body via brain mechanisms. Physiological mechanisms are internal events that motivate us to seek outside sources to satisfy needs. For hunger, we find food. For thirst, we find water. For sex, we find a partner.

Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation because they refer to biological needs. We need to meet these needs to survive. Because of this, these needs motivate, or drive, us until we satisfy them. If we were not motivated to meet these needs, we could easily die. The motivation keeps us alive.

Terms: physiological needs, thirst, hunger, sex, psychological drive, drive reduction, multiple inputs and outputs, self-regulation, motivation, satiated, Need-Drive-Behavior Sequence

This chapter was full of interesting information. I can’t choose what topic I liked the most. It basically reviewed the topic of needs and the subtopics of those needs in detail. Such as the difference between psychological, physiological and social needs. It went into further detail about each need and how it corresponds to our body. It discusses what influences our behaviors, biologically and environmentally. This chapter also talked about some difficult issues that are controversial and some hard to explain, such as sexual orientation and that research supports the importance of genetics.
I was a little confused about the settling point. I understood the metaphors given in the chapter about the stock market and ocean levels, but I was a lost in how it relates to our bodies regulatory guide or what it actually means in reference to our weight. When I read about weight gain and obesity, it says other than surgery; the only way people can lose weight is through self regulatory strategies, such as goals and monitoring behaviors. This reminded me of the study we talked about in class. The children that waited 15 minutes for two marshmallows had stronger will power than those who couldn’t wait, and chose one rather than two. This made me wonder, were the others obese because they couldn’t resist temptation at a young age? Could an experiment that simple predict if those children would be likely to gain weight in the future, or have more difficulties losing weight?
Physiology and physiological reactions are related to motivation through our biology, such as our intraorganismic mechanisms. These include our brains structure, bodily organs, hypothalamus, glucose and more. Our body’s organisms work together to maintain homeostasis. Every part of our body needs some sort of substance, and it knows how much it needs. When there is too much or not enough, the body reacts in different ways to compensate. For example, volumetric thirst arises from extracellular fluid deficits and can be fixed through hypervolemia (increase in plasma volume); whereas osmometric thirst arises from intracellular deficits caused by cellular dehydration. This relates to motivation, because our body is telling us what we need when we need it. After a period of deprivation, we emit compensatory behaviors to make up the deprivation period.
The difference between physiological and brain mechanisms is that the brain’s process will never change. However, physiological mechanisms have been initiated unconsciously. This means that our biological needs are somewhat innate as well. Even if our body isn’t telling us, “I’m thirsty, I need water” We can figure it out ourselves through common sense. If you haven’t had water in a few days it is probably a good choice.
Overall, what interested me the most was facial metrics. I think it is interesting to relate the neonatal, sexual maturity, and expressive features to who I have been attracted to in the past. Sure enough, I follow suit with the statistics. I like men with thick eyebrows, and a prominent stature, someone that I feel safe around and is powerful.

Terms: Psychological, physiological, social, biological and environmental influences, sexual orientation, settling point, self-regulatory strategies, goals, monitoring behavior, intraorganismic mechanism, homeostasis, volumetric thirst, osmometric thirst, hypervolemia, cellular dehydration, intracellular deficits, motivation, deprivation, emit, compensatory behaviors, facial metrics, neonatal feature, sexual maturity features, expressive features.

Chapter 4 discusses physiological needs. Reeve defines needs as any condition within the person that is essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being. When these needs are not being met, and damage can be done to the body, then a motivational state causes the individual to act in order to fulfill the need. Needs are broken down into three different types. These include physiological needs (thirst, hunger, and sex), psychological needs (autonomy, competance, and relatedness), and social needs (achievment, affiliation, intimacy, and power). Reeve also goes into detail of how the body is able to maintain homeostasis, a steady state of equilibrium. Negative feedback is one of the ways the body maintains this equilibrium through a physiological stop system. In addition to negative feedback there are many other safety nets which enable the body to maintain homeostasis such as intraorganismic mechanisms, extraorganismic mechanisms, thirst activation, and thirst satiety. Environmental influences play a large part in maintaining this equilibrium as well. One of the examples given was how water is tasteless. This way people will only drink what is necessary for the body to stay hydrated. Hunger is a more complicated need discussed in that it goes beyond what is needed physiologically, but is also influenced by cognitive, social, and environmental influences. The other need that was discussed by Reeve was the need for sex. Sexual motivation can be influenced by many variables such as hormones, but one of the most powerful influences is physical attractiveness. Facial metrics have been performed in order to determine what features are considered attractive. Many dimensions are taken into considerating and have been used to predict attractiveness in people.
The most interesting concept in this chapter was the information on sexual orientation. So many people think that the lifestyle is chosen, but the information in the book talked about studies that suggest it is genetic.
The thing that I found that I would like further clarification on is how when we eat too much there is so much stronger of a feedback system with dieting and the strong craving for food, much more than that of someone who is overeating. Is it because not eating would kill you faster, so it is causing more of an urgent feeling?
Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation because when the body signals to your brain through physiological means, (hunger, thirst, the need to empty your bladder) then you are motivated to act upon that need in order to satisfy that physiological stimulation.
Physiological mechanisms are the changes in the body that alert the brain to the specific needs of the body, and the brain mechanism is what sorts the information recieved and is able to determine when and how the need should be addressed. An example of this would be when the body becomes dehydrated. The physiological mechanism would be able to determine that the body is dehydrated and the brain mechanism (hypothalamus) would be able to take in that information of feeling thirsty and could then determine when it is appropriate to get something to drink.

Terms: physiological needs, phycological needs, social needs, homeostasis, negative feedback, intraorganismic mechanisms, extraorganismic mechanisms, thirst activation, and thirst satiety

The main focus of chapter four was directed at Physiological needs with a large focus on thirst, hunger, and sex. Before the text introduced these three physiological needs it went into great depth of the different regulation procedures of these. To summarize this chapter quickly, it really explains that biological deficits lead to increased motivation. When physiological imbalances are occurring the brain realizes this and creates a psychological drive. This motivates the individual to satisfy his/her physiological needs. Once the need (thirst,hunger,sex) has been satisfied then this leads to drive reduction. When someone is hungry, they look for food and eat, removing the bodily need. After eating the drive is diminished and the whole process repeats. These concepts can be summarized by stating homeostasis which is the body trying to maintain a stable internal state. The body tries to maintain its nutrient levels and when these drop or rise then it causes a change in the psychological drive of an individual.

The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter had to be about the thorough explanation of negative feedback. Its interesting to me because I don't believe that the negative feedback works the same way in all individuals. This isn't necessarily only true to what most are thinking, food. It can be true with a variety of everything. I will use alcohol as an example. We get negative feedback after we have drank to much, usually that night and the next morning. But why do we continue to drink until we lose our previous meals? Obviously there are underlying motivation conflicts there. Even though we are receiving negative feedback we continue to do it. If it wasn't for the negative feedback system, people would die from drinking too much water... Unfortunately, we see this happen with alcohol from time to time.

Physiology and physiological reactions relate to motivation in a way that a drive is created (motivation). When our physiological needs are out of balance then the brain realizes there is a need. After realizing this, the brain then motivates the person to satisfy that need. We can call this a goal-oriented behavior.

Physiological and psychological functions differ in that the brain creates the physiological drive. The physiological mechanism would not exist if it wasn't for the brain. When the brain causes the release of hormones and other chemicals, it stimulates a certain behavior or it creates a 'drive' to achieve the goal to satisfy something. For instance, testosterone stimulates sexual behavior. Also, if the brain realizes some physiological functions are abnormal, like someone is lacking proper nutrition then the brain will tell them to go find food by creating an emotional feeling of hunger.

Terms: Motivation, Needs, Physiological, Homeostasis, Negative feedback, goal-oriented behavior, physiological mechanism, hormones