Lecture 18: Basic Needs

Question 1

What motivates us?

Answer 1

1. Basic needs: required for survival (food, water, sex)
2. Secondary needs: belonging, love
3. Emotions: how we feel along the way

Question 2

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 2

Self-actualization, esteem, belonging and love, safety, physiological

Question 3

Drives

Answer 3

Motivation to satisfy our basic needs
Based on physiological signs
Triggers behavior to satisfy our need

Question 4

Homeostasis

Answer 4

Regulation of the body’s systems with optimal range

Question 5

Examples of deprivation leading to correct action

Answer 5

You hold your breath, you need oxygen, you feel suffocated, you breathe
You skip breakfast, you need food, you feel hungry, you eat
You don’t drink enough fluids, you need water, you feel thirsty, you drink

Question 6

What does behavior reflect?

Answer 6

The balance of our drives

Question 7

Biological underpinnings of basic needs

Answer 7

Hypothalamus, midbrain, pons, and pituitary gland

Question 8

The role of the hypothalamus in basic needs

Answer 8

Collection of nuclei involved in regulation of body temperature, hunger, thirst, sleep and arousal
Controls ANS
Links nervous system with endocrine system via projections to pituitary gland

Question 9

How does the hypothalamus work?

Answer 9

1. Gets input from the body about state of the body
2. Controls hormones and ANS to take corrective action
3. Gets updated feedback

Question 10

Goal to achieve homeostasis

Answer 10

regulating fluid and nutrients

Question 11

Why drink?

Answer 11

maintain optimal blood pressure and fluid levels

emotional/social reasons

Question 12

Why eat?

Answer 12

brain needs glucose

emotional/social reasons

Question 13

Basic drives: thirst

Answer 13

Increase in solute concentration

Decrease in bodily fluids

Question 14

Basic drives: eating

Answer 14

From purely physiological perspective, hunger and satiety should define eating behaviors
But also cultural, social influences on eating behavior

Question 15

What does the hypothalamus do?

Answer 15

Hypothalamus acts as body regulator
If you’re hungry, you find food and conserve energy
If you’re full, you stop eating and expend energy

Question 16

Hunger: signals from the body

Answer 16

State of body continuously monitored by brain and liver

Question 17

Ghrelin

Answer 17

Potent stimulator of food intake & thoughts about food

Released by stomach

Question 18

Satiety: signals from the body

Answer 18

Gastric distention

Question 19

Insulin

Answer 19

Released from pancreas in response to elevated glucose

Question 20

Leptin

Answer 20

Released from fat cells to signal satiety

Question 21

Ob mouse

Answer 21

Ob mouse strain has low metabolism, overeats, obese, diabetes in adulthood
Cannot produce leptin - produced by adipose tissue

Question 22

Hypothalamic nuclei moderate intake

Answer 22

Lesions of lateral hypothalamus leads to anorexia
Lesions of ventromedial hypothalamus leads to overeating
Feeding center vs. satiety center

Question 23

Eating is more than physiology….

Answer 23

It engages reward circuits

Question 24

Orbitofrontal cortex

Answer 24

Reward signals

Flavor information

Question 25

Taste information

Answer 25

Goes to hypothalamus

Question 26

The munchies

Answer 26

Endocannabinoids act on the hypothalamus to increase hunger | THC mimics endocannabinoid action

Question 27

What motivates sexual behavior?

Answer 27

Physiology (chemicals: hormones, NT; gender differences) Society and culture (regulation of behavior) Hedonism (enjoyment, pleasure)

Question 28

Sexual response cycle

Answer 28

Excitement phase Plateau phase Orgasm phase Resolution phase

Question 29

Excitement phase

Answer 29

Increase in blood flow to genitals | Feelings of arousal

Question 30

Plateau phase

Answer 30

Increase in pulse, breathing and blood pressure

Question 31

Orgasm phase

Answer 31

Involuntary muscle contractions Increase in breathing and heart rate Contractions of vagina and ejaculation of semen

Question 32

Sexual hormones

Answer 32

Androgens & estrogens, testosterone, estrogen, oxytocin

Question 33

Testosterone

Answer 33

Males need a certain amount to be able to engage in sex | Higher levels of testosterone in women associated with more sexual thoughts & desires

Question 34

Estrogen

Answer 34

Higher levels related to female sexuality, especially during certain menstrual phases

Question 35

Oxytocin

Answer 35

Released during sexual arousal and orgasm | Involved in social behavior & bonding

Question 36

Sex and the brain

Answer 36

Just like hunger/thirst, the brain responds to sex drive signals from the body

Question 37

Neurotransmitters also modulate sexual drives

Answer 37

DA, serotonin, and nitric oxide influence sexual functioning Antidepressants enhance serotonin, reduce sexual interest Sexual stimulation leads to NO production, which promotes blood flow

Question 38

Sex and culture

Answer 38

Cultures may seek to restrain and control sex for multiple reasons, including maintaining control over the birthrate, helping establish paternity, and reducing conflicts Also determine which behaviors are appropriate for which gender

Question 39

Sexual interactions are more than physiology...

Answer 39

Depiction of sexual behavior in the media molds beliefs and expectations about what sexual behaviors are appropriate & when they're appropriate

Question 40

Sexual scripts

Answer 40

Cognitive beliefs about how sexual episode should be enacted

Question 41

Sexual orientation

Answer 41

Homosexuality considered mental illness until 1973 across western cultures Overwhelming majority of studies have found no evidence that environmental factors have anything to do w/ sexual orientation

Question 42

Biological factors

Answer 42

Exposure to hormones, especially androgens, in prenatal environment Altering expression of a single "master" gene reversed the sexual orientation of male and female flies Hypothalamus may be related to sexual orientation

Question 43

Drives don't always come from within

Answer 43

Incentives: external objects or external goals, rather than internal drives, that motivate behaviors

Question 44

Sometimes we don't know where drives come from

Answer 44

Can be outside conscious awareness

Question 45

Hedonism

Answer 45

Humans' desire for pleasure | Links into brain's DA reward system

Question 46

Hedonism & the pleasure principle

Answer 46

Freud: drives are satisfied according to the pleasure principle (people seek pleasure & avoid pain)

Question 47

The need to belong

Answer 47

Adaptive: our ancestors who lived with others were more likely to survive and pass their genes along Effective groups shared food, provided mates, helped care for offspring, including orphans