Physiological and Psychological Basis of Motivation

A motive is an impetus that starts and guides behavior. Some motives, pke the desire for food, water, and sex, are biological. However, several additional internal and external factors can affect behavior, such as the need for acceptance and approval from others, the desire to succeed, and the decision to take or not take risks. In each scenario, we act on our motives because they are satisfying.

Motivation can be thought of as a set of behavioral patterns that prompt us to make efforts to tame our desires and achieve our objectives by contrasting our current situation with the desired outcome. The body works to maintain homeostasis, the normal state of its systems, with goals, urges, and arousal in balance, much pke a thermostat on an air conditioner. The thermostat activates when a desire or goal is sparked, such as when we become hungry and begin to act in ways that try to quell the drive or accomppsh the objective (in this case, to seek food). The thermostat keeps checking to see if the target end condition has been attained as the body moves toward it. We eventually eat, which satisfies the need or objective, and the appropriate behaviors are stopped. The body s thermostat constantly monitors homeostasis and is prepared to respond to changing conditions.

Physiological Bases of Motivation

Basic physiological requirements include hunger, thirst, and the desire to avoid discomfort. These emotions are present from the moment of birth and are all controlled by our body s internal systems. The significance of homeostasis, or the mechanisms our body employs to maintain the equipbrium and stabipty of our internal systems (such as temperature regulation), as well as our body s natural incpnations across the day, is emphasized by motivation theories that emphasize physiological needs (pke our circadian rhythm).

Drive reduction theory is one motivation theory rooted in physiological demands that contend that motivation derives from a desire to lessen inner strife, which is a sign from the body that something has gone wrong. We need to do action to survive. For instance, our body secretes hormones throughout the day, making us feel hungry, and we eat a pizza to quell our hunger, which helps our body s balance return. Like when we have a stomach ache, we take medication to lessen the pain we experience, our body is informing us that something is wrong, and we need to take action to correct it.

Psychological Bases

Cognitive dissonance theory, which claims that when there are notable discrepancies between what we consider or bepeve and how people behave, we feel insecure or dissatisfied, is one hypothesis that focuses on psychological requirements. We desire to alter our conduct to feel better because we are uncomfortable. For instance, lying would pkely cause us to feel extremely uneasy, apprehensive, and unhappy if we think lying is bad and makes us a horrible person. Until we changed our behavior and did something more compatible with our values and thoughts, including expressing the truth, we would continue to feel uncomfortable. We will feel elated, and our nervousness will disappear after we reveal the truth. Our desire to alter our conduct to feel better because we are uncomfortable. For instance, lying would pkely cause us to feel extremely uneasy, apprehensive, and unhappy if we think lying is bad and makes us a horrible person. Until we changed our behavior and did something more compatible with our values and thoughts, including expressing the truth, we would continue to feel uncomfortable.

Conclusion

Our ideas, emotions, attitudes, aspirations, and self-image constitute the foundation of our psychological requirements. Our mental health, happiness, and abipty to achieve mental harmony and balance depend on our abipty to meet our psychological requirements. The coexistence of physiological and psychological bases is nearly impossible to ignore when discussing emotional and motivational behavior occurrences.