Invitation to Psychology

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520 Chapter 14 The Major Motives of Life: Food, Love, Sex, and work

Chapter 14

t

he Major Motives of Life: Food, Love, Sex, and Work

Motivation refers to an inferred process within a person or animal that causes that organism to move

toward a goal or away from an unpleasant situation.

• Intrinsic motivation is for the inherent pleasure of an activity.


• Extrinsic motivation is for external reward, such as money or fame.

The Hungry Animal: Motives to Eat

The Biology of Weight

Hunger, weight, and eating are governed by a

genetically influenced set point, which regulates

food intake, fat reserves, and basal metabolism

rate. Genes also influence:

• body shape.


• extent of weight gain.


• percentage and distribution of body fat.


• some forms of obesity.
  The obese (ob) gene causes fat cells to secrete
  leptin, which helps the hypothalamus to regulate
  appetite.
  Other genes and chemicals such as ghrelin are
  involved in appetite, metabolism, and weight gain.

The primary environmental causes

of the worldwide epidemic of

overweight and obesity are:

• increased abundance of inexpen-
  sive, high-calorie fast food and
  processed food.


• increased consumption of sugary
  soft drinks.


• larger portions of food and drink.


• abundance of highly varied foods.
  
  
  • Eating habits are influenced by
    cultural standards of the ideal
    body—fat, thin, soft, muscular.
  
  
  • These standards vary across
    cultures and may change within a
    culture, especially when gender
    roles change.
  
  
  • When people believe that their
    bodies do not match the cultural
    ideal, eating disorders such as
    bulimia, anorexia, and binge-
    eating disorderr may increase
  
  
  • Eating disorders are more
    common in women than in men,
    although body image disorders
    among men are increasing.
  
  
  
  

Environmental Influences on

Weight Cultural Influences on Weight

The Erotic Animal:

Motives for Sex

The Biology of Desire

• The Kinsey surveys of male and
  female sexuality and the lab
  research of Masters and Johnson
  were pioneering studies of sexual
  physiology.


• Testosterone influences sexual
  desire in both sexes but does not
  directly “cause” sexual behavior.


• On average, males have a higher
  frequency of many sexual
  behaviors than females do.

Evolution and Sex

Evolutionary psychologists

argue that men and women

have evolved different

sexual strategies in response

to survival problems faced

in the distant past. In this

view, it has been adaptive

for:

• males to be promiscuous,
  attracted to young
  partners, and want sexual
  novelty.


• females to be monoga-
  mous, choosy about
  partners, and prefer
  security to novelty.

Critics counter that:

• The assumption that
  males are promiscuous
  and females are choosy is
  a stereotype.


• In some species, males
  care for their young and
  females have multiple
  partners.


• Human sexual behavior
  is too varied to favor a
  single evolutionary
  explanation.


• Human sexual behavior
  changes with cultural
  changes.


• What people say is their
  ideal partner is not
  necessarily whom they
  choose.

The Riddle of Sexual Orientation

The reasons that some people

become gay, lesbian, or bisexual are

not fully known.

• Homosexuality is not a result of
  psychological factors or of having
  gay parents.


• Same-sex behavior has been
  documented in more than 450
  species.


• There is some evidence for
  prenatal and genetic contributions
  to homosexuality.

Sexual Coercion and Rape

Women and men differ in their

views of rape and sexual

coercion. Motives for rape

include:

• narcissism.


• hostility.


• desire to dominate, humiliate,
  or punish the victim.


• sadism.

The Psychology of Desire

Psychological approaches to

sexual motivation emphasize

the influences of values,

beliefs, expectations, and

fantasies.

• Intrinsic motives for sex
  include pleasure and
  intimacy.


• Extrinsic motives for sex
  include a need for approval
  from the partner or peers, a
  need to reduce insecurity
  about oneself or the
  relationship, or the wish to
  attain a goal.


• Extrinsic motives for sex are
  associated with risky sexual
  behavior and consenting to
  unwanted sex.

The Culture of Desire

Cultures differ in determining:

• which body parts are considered erotic.


• which sexual acts are considered erotic.


• whether sex itself is good or bad.
  Cultures transmit sexual norms through
  gender roles and sexual scripts.