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Eating Disorders

course-system-files/Lesson_04/Lesson_4_Reading Assignments.html
Text Readings
Psychology, Chapter 12

Additional Readings
Required Readings

Eating Disorders: About More Than Food
Triangular Theory of Love
Supplemental Readings

Definition of Terms, Sex, Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation
True Love or Infatuation
Lecture Notes
Welcome to Lesson 4, the psychology of motivation! With this lesson, you’re approaching the halfway point in this second part of Introduction to Psychology. The fact that you’re still interested in this subject and motivated to keep working toward your degree is a tribute to both your intelligence and perseverance. Keep it up!

Lesson 4 (Chapter 12 in your text), gets underway by addressing an issue that may very well be front and center for you. As you looked in the mirror this morning, did your expression register distaste as you contemplated your spreading waistline? Have you felt anxious trepidation as you prepare to step on your bathroom scale? Have you lied just a little bit about your dress size? Has your (aunt, spouse, girlfriend, fellow worker) been making disparaging jokes about your “beer gut”? If so, join the club.

The fact is America is suffering a crisis of obesity. As I write this, 50 percent of all adults are overweight, as are at least 25 percent of our children. What factors contribute to this epidemic? What prevents Americans from maintaining a healthy weight? Well, to start with, have you noticed that three of our main industries keep sending us conflicting messages every day about who we should be and what we should look like? The clothing industry bombards us with visions of underweight females and buffed-up male models that the vast majority of us can never hope to look like (and might not want to). The auto industry gets our juices flowing with images of sleek sports cars (that the average American can’t fit into, let alone drive comfortably). On the opposite side, the food industry urges us to eat large quantities of high-fat fast foods from behind the wheel of our ideal car while we wear our slinky, fashion-model clothes! With mixed messages like these thrown at us daily, it’s no wonder we’re befuddled.

Allow me to spend a moment philosophizing about the future. Think back to the topic of evolution and natural selection you encountered in Part 1 of this course. Do you recall this commentary? The fundamental idea behind natural selection is this: If in a particular environment, individuals with a genetically influenced trait tend to be more successful in survival, and their genes become more and more common in the population. What might this mean in today’s fast-paced world in which we give priority to high-tech mechanisms? Hasn’t modern technology compromised our need to be more physically involved in our lives? What will our lives be like in tomorrow’s even faster-paced world?

Think about this for a moment. Then, make a list of all the inventions that decrease human energy output, just so we can be faster, more mobile, and more competitive in a society that puts a high priority on success. Label the far-left column Gadgets. Label the middle column, Improves, and the right column Decreases Use of (meaning a part of the body). Your page will look something like this:

GADGET IMPROVES DECREASES USE OF

Cell phone Speed of communication Feet (to get to a phone)
Remote control Interaction with machine Feet and legs
Fast food More time for other things Hands, legs, and fingers
Golf cart Time to focus on the game Whole body
Continue adding to this list until you get a pretty good visual picture of why our bodies are obese, our muscles weak, and our minds are on overload! It makes you wonder if this trend toward physical shutdown will contribute to any changes in our genes. What might our bodies look like in future centuries as a result?

Respecting motivation, clinical psychologists devote a lot of time to helping people identify achievable goals. Typically, the psychologist’s clients will have good intentions and fairly realistic ideas about what they want to accomplish. And that’s a good thing. On the other hand, these typical clients have a major problem. They resist breaking down their big, end-result goal into smaller, achievable steps. For that reason, psychologists will recommend defining the small steps that will lead to a person’s major goal and writing them down in terms that are measurable. That way, once client have reached a small goal, they can reward themselves and then move on to the next small goal, and so on. Before the client knows it, he or she will have accomplished the main goal. Unfortunately, overall, many people fail to reach their overall goal, because they fail along the way to achieve one of the small steps. So, instead of looking back with satisfaction on all the smaller goals they’ve accomplished, and rewarding themselves, they let a momentary failure overwhelm them. A client might say, “Now, I’ll never accomplish my goal!” (But isn’t this same principle the key to success in earning your degree? Each lesson is one small step—one success—on the way toward your main goal.)

Let’s apply this concept of “small steps” to weight loss. The most effective and healthiest way to lose weight is to decrease caloric input and increase your level of exercise. Most people make the mistake of using the scale as their measurement for success or failure. They set as their overall goal losing a specific number of pounds. However, a savvy psychologist will recommend not using pounds lost as their standard of success or failure. Instead, the psychologist urges a client to identify an achievable exercise goal and an achievable change in diet. For example, the first goal might be to walk two miles, three times a week for two weeks. The goal for the next two weeks would be to forego alcoholic beverages and/or fried foods for two weeks. The object is to focus on achieving these two goals, not how much weight the person loses in the next four weeks.

Psychologists find that people will lose weight if they’re able to achieve a moderate exercise goal and make a simple change in their diet. The next goal would be to either increase the existing goal or keep it the same, but always with the emphasis on small, achievable steps, such as increasing the exercise pattern from three times a week to four, or identifying another small dietary change they can make. Most people comply with their goal behavior, at best, only 75–85 percent of the time. A few rare people maintain 100 percent compliance. The reason for asking people to not use measured weight (pounds lost) as their goal is that weight loss is the result of reaching other goals. Unfortunately, most people get discouraged and give up their weight-loss behaviors because they (a) are not losing weight fast enough, (b) get tired of being on a restrictive diet, and/or (c) didn’t incorporate these behaviors into their lifestyle as small, successive goals.

This lesson focuses on many interesting topics that we could spend hours discussing. I predict it will hold your attention because it deals with “your life”—with the person you see and imagine yourself to be every time you look in the mirror. Since you aren’t learning this material in a classroom situation, I hope you will share this information with a friend, coworker, and/or significant other. It will make your study more fun and increase your learning progress. You may be surprised at the questions they ask as you talk about what you’ve learned!

PowerPoint Lecture Notes

Use the lecture notes available in PowerPoint as you study this chapter by CLICKING THE LINK BELOW. These notes will help you identify main concepts and ideas presented in this chapter.

If you do not have PowerPoint on your computer, you can download a free viewer from Microsoft by clicking here.

Chapter 12

V12/PowerPoints/S02M PP Chapter 12.pptx
Motivation and the Hungry Animal

12.1

12 MOTIVATION

The Social Animal: Motives to Love

12.2

The Erotic Animal: Motives for Sex

12.3

The Competent Animal: Motives to Achieve

12.4

PSYCHOLOGY, Twelfth Edition | Carole Wade • Carol Tavris

Motives, Values, and the Pursuit of Happiness

12.5

An inferred

process within a

person or animal

that causes

movement either

toward a goal or away from an

unpleasant situation

otivation

Biological Drives

For decades, the study of motivation was dominated by a focus on biological drives, such as those to:

Acquire food and water

Have sex

Seek novelty

Avoid cold and pain

But drive theories do not account for the full complexity of human motivation.

Drive theories do not account for the full complexity of human motivation, because people are conscious creatures who:

Think and plan ahead

Set goals for themselves

Plot strategies to reach those goals

Example:

People may have a drive to eat, but that information doesn’t tell us why some individuals will go on hunger strikes to protest injustice.

Food

Sex

Four Central Areas of Human Motivation

Areas of human motivation explored in this chapter:

Achievement

Love

12.1

Motivation and the Hungry Animal

12.1

Module Learning Objectives

12.1.A

Define motivation, and distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

12.1.B

Discuss the biological factors that contribute to weight, and define what a set point is.

12.1.C

Discuss five major environmental influences on weight, and provide an example of each.

12.1.D

Distinguish between anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, and discuss some factors that contribute to each disorder.

Defining Motivation

Intrinsic motivation: The pursuit of an activity for its own sake

Extrinsic motivation: The pursuit of an activity for external rewards, such as money or fame

The Biology of Weight

Obesity and overeating are not simply a result of:

Failed willpower

Emotional disturbance

Overeating

A biological mechanism keeps your weight at a genetically influenced set point.

Set point: The genetically influenced weight range for an individual; it is maintained by biological mechanisms that regulate food intake, fat reserves, and metabolism.

Genetic Influences on Weight and Body Shape

Hunger, weight, and eating are regulated by a set of bodily mechanisms, that keep people close to their set point, including:

Basal metabolism rate

Number of fat cells

Brown fat

Everyone has a genetically programmed basal metabolism rate, the rate at which the body burns calories for energy, and a fixed number of fat cells, which store fat for energy and can change in size.

Gene Mutations and Leptin

When a mutation occurs in the genes that regulate normal eating and weight control, the result may be obesity.

Ob gene

Leptin

Leptin may play its most crucial role early in life, altering brain chemistry that influences how much an animal or person later eats.

Photo: Both of these mice have a mutation in the ob gene, which usually makes mice chubby, like the one on the right. But when leptin is injected daily, the mice eat less and burn more calories, becoming slim, like his friendly pal. Unfortunately, leptin injections have not had the same results in most human beings.

Other Factors in Obesity

Numerous other genes are linked to being overweight or obese

Receptors in nose and mouth urge to eat more

Brain will get high on sugary foods

Increase dopamine levels

Underactive reward circuitry

Appetite-suppressing drugs inevitably fail

The complexity of the mechanisms governing appetite and weight explains why appetite-suppressing drugs inevitably fail in the long run: They target only one of the many factors that conspire to keep you the weight you are.

Other Factors in Obesity

Exaggerated?

Some experts think that health concerns about obesity have been exaggerated because many overweight people are otherwise fit and in good cardiovascular health, and many thin people are not

Implicit Association Test: Food

Environmental Influences on Weight

Increased abundance of fast food and processed foods

The worldwide rise in weight has to do with five big changes in the environment:

The leading culprits causing the worldwide rise in weight have to do with five big changes in the environment and several less obvious ones.

Environmental Influences on Weight

Widespread consumption of high-sugar, high-calorie soft drinks

Environmental Influences on Weight

Sharp decline in exercise and other expenditures of energy

Environmental Influences on Weight

Increased portion sizes of food and drinks

Environmental Influences on Weight

Abundance of highly varied foods

Environmental Influences on Weight

Other suspects in the mystery of increasing obesity:

Sleeplessness

Women’s excessive weight gain during pregnancy

Central heating and air conditioning

Exposure to cold viruses

In addition to these obvious causes, researchers have identified other suspects in the mystery of increasing obesity. One is sleeplessness.

Another is a woman’s excessive weight gain during pregnancy.

A third possibility is central heating and air conditioning, which keep people from shivering and burning brown fat in winter and sweltering (and therefore eating less) in summer.

And yet another candidate is exposure to cold viruses.

The Body as Battleground: Eating Disorders

Characterized by:

Fear of being fat

A distorted body image

Radically reduced consumption of food

Emaciation

Characterized by episodes of excessive eating (bingeing) followed by forced vomiting or use of laxatives (purging)

Binging without purging (binge-eating disorder)

Chewing food but spitting it out without swallowing

Maintaining normal weight but worrying obsessively about gaining

Having phobias about certain foods

Anorexia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa

Others

In the United States, women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies now crosses all ethnic lines; the levels among Asian American, African American, Hispanic, and Anglo women are virtually the same (Grabe & Hyde, 2006). Eating disorders and body image distortions among boys and men are increasing too, though they take different forms.

The Body as Battleground: Eating Disorders

Some argue that the increased prevalence of anorexia and other eating disorders is a product of girls and women seeing ultrathin fashion models on the pages of magazines. Meanwhile, eating disorders and body image distortions among boys and men are increasing too, as the “ideal” male evolves into a more bulky, muscular shape. What do you think?

12.2

The Social Animal: Motives to Love

12.2

Module Learning Objectives

12.2.A

Describe how passionate love, compassionate love, social bonding, and the action of vasopressin and oxytocin all contribute to our understanding of the biology of love.

12.2.B

Explain how attachment theory can be applied to adult romantic relationships.

12.2.C

Summarize the research on gender differences and cultural differences in romantic relationships.

Passionate (romantic) love

Two important hormones for social bonding:

Vasopressin

Oxytocin

Origins of passionate love may begin in infancy when infant attaches to mother

Companionate love (affection and trust)

Characteristic feelings and actions that occur during attachment involve release of endorphins

The Biology of Love

Psychologists distinguish passionate (romantic) love from companionate love.

Biologically oriented researchers believe that the neurological origins of passionate love begin in the baby’s attachment to the mother.

Various brain chemicals and hormones, including vasopressin and oxytocin, are associated with bonding and trust; endorphins and dopamine create the rushes of pleasure and reward associated with romantic passion.

The Psychology of Love

Predictors of love

Proximity: We tend to choose our friends and lovers from the set of people who live, study, or work near us

Similarity: Choosing friends and lovers who are like us in looks, attitudes, beliefs, values, personality, and interests

The Psychology of Love

Internet services capitalize on the fact that like attracts like, and try to help people find their “perfect match.” How well do these services work?

The Attachment Theory of Love

People’s attachment styles as adults derive in large part from how their parents cared for them

Agitated and worried partner will leave

Distrustful, avoids intimate attachments

Rarely jealous or worried about abandonment

Secure

Anxious

Avoidant

The Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation has followed a large sample of children from birth to adulthood, to see how early attachment styles can create cascading effects on adult relationships. People who are treated poorly early in life and lack secure attachments may end up on a pathway that makes committed relationships difficult.

As children, they have trouble regulating negative emotions; as teenagers, they have trouble dealing with and recovering from conflict with their peers; as adults, they tend to “protect” themselves by becoming the less-committed partner in their relationships.

If these individuals are lucky enough to get into a relationship with a securely attached partner, however, these vulnerabilities in maintaining a stable partnership can be overcome (Oriña et al., 2011; Simpson, Collins, & Salvatore, 2011; Simpson & Overall, 2014).

Intimacy

Commitment

Passion

The Ingredients of Love

Another key psychological factor in couples’ ability to sustain love is the nature of their primary motivation to maintain the relationship: Is it positive (to enjoy affection and intimacy) or negative (to avoid feeling insecure and lonely)?

Couples motivated by the former goal tend to report more satisfaction with their partners (Gable & Poore, 2008).

We will see that this difference in motivation—positive or negative—affects happiness and satisfaction in many different domains of life.

Gender, Culture, and Love

As women have entered the workforce in large numbers:

Pragmatic (extrinsic) reasons for marriage have faded

Sexes are more alike in endorsing intrinsic motives as a requirement for marriage

Similarities between men and women

Equally likely to feel love and need attachment

Differences

Expressing feelings of love, defining intimacy

12.3

The Erotic Animal: Motives for Sex

12.3

Module Learning Objectives

12.3.A

Summarize early research findings on sexuality, and describe how biology, hormones, and expectations might contribute to differences in the sexuality of women and men.

12.3.B

Discuss six motives for sex and contrast these with three motives for rape.

12.3.C

Explain the ways in which culture and gender contribute to both sexual behavior and expectations about that behavior.

The Biology of Desire

Sex research:

Kinsey’s surveys of sexuality

Masters and Johnson’s studies of physiological changes during arousal, orgasm

Male and female orgasms are similar.

All orgasms are physiologically the same, regardless of source of stimulation

Later research

People vary in sexual excitement, response, and inhibition.

Factors Promoting Sexual Desire

Testosterone appears to promote sexual desire in both sexes.

However, sexual desire is also affected by:

Social experience

Context

Middle View:

Men’s sexual behavior is more biologically influenced.

Women’s sexual behavior is more affected by:

Circumstances

Specific relationship

Cultural norms

Men and Women: Same or Different?

Biological psychologists:

Hormones and brain circuits involved in sexual behavior differ for men and women.

Other psychologists:

Most gender differences in sexual behavior reflect women’s and men’s different roles and experiences in life.

Psychologists still disagree on why there are sex differences in sex drive.

The Psychology of Desire

Psychologists observe that the brain is the sexiest sex organ.

The Many Motives for Sex

MOTIVES

FOR

SEX

Pleasure

Intimacy

Insecurity

Partner approval

Peer approval

Attaining a goal

Pleasure: The satisfaction and physical pleasure of sex.

Intimacy: Emotional closeness with the partner, spiritual transcendence.

Insecurity: Reassurance that you are attractive or desirable.

Partner approval: The desire to please or appease the partner; the desire to avoid the partner’s anger or rejection.

Peer approval: The wish to impress friends, be part of a group, and conform to what everyone else seems to be doing.

Attaining a goal: To get status, money, revenge, or “even the score.”

Sexual Coercion and Rape

A desire to dominate, humiliate, or punish the victim

Sadism

Narcissism and hostility toward women

Motives for rape are primarily psychological:

Gender differences occur in perceptions of, and experiences with, sexual coercion.

Gender, Culture, and Sex

Cultures differ widely in sexual practices, transmit rules and requirements via:

Gender roles Collections of rules that determine the proper attitudes and behavior for men and women

Sexual scripts Sets of implicit rules that specify proper sexual behavior for a person in a given situation, varying with the person’s gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, social status, and peer group

Gender, Culture, and Sex

Scripts

Can be powerful determinants of behavior

Including the practice of safe sex

Are changing, largely as a result of women’s improving economic status

Traditional psychological explanations for homosexuality have not been supported.

Possible biological factors include:

Genetics

Hormones

Prenatal events

But biological factors cannot account for diversity of sexual responses, cultural customs, or experience.

BIOLOGY AND sexual orientation

Factors of Sexual Orientation

Genetic and hormonal factors seem to be involved, although the evidence is stronger for gay men than for lesbians.

The more older biological brothers a man has, the greater his likelihood of becoming homosexual, suggesting that prenatal events might be involved.

In spite of the evidence of a biological contribution to sexual orientation, there is great variation in the expression of homosexuality around the world.

Women’s sexual orientation seems more fluid than men’s.

12.4

The Competent Animal: Motives to Achieve

12.4

Module Learning Objectives

12.4.A

Describe three conditions that make goal-setting successful, distinguish between performance goals and mastery goals, and discuss the self-fulfilling prophecy cycle.

12.4.B

Describe how working conditions affect motives to achieve.

The Effects of Motivation on Work

The importance of goals

Goals improve motivation and performance when they:

Are specific

Are challenging but achievable

Are framed in terms of getting what you want rather than avoiding what you do not want

Approach goals: Goals framed in terms of desired outcomes or experiences, such as learning to scuba dive.

Avoidance goals: Goals framed in terms of avoiding unpleasant experiences, such as trying not to look foolish in public.

The Importance of Goals

Performance goals

Goals framed in terms of performing well in front of others, being judged favorably, and avoiding criticism

Mastery (learning) goals

Goals framed in terms of increasing one’s competence and skills

Types of Goals

When people who are motivated by performance goals do poorly, they will often decide the fault is theirs and stop trying to improve. Because their goal is to demonstrate their abilities, they set themselves up for grief when they temporarily fail, as all of us must if we are to learn anything new.

In contrast, people who are motivated to master new skills will generally regard failure and criticism as sources of useful information that will help them improve. They know that learning takes time. In business, education, and every other area of life, the lesson is clear: Failure is essential to eventual success.

Expectations and Self-Efficacy

Self-fulfilling prophecy

An expectation that comes true because of the tendency of the person holding it to act in ways to bring it about

Self-efficacy

A person’s belief that he or she is capable of producing desired results, such as mastering new skills and reaching goals

People’s expectations can create self-fulfilling prophecies of success or failure. These expectations stem from one’s level of self-efficacy.

The Effects of Work on Motivation

Conditions that increase job involvement, motivation, and satisfaction:

Work feels meaningful and important.

Employees have control over many aspects of their work.

Tasks are varied.

Company maintains clear and consistent rules.

Employees have supportive relationships with superiors and coworkers.

Employees receive useful feedback.

The company offers opportunities for growth.

Companies that foster these conditions tend to have more productive and satisfied employees.

Workers become more creative in their thinking, more engaged in their work, and feel better about themselves than they do if they feel stuck in routine jobs that give them no control or flexibility over their daily tasks.

Conversely, when people are put in situations that frustrate their desire and ability to succeed, they often become dissatisfied, their motivation declines, and they may drop out.

Working Conditions

Like employees, students can have poor working conditions that affect their motivation.

They may have siblings who interrupt them, or they may need to study wherever and whenever they can, even under less than optimal circumstances.

12.5

Motives, Values, and the Pursuit of Happiness

12.5

Module Learning Objectives

12.5.A

Discuss how accurate people are at estimating the type, duration, and extent of their future emotions, and comment on what research indicates makes people happy.

12.5.B

Describe three types of motivational conflicts people often face, and give an example of each.

Figure 12.1: The Misprediction of Emotion

Figure 12.1 The Misprediction of Emotion

In a real-life longitudinal study, college students about to be randomly assigned to a dorm had to predict how happy or unhappy they would feel about being assigned to a house they had ranked as “desirable” or “undesirable.” Most students thought that they would be much less happy in an “undesirable” dorm, but in fact, 1 year later, there was no difference between the two groups (Dunn, Wilson, & Gilbert, 2003).

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Three Major Kinds of Motivational Conflicts

Approach-Approach Conflicts

GOAL #1

GOAL #2

Approach-Avoidance Conflicts

GOAL

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts

GOAL #1

GOAL #2

Approach–approach conflicts: Occur when you are equally attracted to two or more possible activities or goals.

Avoidance-avoidance conflicts: Require you to choose between the lesser of two evils because you dislike both alternatives.

Approach-avoidance conflicts: Occur when a single activity or goal has both a positive and a negative aspect.

Taking Psychology with You

How To Attain Your Goals

Seek activities that are intrinsically pleasurable.

Focus on learning goals, not only on performance goals.

Assess your working conditions.

Take steps to resolve motivational conflicts.

End of Chapter

Interactive Figures

Interactive figure

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs