Motivation: a biobehavioural approach RoderickWong Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia XXXX This Page Intentionally Left Blank Motivation: a biobehavioural approach This book provides the reader with an understanding of why an individual exhibits certain behaviours, and what the causes of these actions are. Roderick Wong presents an analysis of motivated behaviour such as sexual activity, parental behaviour, food selection, fear or aggression, from a biological perspective, each chapter focusing on individual systems under- lying specific motivational states that result in motivated acts. The similari- ties, differences and integration between these motivational systems are discussed throughout. Using a framework derived from research and theory from animal behaviour and comparative psychology, this book analyses relevant issues in human motivation such as mate choice, nepotism, attachment and independence, sensation seeking, obesity and parent–offspring conflict. It will be particularly useful for undergraduate students in psychology or behavioural science taking courses in motivation and emotion, comparative psychology, animal behaviour or biological psychology. RODERICK WONG is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. His previous books include Motivation: a biobehavioral analysis of consummatory activities (1976) and the edited volume Biological Perspectives in Motivated Activities (1995). XXXX This Page Intentionally Left Blank Motivation: a biobehavioural approach Roderick Wong Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia PUBLISHED BY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS (VIRTUAL PUBLISHING) FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia http://www.cambridge.org © Cambridge University Press 2000 This edition © Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing) 2003 First published in printed format 2000 A catalogue record for the original printed book is available from the British Library and from the Library of Congress Original ISBN 0 521 56175 2 hardback Original ISBN 0 521 56727 0 paperback Contents Preface and acknowledgements vi 1 Introduction and perspective 1 2 Mating and reproductive activities 13 3 Parental/maternal activities 59 4 Feeding activities 89 5 Food selection 125 6 Drinking activities 148 7 Stimulus seeking and exploratory activities 164 8 Aversive motivation systems: fear, frustration and aggression 187 9 Social motivation: attachment and altruism 209 10 Conclusions and retrospective 221 References 233 Author index 271 Subject index 277 XXXXXX Preface and acknowledgements vi I wrote this book as a text for intermediate and advanced level courses in motivation, and as supplementary material for courses on comparative psychology and biopsychology. Although there may be overlap with material in other current textbooks on motivation, the approach and treatment taken in this one is quite different. It does not present an exhaustive review of facts and anthology of theories in the field, but instead, attempts to cover selected material linked in a coherent fashion. In doing so I have attempted to make some sense of the diverse range of topics that are covered in other motivation texts. I have also attempted to indicate the interplay of material on animal and human research, and hope that the reader will find the presentation a natural one in which the transition between the two appears unforced. The organisation of each of the substantive chapters begins with a consideration of ‘classic’ theories and studies of a specific motivated activity, and is followed by discussion of selected current developments indicating further complexities of the issue. Even though some earlier theories have been superseded by recent models, like Mook (1996), I believe that students will benefit from such exposure, and consequently, develop a better understanding of how current models and research evolved. Shortly after I had completed this book, I encountered others offering new insights that were not available during my preparation. Within the limited time remaining for the production of this book, I have attempted to fine-tune some of my presentation with some ideas that I have learned from these new works. I hope that I have done justice to material gleaned from the recent books by Rolls (1999), and Schulkin (1999), as well as those from selected chapters in Fundamental Neuroscience edited by Zigmond, Bloom, Landis, Roberts and Squires (1999), and offer my apologies to the authors if I have been remiss. I also apologise to other excellent researchers who may feel slighted if I have not properly Preface and acknowledgements vii attended to their work. Their research is undoubtedly as important and significant as the ones that I have mentioned, but my coverage has been limited by time and space. The reader will notice variability in the length and treatment of topics in the chapters. Part of this reflects the state of current interest and activity on the topic. For example, discussions on evolutionary and physiological/psychological aspects of sex have received much attention in recent years, and I have attempted to convey some of this material. In contrast, I was not able to devote comparable space to the analysis of social motivation, due in part to the paucity of sources that dealt with this topic from a biological perspective. However, I have adopted this perspective to make some sense in analysing the richness of the phenom- enon manifested in ‘real life events’ a propos social attachment and pro-social behaviour. An older reader may notice a superficial resemblance between the present work and one written almost a quarter of a century ago (Wong, 1976). A close examination of the contents of these two works will reveal commonalities as well as considerable differences. Although the issues remain the same, there have been significant changes in the way they are conceptualised. The influence of evolutionary psychology and ad- vances in the neurosciences has drastically altered the direction of research on motivational issues. The experimental techniques develop- ed in the latter field have provided researchers with means of studying proximate mechanisms, and resulted in insights that were unimagin- able during the previous era. In the preface of my earlier book, I acknowledged the help of three senior scholars in the motivation area who had read its first draft, and who brought problems to my attention, corrected some of my errors and were very encouraging. I wish that they were still around to interact with me on this project, and it is with feelings of sadness and loss, that I dedicate this work to the memory of Professors Bob Bolles, Wladek Sluckin and George Wolf. They were my mentors during my formative years and I treasured their friendship. In its present form, this book has benefited from the support of many people. Foremost among these is my wife and best friend, Bernice, who by her own example, set standards for industry and commitment in writing. I also am indebted to my Commissioning Editor at Cambridge University Press, Dr. Tracey Sanderson, for her considerable assistance on this project. She read the first draft of the first two chapters, and spent a considerable time giving detailed comments on my errors in spelling, grammar syntax, as well as knowledge in biology. Her prompt viii Preface and acknowledgements replies to my calls for help, advice, and support throughout this project sustained me during periods when I had experienced problems on this project. During the final stages of this I received invaluable and careful help from my copy editor, Rita Owen, in the production of this work. She commented and made suggestions on material needing clarification as well as ensured that the citations and the reference list were consistent with one another. It was a pleasure to work with her, and I thank her for her forbearance throughout. I have benefited from almost 40 years of intellectual exchange with John Jung of California State University at Long Beach, who is at present writing another of his many books. Through John’s help and encouragement, I learned how to use computer-based bibliographic tools, and during this project, he walked me through many crises related to their use. Another good friend and colleague, Fred P. Valle, generously offered me the use of diagrams that he developed as visual aids for his lectures on the mechanisms and models of thirst. But most of all, I thank him for learning much from our discussions during the 25 years that we spent co-teaching a course in Animal Behaviour. Tony Phillips was Head of the Psychology Department when I began this book, and his administration provided me with the psycho- logical environment that made it possible. Through his postgraduate students who participated in my seminars on the biopsychology of motivation, I learned about advances in dopamine research in the Phil- lips laboratory and they brought to my attention, the ideas of Kent Berridge of the University of Michigan on wanting and liking as distinct motivational variables. Kent read a draft of the chapter on Feeding Activities, and offered some suggestions that I have implemented. Simi- larly, I thank Alison Fleming of the University of Toronto for doing the same on a draft of the maternal/parental behaviour chapter, as well as for her friendly encouragement. Richard