User:Tfitz1991/Mammalian Drives

'Mammalian Drives'

Social Drives

Social drives are one of the strongest forces dictating mammalian behavior. Especially with humans, cooperation with others is crucial to survival. Humans need friendship, approval, and acceptance by their social groups, and can go to great lengths to achieve them. This drive can be as powerful as regulatory and safety drives, as people are capable of risking their own lives for family, friends, and loved ones. The emergence of social behavior begins as early as 15 months, when a child moves away from egocentric empathy, seeking comfort for himself or herself over that of another person (Hoffman, 2000). Children begin to respond to another person’s distress by attempting to comfort them. This marks the beginning of growth and patterns of behavior that are dictated by social drives. Beginning in childhood, a person’s morality is shaped and formed through inborn drives and emotions derived from interactions with parents and those around them. Discipline is a driver that can be divided into three classes, induction, power assertion, and love withdrawal (Hoffman 1983). Parents can induce a child to contemplate the consequences of his or her actions through induction, use physical force or punishment through power assertion, or express disapproval of the child through love withdrawal. Although the first method is preferred, all are all drivers of the child’s behavior in the future. Play is another social driver and is crucial to moral development, helping children learn rules and self-control through interactions with their peers (Piaget, 1965). Children engaged in social dilemmas with their peers rather than their parents improve more greatly in moral reasoning, as they are more actively engaged in discussion rather than passive as they are with parents (Kruger, 1992). Social pressures are psychological forces in the form of expectations, judgments and demands that are exerted on an individual. Informational influences are social drivers that work by providing clues about the nature of an event or object, while normative influences occur through a person’s desire to be included or approved of by a group. These are the two types of influences that cause people to tend to conform to others’ examples. The pressure to conform is such a strong social driver that subjects will give a wrong answer to an obvious question if all others in the same setting choose this same wrong answer (Asch, 1956). Reciprocity norm is the feeling of obligation to return favors, and it is another basic driver that prompts certain behavior in people (Gouldner, 1960). People also tend to have strong senses of fairness, extending beyond actions that are in one’s immediate self-interest. In many scenarios, people tend to prefer gaining nothing than to enter into an unfair agreement with some gain (Fehr and Fischbacher, 2003). These are all examples of social drivers that influence people’s behavior.

Regulatory Drives

A regulatory drive is any motivation state that helps to maintain consistency of the body’s internal environment, otherwise known as homeostasis. Homeostasis regulates the body’s chemistry around a particular levelIf the body’s homeostasis is upset, the regulatory drives will induce behavior to correct the internal imbalance. Because there is a tissue need for homeostasis, death could result if homeostasis is not preserved. For instance, the average human internal temperature remains at around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. If a person is in extremely hot conditions, for example, the desert, the body will immediately start sweating to preserve homeostasis. Aside from maintaining a constant body temperature, the homeostatic regulatory drives are represented most prevalently through hunger, thirst, and a need for oxygen. Hunger, a basic physiological need, is accompanied by stomach contractions that signify that homeostasis is not maintained. The need for hunger is controlled by the hypothalamus that monitors appetite hormone levels. Other stimuli act on the brain to increase or decrease hunger such as, satiety signals from the stomach and food cravings. Once hunger is satisfied, the hypothalamus continues to monitor body hormone levels (insulin, leptin, orexin, ghrelin, and PYY) just in case homeostasis is disturbed. The responses the body has to hunger are consistent with the Drive Reduction Theory. This theory basically states that when a human has a physiological need (such as the need for food) the body will go into an aroused state driven to satisfy that need. In the example of hunger, the need for food will put us into the aroused state of hunger, which will ultimately result in our eating of food. The drive reduction theory can also be applied to other states that represent regulatory drives, such as the previously mentioned thirst and need for oxygen.

Reproductive Drives

Reproductive drives are those that serve the purpose of keeping a species population prosperous and abundant. The two most common reproductive drives are the sex-drive and the drive to care for one’s offspring. All species can be classified as either r-strategists or k-strategists. R-strategist species are those that reproduce rapidly in abundant quantities and don’t have a high success rate of making it to adulthood, while k-strategist species reproduce less frequently and have a high likelihood of making it to adulthood. Both species have reproductive drives to ensure their species population remains abundant in quantity, however they do so in different ways. R-strategists only exhibit the sex drive to make sure reproduction occurs. An example of this is small rodents that reproduce in mass quantities. However, as soon as they are born they are basically on their own. Without care from their parents they have a low survival rate, keeping their populations from growing beyond sustainable levels. K-strategists on the other hand exhibit the drive to care for their young to ensure survival, in addition to the reproductive sex drive. To keep their populations at sustainable levels they exhibit the sex drive to reproduce. Humans are k-strategists often caring for their young for many years to ensure survival. Because they produce less frequently and in lower quantities it is therefore crucial the offspring make it to adulthood to ensure the population remains at sustainable levels. Reproductive drives play a vital role in the survival of species.

References

Asch, S. E. (1952). Social psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2003). The nature of human altruism. Nature, 425, 785-791.

Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25, 161-178.

Hoffman, M. L. (1983) Affective and cognitive processes in moral internalization. In E. T. Higgins, D. N. Ruble, & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), Social cognition and social development. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Kruger, A. C. (1992). The effect of peer and adult-child transactive discussions on moral reasoning. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 38, 191-211

Piaget, J. (1932; reprinted 1965). The moral judgment of the child. New York: Free Press.

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Environmental Science: Problems, Concepts, and Solutions. Belmont, CA: Brooks Cole, 2008. Print

Gray, Peter. Psychology. New York: Worth, 2007. Print.

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