BIOLOGICAL OR AROUSAL THEORY OF MOTIVATION

This poest describes the arousal theory of motivation and its application in classroom situation. Arousal can be defined as A physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli, including elevated heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility, and readiness to respond. Arousal theory proposes that motivation is strongly linked to biological factors that control reward sensitivity and goal-driven behavior.

This will constitute the main topic of debate in this section. Every living organism, which include humans, have a self-regulatory system in their bodies, working in the same way as homeostasis does in maintaining the internal body processes such as temperature, sugar, blood pressure, salt, hormone production, etc. This process of homeostasis helps to maintain our bodies at balance and corrects any possible deviation in the way our bodies function. Our several motivated behaviours, namely hunger are driven in the similar way using the homeostasis.

The arousal theory of motivation was developed by Donald Hebb, a Canadian Neuropsychologist, (of which he is recognised as the founding father) who lived between 22^nd July 1904 and 20^th August,1985. In his career, He strived to establish the contribution of the neuronal function to the psychological such as learning. His Arousal theory, states that there is an optimal level of arousal necessary to perform a task well. If arousal level is too high for a task, organism will seek behaviours to drop arousal. If arousal level is too low for a task, organism will seek behaviours to raise arousal. Engage in behaviour to regulate optimal arousal.

Donald Olding Hebbnoticed that some individuals engage in behaviours not necessarily for homeostasis, some was for pleasure, motivation for arousal actually the opposite of homeostasis.

Optimal arousal is a “push” or internal motivation to act in a certain manner. Arousal, like drive, is thought to energise and direct behaviour. Arousal is able to explain behaviour that continues at the same level and intensity or increases, and it is not a hypothetical construct but a measurable phenomenon.

Donald Hebb theory, states that there is an optimal level of arousal necessary to perform a task well. If arousal level is too high for a task, organism will seek behaviours to drop arousal. If arousal level is too low for a task, organism will seek behaviours to raise arousal, engage in behaviour to regulate optimal arousal. His views could be supported by the following experiments.

(a) Sensory Deprivation Studies

Hebb, interested in the effects of arousal deprivation on the brain, took arousal away for a week to see what would happen. He periodically sent in people to ask general knowledge questions, and measure impacts on cognitive deficits. Individuals unable to quickly perform cognitive skills 2 days to 3 days, experience hallucinations. He then concluded that sensory deprivation, i.e. aversive, brain will generate its own stimulation in absence of external sensory experience (cause of hallucinations). Proof of arousal theory.

In another experiment, Melzack was Interested in exploratory behaviour. He raised half puppies in isolation and half of them in a normal environment. After 10 months, all dogs were brought into a room that was unfamiliar but with toys. Animals raised in isolation, when introduced into a new room, experimented more than those which were raised in a stimuli-rich environment, for longer. He concluded that reduced environmental sensory stimulation causes a craving.

(b) Experiments involving Reticular Activation System by Mourzzi

The reticular activation system (RAS), located within the brainstem, is The network in the reticular formation that serves an alerting or arousal function. It among other functions controls the sleep-wake cycle.

In his experiment, Mourzzi, put cats to sleep and stimulated different areas of their brain. When got to RAS, this caused desynchronisation of brainwaves and the animals acted like they were awake in brainwaves, then went to the deepest possible sleep. This effect lead to the realisation that the RAS controlled the sleep-wake cycle.

The Reward System

Arousal theory proposes that motivation is strongly linked to biological factors that control reward sensitivity and goal-driven behaviour. Reward sensitivity is located in the mesolimbic dopamine system. Research shows that individual differences in neurological activity in this area can influence motivation for certain goal-driven behaviours that will elicit a reward or satisfy a craving. In this way, the reward system spurs physiological arousal, which motivates the individual to engage in whatever behaviour is necessary to satisfy or relieve that arousal. For example, substance use is associated with overactivity in the dopamine system; depending on how strongly an individual’s brain interprets that as a “reward,” they may be more or less motivated to continue using that substance.

To show how the reward system works, Peter Milner and James Olds conducted an experiment in the early 1950s in which a rat had an electrode implanted in its brain so that its brain could be locally stimulated at any time. The rat was put in a box that contained two levers: one lever released food and water, and another lever delivered a brief stimulus to the reward centre of the brain. At the beginning the rat wandered around the box and stepped on the levers by accident, but before long it was pressing the lever for the brief stimulus repeatedly.

This behaviour is called electrical self-stimulation. Sometimes, rats would become so involved in pressing the lever that they would forget about food and water, stopping only after collapsing from exhaustion. Electrical self-stimulation apparently provided a reward that reinforced the habit to press the lever. This study provided evidence that animals are motivated to perform behaviours that stimulate dopamine release in the reward centre of the brain.

Optimal Levels of Arousal

Theories of learning assert that there is an optimal level of arousal that we all try to maintain. If we are under-aroused, we become bored and will seek out some sort of stimulation. On the other hand, if we are over-aroused, we will engage in behaviours to reduce our arousal. Research shows that moderate arousal is generally best; when arousal is very high or very low, performance tends to suffer.

Researchers Robert Yerkes and John Dodson discovered that the optimal arousal level depends on the complexity and difficulty of the task to be performed. This relationship is known as “Yerkes-Dodson law”, which holds that a simple task is performed best when arousal levels are relatively high and complex tasks are best performed when arousal levels are lower. This situation can be illustrated with the help of the figure below.

Classroom implications of the arousal theory of Motivation

Most learners in schools experience the similar need to maintain optimal levels of arousal over the course of their academic career. This could be more significant when they are heading closer to the end of term or year tests or exams. They are usually overwhelmed with two things: One is the test ahead and the other is their longing for the holiday after the test, i.e. their arousal level is too high in this case.

However, when the holiday comes, it does not take long for them to feel bored and start yearning for the back-to-school i.e. their arousal level has become too low. Generally, by the time fall semester starts, many students are quite happy to return to school. This is an example of the arousal theory at work.