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The Power of Motivation: Crash Course Psychology #17

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    >HANK GREEN: You've probably heard this story.
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    Aron Ralston was out climbing
    in Utah's Blue John Canyon
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    when a giant rock shifted
    under his feet and he fell,
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    pinning his right arm to the canyon wall.
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    He was stuck, and worse,
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    he hadn't told anyone where he was going.
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    For the next five days, Ralston tried
    to move and chip away at the rock.
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    He ate his remaining food,
    drank the last of his water,
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    eventually he drank his own urine,
    and started videotaping his goodbyes.
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    But then something happened.
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    Ralston had a dream.
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    He saw himself as a father,
    picking up his son,
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    and with that vision,
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    an overpowering will to survive kicked in.
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    He broke his arm bones,
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    sawed through his flesh with a dull pocket knife,
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    and freed himself.
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    Ralston harnessed some of our
    most powerful psychological forces:
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    hunger, thirst, desire to be part of a family,
    need to return to the human community.
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    They ignited his tenacity,
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    which allowed him to do an incredible thing.
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    He harnessed the power of motivation,
    obviously in a big, big way.
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    ♪ [ intro ] ♪
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    >In its most basic sense,
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    motivation is the need
    or desire to do something,
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    whether that need is biological,
    social, or emotional.
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    And whether that something
    is making dinner, going to college,
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    or cutting off your arm,
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    motivation is what gets you moving.
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    The big question is, why?
    Why do we do anything?
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    I mean, why ever bother
    changing out of my sweatpants?
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    Psychologists often view motivation
    in one or more of four ways.
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    On their own, none of these theories is perfect,
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    but taken together, they help us
    understand what drives us.
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    Let's start with the first theory:
    an evolutionary perspective.
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    For a while in the early 20th century,
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    it was popular to think of all behaviors
    as instincts, or innate drives to act a certain way,
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    but this so-called "instinct theory" was misguided,
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    in part because the presence of a tendency
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    doesn't always mean it's supposed to be there.
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    Like, we can imagine why a bunch of people
    might start rioting at a heated soccer match,
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    but to say that they're supposed to,
    is a little short-sighted.
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    Evolution is a far more complex, chaotic,
    and interesting process than that.
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    Plenty of behaviors could
    just be accidents of evolution.
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    Late paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould
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    called these accidents "spandrels,"
    or traits that, rather than being adaptive,
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    just stuck around as byproducts
    of other processes.
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    Today we define instincts as
    complex, unlearned behaviors
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    that have a fixed pattern throughout a species.
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    For example, dogs instinctively
    shake their fur when wet,
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    salmon return to the stream
    in which they hatched,
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    and human babies know how to
    suckle just minutes after being born.
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    These are true, genetically predisposed
    instincts that do not require learning.
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    But today we understand that while
    certain tendencies may be genetic,
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    individual experience plays a major role
    in behavior and motivation as well.
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    So another theory of motivation suggests
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    that a psychological need, or drive,
    simply compels us to reduce that need.
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    This is called the drive-reduction theory.
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    This can be as simple as hearing my
    stomach growl and looking for a burrito.
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    My need is food, my drive is hunger,
    my drive-reduction behavior is burrito.
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    Drive reduction is all about
    maintaining your body's homeostasis—
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    the balance of its physiological systems.
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    As much as we're pushed to reduce our drives,
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    we're also pulled along by incentives:
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    the positive or negative stimuli
    that either entice or repel us.
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    The mouth-watering smell of
    that burrito pulls me toward it,
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    just as much as my hunger pushes me there.
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    However, we're also clearly more complicated
    than our homeostatic systems,
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    and drive-reduction theory may
    oversimplify a lot of our behavior.
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    For example, a person may fast for days,
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    ignoring their body's hunger,
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    to honor some spiritual or political cause,
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    and I know I'm not the only one
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    who sometimes eats when
    I'm not actually hungry.
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    So a third theory, the theory of optimal arousal,
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    attempts to fill in some of those gaps.
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    It suggests, rather than just reducing
    a drive or tension like hunger,
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    we're motivated to maintain a balance
    between stimulation and relaxation.
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    Say you're holed up in your
    house all weekend studying.
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    You're bored and lonely and gettin' weird,
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    so you call up some friends to go
    mountain biking or go to a karaoke bar
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    or whatever you like to do for stimulation.
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    The idea here is that you want
    to hit the right level of arousal —
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    which, take note, psychologists
    often use in a non-sexual sense —
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    without getting overstimulated and stressed.
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    So if you nearly break your face on that bike ride
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    or the Journey covers at karaoke
    night start getting too intense,
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    you may need to back off and take a nap.
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    Of course, everyone has a different
    level of optimal arousal,
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    and I'm guessing Aron Ralston's was fairly high.
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    Adrenaline junkies may jump out
    of planes to hit their ideal level,
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    whereas others might be satiated by an
    engaging book or a new knitting pattern.
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    No matter which, the optimal arousal theory
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    suggests that we're motivated
    to avoid both boredom and stress.
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    And obviously, not all needs are created equally.
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    If I'm suffocating and can't catch a breath,
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    I'm not going to be thinking
    about eating that burrito.
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    And if I'm about to be ravaged by lions,
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    I'm not going to worrying
    about my next paycheck.
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    American psychologist Abraham Maslow
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    illustrated this shuffling of
    priorities in the mid-1900s
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    with his famous hierarchy of needs.
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    Down at the bottom of the pyramid,
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    you'll find our most basic
    physiological needs
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    for food, water, air, and moderate temperatures.
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    The next rung up speaks to our need for safety,
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    then comes love and belonging,
    followed by esteem or respect,
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    and finally, once all those needs have been met,
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    we have the relative luxury of being
    motivated by self-actualization
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    and spiritual growth and yoga retreats and stuff.
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    Of course there are problems with Maslow's vision.
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    Empirical research hasn't really supported his hierarchy.
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    We tend to skip around on
    that pyramid all the time,
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    and the importance of those higher-level needs
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    may vary depending on our culture
    and finances and personalities.
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    But still, everyone is restricted by
    the lowest levels of the pyramid,
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    so regardless of theories about why we have them,
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    most schools of psychological thought
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    agree that we are driven by
    at least three big motivators:
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    sex, hunger, and the need to belong.
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    We'll do a whole lesson later
    on all sorts of sex-related stuff,
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    including how it motivates us.
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    (There's a lot there.)
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    For now, let's just say that sexual motivation
    is how we promote the survival of our species
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    through recreation and/or procreation,
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    both of which help human
    communities bond and expand.
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    Without it, none of us would be here today
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    thinking about burritos and
    severed arms and sex and stuff.
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    Internally, we are biologically driven
    to knock boots by our sex hormones.
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    We're also motivated by psychological
    and sociocultural influences
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    ranging from suggestive external stimuli
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    plastered all over billboards, magazines, and TVs
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    in the form of, you know, like, scantily
    clad bodies sprawled out on beaches
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    to more genteel desires like love and family
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    or adherence to personal, religious,
    and cultural values.
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    Sex is a big motivator,
    but it isn't precisely a need.
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    No matter what anyone has told you,
    people do not die without it.
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    Hunger, though… After air and water,
    food is our body's greatest need,
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    and thus, obtaining food is
    one of our greatest motivations.
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    Hunger may seem pretty simple --
    eat food, stay alive --
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    but physiologically and psychologically,
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    there is a lot going on,
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    and like so many things,
    it starts in the brain.
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    The sensation of hunger usually begins
    with a drop in your blood-sugar level.
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    Glucose is our body's primary source of energy,
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    and while you might not initially
    feel a drop, your brain will.
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    Your hypothalamus monitors your blood chemistry
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    and responds to both high levels
    of the "hunger hormone" ghrelin,
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    and low levels of glucose,
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    by triggering that feeling of hunger,
    reminding you to eat something.
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    I am in fact experiencing it right now!
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    Once you've eaten that burrito,
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    your metabolism takes over,
    converting that food into energy,
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    but while our physiological need for calories varies
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    depending on our body size and composition,
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    your gender, and your age,
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    our hunger is also shaped by our
    psychology, culture, and mood.
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    And these factors don't just
    rule WHEN we're hungry;
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    they also guide WHAT we're hungry for.
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    Biologically speaking, most humans
    and many other animals
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    have a genetic taste for sweets and fatty foods
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    because they're typically high in energy,
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    but other taste preferences are conditioned
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    through experience and culture.
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    I may have an aversion to oysters
    because they once made me sick,
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    and love gingerbread cookies because
    my grandma used to make them.
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    Although popular in Cambodia,
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    I'm not too keen on eating fried tarantulas,
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    just as lots of folks around the world think
    that the very idea of peanut butter is gross.
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    Still, the feeling of hunger affects us the same.
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    During World War II in the U.S.,
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    some conscientious objectors
    volunteered for medical research
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    as an alternative way to serve their country.
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    Perhaps the most famous of these studies
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    was physiologist Ancel Keys'
    Minnesota Hunger Experiment,
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    which measured the effects of semi-starvation
    by partially starving its volunteers.
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    While ethically dubious, the experiment
    was geared toward understanding
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    the many small and large effects of hunger,
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    which was plaguing Europe at the time.
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    The study started in 1944
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    by feeding 36 young, healthy men
    a normal diet for 3 months,
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    then halving their caloric intake for 6 months,
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    then slowly rehabilitating them to
    normal weight during the last 3 months.
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    They ate mostly wartime-foods like
    root vegetables, bread, and pastas,
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    and were required to walk 22 miles
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    and participate in various work
    and educational activities
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    for 40 hours each week.
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    The goal was to see a 25% drop in
    body weight during the starvation period,
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    and, as you can imagine,
    the changes were dramatic.
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    The men became gaunt and listless
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    and showed a decrease in strength,
    heart rate, and body temperature.
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    But the psychological effects were
    perhaps even more dramatic.
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    The men became totally obsessed with food.
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    They dreamed about it, talked about it
    all the time, read cookbooks.
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    They lost interest in sex and
    jokes and social activities.
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    They were irritable, anxious, and depressed.
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    In the end, they were all rehabilitated,
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    but the study gave us some understanding of
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    the devastating psychological
    effects of starvation.
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    It also showed us something of the social effects
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    as men withdrew from one another
    and isolated themselves.
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    As one fundamental need was frustrated,
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    these men experienced the decline
    of another: the need to belong.
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    Humans are social animals.
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    Evolutionarily speaking, it's fair to say
    that social bonding has helped us survive.
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    It's a tough world out there,
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    and we've got a lot better shot at thriving
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    if we're sharing resources and responsibilities,
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    protecting and supporting each other in groups.
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    That isn't say you need to be
    joined at the hip with everyone;
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    our social needs have to be balanced with
    our autonomy, or sense of personal control,
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    so we feel both connected and independent.
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    But sometimes we're denied that sense of belonging.
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    We've all experienced the pain
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    of being ignored ignored or rejected
    at some point in our lives.
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    It's worse than just about anything.
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    The evidence for this is abundant.
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    One recent study suggested
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    that teenagers who had a sense
    of belonging to their community
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    had better health and emotional outcomes
    than those who didn't feel like they belonged.
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    Cultures all over the world
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    actually use ostracism, or social
    exclusion, as a type of punishment.
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    Whether it's kids in time out, adults in exile,
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    or prisoners in solitary confinement,
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    separation feels like a punch in the gut.
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    Never underestimate the power
    behind what motivates us.
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    The need to survive, the need to belong:
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    if you can harness that motivation,
    you can do just about anything.
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    Just ask Aron Ralston.
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    If you were motivated to learn today,
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    hopefully you took in four theories
    of motivation including
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    the evolutionary perspective,
    drive-reduction, optimal arousal,
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    and Maslow's hierarchy of needs;
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    and how sex, hunger, and the
    need to belong motivate us.
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    Thanks for watching,
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    especially to our Subbable subscribers
    who make this whole channel possible.
  • 10:52 - 10:54
    If you'd like to sponsor
    an episode of Crash Course
  • 10:54 - 10:55
    or even be animated into an upcoming episode,
  • 10:55 - 10:58
    just go to Subbable.com/CrashCourse.
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    This episode was written by Kathleen Yale,
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    edited by Blake de Pastino,
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    and our consultant is Dr. Ranjit Bhagwat.
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    Our director and editor is Nicholas Jenkins,
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    the script supervisor is Michael Aranda
    (who is also our sound designer),
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    and the graphics team is Thought Cafe.
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    [END]
Title:
The Power of Motivation: Crash Course Psychology #17
Description:

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Feeling motivated? Even if you are, do you know why? The story of Aaron Ralston can tell us a lot about motivation. In this episode of Crash Course Psychology, Hank tells us Ralston's story, as well as 4 theories of motivation and some evolutionary perspectives on motivation.

--
Table of Contents

Four Theories of Motivation:
Evolutionary Perspective 1:38:22
Drive-Reduction 2:45:10
Optimal Arousal 3:38:21
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs 4:49:04
How Sex, Hunger, and the Need to Belong Motivate us 5:29:02

--
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Video Language:
English
Duration:
11:20

English subtitles

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