Question

describe the incentive theory of hunger motivation. How does it impact on the biological hunger motive? How does it impact on the biological hunger motive? How does our supermarket diet/ or our restaurant diet speak to the incentive theory?

Answer 1

The incentive theory of motivation is one of the major theories of motivation and suggests that behavior is motivated by a desire for reinforcement or incentives.

1. Drive reduction theory suggests that internal physiological needs create motivational states called drives. This theory explains hunger in terms of a deficit within the body
2. Positive incentive theory suggests that we are drawn to eat in response to the anticipated pleasure of food. External and internal stimuli can create motivation, for example the thought or sight of attractive food can make us feel hungry.

The theory impacts on the biological hunger motive in following ways:

This view of hunger has its roots in Cannon's concept of homeostasis which he developed to describe dynamic equilibrium in physiological systems.

If part of an animal is disturbed (e.g. if body tissue is not receiving enough oxygen or food) the animal behaves in a way that will alleviate the deficiency, and restore the homeostatic balance.

According to this theory, the hunger drive serves to maintain the body's energy balance. In other words, hunger is due to deprivation, and the animal's behaviour is designed to reduce deprivation.

Supermarket diet/ or restaurant diet speaks to incentive theory in following ways:

​​​​While food intake and body weight are under homeostatic regulation, eating is a highly motivated and reinforced behavior that induces feelings of gratification and pleasure. This feeling is more amplified in case of supermarket or test diets.

The chemical senses (taste and odor) and their evaluation are essential to these functions.

The hypothalamic and limbic forebrain areas are responsible for evaluation of reward quality and related emotions.

They are innervated by the mesolimbic dopaminergic system (MLDS) and majority of GM neurons are also influenced by dopamine. Via dopamine release, the MLDS plays an essential role in rewarding-reinforcing processes of feeding and addiction.

The GM network and the MLDS in the limbic system represent essential elements in the neural substrate of motivation.

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