Motivation, Aversive, Biological Bases

Abstract

Survival depends upon the ability to recognize potential predators and competitors for scarce resources such as food, water and a safe resting place. Survivors also must be capable of elaborating appropriate aversive motivational states that support behaviors which result in (1) escape from a source of noxious and potentially life-threatening stimulation, (2) avoidance of stimuli that have in the past been associated with noxious stimulation, or (3) removal of a source of potentially noxious stimulation by aggression. All three require the activation of motivational states that are often call affective reactions (even though most investigators in this field find it difficult to define the term without reference to specific instances). It is important to note that under normal circumstances, these affective reactions are triggered by stimuli in the environment, external to the organism. Aversive motivation differs in this important respect from appetitive motivational states which are based on changes in the internal environment (although such external stimuli as the sight and smell of food do, of course, interact with the internal milieu and may, under some circumstances provide adequate stimulation of appetitive behavior).