General Drives: Looking for New Experiences

General drives, like biological drives, are inborn. Unlike biological drives, they do not appear to operate on the principle of homeostasis. Three general drives of particular interest are the curiosity drive, the activity drive, and the affectional drive.

The curiosity drive urges us to seek novel stimulation, to look for new- experiences. The drive is active in infants. Present an infant with a familiar rattle.

The infant may show- a little interest, and then put the rattle aside. Present the infant with a second, unfamiliar rattle. Interest will be renewed. The renewed interest is explained by the curiosity drive. The different color or the different shape of the novel rattle elicits attention. The curiosity drive is activated by change of stimulation.

The need for stimulation is a profound one. Sensory deprivation research brings this point into bold relief. Sensory deprivation exists w-hen vision, hearing, and the other senses are forced to operate with little or no information arising from the external wodd. Volunteer subjects deprived of light, sound, and other information to the senses often report sensory hallucinations. Some see flying fireballs. Others hear strange music. Some have out-of-body experiences. All of this suggests that it is necessary to have a flow- of stimulation in order to maintain perceptual stability.

And change of stimulation, sought by the curiosity drive, has a greater value than constant stimulation. The same note played over and over and over again is experienced as boring. A series of notes played in different pitches and with time variations becomes an interesting melody.

The curiosity drive may also play a role in risk-taking behavior, behavior in which individuals unnecessarily place themselves in physical jeopardy. Examples of such behavior include sky diving, hang gliding, hot air ballooning, driving over the speed limit, and so forth. One interpretation of such behavior is to hypothesize that some individuals have self-destructive tendencies. And it is possible that such tendencies may play an important role in the behavior. A second interpretation of risk-taking behavior is to hypothesize that some individuals are somewhat bored with their day-to-day lives, lives that do not include enough change of stimulation. Risk-taking behavior is one way of increasing the level of stimulation, increasing central nervous system arousal, and experiencing excitement.

A second general drive to be identified is the activity drive, one that urges us to make motor movements even w-hen our biological drives are satisfied. A rat that is not hungry, thirsty, nor otherwise in biological need can be placed in a wheeled cage. If it runs, the cage will spin. And the rat will run for no particular reason other than to run. Infants display a certain amount of restless motion. If an adult is forced to sit and wait for a long time in a physician's offlee, it is likely that the individual will cross and uncross his or her legs, get up and walk around, step outside for a few- minutes, and so forth. The movement is an end in itself.

A third general drive to be identified is the affectional drive, the need for the kind of emotional nurturance that helps to sustain a sense of well-being and an optimistic attitude toward life. The research psychologist Harry Hadow, a former president of the American Psychological Association, deprived a group of rhesus monkeys of their biological mothers. He raised the monkeys in social isolation. He discovered that, deprived of mother love, many of the monkeys displayed behavior somewhat similar to infantile autism, a pathological condition characterized by a lack of interest in others, self-destructiveness, and a preoocupation with rigid, self-oriented behavior.

The psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. an important personality theorist, theorized that the first stage of psychosocial development is trust versus mistrust. If an infant develops a sense of trust during the first two years of life, this positive foundation will have a beneficial impact on future personality development. If an infant develops a sense of mistrust during the first two years of life, this negative foundation will have an adverse impact on future personality development. A major factor in the development of a sense of trust is the meeting of an infant’s need for affection.