[ Summary ] · Chapter 4.2 : Needs
Psychobiological needs
[ NB : Provisional texts. Level of writing : 2/5 ]
only available in French and partly in English.
Presentation & Content
Study and characterization of the human organism "needs", at the physiological (nutrition, breathing, ...), neurobiological (sleep, ...) and psychological level (affection, security, ...).
Summary
There would exist in the human being various types of "needs" : needs dependent on the body ("somatic" needs : nutrition, breathing, ...), needs dependent on the nervous system ("neurostructural" needs : sleep, ...) and needs dependent on psychic dynamics ("psychic" needs : affection, security, ...). These various needs would be at the origin of many behaviors allowing their satisfaction.
Plan of the chapter
Figure 4.2-1 : Besoins psychobiologiques reduced
The objective is to characterise the various "psychobiological needs", i.e. the processes directly related to the functional structure of the organism, whose absence causes sometimes lethal dysfunctions, and which appear in the consciousness of the subject by a generally emotional incentive to action aiming at their satisfaction.
The concept of "need" is used here in a generic way to indicate a whole of heterogeneous physiological and psychical processes, for which the "need" is expressed in a very diverse way.
It seems that one could distinguish three levels of psychobiological needs, from simplest to most neurobiologically complex : "somatic", "neurostructural" and "psychic".
Some of the "neurostructural" and "psychic" needs - a brief definition of which is given below - will be studied in detail because, on the one hand, they would seem to be a bond between neurobiological and psychological fields, and, on the other hand, they would seem to be determining factors in relational and social life.
A - "Somatic" needs
"Somatic" needs would be needs intrinsic to the functional structure of the body. One can quote as examples, inter alia, nutrition, dipsic and respiratory needs. These needs, which are currently relatively well characterised, are not studied in detail in this research task.
B - "Neurostructural" behaviors and needs
"Neurostructural" behaviors and needs would be intrinsic to the functional structure of the central nervous system. These behaviors and needs would seem to depend directly on the specific organisation of certain cerebral structures. They would be related to the "wired" or the "neurostructural".
One can quote as examples of neurostructural behaviors, inter alia, nociception (reflexes, suffering), emotional behaviors (stress, rage, ...), and behaviors of orientation and attachment. One can quote as examples of neurostructural needs the "oxysmic" (need for stimuli), hypnic (need for sleep) and epistemic (need for exploration) needs.
The behavior of orientation would be a paradigmatic example of neurostructural behavior. This behavior would be mainly underlain by the "wired" anatomo-functional specificity of the higher colliculi (Sparks & Groh 1995, Ptito & al. 1996).
The need for sleep would be a paradigmatic example of neurostructural need. This need, which is vital, seems to be specific to the nervous system.
a - Oxysmic
The neurostructural "oxysmic" need (from the Greek oxunein, to excite) would correspond to the developmental and functional need for the organism to seek and receive stimuli, preferably hedonistic.
Some examples, inter alia, which would show the reality of this need :
- during the development, the selective stabilisation of synapses requires that synapses are active,
- the visual system requires exogenic stimuli to develop normally,
- in the adult, the experimental deprivation of sensory stimuli causes psychological disorders.
b - Epistemic
The "epistemic" need would correspond to the intellectual curiosity, to the search of symbols and meanings. It would seem to come from the "cognitive development" of the exploratory behavior (Berlyne), existing in all the mammals (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1984). It would seem that the exploratory behavior has a bond with the parahippocampic structures (Gray 1982).
This need would be expressed initially by an exploratory activity, which, parallel to the cognitive development, would become gradually an increasingly abstracted exploratory and symbolic activity.
The epistemic behavior would be a need, for it would seem that the deprivation of this behavior would involve deficits of a cognitive nature. For example, it would seem that the deprivation of the exploratory activity of the environment would involve a space deficit in the representation of three-dimensional space.
C - "Psychic" needs
[ NB : Currently, detailed and updated texts are only available in French ]
The "psychic" needs would be underlain by complex neurobiological processes, located mainly in the polymodal associative cortical areas. The genesis and the dynamics of these psychic needs would be under the direct dependence of the neurobiological processes underlying the "somatic" needs, the "neurostructurels" needs and certain operations of information processing. These psychic needs would be necessary, under penalty of emotional or cognitive dysfunctions, to the development and the normal existence of the human being.
The two most fundamental psychic needs would be the "Philic" and "Praxic" needs, which would depend directly on the motivational factor of "hedodynamy".
a - Hedodynamy
The synthesis of the data of neurosciences would make it possible to characterise a factor of "hedodynamy", psychic motivation corresponding to the avoidance of the painful or distressing feelings and in the search of mainly pleasant and agreeable feelings. These conscious emotional feelings would be related to fundamental biological processes : state of satisfaction of the needs, emotions and reinforcements.
More precisely, the psychic factor of hedodynamy is better expressed by the expression : "hedodynamic motivational constraint", where the term "motivational" corresponds to the neurobiological process of motivation, the term "constraint" indicates the sometimes imperious incentive force to action, and the term "hedodynamic" corresponds to the preferential search of hedonistic feelings.
This psychic characteristic of hedodynamic motivation seems to be constantly active, daily from birth till death. This conscious permanence of emotional feelings and incentive to action, of "hedodynamic motivational constraints ", in particular during the period of development, seems to be a structuring and emergence factor - during the multiple interactions of the individual with the environment and the others - of the philic and praxic psychic needs.
Figure 4.2-2 : Psychic needs reduced
b - Praxic
The "praxic need" could be define as the need for each individual to be able to control and act actively on its immediate environment, according to its own hedodynamic motivational constraints. It would seem that this motor need becomes, during the ontogenetic development, the symbolic abstraction of all the concrete, abstract and/or symbolic signs indicating to the subject the possibility of acting actively on his immediate environment according to his own hedodynamic constraints.
Figure 4.2-3 : Praxic need reduced
g - Philic
The "philic need" could be define as being the need for each individual to know that he exists and that he counts for the others, to perceive that the others are prepared to recognise him like a person of value, to express empathy and consideration to him, and to act actively to come his assistance. It would seem that the philic need comes, during the ontogenetic development, from a "cognitive abstraction" of "rewarding and meaningful stimuli and social signs", indicating to the subject that the people with whom he interacts are prepared, in a sincere and authentic way, to actively help him to face his own hedodynamic constraints.
Figure 4.2-4 : Philic need reduced
d - Other psychic needs
The other most significant psychic needs would be the needs for safety, justice, authenticity, intimacy, diversity, comfort and creativity.
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