appetitive

Appetitive is an adjective meaning relating to appetite or desire. In general use it can describe states, stimuli, or behaviors that provoke desire or approach toward a goal. The term is common in psychology, ethology, and neuroscience, where it helps distinguish the motivated, preparatory aspects of behavior from their consummatory, or goal-fulfilling, endpoints.

In psychology and ethology, appetitive and consummatory phases refer to different parts of a behavioral sequence. Appetitive behaviors are seeking, searching, or approaching actions that bring an organism closer to a resource, such as a rodent exploring a maze for food or a bird performing courtship displays. They are flexible, highly influenced by learning and context. Consummatory behaviors are the final acts that satisfy the goal, like eating the food or mating, often more stereotyped and species-typical.

In neuroscience, appetitive cues can activate reward pathways, notably dopamine circuits, reinforcing seeking behavior. Appetitive conditioning describes how cues associated with rewards gain motivational power. The opposite of appetitive is aversive, describing avoidance or withdrawal, though the terms appetitive and aversive can both describe motivational valence across a wide range of domains.

Originating from Latin appetitus, desire, the adjective appears in English from the early modern period. It is used across disciplines to denote desire-driven, goal-seeking aspects of behavior or perception.