Unit 8: Motivation and Emotion
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- motivation
- a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior
- instinct
- a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned
- drive-reduction theory
- the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need
- homeostasis
- a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as body glucose, around a particular level
- incentive
- a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior
- hierarchy of needs
- Maslow's period of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active
- glucose
- the form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues. When its level is low, we feel hunger
- set point
- the point at which an individual's "weight thermostat" is supposedly set. When the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weight
- basal metabolic rate
- the body's resting rate of energy expenditure
- anorexia nervosa
- an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) diets and becomes significantly (15 percent or more) underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve
- bulimia nervosa
- an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise
- binge-eating disorder
- significant binge-eating episodes followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory purging, fasting, or excessive exercise that marks bulimia nervosa
- sexual response cycle
- the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson--excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution
- refractory period
- a resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm
- estrogens
- sex hormones, such as estradiol, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males and contributing to female sex characteristics. In nonhuman female mammals, estrogen levels peak during ovulation, promoting sexual receptivity.
- testosterone
- the most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty.
- sexual orientation
- an enduing sexual attraction toward members of either one's own sex (homosexual orientation) or the other sex (heterosexual orientation)
- emotion
- a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience
- James-Lange theory
- the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli
- Cannon-Bard theory
- the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion
- two-factory theory
- the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emtion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal
- polygraph
- a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes)
- facial feedback
- the effect of facial expressions on experience emotions, as when a facial expression of anger or happiness intensifies feelings of anger or happiness
- catharsis
- emotional release. The catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges
- feel-good, do-good phenomenon
- people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood
- well-being
- self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of subjective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life
- adaptation-level phenomenon
- our tendency to form judgements (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience
- relative deprivation
- the perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves
- behavioral medicine
- an interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medicinal knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease
- health psychology
- a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine
- stress
- the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
- general adaptation syndrome (GAS)
- Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases- alarm, resistance, exhaustion
- coronary heart disease
- the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in North America
- Type A
- Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people
- Type B
- Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people
- psychophysiological illness
- literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches
- psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
- the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health
- lymphocytes
- the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system: B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissues and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances
- common sense theory
- emotion-arousing stimulus leads to a conscious feeling (fear, anger) and a physiological response
- Robert Zajonc
- American psychologist who concluded that some emotional reactions involve no deliberate thinking and cognition is not always necessary for emotion; Some emotions skip the thinking part of the brain
- Richard Lazarus
- American psychologist who concluded that some emotional responses do not require conscious thought; However, there must be a minimum of unconscious thought.
- autonomic nervous system
- The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and muscles of the internal organs; Monitors the autonomic functions; Controls breathing, blood pressure, and digestive processes; Divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
- sympathetic nervous system
- The part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body to deal with perceived threats; Fight or flight response
- parasympathetic nervous system
- The part of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body; Brings the body back down to a relaxed state
- Henry Murray
- Neo-Freudian who first established the concept of achievement motivation and developed important personality testing tools
- Yerkes-Dodson Law
- The theory that a degree of psychological arousal helps performance, but only to a point; Optimum level of arousal depends on the difficulty of the task; Each person has an optimum level of stimulation they like to maintain.