AP psychology chapter 10 Flashcards
Motivations
Ethologists agree that human behaviors are motivated by biological factors.
Drive reduction theory
States that behavior is motivated/driven by biological needs. Cannot explain the drive for thrilling or risky behavior such as skydiving.
Homeostasis
A balanced internal state, which the body seeks. When are are out of homeostasis, we have a need that creates a drive.
Primary drives
Biological drives, such as thirst.
Secondary drives
Learned drives, such as money.
Arousal theory
Focuses on drives not included in the drive reduction theory, aka the drive for thrilling experiences. States that we seek optimum levels of excitement/arousal, which may vary.
Yerkes-Dodson law
Too little arousal (boring) and too high arousal (stressful) impact performance, which also depends on task difficulty. A person might perform well on an easy task with high arousal but if it’s a hard task with high arousal, they won’t. There is an optimal level of arousal, which also varies.
Opponent-process theory of motivation
Used to explain addictive behaviors:
- States that people are usually at a baseline (normal) state, and we might perform an act that moves us from the baseline (e,g smoking), which may feel initially pleasurable, but then we feel an opponent process (the urge to go back to the baseline)
- Withdrawals will move our natural baseline, changing it and making addictions harder to give up.
Incentive Theory
Behaviors are pulled by desire instead of need, incentives are stimuli that we are drawn to due to nurture/learning.
Maslows hierarchy of needs
Not all needs are created equal, physiological needs (hunger) > safety needs > belongingness and love needs > esteem needs (to gain approval and recognition) > self-actualization needs. Makes sense intuitively but some behaviors don’t fit.
Biological factors of hunger motivation
Influenced by the hypothalamus, which helps control body parts. 2 parts: the lateral hypothalamus (hunger center) and the ventromedial hypothalamus (safety center).
Lateral hypothalamus
Causes animals to eat. No hunger without it, will starve to death.
Ventromedial hypothalamus
Causes animals to feel full and stop eating, will eat to death without it.
Set point theory
The hypothalamus wants to maintain an optimum body weight. When we drop below that weight, the hypothalamus slows down the metabolic rate.
Externals
People who feel motivated to eat food because of external food cues, e.g. attractiveness and availability of food.
Internals
People who feel motivated to eat food because of hunger cues.
The Garcia effect
In which people associate certain foods with bad memories, thus making them appear unappetizing.
William Masters and Virginia Johnson
The 4 sexual response cycles
The 4 sexual response cycles
Initial excitement (genital areas swell with blood, respiration and heart rate increases), Plateau phase (genitals secrete fluids to prepare for coitus), orgasm (respiration and heart rate increases, followed by pleasurable euphoria), Resolution phase (respiration and heart rate return to normal, males experience a refractory period before another orgasm).
Alfred Kinsey
Documented human sexual behaviors in the Kinsey Reports from the 1940s to 1950s.
Achievement motivation
Examines our desires to master complex tasks, learn new skills, achieve personal goals, etc.
Extrinsic motivators
Rewards we get for external accomplishments (grades, salary, etc.)
Intrinsic motivators
Personal satisfaction and enjoyment. More effective long-term than extrinsic.
Management theory
How managers behave is related to extrinsic/intrinsic motivation. 2 basic attitudes: Theory X and Theory Y.
