Ch. 8 Vocab

Question 1

a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned

Answer 1

instinct

Question 2

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

Answer 2

drive-reduction theory

Question 3

a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level

Answer 3

homeostasis

Question 4

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

Answer 4

incentive

Question 5

the principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

Answer 5

Yerkes-Dodson law

Question 6

Maslow’s pyramid 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

Answer 6

hierarchy of needs

Question 7

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

Answer 7

glucose

Question 8

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

Answer 8

set point

Question 9

the body’s resting rate of energy expenditure

Answer 9

basal metabolic rate

Question 10

the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson—excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution

Answer 10

sexual response cycle

Question 11

a period of inactivity after a neuron has fired; a resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another

Answer 11

refractory period

Question 12

a problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning

Answer 12

sexual dysfunction

Question 13

sex hormones, such as estradiol, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males and contributing to female sex characteristics; In nonhuman female mammals, levels peak during ovulation, promoting sexual receptivity

Answer 13

estrogens

Question 14

the most important of the male sex hormones; both males and females have it, but the additional amount in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty

Answer 14

testosterone

Question 15

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience

Answer 15

emotion

Question 16

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

Answer 16

James-Lange theory

Question 17

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion

Answer 17

Cannon-Bard theory

Question 18

the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

Answer 18

two-factor theory

Question 19

a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes) accompanying emotion

Answer 19

polygraph

Question 20

the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

Answer 20

facial feedback effect

Question 21

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine

Answer 21

health psychology

Question 22

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Answer 22

stress

Question 23

Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases—alarm, resistance, exhaustion

Answer 23

General adaptation syndrome

Question 24

literally, “mind-body” illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches

Answer 24

psychophysiological illness

Question 25

the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health

Answer 25

psychoneuroimmunology

Question 26

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 tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances

Answer 26

lymphocytes

Question 27

the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries

Answer 27

coronary heart disease

Question 28

Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people

Answer 28

Type A

Question 29

Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people

Answer 29

Type B

Question 30

Another stress response, found especially among women, to seek and give support

Answer 30

tend and befriend response

Question 31

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

Answer 31

motivation