Chapter 10: Emotion and Motivation Flashcards
What is an emotion ?
An IMMEDIATE, specific negative or positive RESPONSE to environmental events or internal thoughts
1) Emotions can be called…
2) What are it’s three components?
1) Affect
2) a) a physiological process
b) a behavioral response
c) a feeling that is based on cognitive appraisal of the situation and interpretation of bodily states
What is a feeling ?
the subjective experience of the emotion,
What are moods ?
They are diffuse, long-lasting emotional states that do NOT have an identifiable object or trigger.
What is a primary emotion ? Give examples
1) Emotions that are innate, evolutionarily adaptive, and universal
2) Anger, fear, sadness, etc.
What are secondary emotions ? Give some examples
1) They are blends of primary emotions
2) remorse, guilt, submission, shame, love, bitterness, and jealousy
What is the circumplex model ?
emotions are plotted along two continuums: valence (positive and negative) and arousal
What is arousal ?
A generic term used to describe physiological activation or increased autonomic responses
True or false. Neurochemical evidence supports the idea that positive affect and negative affect are independent
True
Positive activation states appear to be associated with an increase in what neurotransmitter? What about negative activation states?
1) Positive : Dopamine
2) Negative: Norepinephrine
Why emotions lead to physiological responses?
Emotions involve activation of the autonomic nervous system to prepare the body to meet environmental challenges
True or false? According to the researchers, perception of the bodily sensations may play a role in how different emotions are experienced.
True
The limbic system is very involved with…? What part of the brain is it including? Where is it situated?
1) Emotions
2) Subcortical brain regions
3) It border the cerebral cortex
What are the two most important part of the limbic system ?
1) insula
2) amygdala
What are the two most important structures of the limbic system ?
1) insula
2) amygdala
What is the role of insula with emotions?
1) The insula receives and integrates somatosensory signals from the entire body
2) It is also involved in the subjective awareness of bodily states (so experiencing the emotions)
Damage to the insula can lead to interference with what primary emotion?
Disgust
What is the role of the amygdala in emotions?
1) The amygdala processes the emotional significance of stimuli, and it generates immediate emotional and behavioral reactions
2) It is the most important brain structure for emotional learning
People with damage to the amygdala do not develop what kind of emotion/behavior ?
They do not develop conditioned fear responses to objects associated with danger
How does information reach the amygdala?Why does it function like that ?
Along two separate pathways:
1) The first path is a “quick and dirty” system that processes sensory information nearly instantaneously. Information travels quickly through the thalamus directly to the amygdala for priority processing
2) The second path is somewhat slower, but it leads to more deliberate and more thorough evaluations
Emotional events are likely to increase activity in the amygdala, and that increased activity is likely to improve…?
Long-term memory for the event
Researchers believe that the amygdala modifies how the (…) consolidates memory, especially memory for fearful events
hippocampus
With amygdala, emotions such as fear strengthen memories. What is the function of this ?
This adaptive mechanism enables us to remember harmful situations and thus potentially avoid them
The amygdala is also involved in the perception of … ?
social stimuli (which includes facial expressions)
True or false. The amygdala only answers to fear.
False. The amygdala also responds to other emotional expressions, even happiness.
What is a polygraph ?
is an electronic instrument that assesses the body’s physiological response to questions. It records numerous aspects of arousal
Why is polygraph not accepted in court ?
Cause being highly aroused does not necesseraly indicate guilt. Most people who fail the tests are actually telling the truth and are simply anxious about taking the test
How do you measure physiological response with a polygraph ?
The differences between the physiological responses to the control questions and physiological responses to the critical questions is the measure used to determine whether the person is lying
What is James-Lange theory of emotion?
We perceive specific patterns of bodily responses, and as a result of that perception we feel emotion. So basically, the emotions is the result of the perception of the physiological response.
Considering James-Lange’s theory, what happen when you mimic a facial expression ?
How is this phenomenon called ?
You activate the associated emotion.
It’s called facial feedback hypothesis
What is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion?
According to this theory, emotion and physical reactions happen independently but at the same time
In the Cannon-Bard theory, what happens with the information ?
1) The information from an emotion-producing stimulus is processed in subcortical structures
2) The subcortical structures then send information separately to the cortex and the body
3) Result : an emotion, produced in the cortex, and physical reactions, produced in the body
What is the Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotion? What is a label?
When people experience arousal, they initiate a search for its source. A person experiences physiological changes and applies a cognitive label to explain those changes
A label is given to the interpretation of the arousal
What is the order of events in the two-factor theory of emotion ?
Stimulus-Arousal-Label-Emotion
What happens when the situation is more ambiguous, with the two-factor theory of emotion?
Whatever the person BELIEVES caused the emotion will determine how the person labels the emotion
What is Misattribution of Arousal? Give an example.
When people misidentify the source of their arousal
Having a first date watching a scary movie and that you are more aroused by the other person
What is Excitation transfer? Give an example
Another form of misattribution. Residual physiological arousal caused by one event is transferred to a new stimulus
Having a first date watching a scary and get the person to have arousal for you
What are two strategies that don’t work for controlling your emotions ?
Thought supression and rumination
Why does thought supression do not work ?
Its hard and can lead to a rebound effect, in which people think more about something after suppression than before
What is Rumination ? Why is it not a good strategy for controlling your emotions?
1) Rumination involves thinking about, elaborating on, and focusing on undesired thoughts or feelings
2) This response prolongs the emotion, and it impedes successful emotion regulation strategies, such as distracting oneself or focusing on solutions for the problem
What are 4 good strategies for controlling your emotions ?
1) Control the location
2) Change the meaning (reappraising those events in more neutral terms)
3) Using humor
4) Distract yourself
Why are emotions adaptative ? Give an example
Because they prepare and guide successful behaviors, such as running when you are about to be attacked by a dangerous animal.
We often regulate the emotional experiences of others. Why ?
Cause emotions guide us in learning social rules and are necessary in order to live cooperatively in groups
In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin says that expressive aspects of emotions are adaptative because…
They communicate feelings. People interpret facial expressions of emotion to predict other people’s behavior
True or false ? The mouth is a better indicator of positive or negative affect than the eyes are
True
True or false. The face innately communicates emotions to others and that these communications are understandable by all people, regardless of culture.
False. Emotions vary on a scale from pleasant to unpleasant and that facial expression and what it signifies are learned socially (through culture)
What is the emotion that is generalizable cross-culturaly with face expressions?
Happiness
True or false ? Pride responses are innate rather than learned by observing them in others
True
What is the Display rules?
It govern HOW and WHEN people exhibit emotions. These rules are learned through socialization, and they dictate which emotions are suitable in given situations.
Differences in display rules help explain cultural ….
stereotypes
True or false? From culture to culture, display rules tend to be different for women and men
True
Give two examples of interpersonal emotions, that represent non-verbal apologies
Guilt and embarassement
Theorists have since reconsidered interpersonal emotions in view of humans’ evolutionary need to belong to social groups.
Why ? Given that survival was enhanced for those who lived in groups, those who were expelled would have been less likely to survive and pass along their genes
Give three reasons that guilt protects and strengthens interpersonal relationships
1) Feelings of guilt discourage people from doing things that would harm their relationships
2) Displays of guilt demonstrate that people care about their relationship partners
3) Guilt is a tactic that can be used to manipulate others
True or false. Parental warmth is associated with greater guilt in children
True
What emotion represents submission to and affiliation with the social group?
Embarassment
Most of the general theories of motivation emphasize four essential qualities of motivational states. What are they ?
1) They are energizing / stimulating
2) They are directive. They guide behaviors toward satisfying specific goals or specific needs
3) Persistence in the behavior until reaching the goals and satisfying needs
4) Motives differ in strength, depending on internal and external forces
What is a need ?
a state of deficiency, which can be either biological or social
In Maslow’s Need Hierarchy, where are the physiological needs ?
At the bottom of the pyramid: they must be satisfied first
What is the pinnacle of Maslow’s pyramid ? What is it ?
1) self-actualization
2) This state occurs when a person achieves her personal dreams and aspirations. ‘‘What a [hu]man can be, he must be”
What is a drive ?
A psychological state that, by creating arousal, motivates an organism to satisfy a need
What is homeostasis ? What is the link between this and the drive ?
1) the tendency for bodily functions to maintain equilibrium
2) Homeostasis regulates the body, and can create a behavior, through drive, to satisfy a certain need
Over time, if a behavior consistently reduces a drive, it becomes…
A habit
What is the Yerkes-Dodson law?
It dictates that performance on challenging tasks increases with arousal up to a moderate point. After that, performance is impaired by any additional arousal
So moderate arousal is best for a good performance
What are Incentives?
External objects or external goals, rather than internal drives, that motivate behaviors
What are the two types of incentive motivations?
1) Extrinsic motivation: is directed toward an external goal
2) Intrinsic motivation: value or pleasure associated with an activity, rather than for any external goal
Consistent evidence suggests that extrinsic rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation. Give two theories that would explain this phenomenon.
1) self-determination theory: rewards undermine people’s feeling that they are choosing to do something for themselves
2) self-perception theory: gives them an alternative explanation for engaging in the behavior, when looking at themselves
What is Freud’s pleasure principle ?
It encourages people to seek pleasure and avoid pain
What is hedonism ?
Humans’ desire for pleasantness
What are approach and avoidance motivations?
You approach pleasures and avoid pain
In Henry Murray’s 27 basic psychosocial needs, what are some of the most important ?
power, autonomy, achievement, and play
What is Self-regulation?
The process by which people change their behavior to attain personal goal
What is an effective goal for Edwin Locke and Gary Latham (1990)?
Challenging and specific goals are the best, AS LONG as they are not overly difficult
What is Self-efficacy?
The expectation that your efforts will lead to success
What is the achievement motive?
The desire to do well relative to standards of excellence
What is one common challenge in self-regulation?
Postponing immediate gratification
What is the strategy of ‘‘turning hot cognitions into cold cognitions’’ ?
Which part of the brain are involved in the ‘‘hot cognitions’’ and cold cognitions’’?
1) This strategy involves mentally transforming the desired object into something undesired
2) The amygdala and the nucleus accumbens are important for motivating behavior. The prefrontal cortex performs cold-cognitive processes, such as the control of thought and of behavior
What is grit ?
A deep passion for their goals and a willingness to keep working toward them, even in spite of hardships and pitfalls
True or false. There is evidence that intelligence is a better predictor than grit for achieving long-term goals
False. Grit is a better predictor than intelligence
What is the need to belong theory?
The need for interpersonal attachments is a fundamental motive that has evolved for adaptive purposes
People who are shy and lonely tend to worry less about social evaluation and pay less attention to social information
False. They tend to worry MOST about social evaluation and pay much more attention to social information
What is social comparison theory?
We compare ourselves with those around us to test and validate personal beliefs and emotional responses. The effect occurs especially when the situation is ambiguous
What is the brain structure that most influences eating?
The hypothalamus
What is hyperphagia ? What are the consequences of it on rats ?
1) When the middle, or ventromedial, region of the hypothalamus (VMH) is damaged
2) Rats eat great quantities of food. They grow extremely obese
What is aphagiain rats ?
When the outer, or lateral, region of the hypothalamus (LH) is damaged, rats eat far less than normal
What is an other region involved in taste cues? What is it’s function ?
1) A region of the prefrontal cortex processes taste cues such as sweetness and saltiness
2) Such cues indicate the potential reward value of particular foods
What is another region of the brain that is involved in craving ? Why ?
The limbic system.
Cause it’s associated with reward and emotion
What syndrome does a damage to the limbic system or the right frontal lobe create ?
The gourmand syndrome, in which people become obsessed with the quality and variety of food and how food is prepared
Where do the hunger signals come from?
Contractions and distensions of the stomach and receptors in the bloodstream that monitor levels of vital nutrients
The most important roles are played by three hormones for eating and hunger. What are those ?
Insulin, ghrelin, and leptin
What is the two functions of insulin in hunger and eating?
1) Insulin regulates glucose levels in the bloodstream and allows the cells of the body to process the glucose so the body has energy to function
2) Insulin also directs fat cells to take in glucose, which is then converted to fat for storage for future energy needs
What happens when the pancreas produces little to no insulin ?
Diabetes
What is the function of ghrelin in eating and hunger ?
It may play an important role in triggering eating
What happens to ghrelin when people try to loose weight?
An increase in ghrelin motivates additional eating in a homeostatic fashion
What is the function of leptin in eating and hunger ?
It’s involved in fat regulation. It might affect the reward properties of food and make it less appetizing
What is the classical conditionning related to eating and hunger ?
The association between eating and regular mealtimes
Why is preference for sweetness is adaptative ?
Over the course of human evolution, sweetness was most often obtained through fruits, which provided healthy nutrients
What is sensory-specific satiety? Why does it happen?
People and animals quickly grow tired of any one flavor
A region of the frontal lobes that is involved in assessing the reward value of food exhibits decreased activity when the same food is eaten over and over
Generally, what determines food preferences? What is adaptative in that behavior ?
familiarity
The avoidance of unfamiliar foods makes great sense evolutionarily because unfamiliar foods may be dangerous or poisonous,
Why does hormones affect human sexual behavior?
1) they influence physical development of the brain and body
2) hormones influence sexual behavior through motivation, by activating reproducing behavior
What is the brain region considered most important for stimulating sexual behavior
hypothalamus
Where does sex hormones are released from?
gonads (testes and ovaries)
True or false. Androgens are apparently much more important for reproductive behavior than estrogens are, at least for humans
True
What is a type of androgen is involved in sexual functioning and behavior?
Testosterone
What is the role of oxytocin?
It promotes maternal tendencies and sexual gratification; it also seems to be involved in social behavior more generally
What neurotransmitters can affect various aspects of the sexual response?
Dopamine, serotonin and nitric oxide (which is a chemical that acts as a neurotransmitter)
What is the role of nictric oxide with sexual behavior ?
Sexual stimulation leads to nitric oxide production. The increased nitric oxide promotes blood flow to the penis and the clitoris and subsequently plays an important role in sexual arousal
Hoe does the hypothalamus controls the release of sex hormones? What’s the difference between men and women in that process?
1) In cycles
2) Men with circadian cycles (more testosterone in the morning) and women with menstrual cycles (every 28 days)
True or false. Women may process social information differently depending on whether they are in a fertile phase of the cycle.
True
True or false. On high-fertility days of their cycle women prefer characteristics indicating desirable male genetic characteristics
True
What is the four stage of sexual response cycle?
1) excitement phase (contemplation of sexual activity)
2) Plateau phase (Inhibitions are lifted, and passion takes control)
3) orgasm phase
4) resolution phase ( refractory period for men)
Are androgens or estrogens more important for sexual behavior in humans?
Androgens are more important for both men and women.
What are sexual scripts ?
Cognitive beliefs about how a sexual episode should be enacted
In Westernized societies, what is an example of a sexual script ?
The sexual script involves initial flirtation through nonverbal actions, the male initiating physical contact, the female controlling whether sexual activity takes place
Most of the changes in sexual behaviors must be attributed to what other changes ?
Changes in cultural pressures and cultural expectations
What is a well-known pattern of regulating sexual behavior?
The double standard
True or false. Women have a higher level of sexual motivation than men do.
False. Men have a higher sexual motivation
Women’s sexual desires and behaviors depend
significantly on social factors such as….?
Education and religion
What is the sexual strategy theory, when it comes to men and women ?
1) Women’s basic strategy is to care for a relatively small number of infants. Their commitment is to nurture offspring rather than simply maximize production. Thus, biological mechanisms ensure spacing between children
2) On purely reproductive grounds, men have no such sexual breaks. For them, all matings may have a reproductive payoff. They bear few of the personal costs of pregnancy, and their fertility is unaffected by getting a woman pregnant
Why does both men and women should seek attractive partners?
Because relative youth and beauty imply potential fertility
(In essence) What is the difference between men and women for selecting partners?
In essence, men should care mainly about looks because looks imply fertility, whereas women should also be concerned about indications that their mates will be good fathers
Some researchers believe that behaviors shaped by evolution have little impact on contemporary relationships. Give two perspectives on that subject.
1) Behaviors that were adaptive in prehistoric times may linger even if they are not adaptive in contemporary society
2) BUT, instinctive behaviors are constrained by social context. The current social context differs greatly from that of thousands of years ago
True or false. Sexual orientation is about whom a person actually has sexual relations with.
False. Sexual orientation describes whom a person is sexually attracted to, emotionally close with, and/or establishes a romantic or committed relationship with
Why bisexuality may be more common in women than in men?
Perhaps because of women’s higher erotic plasticity
What is one evolutionary theory that could give sense to the existence of homosexuals ?
Lesbians and gays often act as “spare” parents to their siblings’ offspring. In this way, they might ensure the continuation of family genes
What is the most common environmental finding in attraction to the same sex, for both men and women?
Gender nonconformity in childhood
What is the most common environmental finding in attraction to the same sex, for both men and women?
Gender nonconformity in childhood
What is the best biological evidence for homosexuality ?
It suggests that exposure to hormones, especially androgens, in the prenatal environment might play some role in sexual orientation
An intriguing finding is that compared with straight males, gay males are more likely to have older male siblings. Why ?
One explanation is that the mother’s body develops an immune reaction during pregnancy with a male and that subsequent immune responses alter the level of hormones in the prenatal environment when the mother becomes pregnant with another male
True or false. Heritability of sexual orientation as being greater for males than for females but with a significant genetic component for both
True.
Is there a gay gene?
It appear to be a genetic component to sexual orientation, but it remains unclear how human sexual orientation might be encoded in the genes or whether epigenetic processes play an important role
What part of the brain might be responsible for sexual orientation ? What are the findings on that matter ?
An area in the hypothalamus. The size of this area in gay men was comparable to its size in straight women. Also there is a similar activation of the hypothalamus when in contact with male pheromone.
