Chapter 10 - Emotion and Motivation Flashcards
Emotion
Feelings that involve subjective evaluation, physiological processes, and cognitive beliefs
Emotion vs mood
Emotion = temporary, specific response to an environmental event Mood = long-lasting emotional state
People who are over emotional or under emotional…
Tend to have psychological problems
Alexithymia
Causes people to not experience the subjective components of emotions
Primary emotions
They are evolutionarily adaptive, shared across cultures, and associated with specific physical states (fear, anger, sadness, disgust, happiness, and possibly surprise and contempt)
Circumplex model
Emotions are arranged in a circle with 2 core dimensions. Valence (horizontal) indicates how positive or negative emotions are. Activation indicates how arousing they are.
Arousal
Physiological activation )like increased brain activity) or increased autonomic responses (increased heart rate, sweating, muscle tension)
We can experience positive and negative emotions simultaneously!
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Positive activation states are associated with…
An increase in dopamine
Negative activation states are associated with…
An increase in norepinephrine
Why do we cry?
When negative events leave us unable to respond behaviorally to the emotions we are feeling. We also cry when we are happy, but usually because an event makes us a bit sad at the same time (graduating from high school)
How is crying beneficial?
Crying relieves stress through activation of parasympathetic nervous system. Also crying brings about sympathy and social support.
Secondary emotions
Blends of primary emotions. These include remorse, guilt, submission, shame, and anticipation (you neglect your boyfriend and you’re angry you’re being accused and sad you hurt him, and that equals guilt!)
James-Lange Theory
In 1884, William James said that a person’s PHYSICAL changes leads the person to feel an EMOTION
Physical change –> emotion
Elliot
He lost his emotions due to brain surgery, and then his life fell apart - he appeared to function normally, but he could no longer make decisions or learn from mistakes, had unhappy marriages, he lost his job, he had s lack of motivation
William James said we feel sorry because we cry, afraid because we tremble
Etc
Critique of James-Lange theory
Physical reactions are not specific enough to fully explain the subjective experiences of emotions
Support of James-Lange theory?
Studies in brain imaging found that different primary emotions produce different patterns of brain activation
More support of James-Lange: facial feedback hypothesis
If you mold your facial muscles to mimic an emotional state, you activate the associated emotion
James Laird tested the facial feedback hypothesis by taking pics of ppl holding a pencil between their teeth or upper lip and had people rate the pictures in terms of how funny they were. What happened?
Ppl thought the ones holding the pencil in their teeth, like in a smile, were the funniest
Cannon-Bard theory
Emotion and physical reaction roughly happen together, independent of one another. For ex, when a grizzly bear threatens you, you feel afraid and heart rate goes up at the same time
Cannon-bard said the body is slower to experience emotion and the mind is faster
Etc
Cannon said Many emotions produce similar bodily responses. And…
This makes it hard to determine quickly what emotion you’re experiencing
What is the limbic system?
James Papez proposed that many subcortical brain regions were involved in emotion. Paul McLean expanded this list and called it the limbic system
Criticism to limbic system
We now know that many structures outside of the limbic system are involved in emotion
For understanding emotion, what are the two most important brain regions?
The amygdala and prefrontal cortex
What does the amygdala do?
The amygdala processes the emotional significance of stimuli and generates immediate emotional and behavioral reactions
What else about the amygdala?
Helps with classical conditioning learning (fear learning) and helps protect us against danger
Information reaches the amygdala in 2 separate pathways. What are they?
- Quickly - the “quick and dirty sensory info (sensory info goes from thalamus to amygdala)
- Slower - with more deliberate evaluation (sensory info goes from thalamus to cortex to amygdala)
Emotional events are likely to be __
Stored in memory - amygdala helps with this
The amygdala modifies how the hippocampus consolidates memory. Why is this helpful?
Helps us remember fearful situations and avoid them in the future
What else does the amygdala do?
It is involved in the perception of social stimuli (detecting emotional meanings of other ppl’s facial expressions)
The amygdala reacts the most to seeing a person with a fearful face. This is becuz well, who knows what the person is afraid of? It might be a threat to you too. It’s ambiguous
Etc
What facial expression does the amygdala react the most to?
A fearful expression
If the amygdala is damaged, what happens?
Social impairments
Ppl with damage to amygdala….
Are friendly to strangers, have trouble gauging someone’s trustworthiness, etc
Summary of amygdala
The amygdala processes the emotional significance of stimuli and generates immediate emotional and behavioral reactions. It is associated with emotional learning, memory of emotional events, and the interpretation of facial expressions of emotion.
Prefrontal cortex hemispheres/cerebral asymmetry
Greater activation of the right prefrontal cortex is associated with negative affect. Greater activation of the left prefrontal cortex is associated with positive affect. Right = negative. Left = positive THIS PATTERN IS KNOWN AS CEREBRAL ASYMMETRY
People can be ___ in one cerebral cortex hemisphere
Dominant
People who are left hemisphere dominant…
Tend to move their eyes to the right
Schachter-Singer Two Factor Theory
According to this theory, a person experiences physiological changes, applies a cognitive label to explain those changes, and translates that label into an emotion.
Ex of Schachter-Singer 2 factor theory
You see a grizzly bear and your heart rate goes up and you sweat. You look at the context, label those bodily reactions as responses to the bear, and realize you’re experiencing fear.
Schachter-Singer experiment?
2 groups of ppl are given a vaccine.. But it’s actually adrenaline. (And some ppl don’t actually receive adrenaline, they recieve a placebo.. But that’s kinda irrelevant)Group 1 is told they will feel excited and aroused after taking the drug. Group 2 is not. The 2 groups are put into separate rooms with a confederate. The confederate in the 1st INFORMED group is all happy, and the first group is like oh well, these are just the effects of the drug. The confederate in the 2nd UNINFORMED group is all happy and the second group is like woah I feel happy cuz my heart’s pounding and I feel aroused and this guy is all happy and he must be making me happy. (Supports schachter singer theory). They also had an angry confederate which showed the same idea but with anger
Misattribution of arousal and bridge experiment
Physical states caused by a situation can be attributed to the wrong emotion. For example, a study was done on a swinging bridge vs a sturdy bridge. Men who went down the swinging bridge and saw the woman offer her phone number were more likely to call her and ask her on a date. This is because the guys think they’re attracted to her because they feel sweaty and their heart rate goes up. But really they’re just feeling adrenaline because of the swinging bridge. The guys on the sturdy bridge were less likely to call.
Criticism of the bridge-woman study?
Maybe men who crossed the less stable bridge were more likely to take risks and ask women on dates
Excitation transfer
Residual physiological arousal caused by 1 event is transferred to a new stimulus. After exercising you see a hot guy and think you’re attracted to him. But really it’s just the residual after effects of exercise.
In order to regulate our emotions, what is something we do?
We put ourselves in certain situations and avoid other situations. For ex., you don’t go to your sister’s soccer game if you’re jealous of her soccer skills zzz
How else do we manage our emotional state?
We focus our attention on certain aspects of situations - if you’re on a plane and afraid of flying, distract yourself by reading
Reappraisal
Reappraise an event in a different way. If you’re scared of a scary movie, remind yourself that they’re all just actors, not ghosts
Good ways to regulate mood and bad ways to regulate mood?
Good ways: humor and distraction
Bad ways: thought suppression and rumination
Humor
It stimulates endocrine secretion, improved immune system, and stimulates the release of hormones like dopamine and endorphins. It mimics the affects of physical exercise
Thought suppression
Trying not to feel or respond to emotion at all
Rebound effect
This happens after thought suppression. It means you think more about something AFTER suppression than before.
Rumination
Thinking about, elaborating, and focusing on undesired thoughts or feelings. This response prolongs the mood and impedes successful mood regulation strategies. (Not good nt)
Distraction
Doing something other than the troubling activity, or thinking about something other than the troubling thought. Distraction can help, but also can be bad if you binge drink or overeat to distract yourself, or if you end up thinking about other problems as a way of distraction.
Emotions are adaptive. For ex they prepare and guide successful behaviors like running from a threat
Etc
Goal
A desired outcome, usually associated with some specific object or some future behavioral intention
Charles Darwin says emotions are adaptive because they communicate how we are feeling. Facial expressions help us predict other ppl’s behavior and see what other ppl think of us
Etc
What are the 2 main areas that communicate emotional information?
The eyes and mouth
Which is better for interpreting emotion when seeing the whole face?
Mouth
However, when presented with pics of just eyes or just mouths, ppl are better at determining info from the…
Eyes
Darwin said that the face communicates emotions to others and that these emotions are understandable by….
All people, regardless of culture
Researchers have done experiments with like ppl in New Guinea (kinda isolated) and they predicted emotions from facial expressions well
Etc
Ppl are best at determining ___ from facial expressions across cultures
Happiness. Ppl have trouble determining fear and disgust tho
Research suggests that pride responses are innate too. (Blind athletes showed pride similar to no blind athletes)
Etc
Display rules
Rules learned through socialization that dictate which emotions are suitable to given situations
Differences in display rules explain different stereotypes (loud and obnoxious Americans, the cold and bland English, etc.)
Etc
Display rules differ between women and men in cultures… Elaborate
Women display emotions more readily, more frequently, easily, and intensely! Men show dominance, defensiveness, and competitiveness
Why do women show emotion more readily?
It’s actually evolutionarily adaptive. Women are thought to be nurturing, warm caregivers
Tho women show more emotion, do they feel more emotion than men?
No, not necessarily.
Emotions and cognitive functions are interconnected. We don’t just see a house, we see a handsome house, an ugly house. Emotions color our perceptions
Etc
Our decisions are affected by emotions
Etc
How do emotions affect decision making?
We anticipate our future emotional states and that influences our decisions. Emotions serve as heuristic guides.
In decision making, emotions cause us to make risk judgments. What are those?
Risk judgments = 9/11 happened and you decide not to fly on a plane for a few years
Affect-as-information theory
We use our current moods to make judgments and appraisals, even if we do not know the sources of our moods. For ex, ask someone how satisfied they are with their life, and they’ll just say they’re satisfied if they’re in a good mood rather than reflecting on their life totally
If ppl are aware of the sources of their moods, their feelings have less influence over their judgments
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Somatic markers
Bodily reactions that arise from the emotional evaluation of an action’s consequences. For example, when you see a speed limit sign and you see you’re going way over and think oh jeez, I might get pulled over, your heart rate goes up
Elliot did not have somatic markers. He did not use past outcomes to regulate future behavior. For instance, a gambler with Elliot’s condition, would continue to use a risky move. They don’t experience increased arousal and thus fear.
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When we interact with others…
We use emotional expression as powerful nonverbal communications
Although infants can’t talk, they can express their emotions through body language
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The need to belong in a group?
Humans have a better chance of survival if they are in a group. We have an evolutionary need to be in a group. Therefore, ppl are very sensitive to anything that might lead them to be kicked out of a group.
Guilt strengthens social bonds
Guilt occurs when someone feels responsible for another person’s negative state. Guilt can arise even if we did not directly cause the negative state (being a survivor while everyone else died).
3 ways in which guilt helps interpersonal relationships?
- Feelings of guilt discourage ppl from doing things that would harm their relationships (cheating on their partners) and encourage behaviors that strengthen relationships 2. Displays of guilt demonstrate that ppl care about their relationship partners 3. Guilt is a tactic we can use to manipulate other ppl.. Kids can use guilt to get parents to buy them presents.
Evidence indicates that socialization is more important than biology in determining how kids experience guilt
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Feelings of guilt arise in ___
Happy, healthy relationships
People who look embarrassed after wrongdoings elicit from people more ___
Sympathy, forgiveness, amusement, laughter
Blushing also elicits forgiveness in others
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Darwin believed blushing was adaptive
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Emotions are a primary source of motivation. Why?
We seek activities and actions that make us FEEL good
Four qualities of motivational states
- Motivational states are ENERGIZING and STIMULATING. Motivational states cause you to do something
- Motivational states are directive. They guide you to a specific goal/need. Hunger motivates you to eat!
- Motivational states make us persist in our behaviors until you achieve the goal. The motivation to eat causes an animal to keep searching for something to kill.
- Motivational states differ in strength depending on internal and external forces
Motivation
The factors that energize, direct, or sustain behavior
Need
A state of deficiency, which can be either biological (water) or social (you are an extrovert that needs to be around people a lot)
Needs lead to ____
Goal-directed behaviors. Failure to satisfy a particular need leads to psychosocial or physical impairment
Maslow believed that ppl are driven by many needs….
To experience personal growth, we must fulfill our biological needs, feel safe and secure, feel loved, and have a good opinion of ourselves
Humanistic psychology
This school views people as striving toward personal fulfillment (we are always trying to improve ourselves)
Self-actualization
Self-actualization occurs when someone achieves his/her personal dreams and aspirations and is living up to their true potential and is truly happy.
What is Maslow’s Hierarchy?
Maslow’s arrangement of needs, in which basic survival needs must be met before people can satisfy higher needs.
- Self-actualization (achieving your dreams, living to full potential)
- Esteem (good self-opinion, accomplishments, reputation)
- Belonging and love (acceptance and friendship and family)
- Safety (protection from threats)
- Physiological needs (hunger, thirst, sleep)
Criticism of Maslow’s Hierarchy?
Maslow’s hierarchy lacks empirical support.
- Self-actualization may not be required for happiness
- some ppl that like being left alone and don’t receive much love and friendship, are successful
Drive
A psychological state that, by creating arousal, motivates an organism to satisfy a need
Homeostasis
The tendency for bodily functions to maintain equilibrium
Through homeostasis, when people are too warm or too cold, brain mechanisms initiate responses to cool the body (sweating) or warm the body (shivering)
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When you’re deprived of some need, a drive increases in proportion to the amount of deprivation
The hungrier you are, the more you are driven to find food
Habit
If a behavior continually reduces a drive, it becomes a habit
Example of a habit?
Watching cute animal videos when stressed
Incentives
External objects or external goals that motivate behaviors
Example of an incentive?
Getting a good grade on an exam is an incentive for studying hard
Even unconscious forces can provide incentives for us to behave in certain ways (commercials for smoking might motivate a smoker to smoke)
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Preschoolers who were exposed to food advertising ate 45% more food than those that didn’t
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Yerkes-Dodson Law
Performance increased with arousal up to an optimal point, and then decreases with increasing arousal (too much arousal is bad for your performance!!!)
Students perform best on exams with moderate anxiety
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Too little anxiety makes us…
Can make you feel inattentive and unmotivated
Too much anxiety can…
Interfere with your thinking ability and make you overwhelmed
Pleasure principle
A term by Freud: states that people are driven to seek pleasure and avoid pain
Hedonism
Humans’ desire for pleasantness.
Hedonism/pleasure principle explains why we keep engaging in sex
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What does the pleasure principle explain?
It explains why people engage in behaviors that don’t necessarily satisfy biological needs (eating when you’re not hungry)
Extrinsic motivation
Motivation to perform an activity because of the external goals toward which that activity is desired
Intrinsic motivation
Motivation to perform an activity because of the value or pleasure associated with that activity rather than for an apparent external goal or purpose.
Creativity
The tendency to generate ideas or alternatives that may be useful in solving problems, communicating, and entertaining ourselves and others
Intrinsically motivated behaviors…
Satisfy our natural curiosity and creativity. Like playful exploration - solving a puzzle for the fun of it, making art for enjoyment
Evidence suggests that extrinsic rewards undermine intrinsic motivation
!
Self-determination theory
People are motivated to satisfy needs for competence, relatedness to others, and autonomy, which is a sense of personal control. Self-determination theory argues that extrinsic rewards may reduce intrinsic value because such rewards undermine people’s feeling that they are choosing to do something for themselves. In contrast, feelings of autonomy and competence make people feel good about themselves and inspire them to do their most creative work.
Self-perception theory
People are not usually aware of their specific motives. When ppl can’t come up with an external explanation for their behaviors, they say that they simply like the behaviors they’re doing. Rewarding ppl for engaging in an activity makes them realize they performed the activity for the reward of it - not just for fun. Therefore without the reward they have no reason to engage in the behavior. The reward has replaced the goal of pure pleasure
Psychosocial needs
Developed by Henry Murray. He proposed 27 basic psychosocial needs, including needs for power, autonomy, achievement, and play.
The study of psychosocial needs made us figure out what?
People are especially motivated by personal goals
Self-regulation
Self-regulation is the process by which people change their behavior to attain personal goals.
What is the best kind of goal?
Challenging, but not overly difficult, and specific goals are best
Too easy or too hard goals can undermine motivation
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Self-efficacy
The expectancy that your efforts will lead to success
If you have low self efficacy, you will be unmotivated
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Achievement motive
The desire to do well relative to the standards of excellence. Students high in achievement set challenging but attainable personal goals while those low in achievement set extremely easy or impossibly high goals
What is a challenge in self regulation?
Postponing immediate gratification in the pursuit of long-term goals. For ex, staying home and studying instead of partying in grad school
Give kids a preferred food item and tell them they can have more if they don’t eat it –> marshmallow test
This tests whether kids can delay gratification
How did the kids refrain from eating the marshmallow?
They distracted themselves, through singing or not looking at the marshmallow for example
Turning hot cognitions into cold cognitions?
Mentally transforming the desired object into something undesired.
Hot cognitions
Hot cognitions focus on the rewarding, pleasurable aspects of objects.
Cold cognitions
Cold cognitions focus on conceptual or symbolic meanings
Explain hot cognitions to cold cognitions in marshmallow study
The kids imagined the marshmallows as clouds
Need to belong theory
The theory that the need for interpersonal attachments is a fundamental motive that has evolved for adaptive purposes
Need to belong idea is evolutionary adaptive
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Evidence shows ppl feel anxious when facing exclusion from their social groups
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People who are shy worry the most about social evaluation and pay much more attention to social information
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Stanley Schachter experiment - he told a group of ppl he’d give them a painful shock and said they have a 10 minute waiting period before the shock where thy could either be alone or be with other people. Most of the people decided to be with other people. Significance of this?
The people were very anxious and they decided to be with other people: shows when we experience high anxiety, we want to be around other people
The study also showed that the unhappy people wanted to be with other people experiencing the shock - not with people who were not experiencing the shock
Miserable ppl like being with miserable ppl
Leon Festinger’s social comparison theory
We are motivated to have accurate information about ourselves and others. We compare ourselves with those around us to test and validate personal beliefs and emotional responses.
We have been classically conditioned to eat at regular mealtimes
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Humans tend to eat much more when various foods are available than when only one or two types of food are available
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Sensory-specific satiety
Animals quickly grow tired of any one flavor of food
The 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 again
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What we eat has little to do with logic and everything to do with what we believe is food. In Zaire, they eat termites and they’re healthy, but US people find that gross
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People avoid unfamiliar foods - this was adaptive to survival in an evolutionary sense
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Cuisine
Local norms for what to eat and how to prepare it
What brain structure influences eating the most?
The hypothalamus
What happens if there is damage to the hypothalamus?
You’re more likely to become obese
If the middle region of the hypothalamus is damaged, you become obese. If the outer/lateral region of the hypothalamus is damaged, you eat a lot less than normal
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Gourmand syndrome
This is caused by damage to the limbic system or the right frontal lobes. In gourmand syndrome, people become obsessed with the quality and variety of food and how food is prepared.
Glucostatic theory
The bloodstream is monitored for its glucose levels.
Lipostatic theory
Proposes a set point for body fat. When an animal loses body fat, hunger signals motivate eating to return to set point
Leptin
A hormone involved in fat regulation
Ghrelin
A hormone in the stomach that triggers eating
Until the 1940s, it was believed that women did not enjoy sex and were not motivated to have sex
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Masturbation is common in both sexes and women enjoy orgasms too
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Sexual response cycle
A 4-stage pattern of physiological and psychological responses during sexual activity
What are the stages of the sexual response cycle?
- Excitement phase - when ppl contemplate sexual activity or begin kissing/touching
- Plateau phase - pulse rate, breathing, and blood pressure increase
- Orgasm phase - involuntary muscle contractions, increases in breathing/heart rate
- Resolution phase - a release of sexual tension and a return to a normal state of arousal. Men are temporarily unable to have an orgasm or erection at this phase, but women don’t have a resolution phase.
Hormones are involved in producing and terminating sexual behavior.
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In many species, females are only sexually receptive when they’re fertile
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Sex hormones are released from where?
The gonads (ovaries or testes)
What kind of hormones do males have?
Males have androgens and testosterone
What kind of hormones do females have?
Estrogen and progesterone and testosterone
Oxytocin
A hormone released during sexual arousal and orgasm
What is the brain region most important for stimulating sexual behavior?
The hypothalamus.. Because it controls the release of hormones and hormones are definitely involved in sex!
What are some neurotransmitters involved in sex?
Dopamine - involved in the physical experience of pleasure
Serotonin - also involved in sex
Nitric oxide - critical for sexual behavior
In men, hormones are released at the same rate over time. In women, the release of hormones varies according to a cycle that repeats itself every 28 days
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Studies show that women evaluate men differently across the menstrual cycle
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Studies indicate viewing erotic images activates reward regions in the brain, like the limbic system
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When men saw opposite sex nudes, their amygdala was activated
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Sexual scripts
Cognitive beliefs about how a sexual episode should be enacted
Double standard
Certain activities (premarital or casual sex) are morally and socially acceptable for men to do, but not women
Men have higher motivation for sex than women do
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Erotic plasticity
The extent that sex drive can be shaped by social, cultural, and situational factors
Women have a higher erotic plasticity than men
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Women are more likely to be cautious about having sec because having offspring is a much more intensive commitment for them than it is for men
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Sexual strategies theory
A theory that maintains that women and men have evolved distinct mating strategies because they have faced different adaptive problems over the course of human history. The strategies used by each sex maximize the probability of passing along their genes to future generations. For example, women perform intensive care over a small amount of infants
Women are much more likely to be cautious about having sex than men because women can become pregnant of course
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In seeking mates, both men and women don’t want insensitive ppl with bad manners, or loud ppl
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What do females want?
Considerate, honest, dependable, kind, and understanding men, liked by others, career oriented, fairly tall, from a good family
What do men care about in a woman?
Good looks, cooking skills, and sexual faithfulness
What are men and women most concerned about in a partner?
Men = good looks in partner Women = value partner in a good financial position
Women view attractiveness as a luxury, but men view attractiveness as a necessity
…
Women who see themselves as attractive want a man with status and good looks - they want it all
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Until 1973, psychiatrists viewed homosexuality as a mental illness
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Studies suggest that exposure to hormones in the prenatal environment might play a role in determining one’s sexual orientation
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Males with older brothers are more likely to be gay
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It’s unclear how human sexual orientation might be encoded in genes
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The hypothalamus might be involved in determining homosexuality
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Evidence is insufficient to establish a casual connection between brain regions and sexual orientation
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Evidence is consistent that biological processes play some role in sexual orientation tho
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Daryl Bem’s theory of homosexuality is that what is different is attractive. If we see members of our own sex as different from us, we are attracted to them.
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No good evidence suggests that sexual orientation can be changed through therapy
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Few psychologists believe sexual orientation is a choice or can be changed
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Drive
A psychological state that by creating arousal, motivates an organism to satisfy a need
Self-regulation
The process by which people change their behaviors to achieve personal goals
Hypothalamus
Is the brain structure that most influences eating AND the brain region most important for stimulating sexual behavior
Sexual strategies theory
A theory that maintains that women and men have evolved distinct mating strategies because they have faced different adaptive problems over the course of human history. The strategies used by each sex maximize the probability of passing along their genes to their future generations
What kind of stuff have researchers suggested about explaining homosexuality?
Prenatal hormone exposure, genes, and functional differences in the hypothalamus may influence sexual orientation
