Chapter 11 Flashcards
Motivation
A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.
Instinct
A complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned.
Instinct Theory
Viewed our instincts as the source of our motivations, which is only partially true.
Physiological Needs
A basic bodily requirement.
Homeostasis
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.
Drive-Reduction Theory
The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.
Incentive
A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior.
Positive incentives cause underlying drives to become active impulses. When this aligns with a need, we feel strongly driven.
Negative incentives motivate us to change.
Arousal Theory
Our need to maintain an optimal level of arousal motivates behaviors that meet no physiological need.
Yerkes-Dodson Law
The principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a certain point, beyond which performance decreases.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before people can fulfill their higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs. This is not universally fixed.
Food/Water
Safety
Belongingness/Love
Esteem
Self-Actualization (full potential)
Self-Transcendence (purpose beyond oneself)
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.
Appetite Hormones
Appetite-stimulating hormones:
- ghrelin and orexin
Appetite-suppressing hormones:
-leptin and PYY
Physiological Detectors of Hunger
- stomach contractions
- blood vessels connect the hypothalamus to the rest of the body, allowing it to monitor levels of appetite hormones
- low/high glucose
Set Point
The point at which the “weight thermostat” may be set. When the body falls below this weight, increased hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may combine to restore lost weight.
Basal Metabolic Rate
The body’s resting rate of energy output. Drops when receiving little food, or when losing weight.
Psychological Influences of Hunger
- how long it has been since we last ate. As time passes, we anticipate eating again and start feeling hungry.
- mental state (depressed/stressed)
- taste preferences
- eating with friends/family
- larger serving size/food variety
Obesity
Defined as a body mass index of 30 or higher, which is calculated from our weight-to-height ratio. (Overweight individuals have a BMI of 25+)
Asexual
Having no sexual attraction toward others.
Testosterone
The most important male sex hormone. Males and females both have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of male sex organs during the fetal period, and the development of male sex characteristics during puberty.
Estrogens
Sex hormones, such as estradiol, that contribute to female sex characteristics and are secreted in greater amounts by females than by males. Estrogen levels peak during ovulation. In nonhuman mammals, this promotes sexual receptivity.
Sex Hormone Fluxuations
Females: prenatal, puberty, after puberty
Males: puberty
- In both genders, sexual interest is often correlated to their sex hormone. Hormonal surges occur during the pubertal stage, later in life, and due to some surgeries.
Sexual Response Cycle
The four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson—excitement (filling/expanding), plateau (rates increase, filling stops, secretion begins), orgasm (muscle contractions, rates increase to max), and resolution (returns to unaroused state).
Refractory Period
In human sexuality, a resting period that occurs after orgasm, during which a person cannot achieve another orgasm.
Sexual Dysfunction
A problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning at any point in the sexual response cycle.
