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.
Erectile Disorder
Inability to develop or maintain an erection due to insufficient blood flow to the penis. Another disorder that occurs in men is called pre-mature ejaculation.
*Treated with therapies
Female Orgasmic Disorder
Distress due to infrequently or never experiencing orgasm.
*Treated with therapies
Paraphilias
Sexual arousal from fantasies, behaviors, or urges involving nonhuman objects, the suffering of self or others, and/or non-consenting persons.
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Infections that are transmitted orally or genially.
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)
A life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a sexually transmitted infection. AIDS depletes the immune system, leaving the person vulnerable to infections.
Sexual External Stimuli
- humans can become aroused when they read, see, or hear erotic material
- with repeated exposure, the emotional response may habituate
Effects of Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material
- Believing that rape is acceptable
- Reducing satisfaction with a partner’s appearance or with a relationship
- Desensitization
Sexual Imagined Stimuli
- sexual fantasies can produce an orgasm in women
- men tend to have more frequent and aggressive sexual fantasies
- does not indicate a problem
Teen Pregnancy Contributors
- fear of communication
- impulsivity
- alcohol use
- mass media
Sexual Orientation
The direction of our sexual attractions, as reflected in our longings and fantasies.
1 Fact About Sexual Orientation
People can not ignore, change, or choose their sexual orientation
Origins of Sexual Orientation- Brain Anatomy
- hypothalamus structure differences
- brain function correlates with sexual orientation
Origins of Sexual Orientation- Genetics
- same-sex orientation tends to run in families
- sexual behavior is influenced by many genes
- same-sex genes are found in everyone, but people that have same-sex orientation have more
Origins of Sexual Orientation- Prenatal
- exposure to large amounts of opposite sex-hormone can cause same-sex orientation
- men with older brothers are more likely to be gay
Gay-Straight Trait Differences
NONE
Affiliation Need
The need to build and maintain relationships and to feel part of a group.
Self-Determination Theory
The theory that we feel motivated to satisfy our needs for competence, autonomy (sense of personal control), and relatedness.
Ostracism
Deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups.
Can cause great emotional pain, and even physical pain through the anterior cingulate cortex.
Effects of the Internet
It has both positive and negative effects:
- acting as a social amplifier
- boosting levels of anxiety and depression
- takes us away from face-to-face relationships
- safe place to practice self disclosure
Narcissism
Excessive self-love and self-absorption.
Achievement Motivation
A desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard. Usually, these do not have obvious survival value.
High Achieving People
Have a lot of achievement motivation, grit, and also natural talent.
Grit
In psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.
Intrinsic Motivation
A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake.
Excessive rewards can destroy this.
Extrinsic Motivation
The desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment.
People who actually focus on their work’s meaning and significance will ultimately receive more rewards: it pays to be intrinsically motivated.
