Emotion & Motivation Flashcards
What are motivational states?
psychological and physiological states that initiate and direct us towards or away from specific goals
What are approach behaviours?
behaviours that initiate and direct us towards a specific goal
What are avoidance behaviours?
behaviours that initiate and direct us away from a specific goal
what are the two types of biological motivational states?
bodily sensations and emotions
what are bodily sensations?
motivational states mostly triggered by internal events and having physiological arousal and dedicated and unambiguous physical signal
what are emotions?
motivational states mostly triggered by external events
what is emotion marked by?
physiological arousal, cognitive interpretation, observable facial and bodily expressions
what is the hypothalamus?
structure that is especially responsible for regulating bodily sensation, especially those related to arousal and hunger
what is the amygdala?
structure that plays an important role in many emotional processes, especially reward and fear
what are acquired/personal motivation states?
learned states that do not directly contribute to our immediate survival, are culturally defined, and often controlled
what is the main idea of the James-Lange theory?
a stimulus causes unique physiological reactions that produces a dedicated emotional experience in the brain, there is no confusion about what is being experienced
what are the faults of the James-Lange theory?
bodily reactions can occur AFTER emotions, bodily reactions can occur without causing emotions, different emotions can be associated with the same bodily response and vice-versa
what is the main idea of the Cannon-Bard theory?
a stimulus triggers both physiological reaction and a separate brain-based emotional response - arousal and emotion occur at the same time
what is the two-factor theory of emotion?
emotions are inferences from physiological reactions; we experience arousal, and then try to find out why, leading to an emotional state
what are the 2 paths of the two-factor theory of emotion?
fast path - leads directly amygdala and triggers quick jolt of arousal, attention, and fear
slow path - assesses source of the arousal, and then reinterprets and labels sensation into emotions (i.e. happy, sad, fear, etc.)
what are the two main roles of emotions?
internal role: help guide us towards particular goals
external role: they communicate to others what our internal states are
what is the facial feedback hypothesis?
emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they typically signify
what is the discrete emotion theory?
a categorical and universalist theory that says there are a small number of core/primary emotions, identical for all people that are each associated with a specific biological and evolutionary function
what is the Fusiform Face Area?
a dedicated brain area that processes and distinguishes faces and facial expressions
what is prosopagnosia?
a neurological problem (usually from damage to the FFA), leading to face blindness, the inability to properly perceive faces
what is the constructed emotion theory?
a non-categorical and universalist theory that says all emotions are a mixture of arousal and valence, emotions are always fluidly interpreted
what dimensions do we appraise events in?
self-relevance, importance, ability to cope, and control
what is appraisal?
our conscious or unconscious evaluations and interpretations of the emotion-relevant aspects of a stimulus or event
what are action tendencies?
a readiness to engage in a specific set of emotion-relevant behaviours
what is ghrelin and what does it do?
a peptide secreted in the stomach that leads to higher hunger levels
what is leptin and what does it do?
a hormone secreted by fat/adipose cells that leads to reduced hunger levels
what happens when leptin levels are high?
food starts to seem a little repulsive
what is DHEA?
a precursor steroid to both testosterone and estrogen, the accumulation of DHEA is the (slow) onset of puberty
what does testosterone do during puberty?
enlarge the penis and clitoris, increase hair growth and muscle strength/volume, and change vocal chords
what does estrogen do during puberty?
breast growth, stimulate bone maturation, higher retention of fat cells
what are the stages of the human sexual response cycle?
- Excitement
- Plateau
- Orgasm
- Resolution
- Refractory
what is motivation?
the internal causes of purposeful behaviour
what is an instinct?
a not-learned (innate), automatic, complex behaviour programmed throughout a species to increase the chance of survival and sexual reproduction
what are the 3 problems with instinct theory?
- many motivational states are not automatic
- proliferation of instincts
- behavioural flexibility
what is drive theory?
motivational states are caused to maintain homeostasis in various bodily and cognitive systems, only activate when something is out of balance
what is the Yerkes-Dodson law?
the U-shaped relationships between the amount of arousal and performance on a task
what are the problems with drive theory?
- we sometimes do things without need for homeostasis
- we sometimes do things even when we are off-balance
- it struggles to explain acquired motivational states
what is incentive theory?
we are motivated for things we receive rewards for, and motivated to avoid those that we are punished for
what is intrinsic motivation?
motivation that is marked by expected rewards and value that is internal (e.g., personal enjoyment, sense of mastery)
what is extrinsic motivation?
motivation that is marked by expected reward and value that is external (e.g. praise, money)
what is the overjustification effect?
a phenomenon whereby people who are rewarded for a behaviour become less intrinsically motivated
what is loss aversion?
the tendency to care more about avoiding losses than about achieving equal-size gains
what is terror management theory?
a theory about how people respond to knowledge of their own mortality, it suggests that people cope by developing a cultural worldview
what is procrastination?
the voluntary delay of an action despite being worse off for having made the delay
what behavioural interventions can help procrastination?
reducing access to rewarding distractions, promoting routines, boredom exposure training, increasing value of actions
what is need for belonging?
a motivational state to be in social groups, feeling accepted by others, and connected physically and psychologically
what happens when people do not feel a sense of belonging or are lonely
when unable to satisfy this motivational state, people experience loneliness and rejection, which stimulate same pain centers as when we are in physical pain; perpetual loneliness increases rates of depression, cardiovascular problems, and early mortality
what is need for acheivement?
a motivational state that drives us towards creating, succeeding, and being recognized for some behaviour we perform
what is a performance orientation?
a persistent focus on outward markers of performance, on avoiding failure at all cost, and not being an outlier
what is a mastery orientation?
a persistent focus on learning and improving, even at a cost of persistent failure and public knowledge about it
what is the need for cognition?
a motivational state that drives us to engage in effortful, difficult, and challenging cognitive tasks, even for pleasure and to alleviate boredom
