exam mot and emo 3 Flashcards
Arousal:
activation of energy in preparation for or during actual behavior
2 types of arousal
Physiological arousal→ bodily changes that correspond with feeling energized
○ Psychological arousal→ how aroused we feel
subjectively
Physiological arousal
Bodily changes that correspond with feeling energized
Bodily changes that indicate the body is preparing for action
Ex.
Increased heart rate
Faster breathing
Palms sweaty
Controlled by the autonomic nervous system (like autopilot)
Sympathetic Nervous System:
Prepares the body for action
Activating
Parasympathetic Nervous System:
Conserves the body’s energy
Decreasing/Deactivating
Psychological Arousal
How aroused we feel subjectively
Excited, scared, anxious, agitated
Two Dimensions:
Energetic Arousal
Positively felt arousal, ranges from sleepiness to alert
Tense Arousal:
Negatively felt arousal, ranges from clam to anxious
anxiety trait vs state
state Anxiety:
Feelings of apprehension and worry that are evoked by threatening situations
Trait Anxiety:
Disposition to perceive the environment as threatening and to respond with anxiety
Propensity to react with state anxiety in threatening situations
Our Level of Arousal Can be Influenced by:
Time of Day
Energy rises and falls throughout the day, peak at noon to 2pm
Caffeine
Increases arousal
Physiological and Psychological
Evaluations
Increases arousal/anxiety
Perception of judgment
Collative Variables
Novelty
Newness increases arousal
Complexity
Higher complexity relative to simplicity increases arousal
Congruity
Something different from what you expect increases arousal
Doesn’t make sense
Does arousal increase or decrease performance?
both
Positive Arousal Performance Effects:
We perform tasks more proficiently when we are alert
Caffeine increases reaction time and proofreading skills
Negative Arousal Performance Effects:
Performance and Test Anxiety
Athletes perform worse when pressure is higher
what is the relationship between arousal and performance?
- Some arousal helps performance, but too much hinders it
Inverted U-arousal performance relationship - How arousal affects performance depends on the task
Arousal and task difficulty influence performance
Yerkes-Dodson Law:
Low arousal is best for difficult tasks
Higher arousal best for easier task
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Low arousal is best for difficult tasks
Higher arousal best for easier task
Zone of Optimal Functioning Hypothesis
Hypothesis from sports psychology
Says that some people naturally better at functioning under higher levels of arousal
Some people thrive under pressure
Proposes that there are individual inverted U curves for each athlete
Arousal-Performance Relationship
Why does the inverted-U exist? (6 theories)
Hull-Spence Drive Theory
Cusp Catastrophe Model
Arousal-Biased Competition Theory
Memory Systems
Processing Efficiency Theory
Attentional Control Theory
Hull-Spence Drive Theory
Earliest theoretical explanations for performance arousal relationship
Drives create arousal that intensifies dominant responses
Arousal intensifies the most likely response in a given situation
In easy task, the dominant response is correct
Most likely response when doing something easy is success
In difficult task, the dominant response is incorrect
Most likely response when doing something hard is failure
Drive increases arousal
Increased arousal increases likelihood of dominant response
Cusp Catastrophe Model
From sports psychology
Says performance depends on levels of cognitive anxiety and physiological arousal
Low Levels of Anxiety → Arousal Performance Relationship = Flattened Inverted U
Moderate to High Levels of Anxiety → Arousal Performance Increases to “Cusp”
Beyond “Cusp” → Increases in arousal lead to sharp drop off in performance
Tonic Immobility
ehavior paralysis due to extreme stress
In animals, immobility is a defense mechanism, predators prefer live prey
In humans, holdover from evolutionary history, evolutionary mismatch
Arousal-Biased Competition Theory
Arousal increases attention to and processing of high priority stimuli
Stimuli that pose a threat are a high priority
Memory Systems hot vs cold
Cool Memory System
Located in hippocampus
Memory of things in space and time
Works best at intermediate levels of arousal, but drops off at high levels
Hot Memory System
Located in amygdala
Memory of events that occur
Most efficient at high levels of arousal
“Where the cool system leaves off, the hot system takes over”
Processing Efficiency Theory
Anxiety leads to worry
Worry takes up working memory space, that would otherwise be used for cognitive tasks
Particularly detrimental when task requires the full capacity of working memory
Math anxiety
Attentional Control Theory
Extension of Processing Efficiency Theory
Adds that anxiety decreases cognitive capacity by inhibiting attention
Anxiety specifically inhibits ability to pay attention and ignore distractions
Optimal Level of Stimulation Theory
As arousal increases, positive affect increases, levels off, and then decreases
Individuals have an optimal level of stimulation (OLS)
OLS may change over time (age, experience)
OLS is usually moderate
Deviations from OLS decrease positive affect
Affect becomes negative when arousal is too low or too high
Optimal Level of Stimulation Theory may also apply to negative affect
Benign Masochism:
Enjoying initially negative experiences that are falsely intercepted as threatening
Collative Variables and Enjoyment
Arousal from collative variables helps explain why we enjoy things like art, music, and humor
Stimulus complexity and the enjoyment of art and music
Simple, moderate, complex
The more we engage with a complex stimulus, the less arousing that stimulus becomes
Incongruity and the enjoyment of music and humor
Moderate arousal from collative variables is associated with pleasure
Again, too much or too little arousal is associated with less pleasure
Stimulus Complexity and Affective Valence
As we have more experiences with stimuli, we become habituated to them
Through habituation, stimuli decreases in complexity, increases in liking
Novelty and Incongruity in Music and Humor
Noverly and incongruity evoke arousal and contribute to pleasure in music and humor
Novelty = Newness
Incongruity = Unexpectedness
Discrepancy Hypothesis
As stimuli deviate from an expectation, pleasure increase, and then decreases
Jokes, key changes in music are moderate discrepancies that lead to pleasure
Stress
When life demands exceed coping resources
Life is demanding and those demands must be addressed
Coping
Behavior motivated to adjust and regulate external demands and consequences
Coping requires resources
Stressors:
Life events that are not dealt with effectively
Stressors are…
Challenging
Coping requires more effort than usual
Demanding
Coping is necessary for functioning and well being
Threatening
May be psychologically or physically harmful
Vary in controllability duration, magnitude, and predictability
May come from daily life, significant changes, traumatic events, disappointment
Eustress:
Physiological arousal from positive events
Positive arousal typically moderate (not too high or low)
Distress:
Physiological arousal from negative events
Arousal that is typically too high or too low
Same Domain Effect:
Negative events produce distress and positive events produce eustress
Starting a new relationship vs Ending a relationship
Ignores fact that negative events are stronger
Stressors are more stressful when they…
Are larger in magnitude
Are unpredictable
Are uncontrollable
Preparatory Response Hypothesis:
Being able to prepare for a stressful event reduced stress (physiological mechanism)
Safety Hypothesis:
Distinguishing between safe and unsafe times allows us to relax when no negative life event has been signaled (allows body to relax)
Stress Manifests as…
- Physiological symptoms
- Psychological feelings
- Maladaptive behaviors
Physiological symptoms:
Headache, muscle tension, nausea, colds,
Hormones released by the adrenal glands (kidneys)
Adrenaline
Prepares body for fight for flight
Cortisol
Stimulates release of glucose (to fuel fight or flight) and stimulates appetite
Psychological Feelings
Feelings associated with stress are typically negative and aversive
Hopeless, anxious, fatigued, depressed, low subjective well-being
Maladaptive Behaviors
Behaviors aimed at alleviating stress and negative feelings
Some behaviors may temporarily relieve stress but create more long term stress
Mindless TV/Scrolling, Eating comfort foods, Drinking alcohol
Self-Medication Hypothesis:
People may use alcohol, nicotine, or illicit drugs to alleviate stress
These substance are associated with their own stressors
Maladaptive Behaviors– Stress and Eating
When stressed, people may attempt to cope by eating
Food is a negative reinforcer, relieves feelings of distress
Stress can shift our preferences to comfort food, food that is high in fat and sugar
Stress may induce overeating for some people and undereating for others
Some evidence this pattern may reverse in pleasant situations
Determining Stressor Magnitude:
Objective Measures
Life events are pre-rated for their stressful impact
Social Readjustment Rating Scale with life change unis
Subjective Measures
Participants provide their own ratings of stressful impact
Life Experiences Survey
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Demonstrates magnitude of a stressor corresponds with experience of stress
Long lasting distress following experience of a traumatic event
Intrusive, stressful memories and dreams
Experience flashbacks, feeling as though event has re-occurred
Avoidance of associated stimuli
Reactivity, irritability, increased vigilance
Experiential Avoidance:
Reluctance to endure painful sensations, memories, or thoughts
Stress is even more detrimental for health and well being when…
Facing multiple stressors at once
Stressors are chronic (long-lasting)
Perceived effort to cope does not correlate with perceived rewards
Studying hard for an exam does not increase your grade
Race Related Vigilance
“preparation for anticipation of discrimination”
Associated with sleep disturbances and high blood pressure
Experiencing racial discrimination is associated with
perceived stress, depression, anxiety, and high blood pressure
Psychophysiological (psychosomatic) Disorders:
Illness caused by or made worse by stressors
Asthma
Headaches
Hypertension
Heart Disease
A tendency towards these disorders are exacerbated by stress
Stress weakens immune system, resulting in:
Increased likelihood of illness
Increased healing time
Stress requires energy and interferes with
sleep, both are crucial for immune functioning
Cells known a cytokines
communicate the presence of pathogens to the brain
Stress increases level of cytokines
Cytokines tell the brain to divert energy from daily activities to immune system
Results in feelings of fatigue, fever, lack of energy, appetite, depressed mood and social withdrawal
Coping with Life Events and Stress
- Planning–
- Execution– enacting the coping plan
- Feedback– assessing whether our coping
strategy was successful
Planning/Appraisal
Assessing demand and figuring out how to deal with it
Determines meaning of a life event and how we react
Primary Appraisal:
“Is the event relevant, benign, positive or stressful?”
Irrelevant, benign, or positive appraisals → event evokes little reaction or positive reaction
Secondary Appraisal:
“What coping strategies are there for addressing the event?”
Evaluate resources for coping, likely effectiveness of various strategies
Execution Coping Strategy
Problem-focused coping
○ Attempt to identify the problem/ stressor,
consider potential solutions to the problem,
and then attempting those solutions
● Emotion-focused coping
○ Managing negative reactions to stress
Emotion Regulation → Ability to control type and intensity of emotions experienced
Types of Emotion-Focused Coping:
Wishful Thinking
Distancing
Reappraisal
Self-Blame
Self-Isolation
Feedback
Assessing whether coping strategy was successful
Determining if our strategy for coping was effective in reducing stress
Feedback information is fed back into the primary appraisal process
Has the stressor passed/been dealt with effectively
Is the stressor still a problem?
If so, begin the secondary appraisal process again
influence of Stressor Controllability
Examples of stressor controllability:
Controllable
Exams
Choosing to end a relationship
Uncontrollable
Natural disasters
Being broken up with
Controllability impacts coping:
Controllability increases choice of coping strategies
Problem-focused coping more effective with controllable stressors
Emotion-focused coping more effective with uncontrollable stressors
Controllability impacts benefits of reappraisal:
Reappraisal less beneficial with controllable stressors
Reappraisal more beneficial with uncontrollable stressors
