Motivation and Emotion Flashcards
This covers chapters 9 and 10.
Bulimia
A kind of eating disorder.
Bulimics eat large amounts of food in a short period of I (binging) and then get rid of the food (purging) by vomi exercising excessively, or using laxatives.
Bulimics are obsessed with food and their weight. The m of bulimics are women.
Set-Point Theory to send.
States that the hypothalamus wants to maintain a certain optimal body weight.
When we drop below that weight, the hypothalamus tells us we should eat and lowers our metabolic rate-how quickly our body uses energy.
The hypothalamus tells us to stop eating when that set point is reached and raises our metabolic rate to burn any excess food.
Arousal Theory
States that we sack an optimum levd of excitement or arousal
Each of us has a different need for excitement or arousal, a is motivated by activities that will help us achieve his level
People with high optimum levels of arousal might be drawn to high-excitement behaviors, while the rest of us are satisfied with less exciting and less risky activities.
In general, most of us perform best with an optimum level of arousal although this varies with different activities.
We might perform well at an easy task with a very high level of arousal, but the same high level of arousal would prevent us from performing well on a difficult task
This relationship is called the Yerkes-Dodson law after the person who first investigated the concept in animals.
Two-Factor Theory
Theory Stanley Schachter’s two-factor theory explains emotional experiences in a more complete way than either the James-Lange or Cannon-Bard theories do.
Suggests that both our physical responses and our cognitive labels (our mental interpretations) combine to cause any particular emotional response.
For example, if your heart rate is already elevated after a quick jog, you will report being more frightened by a sudden surprise than you would if you got a surprise in a resting state.
Lateral Hypothalamus
Part of the hypothalamus involved in hunger motivation.
Stimulating this area causes an animal to eat.
Destruction of this area destroys hunger, and the animal will starve to death unless forced to eat.
If the hypothalamus functions normally, this area and the ventromedial hypothalamus oppose each other and signal impulses to eat and stop eating at appropriate times.
Opponent-Process Theory of Motivation
Often used to explain addictive behaviors.
States that people are usually at a normal, or baseline, state.
We might perform an act that moves us from the baseline state, such as smoking a cigarette.
These acts may be initially pleasurable (because nicotine is a stimulant and it makes us feel a good “buzz”), but the theory states that we eventually feel an opponent process, meaning a motivation to return to our baseline, neutral state.
Do not confuse the Opponent-Process Theory of Motivation with the Opponent-Process Theory of Color Vision.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Psychologist Abraham Maslow pointed out that not all needs are created equal.
Predicts which needs we will be motivated to satisfy first.
We will act to satisfy biological needs like survival and safety. Then we will act to satisfy our emotional needs like love and self-esteem.
Finally, once the previous goals have been met, we will want to attain our life goals like satisfaction and self-actualization, a need to fulfill our unique potential as a person
Incentives
Stimuli that we are drawn to due to learning.
We learn to associate some stimuli with rewards and others with punishment, and we are motivated to seek the rewards.
For example, you may learn that studying with friends is fun but does not produce the desired results around test time, so you are motivated to study alone to get the reward of a good test score.
Approach-Avoidance Conflict
Exists when one event or goal has both attractive and unattractive features.
If you were lactose-intolerant, an ice-cream cone would present such a conflict; the taste of the ice cream is appealing, but its effects on you are not.
Drive Reduction Theory
States that our behavior is motivated by biological needs.
A need is one of our requirements for survival (e.g., food, water, shelter).
A drive is our impulse to act in a way that satisfies this need.
Our body seeks homeostasis, a balanced internal state. When we are out of homeostasis, we have a need that creates a drive.
Drives can be categorized in two ways: primary drives and secondary drives.
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict
Occurs when you must choose between two unattractive outcomes.
For example, if your parents gave you a choice one weekend between staying home and cleaning out the garage or going on a family trip to visit some distant relatives, you might experience an avoidance-avoidance conflict.
Secondary Drives
Learned drives.
For instance, we learn that resources like money can get us food and water to satisfy our primary drives.
Drive reduction theory states that our behavior is motivated by biological needs.
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Hans Seyle’s GAS describes the general response animals (including humans) have to a stressful event.
Our response pattern to many different physical and emotional stresses is very consistent.
The General Adaptation Syndrome describes three phases of response to stress: alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion.
Explains some of the documented problems associated with extended periods of stress. Excessive stress can contribute to both physical diseases (e.g., ulcers and heart conditions) and emotional difficulties (e.g., depression).
Motivations
Feelings or ideas that cause us to act toward a goal.
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
One of the earliest theories about emotion was put forth by William James and Carl Lange.
Suggests that we feel emotion because of biological changes caused by stress.
For example, when the big bad wolf jumps out of the woods, Little Red Riding Hood’s heart races. This physiological change causes her to feel afraid.
