Motivation and Emotions

Question 0

Paul Ekman’s six basic emotions

Answer 0

Anger, disgust, sadness, happiness, fear, surprise

Question 1

Emotion

Answer 1

An affective state often accompanied by specific physiological characteristics, with the power to impact thoughts and behaviors; expressing emotions helps with non-verbal communication; important for survival and quality of life; involve frontal lobe and amygdala.

Question 2

Robert Plutchik’s wheel of emotions

Answer 2

Oppositional pairs: anger/fear; joy/sadness; trust/disgust; surprise/anticipation; 8 fundamental pairs with 3 levels of intensity; the wheel shows how these emotions blend with each other to form more complicated ones (e.g.: Joy+trust=love).

These basic emotions have evolved to increase evolutionary fitness (e.g.: fear inspires the fight or flight response).

Question 3

Emotions processing speed

Answer 3

Different emotions take different pathways through the brain and through the body:

Fast process: some are processed by the limbic system (amygdala, hypothalamus, thalamus); fundamental emotions tend to be processed this way.

Slow process: emotions that require cognitive processing (appraisal) such as resentment.

Question 4

James-Lange theory of emotion

Answer 4

Physiological arousal precedes the experience of emotion.

Question 5

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

Answer 5

The emotion and the physiological arousal are simultaneous.

Question 6

Schachter-Singer theory of emotion (two-factor theory of emotion)

Answer 6

The experience of emotion depends on physiological arousal and cognitive processing, which has been coined ‘appraisal’ by Richard Lazarus; appraisals can be conscious or unconscious, and can be inaccurate; cognitive processing of physiological arousal must occur before we experience emotion.

Question 7

Facial feedback hypothesis

Answer 7

The movement of facial muscles (over 40) influences our emotional experiences; subduing those facial projections can diminish the emotions, according to Darwin (e.g.: women injected with Botox, which paralyzes facial muscles, experience a decreased activity in areas of their brains that process emotions.

Question 8

Fight-or-flight response

Answer 8

Aroused sympathetic nervous system; HPA axis (hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands) release epinephrin; heightened awareness is what happens in humans before we ‘fight’ or ‘flee’ a danger; it allows us to think of how to react to a threat.

Question 9

Hans Selye’s General adaptation syndrome

Answer 9

3 stages in reaction to chronic stress:

Alarm: burst of energy to help deal with the stressor; stress hormones are released by the HPA axis: hypothalamus tells the pituitary to releases glucocorticoids and the adrenal glands releases cortisol and epinephrin.

Resistance: the body tries to fight or to adapt to the stressor and to return to pre-alarmed functioning; may fail to return to an unstressed stage because of elevated levels of stress hormones.

Exhaustion: physical or mental; leads to illness.

Chronic stress weakens the immune system, causes damage to DNA (graying hair), and increases the risk of heart disease (plaques).

Question 10

Coping methods for long-term stress

Answer 10

Coping methods are conscious efforts to solve a personal or interpersonal problem. Emotion-focused coping changes a person’s emotional response to the stressor. Problem-focused coping is about trying to deal with the stressor itself so as to avoid the stress response it is causing.

Identifying stressors and maladaptive responses (substance abuse; unhealthy eating habits; withdrawal from activities, friends, and family).
Avoiding or changing the stressors, if possible.
Changing reactions.
Reframing the situation in a more positive light.
Accepting things that are beyond control.
Expressing and sharing.

Question 11

Optimism

Answer 11

Hopefulness about successful future outcomes; for more optimism, self-talk (the unlocalized thoughts that run in our heads) can be changed.

Question 12

Self-efficacy

Answer 12

Belief in your own competence to produce desired outcomes

Question 13

Happiness

Answer 13

The experience of pleasure; the feeling of engagement, absorption, and activity; the feeling of engagement into a meaningful activity.

Social support network improved happiness.

Question 14

Motivation

Answer 14

The desire to do something; an impulse that inspires some action.

Instinct theory of motivation: motivation results from hard-wiring.

Drive reduction theory: physiological needs create aroused states (drives) that motivate us to reduce the needs to maintain homeostasis.

Arousal theory: we aim to achieve a state of optimum arousal (when we have too little stimulation we look for more, but when we are over stressed we look for less).

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators also apply to motivation. Examples of powerful motivators are hunger and sex.

Question 15

Homeostasis

Answer 15

The tendency to aim toward a constant internal state

Question 16

Instinct

Answer 16

Unlearned actions that exist consistently throughout a species

Question 17

Where does hunger come from?

Answer 17

The hypothalamus influences its 2 different parts that respectively control your will to start eating and your will to stop eating.
The hormones insulin and ghrelin.
Psychological factors: people with amnesia might eat lunch 2-3 times.
Cultural attitudes: leading to strange eating habits (bulimia, binge eating…)

Question 18

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 18

Physiological needs: water, food, air, sleep
Safety needs: safety, security
Social needs (love and belonging needs): affection, friendship, relationship in social groups, community, or religious groups
Esteem needs: personal worth, social recognition, accomplishments, self-esteem
Self-actualization needs: using your full potential, capacities, talents; only 1% of adults will meet these needs, according to Maslow.