Motivation, Emotion, Development, And Personality

Question 1

Explain instinct approaches to motivation

Answer 1

Motivation relates to the factors that direct and energize behavior.

Question 2

Explain drive-reduction approaches to motivation

Answer 2

• Drive is the motivational tension that energizes behavior to fulfill a need.
• Homeostasis, the maintenance of a steady internal state, often underlies motivational drives.

Question 3

Explain arousal approaches to motivation

Answer 3

Arousal approaches suggest that we try to maintain a particular level of stimulation and activity.

Question 4

Explain incentive approaches to motivation

Answer 4

Incentive approaches focus on the positive aspects of the environment that direct and energize behavior.

Question 5

Explain cognitive approaches to motivation

Answer 5

Cognitive approaches focus on the role of thoughts, expectations, and understanding of the world in producing motivation.

Question 6

Apply Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to motivation

Answer 6

Maslow’s hierarchy suggests that there are five basic needs: physiological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. Only after the more basic needs are fulfilled can a person move toward meeting higher-order needs.

Question 7

Apply the different approaches to motivation

Answer 7

Taken together, the different approaches to motivation provide a broad understanding of behavior.

Question 8

Describe the biological and social factors that underlie hunger

Answer 8

• Eating behavior is subject to homeostasis, as most people’s weight stays within a relatively stable range. The hypothalamus in the brain is central to the regulation of food intake.
• Social factors, such as mealtimes, cultural food preferences, and other learned habits, also play a role in the regulation of eating, determining when, what, and how much one eats. An oversensitivity to social cues and an insensitivity to internal cues may also be related to obesity. In addition, obesity may be caused by an unusually high weight set point—the weight the body attempts to maintain—and genetic factors.

Question 9

Summarize the varieties of sexual behavior

Answer 9

• Although biological factors, such as the presence of androgens (male sex hormones) and estrogens and progesterone (female sex hormones), prime people for sex, almost any kind of stimulus can produce sexual arousal, depending on a person’s prior experience.
• The frequency of masturbation is high, particularly for males. Although increasingly liberal, attitudes toward masturbation have traditionally been negative even though no negative consequences have been detected.
• Heterosexuality, or sexual attraction to members of the other sex, is the most common sexual orientation.
• Homosexuals are sexually attracted to members of their own sex; bisexuals are sexually attracted to people of the same sex and the other sex. No explanation for why people have a particular sexual orientation has been confirmed; among the possibilities are genetic or biological factors and childhood and family influences. However, no relationship exists between sexual orientation and psychological adjustment.
• Transgender is a general term encompassing people whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior is not consistent with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.

Question 10

Explain how needs related to achievement, affiliation, and power are exhibited

Answer 10

• Need for achievement refers to the stable, learned characteristic in which a person strives to attain a level of excellence. Need for achievement is usually measured through the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), a series of pictures about which a person writes a story.
• The need for affiliation is a concern with establishing and maintaining relationships with others, whereas the need for power is a tendency to seek to exert an impact on others.

Question 11

Define the range of emotions

Answer 11

Emotions are broadly defined as feelings that may affect behavior and generally have both a physiological component and a cognitive component.

Question 12

Explain the roots of emotions

Answer 12

• Several theories explain emotions. The James-Lange theory suggests that emotional experience is a reaction to bodily, or visceral, changes that occur as a response to an environmental event and are interpreted as an emotional response.
• In contrast, the Cannon-Bard theory contends that both physiological arousal and an emotional experience are produced simultaneously by the same nerve stimulus and that the visceral experience does not necessarily differ among differing emotions.
• The Schachter-Singer theory suggests that emotions are determined jointly by a relatively nonspecific physiological arousal and the subsequent labeling of that arousal, using cues from the environment to determine how others are behaving in the same situation.
• The most recent approaches to emotions focus on their biological origins. For instance, it now seems that specific patterns of biological arousal are associated with individual emotions. Furthermore, new scanning techniques have identified the specific parts of the brain that are activated during the experience of particular emotions.
• A person’s facial expressions can reveal emotions. In fact, members of different cultures understand the emotional expressions of others in similar ways. One explanation for this similarity is that an innate facial-affect program activates a set of muscle movements representing the emotion being experienced.
• The facial-feedback hypothesis suggests that facial expressions not only reflect, but also produce, emotional experiences.

Question 13

Compare and contrast the influence of nature versus nurture

Answer 13

• Developmental psychology studies growth and change throughout life.
• One fundamental question is how much developmental change is due to heredity and how much is due to environment—the nature–nurture issue.
• Heredity defines the upper limits of our growth and change, whereas the environment affects the degree to which the upper limits are reached.

Question 14

Describe developmental research techniques

Answer 14

• Cross-sectional research compares people of different ages with one another at the same point in time.
• Longitudinal research traces the behavior of one or more participants as the participants become older.
• Sequential research combines the two methods by taking several different age groups and examining them at several points in time.

Question 15

Discuss prenatal development

Answer 15

• At the moment of conception, a male’s sperm cell and a female’s egg cell unite, with each contributing to the new individual’s genetic makeup.
• Each chromosome contains genes, through which genetic information is transmitted.
• The union of sperm and egg produces a zygote, which contains 23 pairs of chromosomes—with one member of each pair coming from the father and the other coming from the mother.
• After two weeks the zygote becomes an embryo. By week 8, the embryo is called a fetus and is responsive to touch and other stimulation. At week 22 it reaches the age of viability, which means it may survive if born prematurely.
• A fetus is normally born after 38 weeks of pregnancy, weighing around 7 pounds and measuring about 20 inches.
• Genes affect not only physical attributes but also a wide array of personal characteristics such as cognitive abilities, personality traits, and psychological disorders.
• Genetic abnormalities produce birth defects such as phenylketonuria (PKU) and Down syndrome.
• Among the environmental influences on fetal growth are the mother’s nutrition, illnesses, and alcohol and nicotine intake.

Question 16

Describe the major competencies of newborns

Answer 16

• Newborns, or neonates, have reflexes, unlearned, involuntary responses that occur automatically in the presence of certain stimuli.
• Sensory abilities also develop rapidly; infants can distinguish color, depth, sound, tastes, and smells relatively soon after birth.
• After birth, physical development is rapid; children typically triple their birth weight in a year.

Question 17

Explain the milestones of physical, social, and cognitive development during childhood

Answer 17

• Attachment—the positive emotional bond between a child and a particular individual—marks social development in infancy.
• As children become older, the nature of their social interactions with peers changes. Initially play occurs relatively independently, but it becomes increasingly cooperative.
• The different child-rearing styles include authoritarian, permissive, authoritative, and uninvolved.
• According to Erikson, eight stages of psychosocial development involve people’s changing interactions and understanding of themselves and others. During childhood, the four stages are trust-versus-mistrust (birth to 1½ years), autonomy-versus-shame-and-doubt (1½–3 years), initiative-versus-guilt (3–6 years), and industry-versus-inferiority (6–12 years).
• Piaget’s theory suggests that cognitive development proceeds through four stages in which qualitative changes occur in thinking: the sensorimotor stage (birth–2 years), the preoperational stage (2–7 years), the concrete operational stage (7–12 years), and the formal operational stage (12 years to adulthood).
• Information-processing approaches suggest that quantitative changes occur in children’s ability to organize and manipulate information about the world, such as significant increases in speed of processing, attention span, and memory. In addition, children advance in metacognition, the awareness and understanding of one’s own cognitive processes.
• Vygotsky argued that children’s cognitive development occurs as a consequence of social interactions in which children and others work together to solve problems.

Question 18

Summarize the major physical transitions that characterize adolescence

Answer 18

Adolescence, the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood, is marked by the onset of puberty, the point at which sexual maturity occurs. The age at which puberty begins has implications for the way people view themselves and the way others see them.

Question 19

Explain moral and cognitive development in adolescents

Answer 19

Moral judgments during adolescence increase in sophistication, according to Kohlberg’s three-level model. Although Kohlberg’s levels provide an adequate description of males’ moral judgments, Gilligan suggests that women view morality in terms of caring for individuals rather than in terms of broad, general principles of justice.

Question 20

Describe social development in adolescents

Answer 20

• According to Erikson’s model of psychosocial development, adolescence may be accompanied by an identity crisis. Adolescence is followed by three more stages of psychosocial development that cover the remainder of the life span.
• Suicide is the third-leading cause of death in adolescents.

Question 21

Explain physical development in adulthood

Answer 21

• Early adulthood marks the peak of physical health. Physical changes occur relatively gradually in men and women during adulthood.
• One major physical change occurs at the end of middle adulthood for women: they begin menopause, after which they are no longer fertile.

Question 22

Discuss social development in adulthood

Answer 22

• During middle adulthood, people typically experience a midlife transition in which the notion that life is not unending becomes more important. Despite the common view that there is a midlife crisis, typically the passage into middle age is relatively calm.
• As aging continues during middle adulthood, people realize in their fifties that their lives and accomplishments are fairly well set, and they try to come to terms with them.

Question 23

State the impact of marriage, children, and divorce on families

Answer 23

Among the important developmental milestones during adulthood are marriage, family changes, and divorce. Another important determinant of adult development is work.

Question 24

Discuss the later years of adulthood

Answer 24

Gerontologists, specialists who study aging, are making important contributions to clarifying the capabilities of older adults.

Question 25

Explain the physical changes that occur in late adulthood

Answer 25

• Old age may bring marked physical declines caused by genetic preprogramming or physical wear and tear.
• Although the activities of people in late adulthood are not all that different from those of younger people, older adults experience declines in reaction time, sensory abilities, and physical stamina

Question 26

Identify the cognitive changes that occur in late adulthood

Answer 26

• Intellectual declines are not an inevitable part of aging.
• Fluid intelligence does decline with age, and long-term memory abilities are sometimes impaired.
• Crystallized intelligence shows slight increases with age, and short-term memory remains at about the same level.

Question 27

Discuss the social aspects of late adulthood

Answer 27

Although disengagement theory sees successful aging as a process of gradual withdrawal from the physical, psychological, and social worlds, there is little research supporting this view. Instead, activity theory, which suggests that the maintenance of interests and activities from earlier years leads to successful aging, is a more accurate explanation

Question 28

Describe how people can adjust to death

Answer 28

According to Kübler-Ross, dying people move through five stages as they face death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Question 29

Explain Freud’s psychoanalytic theory

Answer 29

• Personality is the pattern of enduring characteristics that produce consistency and individuality in a given person.
• According to psychodynamic explanations of personality, much behavior is caused by parts of personality that are found in the unconscious and of which we are unaware.
• Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, one of the psychodynamic approaches, suggests that personality is composed of the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the unorganized, inborn part of personality whose purpose is to immediately reduce tensions relating to hunger, sex, aggression, and other primitive impulses. The ego restrains instinctual energy to maintain the safety of the individual and to help the person be a member of society. The superego represents the rights and wrongs of society and includes the conscience.
• Freud’s psychoanalytic theory suggests that personality develops through a series of psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital), each of which is associated with a primary biological function.
• Defense mechanisms, according to Freudian theory, are unconscious strategies with which people reduce anxieties relating to impulses from the id.
• Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has provoked a number of criticisms, including a lack of supportive scientific data, the theory’s inadequacy in making predictions, and its reliance on a highly restricted population. On the other hand, recent neuroscience research has offered some support for the concept of the unconscious

Question 30

Discuss Neo-Freudian psychoanalysts

Answer 30

Neo-Freudian psychoanalytic theorists built on Freud’s work, although they placed greater emphasis on the role of the ego and paid more attention to the role of social factors in determining behavior.

Question 31

Explain trait approaches to personality

Answer 31

Trait approaches have been used to identify relatively enduring dimensions along which people differ from one another—dimensions known as traits.

Question 32

Explain learning approaches to personality

Answer 32

• Learning approaches to personality concentrate on observable behavior. To a strict learning theorist, personality is the sum of learned responses to the external environment.
• Social cognitive approaches concentrate on the role of cognitions in determining personality. Those approaches pay particular attention to self-efficacy and self-esteem in determining behavior.

Question 33

Explain biological and evolutionary approaches to personality

Answer 33

Biological and evolutionary approaches to personality focus on the way in which personality characteristics are inherited.

Question 34

Explain humanistic approaches to personality

Answer 34

Humanistic approaches emphasize the inherent goodness of people. They consider the core of personality in terms of a person’s ability to change and improve.

Question 35

Compare and contrast approaches to personality

Answer 35

The major personality approaches differ substantially from one another; the differences may reflect both their focus on different aspects of personality and the overall complexity of personality.

Question 36

Discuss self-report measures of personality

Answer 36

• Psychological tests such as the MMPI are standard assessment tools that measure behavior objectively. They must be reliable (measuring what they are trying to measure consistently) and valid (measuring what they are supposed to measure).
• Self-report measures ask people about a sample range of their behaviors. These reports are used to infer the presence of particular personality characteristics.

Question 37

Define projective methods

Answer 37

Projective personality tests (such as the Rorschach and the Thematic Apperception Test) present an ambiguous stimulus; the test administrator infers information about the test-taker from his or her responses.

Question 38

Explain behavioral assessment

Answer 38

Behavioral assessment is based on the principles of learning theory. It employs direct measurement of an individual’s behavior to determine characteristics related to personality

Question 39

Summarize the theories of intelligence

Answer 39

• Because intelligence can take many forms, defining it is challenging. One commonly accepted view is that intelligence is the capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges.
• The earliest psychologists assumed that there is a general factor for mental ability called g. However, later psychologists disputed the view that intelligence is unidimensional.
• Some researchers suggest that intelligence can be broken down into fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences proposes that there are eight spheres of intelligence.
• Information-processing approaches examine the processes underlying intelligent behavior rather than focusing on the structure of intelligence.

Question 40

Compare and contrast practical and emotional intelligences

Answer 40

Practical intelligence is intelligence related to overall success in living; emotional intelligence is the set of skills that underlie the accurate assessment, evaluation, expression, and regulation of emotions.

Question 41

Explain approaches to assessing intelligence

Answer 41

• Intelligence tests have traditionally compared a person’s mental age and chronological age to yield an IQ, or intelligence quotient, score.
• Specific tests of intelligence include the Stanford-Binet test, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–IV (WAIS-IV), and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–V (WISC-V).

Question 42

Identify variations in intellectual ability

Answer 42

• The levels of intellectual disabilities include mild, moderate, severe, and profound intellectual disability.
• About one-third of the cases of intellectual disabilities have a known biological cause; fetal alcohol syndrome is the most common. Most cases, however, are classified as familial intellectual disability, for which there is no known biological cause.
• The intellectually gifted are people with IQ scores greater than 130. Intellectually gifted people tend to be healthier and more successful than are the nongifted.
• Traditional intelligence tests have frequently been criticized for being biased in favor of the white middle-class population. This controversy has led to attempts to devise culture-fair tests, IQ measures that avoid questions that depend on a particular cultural background.