Psychology Unit 7 Part One Flashcards
Motivation
A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior
Instinct
A complex behavior that is rigidly patterened throughout a species and is unlearned
Four perspective theories of motivated behavior
Instinct theory
Drive-reduction theory
Arousal theory
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
What qualifies as an instinct
A complex behavior must have a fixed pattern throughout a species and be unlearned
Unlearned behaviors examples
Imprinting, salmon returning to birth places, infants innate reflexes
Instinct theory
Replaced by evolutionary perspective focused on genetic predispositions as the source of our motivations.
There is a genetic basis for unlearned, species-typical behavior
Problem with instinct theory
Many behaviors are directed by both physiological needs and psychological wants
Physiological Needs
A basic bodily requirement
Drive-Reduction Theory
The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need
When a physiological need increases
So does our psychological drive to reduce it
Homeostasis
A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level
Incentives
A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior
The more impulses are satisfied and reinforced
The stronger the drive may become
Example of motivations getting hijacked
Substance use disorder
When we have a ____________ and _________ we are most strongly driven
need, incentive
Summary of Arousal Theory
Some motivated behaviors increase arousal
Arousal Theory Chart
Need -> Drive -> Drive Reducing Behaviors
Those who enjoy high arousal are most likely to seek
risky behaviors
Human motivation aims to
seek optimum levels of arousal (not eliminate it)
Yerkes-Dodson law
The principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases
Overall conclusion of Yerkes-Dodson Law
Moderate arousal leads to optimal performance
Draw a Yerkes-Dodson law chart
Answer is on page 536
Hierarchy of needs
Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active
Abraham Maslow
Made hierarchy of needs
Order of hierarchy of needs
Physiological needs, Safety needs, Belonging and Love needs, Esteem needs, Self-actualization needs, Self-Transcendence needs
Scientists report that people seek meaning in their life as having
purpose (goal), significance (value), coherence (making sense)
Self esteem matters most in which nations?
Individualist
Modern edits to Hierarchy of Needs
Retaining mates, parenting offspring, and desiring social status are also on there
Arousal theory
Our need to maintain an optimal level of arousal motivates behaviors that meet no physiological need
As people go on a semi starved diet they become
less sociable and obsessed with food
People in a hot state are in a state where
a motive is so strong that nothing else matters in their conscious mind
When we are hungry our stomach
contracts
What guides hungriness?
Bio, psycho, social
Bio: Stomach Contracts, glucose levels are low
Psycho: Brain will trigger hunger signals if glucose level is low, memory of our last meal
Social: Arousing appetite, friends, serving size, selection range,
Glucose
The form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues. When its level is low, we feel hunger
What diminishes blood glucose? Where is it secreted? How?
Insulin, pancreas, partially converting it to stored fat
Areas in the brain where hunger
Larger hunger: Lateral hypothalamus
Center neural network: arcuate nucleus
Appetite-suppressing hormones
ghrelin, insulin, leptin, orexin, PYY
Set Point
The point at which your “weight thermostat” may be set. When you body falls below this weight, increased hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may combine to restore lost weight
Basal Metabolic Rate
The body’s resting rate of energy output
Why do we eat more carbohydrate loaded foods when stressed
Carbs boost serotonin
Origin of taste preferences usually
Sweet and salty: genetic and universal
Other preferences: conditioned (ex. taste aversion), culture
Neophobia
Dislike of unfamiliar things
Asexual
Having no sexual attraction to others
Testosterone
The most important male sex hormone. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs during the fetal period and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty
Sex is a need (t/f)
False
Estrogens
Sex hormones, such as estradiol, that contribute to female sex characteristics and are secreted in greater amounts by females than by males. Estrogen levels peak during ovulation. In nonhuman mammals, this promotes sexual receptivity
How nature synchronizes sex with fertility (in mammals)
Females become most sexually receptive when their estrogens peak at ovulation
How a hormone injection will affect females and males
Females will become more sexually receptive (cause their hormone levels are more fluid), men will not be very responsive
Sexual arousal can be both a _______ and a ________ of _________ testosterone levels
cause, consequence, increased
Times where hormonal levels surge or fall
- Surge: Puberty
- Fall: menopause, later in life (men more gradual)
- Change: surgery or drugs
Alfred Kinsey
Questioned Americans about their sexuality
Who identified the sexual response cycle? How?
William Masters and Virginia Johnson
Making participants masturbate or have sex while observed
Sexual response cycle
Excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution
Refractory Period
In human sexuality, a resting period that occurs after orgasm, during which a person cannot achieve another orgasm
Biopsychosocial influences of sexual motivation
Bio:
Sexual maturity, hormones, testosterone
Psycho:
Exposure to stimulating conditions, fantasies
Social: Societal values, family values, media
Three ways exposure to sexual material influences beliefs
- Men are more willing to commit rape after viewing material of nonconsent
- Reduced satisfaction with partners appearance and relationship
- Desensitization
Delayed first sex related to
greater satisfaction in ones marriage or partnership
In sex: commitment to partner tends to
increase satisfaction
Affiliation Need
The need to build relationships and to feel part of a group
Benefits of belonging
- Ancestors: more likely to survive, reproduce, co-nurture offspring
- More hunters
Personal happiness tends to come from
satisfying and close relationships