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
We tend to satisfy our need for relatedness through
- Autonomy (personal control)
- Competence (deep sense of wellbeing)
Self-esteem is a gauge of how
valued and accepted we feel
Pictures of loved ones activates the ______ which can ________
prefrontal cortex, dampens feelings of physical pain
Feeling insecurely attached to others early in childhood can result in these two things in adulthood.
- Anxiety: Craving acceptance and vigilant of signs of rejection
- Avoidance: discomfort over getting close to others
How is chain migration beneficial
Prevents immigration depression by traveling together and better adjustment
Ostracism causes increased activity in the _______ which also responds to _______
anterior cingulate cortex, physical pain
Ostracism
Deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups
Ostracism can encourage further aggressions and antisocial behaviors (true/false)
True
Effects of social media on social connections
Pros:
- Amplifier of social activity
- When used in moderation, social networking predicts a longer life
- Self-disclosure can deepen friendships
Cons:
- Lower grades and increased anxiety and depression
- but those who spend hours online are less likely connect with real-world people around them
Self-disclosure
Sharing ourselves with others
Narcissism
Excessive self-love and self-absorption
People with high narcissism tests tend to
be more active on social media
Achievement Motivation
A desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard
The most successful adults are those with
high achievement motivation levels
Grit
In psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals
Emotion
A response of the whole organism, involving
1. Psychological arousal
2. Expressive Behaviors
3. Conscious Experience
James-Lange Theory
The theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to an emotion-arousing stimulus: stimulus -> arousal -> emotion
William James
Theorized that emotions are a result from attention to our bodily activity
Make sure Mr. Marsh sends the emotion slides
and check your gallery!
Cannon-Bard Theory vs James-Lange Theory
James-Lange Theory: Emotions are a result from attention to our bodily activity
Cannon-bard Theory: Our bodily responses and experienced emotions occur separately but simultaneously
Cannon-Bard Theory
The theory than an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers
1. physiological responses
2. the subjective experience of emotion
In the Cannon-Bard theory, the two places signals travel to simultaneously
Sympathetic nervous system and brain’s cortex
World War II soldiers with spinal cord injuries were experimented on. The results showed
Those with lower-spinal cord injuries reported little change in their emotions’ intensity
Those with higher-spinal cord injuries did report changes. “Just didn’t feel the way it used to”
Conclusion: Feelings are mostly “shadows” of our bodily responses and behaviors
Stanley Schachter
demonstrated how we appraise (interpret) our experiences matters. Made the two-factor theory.
Our physical reactions and our thought together create emotion
Two-Factor Theory
The Schachter-Singer Theory that to experience emotion one must
1. be physically aroused
2. cognitively label the arousal
Spillover effect
A stirred-up state can be experienced as one emotion or another, depending on how we interpret and label it
Arousal fuels emotion but
cognition channels it
Robert Zajonc
We have many emotional reactions apart from, or even before, our conscious interpretation of a situation
Two brain pathways emotional responses can follow
- High Road
- More complex feelings
- Travel, by the way of the thalamus, along the brain’s cortex to be analyzed and labels before the response is sent out by the amygdala - Low Road
- More direct and simple (likes or dislikes and fears)
- Bypasses the cortex
- Goes from thalamus straight to amygdala
- Lightning speed
Lazarus/Schachter-Singer vs. Zanjoc/LeDoux
Lazarus/Schachter-Singer: Event -> Appraisal -> Emotional response
Zanjoc/LeDoux: Event -> Emotional Response
Joseph LeDoux
Coined the term “low road”
Zanjonc’s and LeDoux’s belief
Some of our emotional reactions involve no deliberate thinking
Richard Lazarus
Our brain processes vast amounts of information without our conscious awareness and that some emotional responses do not require conscious thinking
Emotions arise when we appraise an event as harmless or dangerous
“Ahh snake in the bush” to “oh its just the wind”
Reappraisal often
reduces distress and the corresponding amygdala response
To harness stress remember
It’s your bodies way to try to help you
Carroll Izard’s 10 emotions (everything else is a combination of them)
Joy
Interest-excitement
Surprise
Sadness
Anger
Disgust
Contempt
Fear
Shame
Guilt
What part of the body activates during crisis?
The sympathetic division of your automatic nervous system
the adrenal glands
release the stress hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
What part of the body calms you after crisis?
The parasympathetic division of your automatic nervous system
The insula (a deep neural center) activates when
experiencing negative social emotions
(lust, pride, disgust etc.)
Polygraph
A machine used in attempts to detect lies that measures several of the physiological responses (such as perspiration, heart rate, and breathing changes) accompanying emotion
Emotions differentiate barely in ____________ but from _____________
heart rate, breathing, perspiration
facial expressions and brain activity
Two emotion detecting cures humans excel at
- Facial expressions
- nonverbal threats
Regarding emotion cures, introverts tend to ________, and extroverts tend to ________-
be better at reading emotions, be easier to read
Electronic absence of important emotional cues puts us at risk of
ego centrism (failing to perceive how others are feeling)
Women generally surpass men at reading people’s emotional cues (T/F)?
True
Women’s higher ability to read emotional cues correlate to these three things
- Better emotional literacy (describing their feelings
- Greater emotional responsiveness and expressiveness
- Belief that women are inferior due to their emotionality
Anger strikes most people as more ______
masculine
Having empathy vs. expressing empathy
Having: Identifying with others emotions
Express: Display emotion when observing others emotions
Gestures tend to be _______ while facial expressions tend to be _________
cultural, universal
Why are facial expressions universal
Charles Darwin suggested that primary emotions conveyed communication before words to help each other survive
Facial expressions may be universal but
the degree to which they are expressed vary
Where to facial expression vary
Individualist nations: more expressive
Collectivist nations: Less expressive
Facial feedback effect
The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness
Behavior feedback effect
The tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions
Stress
The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
Stress vs. stressor vs. stress reaction
Stress: Connection between stressor and stress reaction
Stressor: the event that causes stress
Stress reaction: Physical and emotional responses
When short-lived, stressors can have
positive effects
Positive effects momentary stress can do
- Mobilize the immune system
- Arouses and motivates to conquer problems
- Energizes and satisfies life
Overcoming stressors allows for
greater feelings of self-esteem and satisfaction
Negative effects extreme or prolonged stress can do
- Shorter pregnancies
- Can trigger risky decisions and unhealthy behaviors
- Higher risk of heart attacks and high blood pressure levels
- Sleep deprivation therefore bad academic achievement
Behavioral medicine’s main point
Mind and body interact. Everything psychological is simultaneously physiological
Three main types of stressors
Catastrophes, significant life changes, daily hassles
Catastrophe
Unpredictable large-scale events
For those who respond to catastrophes by relocating to another country
stress may twofold
Kurt Lewin
Motivational conflicts theory
Rank the stress levels from least to most in Motivational conflicts theory
approach-approach,
Parts of motivational conflicts theory
Approach-Approach conflict: two attractive but incompatible goals attract
Approach-avoidance: Both attracted and repelled by something
Avoidance-avoidance: Two bad choices
Three body reactions to stress
- Epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) from the adrenal gland
- Sympathetic nervous system arouses
- Ordered by cerebral cortex (hypothalamus and pituitary gland) the outer part of the adrenal gland secretes glucocorticoid hormones like cortisol
Epinephrine vs. glucocorticoids
Epinephrine dictates the quick and immediate reaction, glucocorticoids helps plan and reason
Hans Selye
General adaption syndrome (GAS)
Idea: The human body can cope with temporary stress well, but not prolonged
General adaption syndrome (GAS)
Seyle’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases-alarm, resistance, exhaustion
Phases of GAS described
Phase 1: Alarm, sympathetic nervous system activates
Phase 2: Resistance, continuous pumping of hormones keep engagement
Phase 3: Exhaustion, you become vulnerable to illness, collapse or death
Severe childhood stressors can shorten telomeres (True or false)
True
Two ways we interact with others during stress
- Withdraw
- Tend-and-befriend response
Tend-and-befriend response
Under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend)
Health psychology
A subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine
psychoneuroimmunology
The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health
When your immune system doesn’t function properly from stress, it can result in two ways
- Responding too strongly: Self-attacking (women are more susceptible to these diseases. Lupus, sclerosis, etc.
- Underperforming: Cancer cells, failure to attack foreign substances
Stress makes us sick (True or False)
False, but it does alter our immune functioning
ex. weaken lymphocytes, macrophages and NK cells that destroy cancer cells
Coronary Heart Disease
The clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed coutries
Type A
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people
Type B
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing relaxed people
Type B people are more likely to suffer heart attacks
False. Type A. “Pure” Type B’s almost never
How Type A health defects work
Centered around negative emotions like anger. Blood flow goes to muscles more than organs. Liver cannot remove as much cholesterol and fat.
Catharsis
In psychology the idea that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges
Reality of catharsis
It can calm temporary but can result in guilt or anxiousness
Can also not relieve anger and only breed more anger
(Behavior feedback!)
Best ways to relieve anger
Wait, find distraction or support, distance yourself
Three facts about optimism!
- Overcome stressors better
- Have better health
- Runs in family
Genetic Marker of Optimism
Hormone oxytocin: enhances social bonding
Talking about a stressful event can _______ but ________
temporarily arouse, but overall calm us
Aerobic Exercise
Sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; also helps alleviate depression and anxiety
