Unit 7 Flashcards
Motivation, Emotion, Personality
Hunger
Insulin- reduces glucose in the bloodstream. Glucagon- increases glucose in the bloodstream. Foods with simple sugars spike insulin levels, this leads to low blood sugar and increased appetite. Weight set point- hypothalamus tries to maintain a certain weight. Basal metabolic weight- how much energy your body can burn at a resting point.
Lateral Hypothalamus
Causes you to feel hunger.
Ventromedial Hypothalamus
Causes you to feel full.
Orexin
Neuotransmitter in the lateral hypothalamus. Increases appetite.
Leptin/Ghrelin
Leptin- signals to the hypothalamus that the body has had enough food. Ghrelin- released from the lateral hypothalamus and increases hunger.
Galanin
Neurotransmitter in the hypothalamus. Increases desire for food high in fat.
Enterostatin
Neurotransmitter in the hypothalamus. Decreases desire for food in high fat.
Obesity
20%+ over ideal body weight. Family history, hormones such as leptin, and overeating.
Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa- reduces eating to the point where their body is significantly low. Bulimia nervosa- binging on enormous amounts of food and purging.
Motivation
Process by which activities are started until needs are met.
Extrinsic- driven due to an external reward.
Intrinsic- being motivated because the act itself is rewarding and satisfying.
Instincts (fixed action patterns)- innate patterns of behavior.
Evolutionary approach- humans are motivated by actions that optimize “fitness”.
Need Vs. A Drive
Need- requirement material that is essential for survival.
Drive- the feeling to act to strive for that need.
Drive Reduction Theory
Two kinds of drives that motivate: primary drives- survival needs (hunger and thirst). Secondary drives (acquired)- learned through experience (money and approval).
Homeostasis or balance is needed (we become “off balance” until a primary drive is fulfilled).
Homeostasis
The body’s ability to maintain a stable internal environment despite changes in the external environment.
McClelland’s Three Types of Needs
Need for Affiliation (nAff)- need for friendly interactions and relationships.
Need for Power (nPow)- need to have control over other people.
Need for Achievement (nAch)- strong desire to achieve goals.
Relative Deprivation
A sense of feeling deprived by not having something to which you feel entitled.
Stimulus Motive
One that appears to be unlearned and causes an increase in stimulation (curiosity, playing, exploration).
Arousal Theory
People have an optimal (best) level of tension (spectrum between anxiety and boredom).
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Graph of the relationship between task performance and arousal. Speaking directly- low tension; few errors. Speaking to a crowd- for many, high tension: more errors, poor performance.
Sensation Seeker
Research by Zuckerman. A person who needs more arousal.
Incentive Theory
Behavior explained by external stimuli and their rewards. Cause people to act solely on incentives and not any other needs.
Self-Determination Theory
3 universal needs for all humans. Autonomy- need to control one’s behavior. Relatedness- need to feel a sense of belonging. Competence- need to master challenges.
Maslow’s Hierarchy
Levels of needs. Can move to the next level once one is met. Physiological -> Safety -> Love/Belonging -> Esteem -> Self-Actualization (full human potential).
Emotion
The “feeling” part of consciousness- physical arousal, behavior that reveals your feeling to the outside world, inner awareness of the feeling.
In the brain- the amygdala is the emotional center (rage, fear, pleasure). The right side of the brain is more active when distinguishing facial expressions.
Ekman’s 7 Universal Expressions
Anger, fear, disgust, happiness, surprise, sadness, contempt.
Duchenne Smile
A true smile that involves the mouth muscles and cheek muscles that crinkle the eyes. A non-duchenne smile only uses mouth muscles.
Display Rules
Cultural rules/norms that govern when you can display certain emotions.
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
A stimulus produces a physiological reaction- an arousal. The sympathetic nervous system produces bodily sensations. The physical arousal led to the labelling of the emotion.
Event -> arousal -> interpretation -> emotion
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
A stimulus leads to activity in the brain. Which sends signals to arouse the body and interpret the emotion at the same time.
Event -> arousal emotion
Schachter Singer’s Cognitive Arousal Theory
Two factor theory- event causes the physical arousal first. The labelling of the arousal based on cues from the environment.
Cognitive Mediational Theory
Lazarus- thought must become before any emotion or arousal. The cognitive appraisal results in an emotional response which is followed by the appropriate bodily response and emotion.
Event -> thought -> emotion arousal
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
A stimulus causes arousal and a facial expression. The facial expression provides feedback to the brain about the emotion. Once the brain interprets it, it may intensify it.
Opponent Process Theory of Emotion
When one emotion is felt, another is suppressed.
Galvanic Skin Response
GSR is a polygraph that measures the amount of sweat on primarily the hands and feet. There is a positive correlation with high arousal and moisture. High arousal could be strong fear or strong excitement.
Catharsis
The release and relief from strongly repressed emotions.
Adaptation Level Principle
The ability for humans to quickly adapt to new situations until it becomes the norm.
Emotional Intelligence
Accurate awareness of and ability to manage one’s own emotions, facilitate thinking, attain goals, and understand what other’s feel. Higher emotional intelligence linked to higher intelligence in other areas.
Stress and Stressors
Stress describes the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging. Stressors are stress causing events.
Distress Vs. Eustress
Distress is when people experience unpleasant stressors. Eustress is the optimal amount of stress that people need to promote health and well-being.
Resiliance
Ability to adapt in the face of adversity and stress. “Bouncing back” from a traumatic experience.
Catastrophes
Unpredictable event that happens on a large scale and causes tremendous amounts of stress and feelings of threat.
Major Life Changes
Causes a person to make large adjustments in their daily lives.
Social Readjustment By Holmes and Rahe
A scale that measures the amount of stress in a person’s life by adding up the total life change units associated with each major life event.
Hassles
Little frustrations that occur day to day. Perceived severity of the daily hassles leads to more stress than the amount of hassles. Changes with age.
Pressure
Urgent demands from an outside source. Time gives the most pressure- need to finish before a deadline. Even those who claim to “work well under pressure” really don’t still affects their level of depth and creativity.
Uncontrollability
Lack of control in a situation. Feeling “stuck”.
Frustration
Prevented from achieving a goal. Internal frustration- cannot complete a task because of personal characteristics.
Aggression
Acts meant to harm or destroy. Typical reaction to frustration.
Frustation Aggression Hypothesis
When frustration is present, it creates an internal “readiness to aggress”. However, aggression will only by displayed if the external cues are present.
Displaced Aggression
When a person directs their anger or frustration towards a target that is not the actual source of their distress.
Escape/Withdrawal
A behavioral response where a person removes themselves from a situation or avoids it altogether as a way to cope with stress, discomfort, or anxiety.
Approach Approach Conflict
Two goals that are both attractive.
Avoidance Avoidance Conflict
Two goals that are both unpleasant.
Approach Avoidance Conflict
One goal, which has both pleasant and unpleasant aspects.
Double Approach Avoidance Conflict
Two goals, which have both pleasant and unpleasant aspects.
Multiple Approach Avoidance Conflict
Having more than two goals to consider- making it more difficult to decide.
General Adaptation Syndrome by Selye
Alarm- body’s first reaction; adrenal glands increase heart rate, blood pressure. Resistance- body settles into the sympathetic nervous system of fight or flight. Exhaustion- when the body’s resources are gone.
Immune System
System of cells, organs, and chemicals that respond to attacks on the body (disease and injuries). Psychoneuroimmunology- study of the effects of stress, emotions, thinking, learning, and behavior on the immune system.
DHEA
A hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It plays a role in the production of other hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone. DHEA levels decrease as we age.
Leukocytes
White blood cells- counteract foreign substances and disease.
B Cells
Produces antibodies.
T Cells
Killer cancer cells.
Natural Killer Cells
Binds to cancer and virus cells and kills them. Kills them through phagocytosis and macrophages.
Pannebaker’s Research on Social Support
Those who had more support, had stronger immune systems.
Cognitive Mediation Theory by Lazarus
Focuses on how our thoughts and interpretations mediate between the events we encounter and our emotional responses to them. It suggests that our cognitive appraisal of a situation determines how we perceive and react to it emotionally.
Primary Appraisal
Estimating the severity of stressor.
Secondary Appraisal
People who have identified a threat must estimate the resources they have for dealing with the stress.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Severe stress caused after a traumatic event. Symptoms- flashbacks, nightmares, emotional numbness, increased arousal.
Friedman and Rosenman and Type A and B Personalities
Those who are more hostile are at greater risk for heart disease. Type A- competitive, hate wasting time, easily annoyed, find it difficult to relax. Type B- easygoing, slow to anger, find it easy to relax.
Temoshok and Dreher and Type C
Another personality type. Type C- people try to be pleasant and keep peace. Find it difficult to express emotions, especially negative ones. May have increased risk of cancer due to increased level of stress hormones and inability to cope with situations.
Kobasa and Type H
A fourth personality. Type H- hardy personality. Seem to thrive on stress, not let it wear them down. Deep sense of commitment to values, in control of their lives. See adversity as a challenge to rise to, not a problem.
Optimists Vs. Pessimists
Optimists are people who always look for positive outcomes. Have “disease resistant” personalities. Pessimists are people who always expect the worse to happen. Have “disease prone” personalities. They have a higher death rate, physical problems, emotional problems- over a 30 year study. Optimists are more likely to take care of their health, have highly functioning immune systems. They are less likely to develop learned helplessness, become depressed.
Acculturative Stress
Stress resulting in a feeling of a need to change and adapt to the majority culture. Stems from prejudice and discrimination.
Coping Strategies
Actions that people can take to minimize effects of stress.
Problem Focused Coping
When people try to eliminate the source of a stress through their own actions.
Emotion Focused Coping
Involves changing the way a person feels or emotionally reacts to a stressor.
Meditation
Mental exercises to refocus attention. Concentrative meditation- focus on a repetitive unchanging stimulus to forget daily hassles. Progressive relaxation- tensing all muscles in the body, and slowly releasing the tension one muscle group at a time.
Diathesis Stress Model
Dual stressor model. If the biological predisposition to be stressed and the current environmental exceeds a certain level, the person is more likely to develop a disorder.
Rosenstock’s Health Belief Model
4 factors that determine whether a person will partake in healthy behaviors- perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers.
Prochaska’s 5 Stages of Changing Health Behavior
Pre-contemplation- not admitting that their is a problem. Contemplation- acknowledgement, but unsure of whether a change will be made. Preparation- getting ready to change. Action- changing behavior. Maintenance- keeping up with the changed behavior. Relapse- returning to old behaviors.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Prevention
Primary prevention- effort to reduce new cases of disorders. Secondary prevention- screening for early problems and early intervention. Tertiary prevention- reduce long term consequences of mental health disorders that were not prevented.
Personality
The psychological qualities that bring consistency to an individual’s thoughts and behaviors in different situations and at different times. It is a continuously changing process, shaped by our individual needs and cogntions and by external pressures from the social environment.
Temperament
Enduring characterstics from which an individual is born.
Caspi and Temperament
Temperamental qualities at age three predict personality traits in young adulthood. 5 temperament groups (labeled under controlled, inhibited, confident, reserved, and well-adjusted) based on ratings at age 3. These groups were reassessed at 18. Results pointed to continuities across time. Under controlled children scored high on measures of impulsivity, danger seeking, aggression, and social potency. Confident children scored high on impulsivity. Reserved children scored low on social potency. Well-adjusted children continued to exhibit normative behaviors.
Nomothetic
“Nomos” is Greek for Law. What we share with others.
Idiographic
“Idios” is Greek for Own. What makes us different from others.
Dispositional Approach
Attributes the stability of personality over time and across situations to relatively enduring characteristics. Personality is made up of how we consistently act.
Physiognomy
Judging a person’s personality by outer appearance and facial expressions.
Clinical Perspective
Utilizes a combination of the psychodynamic and humanistic theories. This is most often used by psychologists who are working with people who are seeking counseling.
Psychodynamic Theory
Freud’s theory that calls attention to motivation, especially unconscious motives, and the influence of our past experiences. Freud said the unconscious, the hidden parts of the mind, was a source of powerful impulses, instincts, motives, and conflicts that energize personality.
Psychoanalysis
Focuses on how the mind’s energy is exchanged, transformed, and expressed.
Eros/Libido
The “mental stream” of the sex drive was called the Eros, the Greek god for passionate love. The energy behind this drive was called Libido, Latin for lust.
Thanatos
The “mental stream” for destruction was Thanatosis. Freud called it the “death instinct” that drives aggression and destructive acts humans commit against each other.
Id
The primitive, unconscious reservoir that houses the basic motives, drives and instinctive desires that determine our personalities. Always acts on impulse and seeks immediate pleasure. The only part of the personality present at birth. Based on the pleasure principle- the desire for immediate gratification.
Ego
Regulating the conflict between the id and the superego is the job of the ego- the conscious, rational part of the mind.
Superego
The “police” of personality and is responsible to morals and values. It develops as the child forms an internal set of rules based on experiences. The inner voice of “shoulds” and “should nots”. Often conflicts with the id because the id wants what feels good and the superego wants what is right and moral.
Reality Principle
The ego must figure out a way to satisfy one’s desires, while not violating one’s moral code. When this balance becomes upset, conflicted thoughts and behaviors that signify a mental disorder may be the result.
Denial
Refusal to recognize a situation.
Repression
Pushing threatening thoughts out of consciousness.
Rationalization
Making acceptable excuses for unacceptable behaviors.
Projection
Placing your own unacceptable thought onto others.
Displacement
Expressing feelings on other targets than the source.
Reaction Formation
Forming an attitude completely opposite of acutal thoughts.
Regression
Falling back on childlike patterns.
Identification
Trying to be someone else.
Compensation
Trying to make up for areas in which you lack by becoming superior in others.
Sublimation
Turning socially unacceptable behaviors urges into acceptable behaviors.
Psychosexual Stages and Fixation
Freud believed that our early experiences stayed with us and affected us throughout our development, especially with regards to sex. Should something happen in the early years, people will have problems to overcome later in life specifically dealing with sexuality- fixation: occurs when development is stopped at a particular stage. Based on the ideas that young females experience penis envy- the realization that they do not have a penis and are jealous. The opposite is castration anxiety- the realization in young males that girls do not have penises and that they must have been castrated.
Oral Stage
Birth-age 2. Focus on satisying needs of the mouth- sucking. Fixation- adults that smoke or chew tobacco.
Anal Stage
Ages 2-3. Focus on satisfying needs of the anus- expelling/retaining feces, toilet training. Fixation: anal expulsive- messy and unorganized. Anal retentive- neat and organized.
Phallic Stage
Ages 4-5. Focus on satisfying needs of the Oedipal and Electra complexes. Oedipal- little boys “fall in love with their mom”. Electra- little girls “fall in love with their dad”. Fixation- moral code is skewed. Either puritanical or promiscuous.
Latency Period
Age 5-puberty. Not technically a stage. A rest period- sexual energy is dormant. Energy focused on school and making friends.
Genital Stage
Puberty onward. Focus on satisfying the need to reach mature sexual love. Mutual respect or care for another person. You never pass through the stage, you attain it. Fixation- until you attain the stage, focus on lust and satisfying selfish needs.
Projective Tests
A personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics. Problems- very subjective; based on own interpretations.
Rorschach Ink Blot Test
The most widely used projective test. A set of 10 inkblots designed by Hermann Rorschach. Seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.
Thematic Apperception Test
A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
Carl Jung and the Collective Unconscious
Concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history- fears, folktales.
Archetypes: Anima, Shadow, Persona
Anima- the feminine side of the man; vice versa. Shadow- dark side of the personality/”the devil”. Persona- side of the person that is shown.
Alfred Adler
The driving force behind all humans is not sexuality. It is superiority. Theory that birth order affected personality. First born children- feel inferior when younger siblings are born. Middle children- superior for dethroning the older child and superior than the younger; very competitive. Young children- pampered, but feel inferior because they are not allowed the freedoms of the older children.
Karen Horney
Countered penis envy, and said men need to compensate for womb envy. Basic anxiety- the child is born into a world that is bigger and more powerful than the child. Neurotic personalities- maladaptive ways of dealing with relationships- becoming clingy, becoming aggressive, withdrawing from relationships.
Carl Rogers and the Fully Functioning Person
Identified personalities as the fully functioning person.
Self-Actualizing Tendency/Self-Concept
Self-Actualizing- striving for fulfillment. Self-Concept- image of oneself.
Real Vs. Ideal Self
Real- actual perception of a person’s characteristics and traits. Ideal- the perception of what one would like to be. An individual whose real self is congruent with their ideal self lives in harmony. An individual whose real self is not congruent with their ideal self lives in anxiety.
Positive Regard- Conditional and Unconditional
Warmth and affection from significant others (parents, friends, teachers, romantic partners). Unconditional- no strings attached. Conditional- love depends on doing something the other wants.
Reciprocal Determinism
Cognitive processes involve an ongoing relationship between the individual and the environment.
Rating Scale and Frequency Count
Rating scale- numerical rating assigned to a specific behavior. Frequency count- assessor counts frequency of certain behaviors within a time limit. Used for diagnoses- such as ADHD.
Self Efficacy
How capable we think we are in controlling events. Determined by previous events, comparisons with other abilities, listening to what others say about our capabilities, and feedback from the body. Your ability to have confidence in completing a task.
Locus of Control- Internal and External
Our sense of controlling our environments rather than feeling helpless. Internal- our own actions affect our experiences. External- the perception that chance or outside forces beyond one’s personal control determine one’s fate.
Personality Inventory
A questionnaire with a set of list of questions.
Gordon Allport and Raymond Cattell
Believed these traits were wired into the individual’s nervous system: cardinal traits- dominant traits of a person’s personality. Central traits- more basic; everyone has them to some degree. Secondary traits- not congruent with personality; appear sometimes.
16PF
Created by Allport and Cattell- 16 personality factor questionnaire. A factor analysis- a statistical technique that looks for grouping and commonalities.
Five Factor Theory- McCrae and Costa (Big Five OCEAN)
A perspective suggesting that personality is composed of five fundamental personality dimensions. Openness- willingness to try new things. Conscientousness- motivation to do what is right. Extraversion- sociability. Agreeableness- pleasantness. Neuroticism- emotional instability level.
Mischel and Trait Situational Interaction
Particular circumstances influence how a trait is expressed.
Eysenck
Hans and Sybil Eysenck use 2 primary personality factors as axes for describing personality variation. Introversion-extraversion. Stable-unstable.
MMPI
Empirically derived test. A test developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory- most widely used test for adult personalities. Used to determine mental disorders.
MBTI
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator- looks at 4 personality dimensions. Introversion/extroversion- recharge alone; recharge with people. Sensing/intuition- relying on what you see; relying on gut feelings. Thinking/feeling- logic; emotional reactions. Perceiving/judging- spontaneous and put things off; planners.
Gray’s Inhibition Approach
Two systems control behavioral activity. The Behavioral Inhibition System- activities related to sensitivity and punishment and avoidance and motivation. The Behavioral Activation System- activities related to sensitivity and reward and approach motivation.
