AP Psych U7

Motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

Instinct

a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned

Drive-reduction theory

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need, usually to maintain homeostasis

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

Incentive

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

Hierarchy of needs

Maslow's pyramid of human needs: physiological needs, safety needs, belonginess and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs

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.

Set point

the point at which an individual's "weight thermostat" is supposedly set. When the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weight.

Basal metabolic rate

the body's resting rate of energy expenditure

Anorexia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve

Bulimia nervosa

an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise

Achievement motivation

a desire for significant accomplishment: for mastery of things, people, or ideas; for attaining a high standard

James-Lange theory

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

Cannon-Bard theory

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion

two-factor theory

the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

Polygraph

a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes).

Catharsis

emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges.

feel-good, do-good phenomenon

people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

Subjective well-being

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life.

Adaptation-level phenomenon

our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

Relative deprivation

the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself

Yerkes-Dodson Law

an empirical relationship between arousal and performance, dictates that performance increases with physiological mental arousal, but only up to a point

Arousal theory

we are motivated to see an optimum level of arousal

Intrinsic Motivation

a desire to perform a behavior for its own sake

Extrinsic Motivation

a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

Overjustification effect

when an expected external incentive such as money or prizes decreases a person's intrinsic motivation to perform a task

Facial feedback theory

each basic emotion is associated with a unique facial expression

Sexual Response Cycle

the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson - excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution

Refractory period

a resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm

Sexual disorder

a problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning

Estrogen

A sex hormone, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males. In nonhuman female mammals, estrogen levels peak during ovulation, promoting sexual receptivity.

Testosterone

the most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty

Flow

a completely involved, focused state of consciousness, with diminished awareness of self and time, resulting from optimal engagement of one's skills

industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology

the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces

Personnel psychology

a subfield of I/O psychology that focuses on employee recruitment, selection, placement, training, appraisal, and development

Organizational psychology

a subfield of I/O psychology that examines organizational influences on worker satisfaction and productivity and facilitates organizational change

Structured interviews

interview process that asks the same job-relevant questions of all applicants, each of whom is rated on established scales

Task leadership

goal-oriented leadership that sets standards, organizes work, and focuses attention on goals

Social leadership

group-oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support

Behavioral medicine

an interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medical knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease

Health psychology

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine

Stress

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases—alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

coronary heart disease

the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries

Type A

Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people; more likely to suffer a heart attack

Type B

Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people

psychophysiological illness

literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches

Lymphocytes

The two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system: B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.

Coping

alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods

Problem-focused coping

Attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor.

Emotion-focused coping

attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one's stress reaction

Aerobic exercise

sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety

Biofeedback

a system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension

complementary and alternative medicine

unproven health care treatments not taught widely in medical schools, not used in hospitals, and not usually reimbursed by insurance companies

Personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Free association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

Unconscious

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.

Id

contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

Ego

the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Superego

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

Psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Identification

the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos

Fixation

according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

Defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Regression

psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

Reaction Formation

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings.

Projection

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Rationalization

defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions

Displacement

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

Collective unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history

Projective test

a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Rorschach inkblot 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

terror management theory

proposes that faith in one's worldview and the pursuit of self-esteem provide protection against a deeply rooted fear of death

Self-actualization

according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential

Unconditional positive regard

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

Self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"

Trait

a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

Personality inventory

a questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes.

Empirically derived test

a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

Social-cognitive perspective

views behaviour as influenced by the interaction between persons (and their thinking) and their social context

Reciprocal determinism (the social-cognitive theory)

the interacting influences between personality and environmental factors

Personal control

the extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless

External locus of control

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate.

Internal locus of control

the perception that you control your own fate

Learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Positive psychology

the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive

Spotlight effect

overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us)

Self-esteem

one's feelings of high or low self-worth

Self-serving bias

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Where does hunger come from?

The hypothalamus, specifically the lateral hypothalamus (with stimulation, causes hunger)

Emotions

Our body's adaptive system, a mix of physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience

Emotional literacy

ability to decipher nonverbal cues, women are better at it

HIV/AIDS and stress

Stress may accelerate the progression of HIV into AIDS

Coping with Stress

perceived control, optimism, social support

Managing Stress

Aerobic exercise, relaxation & meditation, spirituality & faith (if you have it), alternative medicine (not for treatment, but could work)