AP Psychology Unit 8

motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. arise from the interplay between nature and nurture.

instinct

a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned. ex.: imprinting in birds and the return of salmon to their birthplace.

need for achievement

a strong desire to accomplish goals and attain a high standard of performance and personal fulfillment.

drive

a generalized state of readiness/arousal precipitating or motivating an activity or course of action. you are *pushed* by your need to reduce drives.

drive-reduction theory

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.

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. you are *pulled* by incentives.

intrinsic motivation

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake. excessive rewards can destroy your intrinsic motivations. ex.: if you read just to do it, then you get rewards, it will potentially destroy your want to read for the fun of it.

hierarchy of needs

Abraham Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs (like food and water) that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active.

humanism

a way of evaluating an individual as a whole, rather than looking at them only through a smaller aspect of their person. it focuses attention on the study of human beings and human experiences and growth potential.

arousal

the state of being activated, either physiologically or psychologically, and is one dimension of our effective response to stimuli.

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 your “weight thermostat” may be set. when your 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.

hypothalamus

a neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and reward.

hypoglycemia

the condition of having a low blood-sugar level/not enough glucose, due to interference with the formation of sugar in the blood or excessive utilization of sugar.

hyperglycemia

the condition of having a high blood-sugar level/excess glucose in the blood. in diabetes mellitus, it results from a relative or absolute lack of the insulin needed to remove the excess glucose from the blood.

anorexia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise.

bulimia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person’s binge eating (usually high-calorie foods) is followed by inappropriate weight-loss promoting behavior, such as vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise.

binge-eating disorder

significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory behavior that marks bulimia nervosa.

socio-cultural influences

environmental conditions that influence people’s feelings, values, behaviors, attitudes, and interactions. ex.: social class, religion, language, culture, etc.

body mass index (BMI)

a weight-to-height ratios, calculated by dividing one’s weight in kilograms by the square of one’s height in meters and used as an indicator of obesity and underweight.

sexual response cycle

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

refractory period

in human sexuality, a resting period that occurs after orgasm, during which a person cannot achieve another orgasm.

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.

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.

sexual orientation

our enduring sexual attraction, usually toward members of our own sex (homosexual orientation) or the other sex (heterosexual orientation); variations include attraction toward both sexes (bisexual orientation).

belonging

a unique and subjective experience that relates to a yearning for connection with others, the need for positive regard and the desire for interpersonal connection.

relationships

an interpersonal, continuing and often committed association/link between two or more people. ex.: family, marriage, friendship, partnership.

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.

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.

embodied emotion

emotional expression, perception, processing, and understanding are closely related to individuals’ physical arousal. so, whether you are falling in love or grieving a death, you need a little convincing that emotions involve the body.

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 emotions.

expressed emotion

a term used in mental health to denote the intensity of expression of a range of emotions within the family context. levels of expressed emotion may be high or low. a positive example is caring concern. a negative example is hostility.

facial feedback effect

the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness.

experienced emotion

when someone has a mental representation of emotion. past feelings, hypothetical feelings, or feelings that are occurring in the moment.

catharsis

in psychology, the idea that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges.

feel-good do-good phenomenon

people’s tendency to be helpful when in a good mood.

well-being

a positive state that includes striving for optimal health. judging life positively and feeling good.

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.

behavioral medicine

the interdisciplinary field concerned with the development and integration of behavioral, psychosocial, and biomedical science knowledge and techniques relevant to the understanding of health and illness and the application of the knowledge/techniques to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

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 challenge.

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 any developed countries.

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.

psychophysiological illness

physical illnesses or disorders with psychological overlays (like stress or other emotional factors) that brought about/worsened the illness.

psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)

the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health.

lymphocytes

a form of small white blood cells with a single round nucleus, occurring especially in the lymphatic system.

Abraham Maslow

a humanistic psychologist who found behaviorism and Freudian psychology too limiting. focused on human’s potential for personal growth. created the hierarchy of needs; a pyramid of human needs, from basic needs such as hunger and thirst up to higher-level needs such as self-actualization and self-transcendence. focused the priority of some needs over others.

Walter Cannon

a physiologist who disagreed with the James-Lange theory. argued that the body’s responses---heart rate, perspiration, and body temperature---are too similar, and they change too slowly, to cause different emotions. created the cannon-bard theory. ex.: heart begins pounding *as* an individual experiences fear.

James-Lange (William James and Carl Lange)

pioneering psychologist, James and physiologist Lange believed that arousal came before emotion. “we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble.” they created the james-lange theory.

Cannon-Bard (Walter Cannon and Philip Bard)

two physiologists who disagreed with the James-Lange theory. argued that the body’s responses---heart rate, perspiration, and body temperature---are too similar, and they change too slowly, to cause different emotions. created the cannon-bard theory. ex.: heart begins pounding *as* an individual experiences fear.

Stanley Schachter

a social psychologist who demonstrated that how we appraise (interpret) our experiences also matters. our physical reactions and our thoughts (perceptions, memories, and interpretations) together create emotion. created the two-factor theory with Jerome Singer.