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.
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 environment stimulus that motivates behavior.
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.
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 weight loss
Basal Metabolic Rate
the body's resting rate of energy expenditure.
Anorexia Nervosa
an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) diets and becomes significantly (15 percent or more) underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve.
Bulimia Nervosa
an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise.
Binge-eating Disorder
significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory purging, fasting, or excessive exercise that marks bulimia nervosa.
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.
Estrogens
sex hormones, such as estradiol, secreted in greater amount by females than males and contributing to female sex characteristics. 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.
Sexual Orientation
an enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one's own sex (homosexual orientation) or the other sex (heterosexual orientation).
Emotion
a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience.
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 measure several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes).
Facial Feedback
the effect of facial expressions on experienced emotions, as when a facial expression of anger or happiness intensifies feelings of anger or happiness.
Catharsis
emotional release. 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.
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
Adaption-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 we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves.
Behavioral Medicine
an interdisciplinary field that integrates behavior 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 Adaption 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 North America.
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
literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health.
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.
Primary Drives
biological needs (thirst, hunger, sleep, etc)
Secondary Drives
learned drives (money = food n shit)
Opponent-process theory
Used to explain addictive behaviors; people start at a baseline state and we might start to preform an act that moves beyond that state in an act of pleasure but after a while we begin to go through a process where we're motivated to return to our baseline state
Self-Actualization
A need to fulfil our unique potential as a person
Lateral
Area in the hypothalamus in which you feel hunger once stimulated; if removed we' feel no hunger ever
Ventromedial
Area in the hypothalamus that once stimulated, we have an urge to stop eating; if removed we would never stop eating
Obesity
A disorder where an individual is severely overweight
Achievement Motivation
Examines our desires to master complex tasks and knowledge to reach a personal goal
Extrinsic Motivators
rewards from outside sources (grades, salary, etc...)
Intrinsic Motivators
rewards we get internally (enjoyment, satisfaction, etc)
Approach-Approach conflict
you must choose between two desirable outcomes
Approach-Avoidance conflict
You must choose between two undesirable outcomes
Insulin
Secreted by pancreas; controls blood glucose
Ghrelin
Hormone secreted by empty stomach; "I'm hungry"
Orexin
Hunger-Triggering hormones; via hypothalamus
Leptin
Protein hormone secreted by fat cells; increases metabolism and reduces hunger
PYY
Digestive track hormone; "I'm not hungry"
Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe
designed the SRRS (social read adjustment rating scale) - one of the first instruments to measure stress
Alarm Reaction
Body becomes physiologically ready (increased heart rate, blood travels to muscles) to face the challenge - via sympathetic nervous system
Resistance
Still physiologically ready and hormones are released to remain in this state
Exhaustion
Parasympathetic nervous system returns our physiological state back to normal and you can easily get illness
William Masters and Virginia Johnson
Studied the Sexual response cycle
Initial excitement
body becomes ready
Plateau
body becomes even more ready - precum
Orgasm
Genitals now contract ejaculation happens and baby be born tomorrow
Resolution
everything back to normal - genitals relax