Myers' AP Psychology - Unit 8

Motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

Instinct

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

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 environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

Yerkes-Dodson Law

the principle that performance increases with arousal up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

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 lost weight

Basal metabolic rate

the body's resting rate of energy expenditure

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 dysfunction

a problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning

Estrogens

sex hormones, such as estradiol, secreted in greater amounts by females than by 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 male sex characteristics during puberty.

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 be (1) 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 (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes) accompanying emotion.

Facial feedback effect

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

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 response to stress in three phases - alarm, resistance, and exhaustion

Tend-and-befriend response

under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend)

Psychophysiological illness

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

Psychoneuroimmunology

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 a part of the body's immune system; B ________ form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T _______ form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.

Coronary heart disease

the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading type of death in 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

Abraham Maslow

described a human being's priorities as a hierarchy of needs; he made this hierarchy in the form of a pyramid

William Masters

along with Virginia Johnson, recorded the physiological responses of volunteers who had intercourse (pretty weird); monitored or filmed more than 10,000 sexual "cycles" (yikes) and came up with a description of the "sexual response cycle" that involves four stages

Virginia Johnson

along with William Masters, recorded the physiological responses of volunteers who had intercourse (pretty weird); monitored or filmed more than 10,000 sexual "cycles" (yikes) and came up with a description of the "sexual response cycle" that involves four stages

William James

pioneering psychologist who proposed that our emotions follow our body's physical response; for example, we feel sorry because we cry, or we feel afraid because we tremble - not the other way around

Stanley Schachter

along with Jerome Singer, believed that an emotional experience requires a conscious interpretation of arousal: our physical reactions and our thoughts together create emotion

Hans Selye

conducted 40 years of research on stress (studying animals' reactions to various stressors); he proposed that the body's adaptive response to stress is so general that it sounds like a single burglar alarm, no matter what intrudes