AP Psychology Unit 10: Positive Psychology

frustration

when you can't have something that you want

approach/approach conflict

Having to choose between 2 good options

avoidance/avoidance conflict

Having to choose between 2 bad options

approach/avoidance

Having to choose whether or not to do something that comes with positive and negative outcomes

change

Something big/meaningful that happened in your life that affects you

pressure

high expectations

fight or flight (nature)

para/sympathetic nervous system response to stress, adrenaline

general adaptation syndrome (nature)

By Hans Selye, 3 steps: alarm(fight/flight), resistance(maintenance), exhaustion

coping strategies (behavioral)

fatalism: always thinking the worst is going to happen, pessimistic

social support: people who support you during tough times

aggression (behavioral/instinct)

an attempt to cause harm to something/someone

catharsis (behavioral/instinct)

outpouring of emotion, freudian

indulging (behavioral)

when you engage in behaviors that, when in excess, is unhealthy

Learned helplessness (cognitive/behavioral)

when individuals feel powerless after several attempts and fails

defense mechanisms

fantasy: an escape from reality

undoing: when someone engages in something and tries to undo it

Impaired Performance

some stress could = motivation, but too little or too much stress can ruin how they perform on that thing

burnout

when you become some overstimulated with a particular task that you lose motivation and can't do that task anymore

PTSD

post traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder after witnessing a traumatic event

type A and type B

type A: perfectionists, hostility, cardiac problems.

Type B: slackers, idle, prone to diabetes and obesity,

impaired health

stress is linked with immune system, when you have high levels of stress, you are more susceptible to getting sick

motivation

goal-oriented behavior, why do we do what we do?

determinism vs. free will

religions/biology would say everything is determined

humanistic would say everything is free will (you can make decisions that will lead to certain outcomes)

drive

biological need that directs our behavior: hunger, thirst, sex drive

drive reduction

engaging in behavior that lowers a particular drive in order to create physiological balance or homeostasis

motive

psychological/social/want/need that directs behavior, Ex: fame, revenge, fortune, greed

lateral (part of hypothalamus)

responds to cues of hunger, causes one to eat, severed lateral causes starvation(because you are no longer told to eat)

ventromedial (part of hypothalamus)

responds to cues to stop eating, severed ventromedial causes non stop eating (because you are no longer told to stop eating)

leptin

hormone that signals when you are full

ghrelin

hormone that signals hunger

set point theory

our bodies have a weight range that its most comfortable with, if you're body is put out of this range, it will try to get back to that comfortable range. Ex: pregnancy, after some time the female body will return to almost the same weight as it was before getting pregnant

metabolism

the body's essential, continuous process of converting food into energy, metabolism does not get faster when you fast and lose a lot of weight, in fact the opposite happens which makes losing weight harder as time goes on

social cues

when others are eating around you, you tend to feel the need to eat in order to not feel awkward

stress

stress can cause people to indulge in food or not eat at all

diet

when someone eats less/eats specific things in order to lose weight or change their body type

need for autonomy

need for freedom---Ex: going to college and leaving your family or staying and commuting, measured using TAT

need for achievement

wanting to do the best you can, measured using TAT

affiliation motive

belonging need, can be based on introvert/extrovert

avoidance of failure vs fear of success

Are you playing to win or are you playing not to lose

intrinsic motivation

motivated to do something because you want to/enjoy it, not because you get anything from it, Ex: solving a puzzle

extrinsic motivation

motivated to do something because you are getting something out of it, Ex: going to work because you're motivated by the paycheck

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization

subjective conscious experiment (cognitive)

Ex: asking someone how they feel, after some thought, they give an answer

bodily arousal (biological)

polygraph test(lie detector test) uses heart rate and sweat to determine whether or not you're lying

universality of facial expressions to denote 6 key emotions (Ekman)

people around the world use the same facial expression to show the same emotion

facial feedback (Ekman)

individual facial expressions can effect that individual's emotion

display rules

cultural and social norms that govern how and when individuals should express emotions

Arousal theory of emotion, Yerkes-Dodson Law, inverted U-curve

there is an optimal level of arousal/stress for performance, too much or too little can be harmful

difficult task: curve shifts left

simple task: curve shifts right

positive psychology (M. Seligman)

the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on human strengths, flourishing, and optimal functioning rather than just treating mental illness

well-being

linked to self-esteem, do we have confidence, locus of control

gratitude

do we take the time to be thankful for what we do have

resilience

stick to it, in the face of high stress/disappointment/failure, are you able to "get off the mat", respond to adversity, can you find ways to keep going

post-traumatic growth

get beyond the incident, grow and learn from mistakes, putting your negatives aside and focus on your strengths, your attitude is all about you, no one else can control them

virtues

wise: learning from mistakes

courage: face the challenges

humanity: are you charitable, do you feel good when others succeed

justice: right vs wrong

temperance: character strength, control of emotion, enough is enough of something(too much of anything is bad)

transcendence: something greater, the highest levels of human consciousness and functioning, where individuals look beyond their own ego and immediate needs to connect with something larger, such as humanity, nature, or the cosmos

neophobia

dislike of unfamiliar things, protected our ancestos from potentially toxic substances

Masters and Johnson's sexual response cycle

a 4 stage linear model that describes physiological changes that occur in sexual activity, excitement; plateau; orgasm; resolution

anorexia nervosa

eating disorder, patients try to keep their weight as low as possible by not eating enough food, exercising too much, taking laxatives or making themselves sick

bulimia nervosa

an eating disorder characterized by regular, often secretive bouts of overeating followed by self-induced vomiting or purging, strict dieting, or extreme exercise, associated with persistent and excessive concern with body weight

instinct

a complex behavior, must have a fixed pattern throughout a species and be unlearned