AP Psychology Motivation, emotion, and stress

Motivation

A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.

Instinct

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

Instinct Theory

A view that explains human behavior as motivated by automatic, involuntary, and unlearned responses.

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.

Incentives

A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior.

Optimal Arousal Theory

A theory of motivation stating that people are motivated to behave in ways that maintain what is, for them, an optimal level of arousal.

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's pyramid that depicts the order of human needs: physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs ,self-actualization needs, self-transcendence needs.

Glucose

A sugar that is the major source of energy for the body's cells.

Set Point

The point at which an individual's weight thermostat is supposedly set, influencing hunger and metabolic rate.

Basal Metabolic Rate

The body's resting rate of energy expenditure.

Lateral Hypothalamus

The brain region that signals eating even if one isn't hungry.

Ventromedial Hypothalamus

The brain region that signals not to eat even if one is hungry.

Sexual Response Cycle

The four stages of sexual responding: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.

Refractory Period

A resting period after orgasm during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm.

Sexual Dysfunctions

Problems that consistently impair sexual arousal or functioning.

Paraphilia

A sexual disorder characterized by unusual or socially unacceptable sexual behavior.

Estrogens

Sex hormones that are secreted in greater amounts by females and contribute to female sex characteristics.

Emotion

A response of the whole organism involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience.

James Lange Theory

The theory stating that our experience of emotion is our awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.

Yerkes-Dodson Theory

The theory suggesting that performance increases with mental arousal but only to an optimal point.

Cannon Bard Theory

The theory stating that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and subjective experience.

Two Factor Theory

Schachter-Singer's theory that experiencing emotion requires both physical arousal and cognitive labeling of that arousal.

Spillover Effect

When emotional arousal from one event spills over into response to another event.

Cognitive Appraisal

The interpretation of an event that determines its stress impact, assessing whether it is dangerous.

Polygraph

A machine used to detect lies by measuring physiological responses accompanying emotion.

Facial Feedback Effect

The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings.

Health Psychology

A subfield of psychology that focuses on the contribution of psychology to behavioral medicine.

Stress

The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events that we appraise as threatening or challenging.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

The concept that the body responds to stress in three phases: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Tend and Befriend Response

The behavior of providing support to others and seeking support during stress, particularly among women.

Psychophysiological Illness

A mind-body illness; any stress-related physical illness.

Psychoneuroimmunology

The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes affect the immune system.

Lymphocytes

Two types of white blood cells part of the immune system: B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes.

Macrophage

Cells that identify, pursue, and ingest harmful invaders and worn-out cells.

Natural Killer Cells (NK cells)

Cells that pursue and destroy diseased cells.

Carcinogens

Substances that cause cancer.

Coronary Heart Disease

The clogging of vessels that nourish the heart muscle; a leading cause of death.

Type A

Personality type characterized as competitive, hard-driving, and impatient.

Type B

Personality type characterized as easygoing and relaxed.