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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

Incentive

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

Yerkes-Dodson law

the principle that performance increases with arousal only 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 forms 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

Estrogen

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 the males sex characteristics during puberty

Emotion

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal (2) expressive behaviors (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 (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 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 adaptive response to stress in three phases - alarm, resistance, 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 (hypertension, 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 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

Coronary heart disease

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

Personality

an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Free association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, not matter how trivial or embarrassing

Psychoanalysis

Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thought and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions