Studied by 95 people
Definitions from AMSCO Book
Biological Motives
Based on the biological needs for survival—hunger, thirst, pain avoidance, the need for air, and sleep. We are born with them and do not need to learn them.
Stimulus Motives
Express our need for information, learning, and stimulation. Though they appear to be inborn, they are not needed for survival.
Learned Motives
They are learned needs, drives, and goals.
Motivation
Is the drive that initiates, sustains, directs, and terminates actions. Deals with WHYS of behaviors. A need or desire that serves to energize behavior.
Intuition
Gut feeling; the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.
Instinct
Is an innate and consistent pattern of complex behavior that is performed the same way by every member of the species. A complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned.
Fixed Action Patterns
Behaviors in response to stimuli that, once started, continue to completion.
Evolutionary Psychology
An approach that tries to explain mental and psychological traits, such as memory, language, perception, and personality, as adaptations to the environment.
Natural Selection
A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.
Drive Reduction Theory
Created by Clark Hull; idea that physiological (biological) needs create tensions states (drives) which motivates organisms to satisfy the need. Internal
Need
When he or she has an internal deficiency/lack of something of some sort.
Drive
A condition of arousal associated with a need.
Homeostasis
A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state.
Primary Drives
Drives that are biologically connected to survival, such as drives to fulfill needs for food, water, or warmth. Unlearned, natural drives. Internal.
Secondary Drives
Assist us in attaining the goals of a primary drive. For example, people may be driven to earn money (secondary drive) to purchase food (primary drive). Learned unnatural drives, like money. External.
Incentives
An object/person/situation that can satisfy a need externally.
Arousal Theory
Individuals perform tasks at different levels of arousal (wakefulness/stress).
Yerkes-Dodson Law
(Graph forms an inverted-U) which states basic/general tasks are completed best with a moderate level of arousal.
Humanism
Focuses on the potential of people and their drive to be their best.
Abraham Maslow
Was a humanistic psychologist who proposed an intuitive understanding of motivation known as the hierarchy of needs.
Hierarchy of Needs
Our most basic needs must be met before we can be our best self.
Self Actualization
The need to reach one’s full potential.
Transcendance
Helping others achieve self-actualization.
Satiety
The feeling of fullness.
Ghrelin
Is a hormone released by the stomach when the body needs food; it carries the “hungry” signal to the LH. The hunger hormone.
Orexin
Is produced by neurons in the lateral hypothalamus (LH). Has a role in sexual behavior and wakefulness; is released by the hypothalamus- telling us to eat.
Lateral Hypothalamus
When stimulated it makes you hungry. When lesioned (destroyed) you will never be hungry again.
Anorexigenic
Signals or substances that suppress appetite and reduce food intake.
Ventromedial Hypothalamus
When stimulated you feel full. When lesioned you will never feel full again.
Leptin
Is a protein produced by bloated fat cells; when these levels rise the body tells you to stop eating and pursue some type of activity.
Peptide YY
A type of hormone that decreases appetite and makes people feel full after eating.
Set Point
Body’s ideal weight set by its “weight thermostat.”
Basal Metabolic
(Metabolism); body’s resting rate of energy reproductive.
Sexual Motivation
Is the desire to have erotic experiences that are pleasurable.
Gonads
Scientific term for testicles and ovaries (sex glands).
Sexual Response
Refers to the four stages: Excitement, Plateau, Orgasm, and Resolution, identified by Masters and Johnson.
Excitement
First stage in the sexual response cycle; leads to vasocongestion, which is the swelling of genital tissues with blood.
Plateau Stage
Second stage in the sexual response cycle; leads to myotonia, which is simply muscle tension.
Orgasm Phase
Third stage in the sexual response cycle; also has its share with muscle tension; breathing becomes more rapid as does the heart rate and blood pressure.
Refractory Period
Fourth stage in the sexual response cycle; where a neuron has to rest before it can fire again.
Alfred Kinsey
Considered the father of the study of human sexuality for conducting his studies in the 1940s.
Social Construct
Is the idea that concepts, beliefs, or perceptions are created and shaped by society rather than being naturally occurring truths. These ideas are influenced by culture, history, and social interactions.
Androgens
Sex hormone greater in males.
Estrogens
Sex hormone greater in females.
Premature Ejaculation
A male’s ejaculation before he and his partner want it.
Erectile Disorder
Occurs when a male is not able to maintain an erection.
Female Orgasmic Disorder
Female sexual dysfunction occurs persistently over time and may consist of painful intercourse, lack of desire, or inability to attain orgasm.
Paraphilias
Sexual interests that fall outside a societal norm—that is, abnormal sexual desires.
Exhibitionistic
Desire to perform sexually in front of others.
Fetishistic
Experiencing sexual arousal only with objects not considered to be normally erotic.
Frotteuristic
Inappropriately touching or rubbing against strangers in public places, such as on a train or bus.
Pedophilic
Sexual desire for children.
Sexual Masochism
Unhealthy desire to receive pain in connection to sex.
Sexual Sadism
Unhealthy desire to give pain to others in connection to sex.
Transvestic
Becoming sexually aroused by dressing in the other gender but finding the act distressing.
Voyeuristic
Primary sexual arousal from secretly watching others undress, bathe, or engage in sex.
Sex
The biological distinction between females and males.
Gender
The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female.
Sexual Orientation
An enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one's own gender (homosexual orientation) or the other gender (heterosexual orientation).
Transgender
Individuals who feel as though they were born into a body of the wrong sex; refers to an individual whose gender identity does not align with their biological sex assigned at birth.
Intersex
Refers to individuals who are born with biological sex characteristics (such as chromosomes, hormones, or reproductive anatomy) that do not fit typical definitions of male or female. Once called hermaphrodite.
Balance Theory
Proposed by Fritz Heider (1896–1988), suggests that humans have a need for congruence in their social interactions and that social behavior is motivated by a desire for social balance.
Affiliation
An association with a group or organization; The human need to belong and form social connections with others.
Approach-Approach Conflict
Stressful tension state that arises as a result of an attraction toward two attractive goals. Desired Options.
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict
Stressful tension state that arises as a result of a simultaneous repulsion of two goals. Undesired Options.
Multiple Approach-Avoidance Conflict
Stressful tension that arises when having to choose between 2 or more goals that have both attractive and repulsive qualities. Most common and complex conflict in real life. + and - for both options.
Collectivistic Societies
Common in the eastern hemisphere and they prioritize the needs of the group rather than the needs of the individual.
Individualistic Societies
Common in the western hemisphere and they prioritize the needs of the individual rather than the needs of the group.
Intrinsic Motivation
Performing tasks for its own sake (satisfaction/interest).
Extrinsic Motivation
Performing a task because you will receive rewards or punishment.
