Motivation and Emotion

CH 1

Effort

Exertion put forth during a task. Percentage of total capacity used.

Latency

Duration of time a person waits to get started on a task upon first being given an opportunity to do so.

Choice

When presented with two or more courses of action, preferring one course of action over the other.

Probability of response

Number (or percentage) of occasions that the person enacts a particular goal-directed response given the total number of opportunities to do so.

Facial expression

Facial movements, such as wrinkling the nose, raising the upper lip, and lowering the brow

Bodily gestures

Bodily gestures, such as learning forward, changing posture, and intentionally moving the legs, arms, and hands

Hormonal activity

Chemicals in saliva or blood, such as cortisol (stress) or catecholamines (fight-or-flight reaction)

Cardiovascular activity

Contraction and relaxation of the heart and blood vessels

Ocular activity

Eye behavior—pupil size (extent of mental activity), eye blinks (changing cognitive states), and eye movements (reflective thought)

Electrodermal activity

Electrical changes on the surface of the skin

Skeletal activity

Activity of the musculature, as with facial expressions or bodily gestures

Incentive

An external event or stimulus that energizes and directs behavior

Energy

Implies that a behavior has strength

Direction

Implies that behavior has purpose or is aimed or guided toward a particular goal or outcome

Persistence

Implies that behavior has endurance or sustains itself over time and across different situations

Internal motives

Needs, cognitions, and emotions

Influence

Social process in which one requests that the other change his or her behavior or thought via persuasion, compliance, conformity, obedience, and leadership

Motivation

A private, internal process

Psychophysiology

The study of the interaction between bodily and mental states