ap psych - motivation and emotion terms

2 stress hormones

• epinephrine (adrenaline)

• norepinephrine (noradrenaline)

a.l. washburn’s balloon study - stomach & hunger

• aimed to explain the physiology of hunger

• washburn worked with walter cannon and swallowed a ballon attached to a recording device

• when inflated to fill his stomach, the balloon transmitted his stomach contractions

• washburn supplied information about his feelings of hunger by pressing a key each time he felt a hunger pang

• they discovered that washburn was having stomach contractions whenever he felt hunger

ancel keys minnesota starvation study

• ancel keys conducted a study of semistravation

• fed 36 male volunteers (wartime conscientious objectors) just enough to maintain their initial weight

• then, for six months, they cut their food levels in half

• the men began conserving energy and appeared sluggish and dull

• after dropping rapid amounts of weight, their body weights stabilized at about 25 percent below their starting point

• the men became food obsessed and lost interest in sex and social activities

• demonstrated how activated motives can hijack our consciousness

anorexia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly (15 percent or more) underweight.

anterior cingulate cortex

implicated in emotion, because it is involved in linking reward and punishment information, which elicit emotional responses, to behaviour, and, in particular, to actions

basal metabolic rate

a measure of how much energy a person uses to maintain basic body functions when the body is at rest

behavior feedback hypothesis

the idea that going through different motions can awaken the emotions (fake it til you make it)

ex: if you take long strides with arms swinging, you may feel your mood shift

blind people and emotional expression

even those who are blind, who have never observed smiles, display the same social smiles (indicating smiling is unlearned)

botox injections and emotion

botox injections paralyze the frowning muscles, improving depression and slows people’s reading of sadness or anger-related sentences, and slows activity in emotion related brain circuits

bulimia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person alternates binge eating (usually of high-calorie foods) with purging (by vomiting or laxative use), excessive exercise, or fasting.

cannon-bard theory

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion

characteristics of fat cells

• fat has a lower metabolic rate than other tissue, so a person might gain weight when eating “normally”

cognitive appraisal/two-factor theory

states that one must cognitively label the arousal

cognitive dissonance

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent.

ex: leon festinger’s cognitive dissonance experiment — $1 group said the task was fun because they felt bad about lying and convinced themselves that the task was fun

detecting specific facial expressions (which are easier and quicker)

it is easier and quicker for people to identify angry/negative faces and emotions

drive

• a state of unrest or irritation that energizes particular behaviors to alleviate it (the push)

• based on inner needs and can be seen as a force pushing from inside of us

drive-reduction theory

• when the instinct theory of motivation failed, it was replaced by drive-reduction theory

• physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need 

• people are motivated to engage in behaviors that satisfy their biological needs to achieve homeostasis

duchenne smile

• genuine smile

• theory states that a genuine smile involves eye constriction and raised cheeks

• it is different from one taken during a selfie because in a selfie, it would be a forced smile and can be suddenly switched off

emotion (basic components)

• emotions are our body’s adaptive response 

  • focus attention 

  • energize action

• emotions are a mix of

  • physiological arousal (heart pounding) 

  • expressive behaviors (quickened pace) 

  • conscious experience (thoughts and feelings - panic, fear, joy)

emotionality of men vs. women

• women generally surpass men at reading emotional cues when given thin slices of behavior, and also surpass men in other assessments of emotional cues  (ex: deciding whether a male-female couple is a genuine romantic couple or phony couple – Barnes & Sternberg)

• women’s nonverbal sensitivity helps explain their greater emotional literacy and greater emotional responsiveness. 

• women are more empathetic than men.

evolutionary benefit of fat

• fat is an ideal form of stored energy—a high-calorie fuel reserve to carry the body through periods when food is scarce—a common occurrence in our prehistoric ancestors’ world. No wonder that in many developing societies today (as in Europe in earlier centuries) people find heavier bodies attractive: Obesity signals affluence and social status (Furnham & Baguma, 1994; Swami et al., 2011).

• in parts of the world where food and sweets are now abundantly available, the rule that once served our hungry distant ancestors—When you find energy-rich fat or sugar, eat it!—has become dysfunctional

universality of facial expressions

no matter where you are in the world, facial expressions are universal

facial feedback hypothesis

the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

genetic predispositions

one may do something because they are genetically predisposed to do it

• works with instinct theory, which focuses on genetically predisposed behaviors

hans selye’s general adaption syndrome (GAS) + response to stress

• selye proposed that the body’s adaptive response to stress is so general that, like a single burglar alarm, it sounds, no matter what intrudes

• selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases—alarm, resistance, exhaustion

hierarchy of needs + order

• abraham maslow suggested some needs have priority over others. 

• physiological needs like breathing, thirst, and hunger come before psychological needs like achievement, self-esteem, and need for recognition 

order (bottom to top):

• physiological needs

• safety needs

• belongingness + love needs

• esteem needs

• self-actualization needs

high-road brain pathway + cortex

• the high road of emotion is slower and allows thinking about feeling

• extends via the thalamus to the brain’s cortex and then through the amygdala

homeostasis

the maintenance of a steady internal state

orexin

hunger-triggering hormone secreted by hypothalamus

insulin

hormone secreted by pancreas; controls blood glucose

ghrelin

hormone secreted by empty stomach; sends hunger signals to the brain

leptin

protein hormone secreted by fat cells; when abundant, causes brain to increase metabolism and decrease hunger

hypothalamus + hunger

the hypothalamus secretes orexin, a hunger-triggering hormone

incentive theory

• where our needs (drives) push, incentives (positive or negative stimuli) pull us, reducing our drives 

  • ex: a food-deprived person who smells baking bread 

• incentives can also be negative; we may behave in a certain way in order to avoid an unpleasant 

  • ex: coming to school early in order to avoid getting detentions 

• is related to other behaviorist principles of learning (conditioning, Law of Effect, etc.)

incentives “external pulls”

positive or negative stimuli that lure or repel us

instincts

a complex, unlearned behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species

• motivated by our inborn automated behaviors

  • the need to survive 

  • instincts only explain why we do a small fraction of behaviors 

  • however, evolutionary psychology might be hardwired, but can be modified fixed and unlearned

  • must be unlearned and fixed

introverts vs. extroverts

• introverts are typically better at interpreting people’s feelings

• extroverts are easier to read and are better at expressing feelings

james-lange theory

• physiological activity precedes the emotional experience (we react to the changes in our body that we feel) 

lateral hypothalamus

• known as the hunger center, and two of its main functions are the stimulation of feeding behavior and arousal

• when stimulated, it causes the feeling of hunger

• if it is destroyed, and organism will no longer experience the feeling of hunger

learning’s influence on hunger and taste

• environmental factors influence taste preferences and when people get hungry

• conditioning can intensify or alter taste preferences

lie detection

• contrary to claims that states that some experts can spot lies, available research suggests that virtually no one (except police professionals in high stakes situations) beats chance by much, as the behavioral differences between liars and truth-tellers are too minute for most people to detect

• differing lies and truths — only about 54% accurate

low vs. high spinal cord injuries/theories of emotion

• those with lower-spine injuries, who had lost sensation only in their legs, reported little change in their emotions’ intensity

• those with high spinal cord injury, who could feel nothing below the neck, did report changes

• some reactions were much less intense than before the injuries. 

• implications of these findings state that our bodily responses seemingly feed our experiences emotions 

low-road brain pathway + cortex

• the low road of emotion includes simple likes, aversions, and fears, or things that do not have to involve actual thinking

• bypasses the cortex; the fear-provoking stimulus would travel from the eye or ear (via the thalamus) and directly to the amygdala

• the low-road is quick and a shortcut that allows instant emotional reaction. 

memory + hunger (amnesia/alzheimers)

moebius syndrome

a rare facial paralysis disorder

• those with moebius syndrome typically cannot make facial expressions such as smiling

motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

ex: Aron Ralston was motivated to cut his arm to free himself from a rock that pinned him down

need “internal push”

an internal desire or deficiency that can motivate behavior

obesity + fat cells

• once we become fat, we require less food to maintain our weight than we did to attain it

• when an overweight person’s body drops below its previous set point, the person’s hunger increases and metabolism decreases

• thus, the body adapts to starvation by burning fewer calories

opponent-process theory

• views emotions as pairs of opposites

• we trigger one emotion by suppressing the opposing emotion

• ex: you receive an award. The moment you're handed the certificate, you may feel a lot of joy and pleasure. However, an hour after getting the award, you may feel a bit sad.

optimum arousal theory

• states that some motivated behaviors increase arousal

• between bored low arousal and anxious hyperarousal lies a flourishing life. 

• having all our biological needs satisfied, we feel driven to experience stimulation 

ostracism

social exclusion

research on nonverbal communication

robert zajonc (role of cognition)

contended that we actually have many emotional reactions apart from, or even before, our interpretation of a situation.

• cognition may not precede emotion

self-actualization

people seek to realize their own potential

set point theory

• 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.

• posits that the human body has a predetermined weight or fat mass set-point range

settling point

the set point model is rooted firmly in the domain of physiological and genetic determinism, whereas the settling point model is more grounded in the effects of social, nutritional and environmental factors.

sleep deprivation (leptin + ghrelin)

• sleep deprivation increase ghrelin, a hunger arousing hormone and decreases leptin, which supresses hunger.

• it increases cortisol, a stress hormone that stimulate the body to make fat

social facilitation + eating

people tend to eat more when with others

social influence of eating

we tend to eat differently when with other people, and our dietary choices tend to converge with those we are with or influenced by

social media and narcissism

narcissistic people tend to have more friends on social media, as they collect more superficial friends

spillover effect

tendency of one person’s emotion to affect how other people around them feel 

stress

a state of psychological tension or strain.

fight or flight (stress)

when stressed, the sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate and respiration, diverts blood from digestion to the skeletal muscles, dulls feelings of pain, and releases sugar and fat from the body’s stores

this prepares the body for the adaptive response known as fight or flight

stress appraisal

the events of our lives flow through a psychological filter. how we appraise an event influences how much stress we experience and how effectively we respond.

stress reactions

• fight or flight

• general adaptation syndrome (GAS)

stressors (3 main categories of external stressors)

• catastrophes

• significant life changes

• daily hassles

studies of hunger after stomach is removed

• researchers removed some rats’ stomachs and created a direct path to their small intestines (Tsang, 1938), and the rats continued to eat

• some hunger persists similarly in humans whose stomachs have been removed as a treatment for ulcers or cancer.

subliminal exposure to fearful eyes

• in one experiment, researchers used fMRI scans to observe the amygdala’s response to subliminally presented fearful eyes (Whalen et al., 2004)

• although they were flashed too quickly for people to consciously perceive them, the fearful eyes triggered increased amygdala activity.

• a control condition that presented happy eyes did not trigger this activity

sympathetic vs. parasympathetic

• the sympathetic nervous system arouses you in a crisis, making you hyper aware and resulting in an increase in heart rate and breathing

• the parasympathetic nervous system slows down the heart and breathing and shuts off stress hormones.

tend-and-befriend response

under stress, people (esp. women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with/seek support from others (befriend)

amygdala during rapid emotional responses

the amygdala sends more neural projections up to the cortex than it receives back, which makes it easier for our feelings to hijack our thinking than for our thinking to rule our feelings (LeDoux & Armony, 1999).

two-factor theory (schachter-singer)

states that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal.

unit bias + eating

• we may eat only one serving/unit (scoop, plateful, bun-fill) of food, but will eat more if the serving is larger 

• it matters what you put the food in

ventromedial hypothalamus

• designated as the satiety center

• controls hunger, satiety, and weight gain

• when stimulated, it causes the sensation of fullness

yerkes-dodson law

• predicts that there is a relationship between the difficulty of a task, our level of arousal, and the eventual outcome 

  • for easy tasks = higher levels of arousal 

  • for difficult tasks = moderate levels work best (optimal)