psych personality, emotion, and motivation

Motivations

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

Instincts

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

Drive Reduction Theory

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

Primary drives

biological motivators/drives directly related to survival, ie hunger, thirst

Secondary drives

learned motivators/drives that develop through association with primary drives

Arousal theory

proposes that people are driven/motivated to act in order to maintain an optimal level of physiological and psychological arousal

Opponent-process theory of motivation

suggests that emotional reactions are followed by an opposing, contrary emotion, which serves to maintain emotional stability

Incentive

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Maslow's levels of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs

Lateral hypothalamus

a region within the hypothalamus responsible for stimulating hunger, feeding behavior, regulating energy intake and more

Set-point theory

the theory that individuals have a genetically determined, stable baseline for physical or psychological functioning

Bulimia

an eating disorder in which a person's binge eating is followed by inappropriate weight loss promoting behavior, such as vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise

Anorexia

an eating disorder in which a person maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight, and has an inaccurate self-perception; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise

Obesity

defined as a body mass index (BMI) measurement of 30 or higher, which is calculated from our weight-to-height ratio

Achievement motivation

a desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard

Extrinsic motivators

the desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

Intrinsic motivators

drives that compel a person to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake (satisfaction, enjoyment)

Approach-approach conflict

a psychological situation where a person must choose between two equally desirable but incompatible alternatives

Avoidance-avoidance conflict

a psychological situation where a person must choose between two equally undesirable alternatives

Approach-avoidance conflict

a psychological situation where a person faces an option that has both positive and negative characteristics

James-lange theory of emotion

proposes that physical or physiological changes in the body occur before the experience of an emotion

Cannon-bard theory of emotion

states that emotions and physical reactions to a stimulus occur simultaneously and independently

Two-factor theory

suggests that emotion is based on two factors: physiological arousal and cognitive label

General adaptation syndrome (GAS)

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

Polygraph

a machine used in attempts to detect lies; measures emotion-linked changes in perspiration, heart rate, and breathing

Psychoanalytic psychosexual stage theory of personality

suggests that personality is formed through five stages in childhood where pleasure-seeking energy focuses on specific erogenous zones (oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital stages)

Oedipus crisis

the son feeling sexual desire for the mother and hostility toward the father (during the phallic stage)

Psychoanalytic theory of personality

Freud suggests that human behavior and personality are shaped by unconscious drives, early childhood experiences, and interpersonal relationships

Id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives

Id

It operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

Ego

the partly conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, the superego, and reality

The ego

operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

Superego

the partly conscious part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgements (the conscience) and for future aspirations

Defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Trait theorists

researchers who study personality by identifying, measuring, and classifying stable, enduring behavioral dispositions that differ across individuals

Big five personality traits

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism – that describe personality

Factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score

Biological theories of personality

explain personality as a result of inherited biological factors

Heritability

the degree to which genetic differences account for variations in a trait among individuals in a population

Behaviorist theories of personality

explain personality as patterns of behavior that are learned through conditioning, reinforcement, and observation in the environment

Temperament

a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

Social-cognitive theories of personality

explain personality as the result of interactions between thinking processes, behavior, and environmental influences

reciprocal determinism

states that human functioning is shaped by the interacting influences of behavior, literal cognition, and environment

Self-efficacy

our sense of competence and effectiveness

Personal-construct theory

explains personality as the unique system of mental constructs people use to understand and interpret their experiences

Locus of control

whether people believe life events are controlled by their own actions (internal) or by outside forces (external)

Humanistic theories of personality

theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth

Unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which carl rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

Projective personality tests

a personality test, such as the TAT or Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics and explore the preconscious and unconscious mind

Self-report inventories

personality tests where people answer questions about themselves to help psychologists measure their personality and behavior

Validity

the extent to which a test or experiment measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on to halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting