AP Psychology Unit 9: Motivation, Emotion, Stress, and Health (MESH)

Motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.

Instinct

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

Physiological Need

a basic bodily requirement.

Drive-Reduction Theory

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

Homestasis

a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level.

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

often visualized as a pyramid, with needs nearer the base taking priority until they are satisfied. Maslow’s levels of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological need.

Glucose

the form 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.

Basal Metabolic Rate

the body’s resting rate of energy output.

Obesity

defined as a body mass index (BMI) measurement of 30 or higher, which is calculated from our weight-to-height ratio. (Individuals who are overweight have a BMI of 25 or higher.)

Asexual

having no sexual attraction toward others.

Testosterone

the most important male sex hormone. Males and females have it, but the additional amount in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs during the fetal period and the development of male sex characteristics during puberty.

Estrogens

sex hormones, such as estradiol, that contribute to female sex characteristics and are secreted in greater amounts by females than by males.

Ostracism

deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups.

Grit

passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

Emotion

a response of the whole organism, involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and, most importantly, conscious experience resulting from one’s interpretations.

James-Lange Theory

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli. (arousal then emotion.)

Cannon-Bard Theory

the theory that emotional experiences and physiological reactions occur simultaneously and independently from each other. (arousal and emotion occur separately but simultaneously).

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

the theory that the experience of emotion is determined by both physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation.

Polygraph

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

Facial Feedback Effect

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

Behavior Feedback Effect

the tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions.

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)

the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases — alarm, resistance, exhaustion. coined by Selye.

Tend-and-Befriend Response

under stress, people (especially women) may nurture themselves and others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend).

Feel-Good, Do-Good Phenomenon

people’s tendency to be helpful when in a good mood.

Adaptation-Level Phenomenon

our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience.

Relative Deprivation

the perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves.

Ghrelin

a hunger-arousing hormone secreted by an empty stomach.

Leptin

an appetite-reducing hormone.

Eustress

a positive stress that energizes a person and helps a person reach a goal.

Distress

negative stress.

Broaden and Build Theory

proposes that positive emotions broaden our awareness, which over time helps us build novel and meaningful skills and resilience that improve well-being.

Posttraumatic Growth

positive psychological changes following a struggle with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises.