Psychology 101 Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion

Vocabulary flashcards covering the forces of motivation, theories of motivation, and theories of emotion from Chapter 8 of Psych 101.

Motivation

The biological, emotional, cognitive, or social forces that activate and direct behavior, helping an individual persist toward goals.

Biological Forces

Internal, physiological drives that compel an organism to act to maintain basic survival needs and internal balance (homeostasis).

Emotional Forces

Subjective feelings and affective states that push an individual to act, either to seek positive feelings or to escape, avoid, or resolve negative emotions.

Cognitive Forces

Mental processes such as thoughts, beliefs, expectations, goals, and evaluations of potential outcomes that activate and direct behavior.

Social Forces

External influences stemming from the desire to belong, fit in, gain approval, or fulfill cultural and interpersonal roles within a group.

Homeostasis

A steady internal state or internal balance that an organism seeks to maintain through biological drives.

Theories of Motivation

Psychological frameworks designed to explain the why behind human behavior by analyzing the biological, psychological, and environmental forces that activate, direct, and sustain actions toward specific goals.

Instinct Theories

The view that certain behaviors are innate, unlearned, and genetically programmed evolutionary patterns characteristic of a species.

Drive Theories

The view that behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal biological tension caused by unmet needs, aiming to maintain a steady internal state called homeostasis.

Incentive Theories

The view that behavior is motivated by the pull of external goals or rewards, such as money, recognition, or pleasure, rather than internal drives.

Arousal Theory

The view that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal—seeking stimulation if they are bored, or reducing stimulation if they are overwhelmed.

Humanistic Theories

The view that behavior is motivated by higher-level psychological and cognitive factors, specifically the desire to realize one's full potential (self-actualization) and achieve personal growth.

Theories of Emotion

Frameworks that focus on the sequence of events that occur during an emotion, specifically how physiological arousal, mental thoughts, and behavioral expressions interact.

James-Lange Theory

The theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus triggers a physiological body reaction first, and the subjective awareness of that bodily change is the emotion (Stimulus → Physiological Arousal → Subjective Emotion).

Cannon-Bard Theory

The theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers both the physiological body reaction and the subjective experience of the emotion at the exact same time.

Two-Factor Theory (Schachter-Singer)

The theory that emotion is the interaction of physiological arousal and a cognitive label that we apply to explain that arousal based on our environment (Stimulus → Physiological Arousal → Cognitive Assessment/Label → Subjective Emotion).

Cognitive Appraisal Theory (Lazarus)

The theory that the mental evaluation (appraisal) of a situation comes first, and this thought process directly determines both the subsequent physiological arousal and the emotional response.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

The view that exaggerating or changing facial expressions can directly trigger or alter the physiological experience of that corresponding emotion.