AP Psychology Motivation, Hunger, Emotions, & Stress

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 tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

Homeostasis

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

Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active

Self-Actualization

the need to live up to our fullest and unique potential

Intrinsic Motivation

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

Extrinsic Motivation

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

Set Point

the point at which your "weight thermostat" is supposedly set. When your body falls below this weight, increased hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may combine to restore the lost weight

Basal Metabolic Rate

the body's resting rate of energy output

Hypothalamus

helps to control our hunger; it's lateral section tells us to eat, while its ventromedial section tells us to stop eating

Ghrelin

A hunger-arousing hormone secreted by an empty stomach

Leptin

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

Emotions

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience

James-Lange Theory

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli; stimulus -> arousal -> emotion

Cannon-Bard Theory

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

Two-Factor Theory

the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

10 Basic Emotions

joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt

Stress

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Three Main Stressors

catastrophes, significant life changes, & daily hassles

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases—alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

Health Psychology

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine

Type A Personality

personality type that describes people who are competitive, driven, hostile, and ambitious

Type B Personality

Personality characterized by relatively relaxed, patient, easygoing, amicable behavior.

Feel-Good Do-Good Phenomenon

people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

Positive Psychology

the scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive

Subjective Well-Being

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life.

Relative Deprivation

the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself

Cognitive Appraisal

the idea that everybody has different stressors