Psychology Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion

Motivation

factors that direct and energize the behavior of humans and other organisms- biological, cognitive, and social aspects

Instinct approaches to motivation

explanation that motivation that suggests people and animals are born preprogrammed with sets of behaviors essential to their survival

Drive-reduction approaches to motivation

theories suggesting that a lack of some basic biological need (such as a lack of water) produces a drive to push an organism to satisfy that need (in this case seeking water)

Drive motivation tension/arousal

energizes behavior to fulfill a need

Primary drives

are biological needs of the body or of the species as a whole (hunger, thirst, sleep, sex)

Secondary drives

not related to biology but prior experience and learning bring about needs (wanting to succeed academically.

Homeostasis

body’s tendency to maintain a steady internal environment

Arousal approach to motivation

belief that we try to maintain certain levels of stimulation and activity

Incentive approach to motivation

theories suggesting that motivation stems from the desire to attain external rewards, known as incentives (money)

Cognitive approach to motivation

theories suggesting that motivation is a result of people’s thoughts, beliefs, expectations, and goals

Intrinsic motivation

causes us to participate in an activity for our own enjoyment rather than for any actual or concrete reward that it will bring us

Extrinsic motivation

causes us to do something for money, a grade or some other actual, concrete reward

Obese

body weight that is more than 20% above the average weight for a person of a particular height

Hypothalamus

in the brain is central to the regulation of food intake

Causes of obesity

Unusually high weight set point and genetics

Metabolism

genetically predetermined rate at which food is converted to energy and expended by the body

Social factors

such as mealtimes, cultural food preferences, and other learned habits, play a role in the regulation of eating by determining when, what and how much one eats

Causes of eating disorders

biological and/or social pressures

Studies show cause of sexual orientation

Genetic factors/biology

Need for achievement

stable, learned characteristic in which a person obtains satisfaction by striving for and achieving challenging goals

People with a high need for achievement…

seek out situations in which they can compete against some objective standard (grades, money or winning a game) and prove themselves successful

Need for affiliation

A interest in establishing and maintaining relationships with other people

Conditions that motivate someone to seek affiliation

Fear and uncertainty

Need to belong

desire to form relationships of breadth and depth

Emotions

feelings that generally have both physiological and cognitive elements and that influence behavior

#1 functions of emotions

emotions act as a link between events in our environment and our responses to them (angry dog running at you)

#2 functions of emotions

emotions promote learning that will help us make appropriate responses in the future

#3 functions of emotions

we often communicate the emotions we experience through our verbal and nonverbal behaviors, making our emotions obvious to observers

James-Lange theory

belief that emotional experience is a reaction to bodily events occurring as a result of an external situation

Cannon-Bard theory

belief that both physiological arousal and emotional experience are produced simultaneously by the same nerve stimulus, rejects james-lange theory

Schacter-Singer theory

belief that emotions are determined jointly by a nonspecific kind of physiological arousal and its interpretation, based on environmental cues

Facial-affect program

activation of a set of nerve impulses that make the face display the appropriate expression

Facial-feedback hypothesis

hypothesis that facial expressions not only reflect emotional experience but also help determine how people experience and label emotions