AP Psychology Unit 8: Motivation, Emotion, and Stress

Psychology for the AP Course- Third edition

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

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

Instinct theory

There is a genetic basis for unlearned, species-typical behavior

Arousal theory

Our need to maintain an optimal level of arousal motivates behaviors that meet no physiological need

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

We prioritize survival-based needs and then social needs more than the needs for esteem and meaning.

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

Set point

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

Basal metabolic rate

the body’s resting rate of energy output

Obesity

defined as a body mass index (BMI) measurement of 30 or higher

Overweight

individuals have a BMI of 25 or higher

Asexual

having no sexual attraction to others

Testosterone

the most important male sex hormone

Estrogens

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

Sexual response cycle

the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson— excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution

Refractory period

in human sexuality, a resting period that occurs after orgasm, during which a person cannot achieve another orgasm

Affiliation need

the need to build relationships and to feel part of a group

Ostracism

deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups

Narcissism

excessive self-love and self-absorption

Achievement motivation

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

Grit

in psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

Emotion

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 an emotion-arousing stimulus: 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

Two-factor theory

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

Schater-Singer theory

Our experience of emotion depends on two factors: general arousal and a conscious cognitive label

Zajonc-Ledoux theory

Some embodied responses happen instantly, without conscious appraisal

Lazarus theory

Cognitive appraisal (“Is it dangerous or not?”)—sometimes without our awareness—defines emotion

Polygraph

a machine used in attempts to detect lies that measures several of the physiological responses (such as perspiration, heart rate, and breathing changes) accompanying emotion

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

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

Tend and befriend response

under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others and bond with and seek support from others

Health psychology

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

Psychoneuroimmunology

the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health

Coronary heart disease

the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries

Type A

Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people

Type B

Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people

Catharsis

in psychology, the idea that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

Aerobic exercise

sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; also helps alleviate depression and anxiety

Mindfulness meditation

a reflective practice in which people attend to current experiences in a nonjudgmental and accepting manner

Feel-good do-good phenomenon

people’s tendency to be helpful when 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

Adaptation-level phenomonon

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 one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself