Studied by 143 people
What is drive-reduction?
An old theory on physiological needs where an aroused state drives an organism to reduce the arised need
What is homeostasis?
A balanced internal state. Based off of temperature, blood glucose levels, and water levels within the body.
What do changes in temperature, blood glucose levels, and water levels have an effect on?
When temperatures get cold, blood vessels constrict
When blood glucose levels change from a certain level, huger is triggered
When water levels within the body are low, thirst is triggered
What are the hunger mechanisms?
Blood glucose levels, insulin, leptin
Hypothalamus monitors levels through feedback from stomach, liver, intestines, etc
Based on these levels, the hypothalamus signals hunger/satiety
What does the lateral hypothalamus do? What is it stimulated by? What causes the destruction of the lateral hypothalamus?
It signals hunger. It's stimulated by eating. It can be destroyed when someone doesn't eat even if they're starving.
What does the ventromedial hypothalamus do? What is it stimulated by? What causes the destruction of the ventromedial hypothalamus?
It signals satiety (how full/satisfied you are). It's stimulated by stopping eating. It can be destroyed by overeating even if you're full.
What are some factors that can influence obesity?
The size and number of fat cells within the body
The person's set point/metabolism (basal metabolic rate)
Genetics
The person's environment
How can you change your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)?
Calorie control.
Ex: Restricting calories lowers one's BMR
What is intrinsic motivation? What is an example?
Intrinsic motivation can be defined as "the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence." Some key words are: personal gain, enjoyment, competence, self-actualization, self-esteem.
Some examples:
Learning how to paint to a Bob Ross video just because you enjoy the experience
Reading a book in your free time
What is extrinsic motivation? What is an example?
Extrinsic motivation can be defined as "motivation that is driven by external rewards". Some key words are: grades, approval of others, rewards, money, deadlines.
Some examples:
Buying a scratch-off/lottery ticket
Going to the study session for this test
Making a quizlet for this test
Studying this quizlet for the test
How do animals control their hormones differently than humans?
While animals have a more straightforward relationship with their hormones (female's estrogen peaks at ovulation and becomes receptive, male testosterone constant); humans can get a little more complicated. For female humans, sexual desire raises only slightly during ovulation and sex is possible throughout the menstrual cycle. Additionally, their sexual desire is more closely related to testosterone levels.
What can human sexual motivation be influenced by?
Physiology ex: someone's appearance, someone's hormone levels, state of mind, etc
External cues (environment) ex: culture, sexual education, etc
Imagination ex: 🥸
What are "women's" sexual strategies according to evolutionary psychology?
They focus on quality.
Economic capacity (present/future)
Social status
Age (preferably older than themselves)
What are "men's" sexual strategies according to evolutionary psychology?
They focus on quantity.
Youth
Physical beauty (body shape, symmetry)
Health
Which sex (in humans) has the greater investment in reproduction?
Women of the female sex because they cannot reproduce after menopause and have a limited number of eggs.
What is the ideal waist to hip ratio in women according to men?
0.7 is the most attractive
What are some physiological cues that our ancestors had casual sex?
Human males have a relatively large testicle size to body weight ratio
The longer couples are separated the more sperm per ejaculate that are produced by the man
What are some psychological cues that our ancestors had casual sex?
Men desire more sex partners in any given time interval and over the span of their lives
Coolidge effect
Men pursue and have more affairs than women
Men have more sexual fantasies (more likely to have strangers, multiple partners, or anonymous partners in it)
Women more likely to fantasize about familiar partners
What is the Coolidge effect?
When males become sexually rearoused upon presentation of a novel female
What are the casual sex standards for men?
Standards for most attributes considered important for long term mating including attractiveness and age decrease
What are the casual sex standards for women?
Standards stay more consistent except these are more important for short term mating.
a. spends a lot of money on then b. gives them gifts c. has an extravagant lifestyle d. is generous with resources
What factors constitute a healthy well-being?
Biopsychosocial Model
What is stress?
A pattern of behavioral and physiological responses to events that match or exceed an organism's ability to respond in a healthy way
What kind of stress is bad for you?
Stress in your early life and chronic stress
What factors contribute to stress?
Environment (job status, learned helplessness, etc)
What are the physiological effects of stress?
HPA Axis activation
Increase in cortisol (decrease in immune function)
Increase in atherosclerosis (main cause of heart disease)
Gender Differences
Memory and concentration
What is the HPA axis?
Hypothalamus --> Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) --> Pituitary gland --> Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) --> Adrenals
--> Cortisol (increase energy, suppress immune function)
--> Catecholamines (sympathetic activation)
What are some gender differences in stress?
Hostility in men is a significant predictor of heart disease
Women "tend & befriend" - combo of estrogen & oxytocin
What was found in the Whitehall study?
The best predictor of heart attacks in British civil servants was job status
What was found in the Seligman & Maier / Glass & Singer study?
Seligman & Maier - Lack of control / Learned helplessness
What is the relationship between drug use and stress (animals)?
Animal studies show that when stressed, drug self-administration is more likely to occur. These results are also found in adult animals that were stressed early in life or prenatally!
What is the relationship between drug use and stress (humans)?
Comorbidity between PTSD and substance abuse. Early stressful events are comorbid with later cigarette smoking.
What things can you do to minimize stress?
Increase social support (lower blood pressure, increased immune support)
Exercise (negative relationship between exercise and depressive symptoms)
Healthy diet (stress undermines self-regulation, can be fatigued due to stress)
Change ways of thinking, e.g.optimism
No smoking
Hardiness – commit, control, accept challenges
Gender differences
Rational coping – Exposure therapy
Relaxation therapy – Yoga, etc.
What are some of the specific results concerning the connection between social support and health and exercise & health?
Less socially integrated people have higher mortality rates (House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988)
Presence of supportive person led to lower blood pressure and heart rate changes (Gerin et al., 1992)
People with more diverse social networks were less likely to develop a cold after clinical exposure (Cohen et al., 1997)
Exercise improves symptoms of depression (Babyak at al., 2000; Blumenthal et al., 2007)
How are our gut bacteria beneficial to us?
Gut bacteria functions: • Digestion • Metabolism • Block harmful bacteria • Influences brain and behavior (gut has its own nervous system)
Gut bacteria affect: • Neural Development • Brain Chemistry
Make about 95% of our serotonin • Behavior
Emotion
Pain
Stress
What have studies with BALB/C and NIH Swiss mice shown us?
BALB/c mice became more bold when given antibiotics (Bercik et al., 2011)
NIH Swiss mice became more timid when gut bacteria was changed
when fed a “bad” bacteria animals became more cautious
Bacteria influences eating and weight gain
“timid” mice fed probiotics (Bienenstock 2011)
more willing to enter exposed areas of the maze
less likely to give up on forced swim test
produced less stress hormone
had more GABA receptors
What are the ways in which gut bacteria can influence behavior and/or mental state?
Vagus nerve stimulation is being tried as a treatment for depression!
Early exposure to normal gut bacteria is vital to brain development, immune functioning, and behavior
What is the vagus nerve and what is it's relationship to a gut microbiome?
When severed, the behavioral effects of the gut biome disappear
What is the hygiene hypothesis?
Developed nations suffer from more chronic inflammatory diseases - Allergies - Autoimmune diseases - Inflammatory bowel disease - Anxiety and depression? Disruption of immunoregulatory circuits
Things that negatively affect our gut bacteria? What is important for normal development?
Things that negatively affect our gut bacteria:
C-section, bottle feeding, and early exposure to antibiotics create problems
Stress suppresses beneficial bacteria
Infants of startled mother rats had less beneficial bacteria
Mice exposed to social disruption had less beneficial bacteria
Students had less beneficial bacteria during exam week (Knowles 2008)
What is the definition of personality?
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
What is psychoanalytic theory?
Our thoughts and actions are derived from unconscious motives (Freud)
What is the superego?
"how on ought to behave"
a part of the unconscious that is the voice of conscience and the source of self-criticism (Freud)
What is id?
The primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories (Freud)
Pleasure principle - immediate gratification
What is the ego?
The realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego (Freud)
Reality principle - personality chief
What are the psychosexual stages?
Id's pleasure seeking energies focus on erogenous zones
Oral stage (0-18 mo)
Anal stage (18-36 mo)
Phallic stage (3-6 years)
Latency (6-puberty)
Genital stage
What is fixation?
Maladaptive behavior results from unresolved conflicts
What are defense mechanisms?
Reduce or redirect anxieties (repression, projection, regression, etc)
How is the unconscious measured?
Projective tests - involve ambiguous stimuli
TAT (Thematic Apperception Test)
DAPT (Draw A Person Test)
Word association, complete the sentence
Rorschach inkblot test
What are the "big five" traits?
Emotional stability (secure v insecure)
Extraversion (sociable v retiring)
Openness (independent v conforming)
Agreeableness (trusting v suspicious)
Conscientiousness (organized v disorganized)
What is the MMPI?
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Assesses abnormal personality traits (ex. depression, hysteria, psychopathic, deviancy, paranoia, schizophrenia, etc)
What is the "humanistic" perspective?
It focuses on the strivings of healthy people for self-determination and self-realization.
What did Maslow and Carl Rogers believe?
That people are basically good and want to self-actualize.
What did Carl Rogers focus on?
Person centered therapy
What are the key ideas/requirements of the humanistic perspective?
Need to provide an environment that promotes growth (genuineness, acceptance, and empathy)
Acceptance (unconditional positive regard)
Self-concept (who am I?)
Ideal v Actual self
What are some key-concepts from Bandura?
Behavior is influenced by the interactions between persons, their thinking, and their social context
What is learned helplessness?
A state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly. They come to believe that they are unable to control or change the situation, so they do not try — even when opportunities for change become available.
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