PSCI 11 Exam 4: Emotion and Motivation

Motives

Internal forces that move us to act in certain ways and not others

Instinct

A genetically endowed tendency to behave in a particular way

Claude Bernard

Everything we do serves, in one way or another, a single purpose--namely, to maintain a consistent fluid bath around the cells of our body

External - environment
Internal - concentrations of various salts in the body's fluids; the dissolved oxygen levels, and quantities of nutrients like glucose

Homeostasis

Walter Cannon

The body's tendency to maintain internal equilibrium through various forms of self-regulation

Involves sensing some aspect of the body's internal environment, after which control centers in the brain produce internal adjustments or external actions or behaviors to alter the aspect of the internal environment so it remains within a desired range

Drive

An internal state of biological and psychological tension caused by deviations from homeostasis

Drive-reduction account of motivation

Drive calls forth behavior that reduces itself, and thus helps the body return to equilibrium

Pain matrix

A common brain network activated by pain

Consists of a distributed set of regions, including the amygdala, that underlie both the sensory and emotional components of pain and give rise to the associated behavioral response, which is often withdraw

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI)

Actions for which self-harm seems to be an end unto itself

Cutting, burning, stabbing, hitting, and excessive rubbing, when such behaviors are intentional, self-inflicted, and not for a socially sanctioned purpose

Escape from self hypothesis

Explanation for why people seek pain when it doesn't help them achieve valued goals

The experience of physical pain forces a person's attention concretely on the injury they are doing to themselves at the present moment and to the pain they feel as a consequence of this self injury

Injury-induced narrowing or focusing the attention decreases the person's awareness of broader concerns

Incentives

Positive goals that we seek to achieve

Intrinsically rewarding

Doing an activity or obtaining an object just for the sake of it

Incentives are inherent and are an integral part to which we are drawn

Extrinsically rewarding

Doing an activity or obtaining an object for a purpose outside of the sake of it

Incentives are not an integral part to which we are drawn to it

Wanting

Anticipating and actively seeking something good

Liking

Receiving something good

Glucostatic hypothesis / Dual center theory (food intake over short-term)

What the body cares about most is the blood levels of glucose

When glucose levels drop, glucoreceptors in the brain and periphery activate the lateral hypothalamus, which leads to a sensation of hunger and thus an increase in eating (GO)

When glucose levels rise, glucoreceptors in the brain and periphery activate the ventromedial hypothalamus, leading to decreased levels of hunger and decreased eating (STOP)

Peptide cholecystokinin (CCK)

Satiety signal that is released from the intestinal tract, stopping eating

Neuropeptide Y (NPY)

Potent hunger-inducing signal that is released by the hypothalamus

Lipostatic hypothesis (food intake over long-term)

When fat stores deviate from target levels, the body takes steps to restore homeostasis

Full fat cells secrete the hormone leptin that signals that there is plenty of fat storage and there is no need to add more

When fat stores are depleted, the stomach lining secretes the hormone ghrelin, which promotes eating

Body weight set point

The weight an organism will seek to maintain despite alterations in dietary intake

Metabolic rate

The rate at which the body uses energy

Unit bias

The size of what counts as a single portion

Anorexia nervosa

An eating disorder that causes the individual to have an intense fear of gaining weight

Fear is nurtured by a disturbance in how they perceive their own bodies (genuinely believe they are fat regardless of how thin they are)

Done through a regimen of shrink dieting, excessive exercise, and/or purging

Bulimia nervosa

An eating disorder where individuals are concerned with their weight and appearance

Main difference from anorexia is that individuals maintain a normal weight accomplished through a combination of bine eating and compensatory behaviors (i.e. vomiting) \

In a true case of bulimia, a person generally exhibits bine eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors at least once a week for three months

Binge eating disorder

Defined by its feature of repeated episodes of binge eating that occur at least once per week for 3 months

Body mass index

A numerical value used by clinicians and researchers to define obesity

Achieved through dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters

18.5-24.9 NORMAL
25-29.9 OVERWEIGHT
>30 OBESE

Thrifty gene hypothesis

Evolutionary perspective that explains why obesity is so common

Our ancestors lived in a times when food supplies were unpredictable and shortages were common; thus, natural selection favors those who had especially efficient metabolisms and therefore stored more fat

Estrus

Period of sexual receptivity in mammals

Four general phases the characterize the sexual response cycle of both men and women

1. Excitement
Heart rate and blood pressure increases
Breathing quickens
Increased muscle tension and blood flow to the sexual organs
Men - erect penis / Women - clitoris swells and vagina becomes lubricated

2. Plateau
Heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension continue to rise but more slowly
Muscles tighten at the base of the penis for men and in the vagina for women

3. Orgasm
Heightened arousal
Series of rhythmic muscle contractions that lead to ejaculation of sperm in men and vaginal contractions in women that help guide the sperm up the vagina
Intensely pleasurable

4. Resolution
Heart rate and blood pressure drop
Muscles relax
Men - refractory period in which another organism is impossible

Environmental Influences on Behavior

Sexually explicit materials are arousing regardless of gender

Exposure to sexually explicit materials does increase the likelihood of sexual behavior

No substantial evidence that pornography produces long-term negative effects

Sexual orientation

Predates an individual's first actual sex encounter

First real sexual attraction occurs around ~10 y/o

Twin studies show that genes exert some sort of influence on one's sexual orientation

Neurodevelopmental perspective on sexual orientation

Sexual orientation is built into the circuitry of the brain early in fetal development

Supported by:
- Handednesss- homosexual people are more likely to be left handed or ambidextrous
- Fraternal birth order - gay men are more likely to have older brothers, with the chances of being gay increasing by 33% per older brother

Motive to Belong

Can be understood as another form of drive reduction:
- People feel an intense need to feel connected with others, and when this not fulfilled, we feel lonely (a feeling we want to avoid)

Performance orientation

A motivational stance that focuses on performing well and looking smart

Primarily an avoidance orientation

When faced with negative feedback, individuals are more likely to withdraw

FIXED MINDSET

Mastery orientation

A motivational stance that focuses on learning and improving

Higher levels of interests and deep engagement with the material

Approach motivation

When individuals encounter adversity, they are likely to increase their effort and seek ways of benefitting from the experience

GROWTH MINDSET

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of motives

The order in which needs are thought to become dominant

People will strive to meet their higher needs only when their lower, more basic needs have been met

Bottom to top:
Physiological ==> Safety ==> Love and belonging ==> Self esteem ==> Self actualization ==> Self-transcendence (added later)

Self-actualization

Desire to realize one's potential to the fullest

Self-transcendence

The desire to further a cause that goes beyond the self

Carol Dweck

Psychological motives derive from needs
- Three of these needs are "basic" and are universally valued, essential to well being, and present from the earliest days of life
(1) Acceptance

(2) Predictability
Understanding of relationships among events and things in one's world

(3) Competence
Skills necessary for interacting successfully with the world

Four compound needs emerge over the course of development via the combination of basic needs

(1) Trust
Predictability + acceptance

(2) Control
Predictability + competence

(3) Self-esteem/status
Acceptance + competence

(4) Self coherence (to feel psychologically whole)
Acceptance + competence + predictability

Emotion

The coordinated behaviors, feelings, and physiological changes that occur when a situation becomes relevant to our personal goals

Charles Darwin and Facial expressions

Facial expressions are part of our evolutionary heritage and represent vestiges of our ancestor's basic adaptive pattern

Meaning we attach to facial movements is only partly determined by the movements themselves; meaning is powerfully shaped by contextual factors

Display rules

Deeply ingrained conventions, often obeyed with awareness, that dictate the facial expressions considered appropriate in particular contexts

Discrete emotions appraoch

An approach to analyzing emotions that focus on specific emotions such as fear, anger, or pride

Organized into SPECIFIC categories

Dimensional approach

An approach to analyzing emotions that focuses on dimensions such as pleasantness and activation

"More this" and "less that"

Alexithymia

Extreme difficulty in identifying and labeling one's emotions

Three factors interact to determine how happy someone will be

1. Happiness set point 50%
2. Circumstances 10%
3. Intentional activities 40%

Happiness set point

The levels of happiness that is characteristics of a given individual

Substantially genetically determined

Reflected in stable, early approaching personality traits, such as high extraversion and low neuroticism

Adaptation

The ability to grow accustomed to (and cease paying attention to) any stimulus or state to which one is continually exposed

James Lange theory of emotion

Theory that the subjective experience of emotion is the awareness of one's own bodily reactions in the presence of certain arousing stimuli

Stimuli ==> specific physiological response ==> emotion

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

Theory that a stimulus elicits an emotion by triggering a particular response in the brain (thalamus), which then causes both the physiological changes associated with the emotion and the experience itself

stimulus ==> brain response ==> physiological response + emotion

Schacter-Singer theory of emotion

Theory that emotion arises from the interpretation of bodily responses in the context of situational cues

stimuli —> physiological response —> judgment —> emotion

Affective neuroscience

A field of study in which researchers examine patterns of central nervous system activation associated with different emotional states

Emotions are not one neural circuit but multiple interrelated circuits

Function of emotions

Emotional expressions:
- Influence how we see the world
- Facilitate interpersonal coordination by signaling social intent

Empathy

Ability to accurately track what others are feeling

Affect-as-information perspective

Affective states play an important role in shaping problem solving and decision making

Ex: Fear directs attention in ways that maximize our motivation to avoid negative outcomes

Self control

The attempt to modify automatic or "default" responses in a particular situation

Efforts we make to pursue our long term interests when they conflict with momentary impulses

Willpower

Ability to engage in self control

Strength model of ego control

Self-regulatory efforts draw on a finite pool of cognitive resources

Repeated self-regulation demands may deplete these resources, leading to failures of self control

Ego depletion

A state of diminished self-regulatory ability due to repeated demands on cognitive resources required for self-regulation

Emotion regulation

Attempt to modify one or more aspects of the emotion-response trajectory

May involve decreasing, increasing, or simply maintaining behavioral, experiential, and physiological aspects of emotion, depending on the goal

Five basic types of emotion regulation strategies

1. Situation selection
2. Situation modification
3. Attentional deployment
4. Cognitive Change
5. Response modulation

Situation selection

Choosing to expose yourself to some situations (and not others) based in part on the emotional impact you expect the situation to have

Situation modification

Changing one or more aspects of the situation you are in so it has a different emotional impact for you

Attentional deployment

Changing your attentional focus

Cognitive change

Modifying your thinking to change how you feel

Response modulation

Changing one or more aspects of your emotional response

Reappraisal

A type of cognitive change, occurs when someone tries to decrease an emotional response by changing the meaning a situation has

Suppression

A form of response modulation, occurs when someone tries to decrease the emotion they show on their face or in their behavior

Cognitive cost