unit 7: motivation, emotion, and personality

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 Need

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

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 Weight

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. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs during the fetal period and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty

Estrogens

Sex hormones, such as estradiol, that contribute to female sex characteristics and are secreted in greater amounts by females than by males. Estrogen levels peak during ovulation. In nonhuman mammals, this promotes sexual reproductivity

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

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 (3) conscious experience

James-Lange Theory

The theory that our experience of emotions is our awareness of our psychological responses to an emotion-arousing stimulus

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

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 (GAS)

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 (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend)

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

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 viruses 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 Phenomenon

Our tendency to form judgements (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 whom one compares oneself

Personality

An individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Psychodynamic Theories

Theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

Unconscious

According to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware

Free Association

In psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

Id

A reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

Ego

The largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

Superego

The part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscious) and for future aspirations

Psychosexual Stages

The childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Oedipus Complex

According to Freud, a boy's sexual desires towards his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Identification

The process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos

Fixation

In psychoanalytic theory, according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

Defense Mechanism

In psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Repression

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history

Projective Test

A personality test, such as the Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection on one's inner dynamics

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Rorschach Inkblot Test

The most widely used projective test; a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

Terror-Management Theory

A theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

Humanistic Theories

Theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth

Unconditional Positive Regard

A caring, accepting, non judgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

Self-Concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question. "Who am I?"

Trait

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act in certain ways, as assembled by self-report inventories and peer reports

Personality Inventory

A questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

The most widely research and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes

Empirically Derived Test

A test (such as the MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between groups

Social-Cognitive Perspective

Views behavior as influenced by the interactions between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context

Behavioral Approach

Focuses on the effects of learning on our personality development

Reciprocal Determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

Self

In contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

Spotlight Effect

Overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, or blunders (as if we presume the spotlight shines on us)

Self-esteem

One's feelings of high or low self esteem

Self-efficacy

One's sense of competence and effectiveness

Self-serving Bias

A readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Individualism

Giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Collectivism

Giving priority to the goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychologist; Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Alfred Kinsey

Studied sexual habits of male and female Americans

William Masters & Virginia Johnson

Sexual response cycle

Walter Cannon

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion - physiological arousal & emotion happen simultaneously

Stanley Schachter

Two-factor theory of emotion - physiological changes + thoughts = emotion

Robert Zajonc & Joseph LeDoux

Some emotional responses are immediate, without any conscious thinking (likes & dislikes)

Richard Lazarus

Cognitive appraisal with emotion, often without cognitive awareness

Paul Ekman

Emotional expression

Hans Selye

General adaptation syndrome - reaction to stressful events

Martin Seligman

Positive psychology & subjective well-being; also studied learned helplessness

Sigmund Freud

Father of modern psychology; psychoanalytic theory of personality

Alfred Adler

Neo-Freudian; studied birth order & inferiority complex

Karen Horney

Neo-Freudian; opposed Freud's idea of "penis envy"

Carl Jung

Neo-Freudian; collective unconscious

Carl Rogers

Humanistic psychologist; person-centered perspective & unconditional positive regard

Robert McCrae

Big-5 Personality Inventory

Paul Costa

Big-5 Personality Inventory

Albert Bandura

Social-cognitive perspective; reciprocal determinism