Exam 3

motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

instinct theory

**now replaced by the evolutionary perspective**

focuses on genetically predisposed behaviors -- there is a genetic basis for unlearned, species-typical behavior (such as birds building nests or infancts rooting for a nipple)

drive-reduction theory

focuses on how we respond to inner pushes and external pulls -- physiological needs (such as hunger and thirst) create an aroused state that drives us to reduce the need (ex. by eating or drinking)

arousal theory

focuses on finding the right level of stimulation -- our need to maintain an optimal level of arousal motivates behaviors that meet no physiological need (such as our yearning for stimulation and our hunger for information)

* Some motivated behaviors increase rather than decrease arousal.
* Sometimes uncertainty brings excitement, which amplifies motivation
* Human motivation aims not to eliminate arousal but to seek optimum levels of arousal.
* Having all our biological needs satisfied, we feel driven to experience stimulation
* Lacking stimulation, we feel bored and look for a way to increase arousal

yerkes-dodson law

moderate arousal leads to optimal performance

abraham maslow’s hierarchy of needs

focuses on the priority of some needs over others

instinct

a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned

* such unlearned behaviors inculde imprinting in birds and the return of salmon to their birthplace

Although instincts cannot explain most human motives, the underlying assumption endures in evolutionary psychology:

* Genes do predispose some species-typical behavior

incentive

additional to our need to reduce drives, we are pulled by our incentives

* positive or negative environmental stimuli that lure or repel us.
* the more these impulses are satisfied and reinforced, the stronger the drive may become

When there is both a need and an incentive, we feel strongly driven

maslow’s hierarchy of needs

* Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before people can fulfill their higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs
* The order of Maslow’s hierarchy is not universally fixed

affiliation need

the need to build and maintain relationships and to feel part of a group - a key human motivation

benefits of belonging

* social bonds boosted our early ancestors’ chances of survival
* having a social identity -- feeling part of a group -- boosts people’s health and well-being

self-determination theory

the theory that we feel motivated to satisy our needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness

* fulfilling these motives reduces stress and boosts health and self-esteem
* self-determination theory can help leaders motivate people

connecting and social networking

* mobile networds and social media
* increased online time displaces other activities
* social effects of social networking
* by connecting like-minded people, the internet serves as a social amplifier
* in times of social crisis or personal stress, it provides information and supportive connections
* but social media also leads people to compare their lives with others

achievement motivation

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

GRIT

graduated and reciprovated initiatives in tension-reduction - a strategy designed to decreae international tensions

* passion and perserverance fuel gritty goal-striving, which can produce great achievements

intrinsic motivation

the desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

extrinsic motivation

the desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

intrinsic vs extrinsic

* People who focus on their work’s meaning and significance not only do better work but ultimately earn more extrinsic rewards
* Extrinsic rewards work well when people perform tasks that don’t naturally inspire complex, creative thinking
* effective when used to signal a job well done (rather than to bribe or control someone)
* When administered wisely, rewards can improve performance and spark creativity

goal setting

1. Do make that resolution Announce the goal to friends or family
2. Develop an implementation plan.
3. Create short-term rewards that support long-term goals.
4. Monitor and record progress
5. Create a supportive environment.
6. Transform the hard-to-do behavior into a must-do habit.

emotion

a response of the whole organism, involving


1. physiological arousa
2. expressive behaviors, and, most importantly
3. conscious experience resulting from one’s interpretations.

james-lange theory

arousal comes before emotion

* theory that our experience of emotion occurs when we become aware of our physiological responses to an emotion-arousing stimulus

cannon-bard theory

arousal and emotion occurs simultaneously

* the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers
* (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion.
* suggested that very similar physiological reactions are associated with a variety of different emotions

schachter-singer two-factor theory

arousal + label = emotion

* emotions have two ingredients: physical arousal and cognitive appraisal
* Arousal fuels emotion; cognition channels it

ex. If people who are aroused by watching rock videos are then insulted, their feelings of anger will be greater than those of people who have been similarly provoked but were not previously aroused

zajonc, ledoux, and lazarus

* Zajonc & Ledoux: Some embodied responses happen instantly, without conscious appraisal.
* Lazarus: Cognitive appraisal (“Is it dangerous or not?”)— sometimes without our awareness—defines emotion.

basic emotions

joy, anger, interest, disgust, surprise, sadness, fear

emotions and autonomic nervous system

autonomic nervous system controls physiological arousal

physiology of emotions

* Different emotions can share common biological signatures.
* A single brain region can also serve as the seat of seemingly different emotions
* Yet our varying emotions feel different to us, and they often look different to others.
* Some of our emotions also have distinct brain circuits

Insula

a neural center deep inside the brain.

activated when experience negative social emotions and also when people feel disgust

detecting emotion in others

* Our brain is an amazing detector of subtle expressions, helping most of us read nonverbal cues well readily sense subliminally presented negative words
* Gestures, facial expressions, and vocal tones, which are absent in written communication, convey important information
* Online communications lack vocal and facial nuances.

culture and emotion

* The meaning of gestures varies from culture to culture, and so does facial expressions
* We’re also better at judging faces from our own culture, as if we learn a local emotional dialect
* Some emotion categories are clear universals e.g. smiling
* Facial expressions are also cultural events, with display rules on how much emotion to express

the effects of facial expressions

* Expressions not only communicate emotion, they also amplify and regulate it

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

learning

the process of acquiring theough experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

association

Our mind naturally connects events that occur in sequence

* Learned associations feed our habitual behaviors

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together.

* The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning)

classic conditioning

we learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events. (A stimulus is any event or situation that evokes a response.)

operant conditioning

we learn to associate a response (our behavior) and its consequence.

* a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher

skinner’s experiments (law of effect)

Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

* in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

reinforcement

any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response

negative reinforcement

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing an aversive stimulus. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: Negative reinforcement is not punishment.)

primary reinforcers

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

conditioned reinforcers

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer. (Also known as a secondary reinforcer.)

immediate reinforcers

immediate feedback produces immediate learning

delayed reinforcers

learning to control our impulses to earn more valued future rewards reduces later likelihood of committing impulsive crimes

cognitive learning

the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language

* Observational learning, one form of cognitive learning, lets us learn from others’ experiences.

neutral stimulus (NS)

a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

unconditioned response (UR)

an inlearned, naturally occurring response (salivation) to an unconditioned stiumulus (US) -- such as food in the mouth

unconditioned stimulus (US)

a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically— triggers an unconditioned response (UR)

conditioned response (CR)

a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)

conditioned stimulus (CS)

an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR)

acquisition

the initial stage—when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response.

extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response—when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of a weakened conditioned response

generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

* can be adaptive
* can linger, sticking in our memory
* people’s emotional reactions to one stimulus can generalize to other, related stimuli

discrimination

* the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus
* Being able to recognize differences is adaptive: Slightly different stimuli can cause vastly different consequences

reinforcement schedules

a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

continuous reinforcement

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

* learning occurs rapidly, which makes it the best choice for mastering a behavior
* but extinction also occurs rapidly
* When reinforcement stops; the behavior soon stops (behavior is extinguished)
* real life rarely provides continuous reinforcement

fixed-ratio schedules

reinforce behavior after a set number of responses

* Once conditioned, animals will pause only briefly after a reinforcer before returning to a high rate of responding

variable-ratio schedules

provide reinforcers after a seemingly unpredictable number of responses

* Because reinforcers increase as the number of responses increases, variable-ratio schedules produce high rates of responding

fixed-interval schedules

reinforce behavior after a set number of responses

* Once conditioned, animals will pause only briefly after a reinforcer before returning to a high rate of responding

variable-interval schedules

provide reinforcers after a seemingly unpredictable number of responses

* Because reinforcers increase as the number of responses increases, variable-ratio schedules produce high rates of responding

punishment

an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

punishment and parenting

1. Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. This temporary state may (negatively) reinforce parents’ punishing behavior.
2. Physical punishment does not replace the unwanted behavior
3. Punishment teaches discrimination among situations.
4. Punishment can teach fear
5. Physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling violence as a way to cope with problems.

parents and discipline

1. time-out from positive reinforcement e.g. removing a misbehaving child from access to desired stimuli such as siblings’ and parents’ attention
2. Effective time-outs come with clear expectations for replacing problem behavior (hitting siblings) with alternative positive behaviors (telling siblings they have hurt your feelings)

prosocial behaviors

positive, constructive, helpful behavior. The opposite of antisocial behavior

* Many business organizations effectively use behavior modeling to help new employees learn communication, sales, and customer service skills
* People who exemplify nonviolent, helpful behavior can also prompt similar behavior in others
* Models are most effective when their actions and words are consistent.

antisocial behaviors

observational learning can also have antisocial effects

* Observational learning influences both children and adults violence-viewing effect: may be promtped by imitation and desentization
* *correlation does not equal causation, but study participants have reacted more cruelly to provocations when they have viewed violence instead of entertaining nonviolence*

David checks the clock more frequently as the time for their regularly scheduled lunch break approaches. David's clock-checking behavior is reinforced on a ________ schedule.

fixed-interval

social psychologists

study the social influences that explain why the same person acts differently in different situations

Attribution Theory

the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.

* We can attribute the behavior to the person’s stable, enduring traits (a dispositional attribution), or we can attribute it to the situation (a situational attribution)

Fundamental Attribution Error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

factors that affect our attributions

culture -- e.g. Westerners more often attribute behavior to people’s personal traits. People in China and Japan are more sensitive to the power of the situation

whose behavior it is:

* When we explain our own behavior, we are sensitive to how behavior changes with the situation
* exception: Our deliberate and admirable actions we often attribute to our own good reasons, not to the situation

how our attributions matter

* The way we explain others’ actions, attributing them to the person or the situation, can have important real-life effects
* Our attributions—to a person’s disposition or to the situation—have real consequences.

attitudes

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

* attitudes affect actions, and actions affect attitudes

how attitudes affect actions

* Attitudes are especially likely to affect behavior when external influences are minimal, and when the attitude is stable, specific to the behavior, and easily recalled
* situational factors, such as intense social pressures, can override the attitude-behavior connection

The Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

how actions affect attitudes

*Role-Playing Affects Attitudes:*

* __role__ -- a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

*Cognitive Dissonance: Relief From Tension*

* __cognitive dissonance theory__ -- the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes

peripheral route persuasion

* occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness
* uses attention-getting cues to trigger speedy, emotion-based judgments

central route persuasion

* occurs when interested people’s thinking is influenced by considering evidence and arguments
* offers evidence and arguments that aim to trigger careful thinking
* when people actively process a message—when they mentally elaborate on it—they more often retain it (a phenomenon described by the elaboration likelihood model).

social norms

understood rules for accepted and expected behavior. norms prescribe “proper” behavior

cultural influences

* culture consists of the behaviors, ideas, and values shared by a group of people and passed down from generation to generation
* social living, imitation, and language have ensured the preservation of innovation.
* Culture also enables division of labor

tight cultures

places with clearly defined and reliably imposed norms

loose norms

places with flexible and informal norms (people expect variability)

variation across time

* cultural groups vary, compete for resources, and, over time, evolve
* Cultures change when many people copy the innovations of a few

conformity

complying with social pressures -- adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

*Solomon Asch's experiement:*

* More than one-third of the time, these “intelligent and well-meaning” college students were “willing to call white black” by going along with the group.

social contagion

* Behavior is influenced by social contagion.
* __chameleon effect__: like a lizard' s ability to mimic the color of their surroundings, we humans often behave based on the people around us
* Social contagion also affects emotions
* This natural mimicry enables us to empathize— to feel what others are feeling
* helps explain why studies of groups of British workers have revealed mood linkage —the sharing of moods

conformity and social norms

we are more likely to conform when…

* are made to feel incompetent or insecure.
* are in a group with at least three people.
* are in a group in which everyone else agrees. (If just one other person disagrees, the odds of our disagreeing greatly increase.)
* admire the group’s status and attractiveness.
* have not made a prior commitment to any response.
* know that others in the group will observe our behavior.
* are from a culture that strongly encourages respect for social standards.

normative social influence

influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

informational social influence

influence resulting from a person’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

miligram’s obedience experiements and the power of social influence

In later experiments, Milgram discovered some conditions that influence people’s behavior:

* the person giving the orders was close at hand and was perceived to be a legitimate authority figure.
* a powerful or prestigious institution supported the authority figure.
* the victim was depersonalized or at a distance, even in another room.
* there were no role models for defiance

Lessons From the Conformity and Obedience Studies

* Social control (the power of the situation) and personal control (the power of the individual) interact
* The power of one or two individuals to sway majorities is minority influence
* The powers of social influence are enormous, but so are the powers of the committed individual

social facilitation

in the presence of others, improved performance on simple or welllearned tasks, and worsened performance on difficult tasks

* in the presence of others, improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks, and worsened performance on difficult tasks
* The presence of others strengthens our most likely response—the correct one on an easy task, an incorrect one on a difficult task

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

* the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.
* what causes social loafing? When people act as part of a group, they may feel less accountable
* view individual contributions as dispensable
* overestimate their own contributions,
* downplaying others’ efforts
* free ride on others’ efforts

de-individuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

* process of losing self-awareness and self-restraint
* often occurs when group participation makes people both aroused and anonymous
* Deindividuation thrives in different settings
* Internet anonymity enables people to feed and freely express their anger, sometimes with bullying and hate speech

group polarization

the enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group

groupthink

* driven by a desire for harmony within a decision-making group, overriding realistic appraisal of alternatives
* group leaders can harness the benefits of group interactions by assigning people to identify possible possible problems, and by welcoming various opinions and expert critique
* small buy diverse groups, with varied backgrounds and perspectives, can enable superior outcomes

prejudice

an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves negative emotions, stereotyped beliefs, and a predisposition to discriminatory action

* negative emotions (e.g. hostility/fear)
* __stereotypes__ - generalized beliefs about a group
* predisposition to discriminate—to act in negative and unjustifiable ways toward members of the group
* microaggressions (e.g. racerelated traffic stops by a police officer)

explicit prejudice

on the radar screen of our awareness

implicit prejudice

an unthinking knee-jerk response operating below the radar, leaving us unaware of how our attitudes are influencing our behavior

* testing for unconscious group associations.
* Tests in which people quickly pair a person’s image with a trait demonstrate that even people who deny any racial prejudice may exhibit negative associations
* considering unconscious patronization
* monitoring reflexive bodily responses
* Neuroscientists can detect signals of implicit prejudice in the viewer ’ s facial-muscle responses and in the activation of the emotion-processing amygdala