AP Psych Unit 4: Motivation & Emotion Study Guide

motivation

need or desire that energizes & directs behavior

instinct theory

focuses on genetically predisposed behaviors, innate

• satisfy fundamental needs (ex. hunger, thirst, sex, rest)

drive-reduction theory

• Clark Hull

the reduction of drives is the primary force behind motivation

• focuses on how we respond to inner pushes & external pulls

• physiological need (primary reinforcer) creates an aroused state (drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

criticism

• lacks generalizability

• doesn’t account for how secondary reinforcers reduce drives

• doesn’t explain why people engage in behaviors that don’t reduce drives (ex. bungee-jumping or sky-diving)

drive

state of tension or arousal caused by bio/physio needs

• creates an unpleasant state, tension that needs to be reduced

ex. thirst, hunger

homeostasis

maintenance of a steady internal state, regulation of any aspect of body chemistry

ex. cooling down after a workout

incentive

positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior/lures or repels us

arousal theory

focuses on finding the right level of stimulation

• not too much, not too little, a balance, influencing behavior & motivation

Yerkes-Dodson Law

principle that performance increases w/ arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

ex. staying alert but not overly nervous for an exam (having a balance of arousal)

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

focused on priority of some needs over others

• from lowest to highest:

1. physio — essential for survival (ex. food, water)

2. safety (ex. protection, stability)

3. love/belonging (ex. social relationships, connectedness)

4. esteem (ex. recognition, self-respect)

5. self-actualization (ex. achieving personal potential, being the best that one can be)

instinct

complex behavior that has a fixed pattern throughout a species & is unlearned/innate

physiological need

basic bodily requirement

ex. food, water

affiliation need

the need to belong, build & maintain relationships & to feel part of a group

self-determination theory

theory that we feel motivated to satisfy our 3 needs for:

1. competence

2. autonomy

3. relatedness

intrinsic motivation

the desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake because said behavior is inherently meaningful/satisfying

• enhances the feelings of the 3 needs of self-determination

extrinsic motivation

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

• tend to undermine the feelings of the 3 needs of self-determination

ostracism

deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups

ex. forms of ostracism — shunning, exile, imprisonment, solitary confinement

achievement motivation

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

grit

passion & perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

Walter Cannon

• worked w/ A. L. Washburn to figure out what exactly triggers hunger

• Washburn agreed to swallow a balloon attached to a recording device

• when balloon was inflated to fill his stomach, balloon transmitted his stomach contractions

• Washburn supplied info about his feelings of hunger by pressing a key each time he felt a hunger pang

results/discovery: whenever Washburn felt hungry, he was having stomach contractions, so the pangs of an empty stomach = hunger

glucose

blood sugar

• sugar that circulates in the blood & provides the major source of energy for body tissues

• when its level is low, we feel hunger

set point

one’s stable weight

• point @ which the “weight thermostat” may be set

• when body falls below this weight, increased hunger & lower metabolic rate may combine to restore lost weight

basal metabolic rate

the body’s resting rate of energy output/of maintaining basic bodily functions

obesity

state of being unhealthily overweight

• defined as a body mass index (BMI) measurement of 30 or higher which is calculated from our weight-to-height ratio

emotion

response of the whole organism, involving:

1. physiological/bodily arousal

2. expressive behaviors

3. conscious experience

Stanley Schachter

worked w/ Jerome Singer

• demonstrated that how we interpret our experiences also matters

• created two-factor theory

injected college men w/ epinephrine to trigger feelings of arousal (w/ Singer)

• group #1 — told to expect feelings of arousal from injection

• group #2 — told that the injection would help test eyesight

• after receiving injection, went to a room alone where another person was either euphoric or irritated

• group #1 reaction (was told truth to) — felt little emotion b/c they correct attributed arousal to the drug

• group #2 reaction (was lied to) — “caught” the apparent emotion of the euphoric or irritated person in the room, became happy or annoyed themselves

results/discovery: a stirred-up state can be experienced as one emotion or another, depending on our interpretation & labelling

• arousal fuels emotion, cognition channels emotion

two-factor theory

emotions have 2 ingredients:

1. physical arousal

2. cognitive appraisal (interpretation)

Robert Zajonc

contended that we actually have many emotional reactions apart from, or even before, our conscious interpretation if a situation

• emotion before cognition

• embodied responses happen instantly, w/o conscious appraisal (also LeDoux)

Joseph LeDoux

our emotions take the “low road”

• emotion before cognition

• embodied responses happen instantly, w/o conscious appraisal (also Zajonc)

low road

neural shortcut that bypasses the cortex

• fear-provoking stimulus would travel from eye or ear directly to the amygdala

• enables quick emotional response before intellectual intervention

Richard Lazarus

• emotions arise when we appraise an event as harmless or dangerous

• cognitive appraisal defines emotion

ex. sound of rustling bushes as an initial threat, then later realizing it was just the wind

polygraph

arousal detectors

• measure emotion-linked changes in breathing, heart rate, & perspiration (sweating)

ex. used in “lie detection tests,” but actually just detect arousal

• the idea that such bodily reactions are linked to lying

Paul Ekman

worked w/ Wallace Friesen

• asked isolated people in New Guinea to respond to statements such as “Pretend your child has died.”

• North American undergraduates viewed the isolated people’s recorded responses, could easily read their facial reactions

results/discovery:

• emotions are not shared cultural experiences, but rather human nature

facial feedback effect

tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

behavior feedback effect

tendency of behavior to influence our own & others’ thoughts, feelings, & actions

equilibrium

balance

stable equilibrium

conflicts not easily solved

ex. avoidance-avoidance conflict, approach-avoidance conflict, double approach-avoidance conflict

unstable equilibrium

conflicts easily solved

ex. approach-approach conflict, double-approach-avoidance conflict

approach-approach conflict

choose between 2 or more desirable goals

• unstable equilibrium

• least stressful situation

avoidance-avoidance conflict

choose between 2 undesirable/repellent goals

• stable equilibrium

• remain between the negative choices

approach-avoidance conflict

choose 1 goal w/ either a desirable outcome or undesirable outcome

• stable equilibrium

• both attracted & repelled by same goal

• goal has attractive & repellent qualities

double approach-avoidance conflict

choose between 2 or more goals w/ either desirable outcomes or undesirable outcomes

• can be either stable or unstable equilibrium

• approach & avoid each of the goals

• goals have attractive & repellent qualities

gradient of approach/approach gradient

the closer one is to a goal, the more attractive said goal is

gradient of avoidance/avoidance gradient

the closer one is to a goal, the less attractive/more repellent said goal is

hedonic hunger

powerful desire for food despite not needing it, pleasure-driven eating

• main factor of obesity rates

ex. overeating, being full but still wanting to eat

metabolic/homeostatic hunger

driven by physiological necessity, basically our normal rate of hunger

• commonly identified w/ stomach rumblings

ex. eating a healthy amount

leptin

• hormone that travels through blood to brain to tell hypothalamus to send out more hormones that reduce appetite & increase cellular activity to burn off extra calories in order to get to homeostasis

• (along w/ insulin) suppress release of dopamine & reduce sense of pleasure of having meals, but as fatty tissue increases, these hormones become useless

cholecystokinin & peptide YY

hormones that work to suppress hunger by either journeying to hypothalamus or acting directly on the vagus nerve

vagus nerve

bundle of nerve cells that link the brain, heart, & gut

ghrelin

hormone released from stomach when it’s empty & glucose (sugar) levels are low, stimulating hunger/is the hunger hormone

• directly increases the release of dopamine in reward circuit/center

reward circuit/center

releases dopamine (feel good chemical)

• discovered in 1990s

• stimulated by sensations (ex. vision, taste, smell)

bariatric surgery

last-resort treatment that dramatically shrinks the stomach by either removing tissue or squeezing the organ so tightly w/ a band that it cannot hold more than a couple of ounces of food @ a time

• post-surgery — patients less hungry & greedy, especially the reward circuit/center

Victoza

drug known to reduce pleasure-driven eating

James-Lange Theory

emotion is caused by interpretation of bodily reactions to events

• cognition before emotion

Cannon-Bard Theory

emotional & physiological reactions occur @ the same time & independently in response to a stimulus rather than one causing the other

lateral hypothalamus

triggers hunger

ventromedial hypothalamus

signals when one is full