Motivation, Emotion, and Stress

Motivation

Theories

Instinct theory - the idea that human behavior can be explained by instincts

Drive-reduction theory - a physiological need creates tension in us which motivates us to satisfy it

• Homeostasis - a steady and balanced interval psychological state
• Incentives - (positive or negative external stimuli) also motivate us, especially when they coincide with drives

Hunger Motivation

Glucose - blood sugar, the major source of energy for body tissues

• if its levels drop, stomach/intestines/liver will tell the brain to motivate eating

Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) - feelings of dizziness and weakness

Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) - pancreas doesn’t metabolize carbohydrates

Arcuate nucleus - a neural arc that has a center that secretes appetite-stimulating hormones and another center that secretes appetite-suppressing hormones

Set point - a set point of weight that a human or animal’s body wants to stay

• if weight fluctuates too much in either direction, the body will respond dramatically to try to get back to the set point

Basal metabolic rate - the body’s resting rate of energy expenditure

Unit bias - portion size

• even among cultures where portions are typically much smaller people will take a lot more food when offered
• ex. big bowl vs small bowl

Sexual Motivation

Arousal theory - focuses on finding the right level of stimulation

Yerkes-Dodson Law - the principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - 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 and self-actualization needs are achieved

Sexual response cycle (four phases)

1. Excitement phase - genital areas become engorged with blood
2. Plateau phase - excitement peaks as breathing, pulse, and blood pressure rates increase
3. Orgasm phase - muscle contractions all over the body, pulse rate surges
4. Refractory period - a resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm

Sexual dysfunction - a problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning

Paraphilia - persistent and recurrent sexual interests, urges, fantasies, or behaviors of marked intensity involving objects, activities, or even situations that are atypical in nature

Estrogen - sex hormones such as estradiol, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males and contributing to female sex characteristics

Testosterone - the most important of male sex hormones that stimulates the growth of male sex organs in the fetus and the development of male sex characteristics during puberty

Habituation - repeated exposure to an erotic stimuli can greatly reduce sexual response

Human sexual behavior is much less regulated by hormone levels than animals

Social Motivation

Affiliation need - the need to belong

Insecure anxious attachment - having a craving for acceptance but being overly vigilant for signs of rejection

Insecure-avoidant attachment - feeling close to others is uncomfortable so they use strategies to keep their distance from others

Emotion

Both a physical and a cognitive phenomenon

Three factors of emotion:

1. physiological arousal

   ex. heart pounding

2. expressive behaviors

   ex. quickened pace

3. conscious experience - thoughts and feelings

   ex. ”Is this a kidnapping?” & panic

Affect intensity - how strongly you experience emotions

Theories

Zajonc, LeDoux, and Lazarus original theories - Emotional thought can come before physical response and emotional thought can occur without any physical response

James-Lange theory - Arousal → emotions → behavior

• the physical response precedes the emotional thought
• ex. Going for a hike and a bear runs in front of you. Your heart starts racing, then you feel fear, and then you try to fight the bear off.

Cannon-Bard theory - Arousal → Emotion & Behavior (simultaneously trigger)

Schachter Two-factor theory - Arousal → Cognition → Emotion → behavior

Spillover effect - when attitudes in one role positively spill over into another role

• ex. Arousal from a soccer match can fuel anger, which can descend into rioting or other violent confrontations.

Cognitive appraisal theory - interpreting arousal before experiencing the emotion

• ex. The sound is “just the wind.”

Facial feedback theory/effect - the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

Emotional literacy - the ability to identify, understand, and respond to emotions in oneself and others in a healthy manner

Stress

Whether or not events are stressful depends on our judgement and interpretation of them

Categories of Stress

1. Catastrophes - unpredictable, large-scale events

   ex. war, natural disaster

2. Major Life Changes - whether positive (marriage, kids, graduation) or negative (divorced, grief) major life changes cause a lot of stress

3. Daily hassles - whether minor (traffic, long lines) or major (money troubles) can affect us deeply

   ex. higher blood pressure rates among African Americans because of discrimination

General adaptation syndrome - the body’s three-stage response to a stressor

1. Phase 1 Alarm - w/in the brain; sympathetic system activates, heart rate rises, blood is diverted to skeletal muscles
2. Phase 2 Resistance - body response; body temp, blood pressure, and breathing all remain elevated and the adrenal glands release hormones
3. Phase 3 Exhaustion - if enough time elapses without relief from the stressor your body’s energy will become spent

Tend-and-befriend response - a tendency that people under stress support others who are stressed (tend) and bond with others who are stressed (befriend)