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Chapter 8 Motivation & Emotion

Chapter 8: Motivation & Emotion

Definitions

  • Motivation: Reason(s) for behavior; drives individual actions.

  • Emotion: Natural instinctive state of mind influenced by circumstances, mood, or relationships.

Homeostasis

  • Homeostasis: Internal balance of bodily states (e.g., hunger, thirst).

  • When organisms fall out of homeostasis, they experience needs (e.g., hunger) and must fulfill them.

  • Drive Reduction Theory: States needs create drives, which prompt actions to regain homeostasis (e.g., drinking water to satiate thirst).

Types of Drives

  • Primary Drives: Biological needs (e.g., food, water, warmth, sex).

  • Secondary Drives: Learned drives (e.g., acquiring money), which support the fulfillment of primary drives.

Criticism of Drive Reduction Theory

  • Unable to explain motivations for extensive goals (e.g., Olympic athletes, scientists conducting research).

Arousal Theory

  • Advocates for seeking an optimal level of arousal; different individuals have varying needs for excitement.

  • Yerkes-Dodson Law: Performance is linked to arousal levels; optimal performance occurs at moderate arousal levels, while too much or too little arousal impairs performance.

Opponent-Process Theory

  • Explains addiction through a baseline state, where moving away from it leads to compensatory processes urging return to the base (e.g., caffeine blocking tiredness and its eventual withdrawal symptoms).

Caffeine Mechanism

  • Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors (which induce tiredness), influencing neurotransmitter activity and daily alertness.

Biological Basis for Hunger

  • Hypothalamus Role: Monitors body chemistry and regulates hunger signals based on electrical stimulation.

  • Lateral Hypothalamus: Stimulation induces hunger; lesions result in starvation.

  • Ventromedial Hypothalamus: Produces fullness signals; lesions may lead to obesity.

Set Point Theory

  • The hypothalamus maintains a set body weight, regulating hunger and metabolism to stay near this point.

Psychological Factors in Hunger

  • Externals: Motivated by external cues (e.g., food accessibility).

  • Internals: Driven by internal body signals, less influenced by the external food environment.

Hormones Involved in Hunger

  • Insulin: Controls blood glucose and metabolism.

  • Ghrelin: Signals hunger when stomach is empty.

  • Leptin: Decreases hunger; indicates fullness.

  • Norepinephrine: Acts as a stimulant, influenced by caffeine in the context of alertness.

Eating Disorders

  • Bulimia Nervosa: Binge eating followed by purging (e.g., vomiting).

  • Anorexia Nervosa: Extreme weight loss, affecting primarily women.

  • Cultural influences emphasize low body weight as desirable, contributing factors to these disorders.

Obesity

  • Defined as being severely overweight due to unhealthy habits or genetic predisposition.

Sexual Motivation

  • Masters and Johnson's Sexual Response Cycle: Twilight includes excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.

Achievement Motivation

  • Refers to individuals’ drive to excel and the differences in motivation levels towards complex behaviors.

Motivation Types

  • Extrinsic Motivation: Derived from external rewards for accomplishments.

  • Intrinsic Motivation: Arises from internal rewards such as personal satisfaction from activities.

Management Theories

  • Theory X: Employees need external incentives to work.

  • Theory Y: Employees are internally motivated to perform well.

Types of Conflict

  • Approach-Approach: Choice between two positive outcomes.

  • Avoidance-Avoidance: Choice between two negative outcomes.

  • Approach-Avoidance: One goal with both positive and negative aspects.

  • Multiple Approach-Avoidance: Choosing between multiple options with their pros and cons.

Theories of Emotion

  • James-Lange: Emotions follow physiological changes.

  • Cannon-Bard: Emotional and physiological responses occur simultaneously.

  • Schachter-Singer Two-Factor: Emotion results from physiological and cognitive processes.

Nonverbal Expression of Emotion

  • Different cultures accurately label certain universal facial expressions.

Measuring Stress

  • Holmes-Rahe SRRS: Measures stress based on significant life events, correlating higher scores with increased likelihood of stress-related diseases.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

  • Describes physiological stress responses in three stages: Alarm, Resistance, Exhaustion.

Control and Stress

  • Lack of perceived control over stressors exacerbates negative effects; control can mitigate stress impacts.