Psych Unit 7 Motivation, Emotion, Stress

Motivation - feelings or ideas that cause us to act toward a goal

Theories of Motivation:

Drive Reduction Theory - behavior motivated by biological needs 

• Need = food, water; Drive = hunger, thirst; 

Drive reduction behavior = eating, drinking       

Homeostasis - our bodies seek a balanced internal state

Primary drives - biological needs (ex. food)

Secondary drives - learned drives (ex. money); learn b/c of primary drives (need money to get food)

Arousal Theory - suggests humans are motivated to seek the optimum level of arousal

Yerkes-Dodson Law - we perform better at easy tasks with a high level of arousal (similar to social facilitation) 

Incentive Theory - behavior is not pushed by a need; it is pulled by a desire

• We do something b/c we want something

Maslow's hierarchy of needs - Pyramid showing which needs must be met to go to the next level. Physiological needs (ex. food) at bottom, followed by safety needs, belongingness, esteem and self-actualization (reaching one’s full potential) at top. The other needs must be met before one can self-actualize.

Hunger: 

• Biological basis of hunger (Nature) 

Washburn Balloon Experiment - Washburn swallowed a balloon and determined that stomach contractions accompany our feelings of hunger

Hypothalamus - makes us feel hungry when we need to eat

Lateral Hypothalamus - when electricity stimulated, the lateral hypothalamus causes an animal to begin to eat; destruction of this area would cause an animal to starve (because hunger disappears)

I’m Hungry = Orexin and Ghrelin 

Ventromedial hypothalamus - when electrically stimulated, the ventromedial hypothalamus causes the animal to stop eating. Destruction of this are would cause an animal to eat continuously and become overweight

I’m Not Hungry = Leptin and PYY

• LOW GLUCOSE AND HIGH INSULIN STIMULATES HUNGER

Set Point - theory says that the hypothalamus wants to maintain certain body weight

Metabolic Rate - how our body uses energy; when we are below out optimum body weight, out metabolic rate drops

Environmental Basis of Hunger (Nurture)

Externals - external food cues (ex. Glucose level decreases with sight, smell of food)

Garcia Effect - once nauseous on particular food then always nauseous - taste aversions

Culture - people learn to like certain foods

Eating Disorders

Bulimia - Binge eating followed by purging (vomiting, exercising, laxatives)

Anorexia Nervosa - Starve body to below 85% normal body weight

Binge-eating disorder - you eat a lot of food at one time, no purging 

Sexual Motivation:

Sexual Motivation is very much driven by psychological factors - sexual desire prevails even when capacity to have sex is absent

Sexual Orientation - Evidence suggests that there is a genetic link (if one identical twin is gay, the other is more likely to be gay as they have similar brain structures)

Sexual Response Cycle (Masters and Johnson) - (IPOR) initial excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution

Social Motivation:

Achievement motivation - varies among individuals - we have a desire to master complex tasks and reach personal goals. Most high achievers prefer moderate tasks that they can be successful on.

Extrinsic motivation - people motivated by external rewards (ex. money)

Intrinsic motivation - motivated by esteem needs/satisfaction

Conflicting Motives - conflicts based on whether they posed desirable or undesirable consequences

Approach-Approach - when one has two choices and both have positive outcomes

Avoidance-Avoidance - must choose between two unattractive outcomes

Approach-Avoidance - when one has one choice that has both desirable and undesirable outcomes

Multiple Approach Avoidance - One must choose between two or more options, each having desirable and undesirable qualities

Work Motivation:

Flow - concept where one is so absorbed in one’s work or an activity that he/she loses sense of time and self (considered mentally healthy) 

Emotion - a complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioral and physiological elements

Theories of Emotion: Theories of Emotion Explained

James-Lange Theory - physiological response occurs first which causes emotion second

Cannon-Bard Theory - physiological change and emotion happen simultaneously 

Schacter-Singer two-factor theory - physiological arousal and cognitive label/mental interpretation (“I’m afraid”) of the physiological state occur simultaneously to cause the emotion

Lazarus Theory - similar to Schacter but it is a cognitive appraisal of the event rather than the physiological response

Ledoux Theory - emotion happens automatically through high road (thinking about feeling) or low road (goes right to amygdala) without thinking

Facial Feedback Hypothesis - how “fake it till you make it” actually works; if you are depressed but force your face to smile it can actually increase your mood

Display Rules - social group or culture’s norms of how to express certain emotions

Stress

Stressors - life events causing us to have stress

SRRS (social readjustment rating scale) - used to measure stress caused by different life changing events. This is measured in LCUs (Life Changing Units)

Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome - body’s reaction to stress-occurs in 3 stages (ARE)

Alarm reaction - sympathetic nervous system is activated

Resistance - cope with physical stress by releasing hormones

Exhaustion - vulnerable to sickness or disease in this stage 

Perceived control - perceived control over the situation lessens stress, perceived lack of control makes an event more stressful

Biofeedback - a technique that allows a person to control physiological responses that are normally involuntary such as blood pressure

Problem-focused coping - solving or doing something to alter the course of stress (planning, acceptance)

Emotion-focused coping - reducing the emotional distress (denial, disengagement)