Unit 10

Understanding Theories of Motivation

Motivation theories in AP Psychology.
Complete the Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation Inventory.

Instincts

Instincts are innate, fixed patterns of behavior in animals triggered by specific stimuli, driving predictable actions.
Humans, unlike many animals, do not typically exhibit instinctual behavior.
Example: Sea turtles instinctively move toward the ocean upon hatching, guided by natural light, which is crucial for their survival.
Many non-human animals are motivated by instincts (innate, typically fixed patterns of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli).

Drive-Reduction Theory

Behavior is motivated by the need to reduce internal drives caused by physiological deficits (e.g., hunger, thirst) to restore homeostasis.
Homeostasis: The body’s effort to maintain stable internal conditions.
Example: On a hot day, thirst motivates drinking water to reduce dehydration and restore the body's balance.

Homeostatic Response Examples

Overheating during exercise: Temperature regulation via sweating.
- Explanation: Sweat cools the body as it evaporates.
Dehydration: Water balance via thirst sensation.
- Explanation: Thirst encourages water intake to restore fluid balance.
Drop in blood glucose: Energy balance via hunger.
- Explanation: Low blood sugar triggers eating to restore glucose levels.
Lack of sleep: Rest and recovery via sleepiness.
- Explanation: Sleep deprivation triggers increased sleepiness, urging the body to rest and recover.
Cold environment: Temperature regulation via shivering.
- Explanation: Exposure to cold triggers shivering, an involuntary muscle movement that generates heat and raises body temperature.

Belongingness

The innate human desire to form and sustain close, meaningful relationships, driving behavior and affecting emotional health.
Example: A teenager joins a soccer team at a new school, forming friendships that fulfill their need for belonging, enhancing social life, happiness, and academic performance.

Arousal Theory

Individuals are motivated to maintain an optimal level of alertness, increasing it when too low and decreasing it when too high, to enhance performance and well-being.
Example: A college student takes a break from studying to go for a jog, increasing arousal levels and returning to studies with renewed energy and concentration.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Performance increases with physiological or mental arousal (alertness), but only up to a point; when arousal levels become too high, performance decreases.
Individuals perform best when they are at an optimal level of arousal.
Example: A high school student performs well on a math exam with moderate stress but performs poorly due to excessive anxiety on exam day.

Yerkes-Dodson Law: Performance vs. Arousal

Optimal performance occurs at a moderate arousal level.
Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks and higher levels for easy tasks.

Sensation-Seeking Theory

Proposes that motivation is driven by the need for varied, novel, and intense experiences.
Example: A teenager joins an adventure club, participating in activities like rock climbing and skydiving to seek thrill and adrenaline.

Thrill Seeking

A component of sensation-seeking theory where individuals are motivated by the desire for intense and exciting experiences, often involving risk.
Example: A young adult seeks out extreme sports like bungee jumping and snowboarding for the adrenaline rush.

Adventure Seeking

A component of sensation-seeking theory where individuals are motivated by the desire for new and challenging experiences, often involving physical activities and exploration.
Example: A college student plans weekend trips to hike in unfamiliar mountains and explore caves.

Disinhibition

Refers to the tendency to seek out social and experiential thrills by engaging in behaviors that are typically restrained by social norms and inhibitions.
Example: A normally reserved individual attends a party and engages in uncharacteristic behaviors like dancing wildly and drinking excessively.

Incentive Theory

Behavior is motivated by the desire for external rewards or incentives, such as money, praise, or other tangible benefits.
Example: A sales employee is motivated by a bonus for top performers, driving them to work harder to achieve higher performance.

Self-Determination Theory

Proposes that people are motivated by intrinsic (internal) motivations, such as personal growth and fulfillment, or extrinsic (external) motivations, such as rewards and recognition.
Example: An elementary teacher starts an after-school tutoring program motivated by the intrinsic satisfaction of helping students learn and grow.

Intrinsic Motivation

Refers to engaging in activities for their own sake, driven by internal rewards such as personal satisfaction, enjoyment, or a sense of achievement.
Example: A teenager plays the guitar for hours every day, motivated by the sheer enjoyment and satisfaction of mastering new songs.

Extrinsic Motivation

Engaging in behavior due to external rewards or pressures, such as money, grades, or approval from others.
Example: A college student maintains a high GPA to obtain a scholarship that will reduce tuition costs.

Lewin’s Motivational Conflicts Theory

Describes the psychological struggles individuals face when making decisions.

Approach

The inclination or desire to move towards a goal seen as desirable or rewarding; drawn towards the positive aspects.

Avoidance

The motivation to move away from or avoid a goal seen as undesirable or potentially harmful; wants to escape or avoid the situation’s negative aspects.

Approach-Approach Conflicts

Occur when an individual must choose between two desirable options, leading to a conflict of which positive outcome to pursue.
Example: A high school senior must choose between two top universities, each with its own attractive benefits.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts

Occur when an individual must choose between two undesirable options, leading to a conflict of which negative outcome to avoid.
Example: A young adult is stuck in a job they dislike but needs it for financial stability, facing the anxiety of unemployment if they quit.

Approach-Avoidance Conflicts

Occur when an individual is drawn to and repelled by the same option, leading to a conflict between the desire for a positive outcome and the fear of a negative consequence.
Example: A recent college graduate is offered their dream job in a different state but hesitates due to leaving family and friends behind.

Dan Pink’s Drive

Focus on intrinsic motivation and autonomy.
Could these principles be applied in a school setting?
Capitalizing on Atlassian’s one-day-a-quarter policy if teachers offered it.

Formative Multiple-Choice Practice Questions

A) Extrinsic Motivation
B) Approach-Approach Conflict
A) Sensation-Seeking Theory
B) Drive Reduction Theory
C) Approach-Avoidance Conflict

Eating and Hunger

Eating is a complex motivated behavior that demonstrates how physical and mental processes interact.
Ghrelin: A hormone produced in the stomach that stimulates appetite.
Leptin: A hormone produced by fat cells that helps regulate energy balance by inhibiting hunger.
The hypothalamus and pituitary gland work together to regulate hunger and appetite.
Example: After a long day, ghrelin drives hunger, motivating someone to eat. Leptin signals satiety, reducing appetite after the meal.
Eating is powerfully affected by the appearance, aroma, and flavor of food.
Eating is influenced by social and cultural factors, such as eating more in social situations.
Biological and psychological processes may not function properly for some, resulting in obesity or eating disorders.
The DSM-5 categorizes anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorders, and other similar disorders under feeding and eating disorders.

Science Practice: Statistical Significance

Statistical significance indicates whether the observed differences in cognitive performance between the sleep deprivation group and the control group are likely due to chance or if they reflect a genuine effect of sleep deprivation.
Statistical significance helps researchers determine the reliability and validity of their findings.
NOT LIKELY DUE TO CHANCE = Statistical significance.

Consciousness

The state of being aware of and able to perceive one's thoughts, feelings, sensations, and surroundings.
Example: Waking up in the morning and being aware of your bedroom and surroundings.

Circadian Rhythm

The natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours.
Example: Feeling more alert during the day and drowsy at night.

Jet Lag

A temporary disruption of the body's circadian rhythm due to rapid travel across multiple time zones.

Shift Work

Employment schedules that require working outside of typical daytime hours, often disrupting the body's natural circadian rhythm.

Stages of Sleep

NREM and REM sleep stages.

NREM Stage 1

The first stage of non-rapid eye movement sleep characterized by drifting in and out of sleep, lasting only a few minutes.
Brain waves slow down, muscles relax, and individuals may experience sudden muscle contractions known as hypnic jerks.
Also might experience hallucinations.
Example: Sitting in a comfortable chair and feeling yourself nodding off, then experiencing a sensation of jerking awake.
Most psychologists explain that falling feeling as a side-effect of hypnagogic jerks as your waking and sleeping brain systems wrestle for control.
Others claim that your brain interprets your sudden muscle relaxation as a falling sensation.

NREM Stage 2

The second stage of non-rapid eye movement sleep characterized by light sleep, lasting about 20 minutes.
Brain waves further slow down, and sleep spindles (short bursts of brain activity) and K-complexes (sudden, sharp waveforms) appear.
Example: Lying in bed and feeling more deeply relaxed, with thoughts becoming less coherent and experiencing brief muscle twitches.

NREM Stage 3

The deepest stage of non-rapid eye movement sleep characterized by the presence of predominantly delta waves.
Restoration of Resources: The process during sleep where the body and brain replenish energy, repair tissues, and remove waste products, promoting physical and mental well-being.
Example: Being deeply asleep during the night and difficult to wake up from, with slow and regular breathing.

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep

A stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, vivid dreams, and muscle paralysis.
It is associated with increased brain activity, including dreaming, and plays a role in memory consolidation and emotional processing.
Example: Being fast asleep and experiencing a vivid and exhilarating dream with rapid eye movements and muscle paralysis.
One 90-minute sleep cycle consists of: NREM-1, NREM-2, NREM-3, NREM-2, REM, (may awaken - more common for adults)
After two or three cycles, the brain mostly alternates between stage 2 and REM.
The SleepCycle app (and other “smart alarms”) uses your phone’s accelerometer to track when you’re in REM vs. non-REM sleep, knowing that you experience sleep paralysis during REM; this allows the alarm to wake you up at the optimal time.
Fun fact: All mammals experience REM sleep, along with birds and possibly reptiles.

Theories of Sleep

Protection (Evolutionary Perspective)
Recuperation (Biological Perspective)
Memory (Cognitive Perspective)
Creativity (Cognitive Perspective)
Growth (Biological Perspective)

REM Rebound

The phenomenon where the body increases the time spent in REM sleep after a period of REM deprivation.
It occurs as a compensatory response to the lack of REM sleep, often resulting in more intense and frequent REM sleep episodes.
Example: After a stressful week, vivid dreams and a deeper, more restorative sleep occur during the weekend.

Activation-Synthesis (Dreams)

A theory proposing that dreams are the result of random neural activity in the brainstem during REM sleep, which is then interpreted and synthesized by the cerebral cortex into a narrative or story.
Example: Experiencing a dream where you're flying through a cityscape made of candy, with the brainstem sending random neural signals during REM sleep.

Consolidation Theory (Dreams)

A theory suggesting that dreams play a role in the memory consolidation and processing of memories.
During sleep, the brain organizes and integrates information acquired throughout the day, contributing to memory storage and learning.
Example: Studying for an exam and then dreaming about answering the exam questions with ease, as the brain consolidates and processes memories during sleep.

Insomnia

A sleep disorder characterized by difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or experiencing restorative sleep, leading to daytime impairment.
Example: Struggling to fall asleep, waking up frequently, and feeling unrested despite trying various sleep strategies.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, sudden episodes of muscle weakness (cataplexy), sleep paralysis, and hallucinations during sleep onset or awakening.
Example: Experiencing overwhelming drowsiness and falling asleep unexpectedly, along with symptoms like muscle weakness and hallucinations.

Sleep Apnea

A sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing or shallow breathing during sleep, leading to disrupted sleep patterns, daytime fatigue, and other health problems.
Example: Breathing becoming increasingly shallow and then stopping altogether for several seconds during sleep, leading to exhaustion in the morning.

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

A sleep disorder where individuals physically act out their dreams during REM sleep, potentially causing injury to themselves or others due to loss of muscle paralysis.
Example: Thrashing around violently in bed during a vivid and intense dream, unaware of the actions.

Somnambulism

A sleep disorder commonly known as sleepwalking, characterized by walking or performing other activities while still asleep.
Example: A child sleepwalking around the house in a daze, with their eyes closed and movements slow and uncoordinated.

Night Terrors and Sleepwalking

Occurs during NREM-3 sleep – not linked to dreams, since dreams occur during REM sleep.
Bizkit, the sleepwalking dog

Claim Challenge: Sleep Disorders

Develop and justify an argument about the impact of sleep disorders on overall health and well-being.

Formative Multiple-Choice Practice Questions

B) Jet Lag
C) NREM Stage 3
A) REM Rebound
C) REM
D) Sleep Apnea

Lucid Dreaming

Some studies suggest that if the lateral prefrontal cortex (logic center of the brain), which is usually inactive during sleep, somehow gets activated, it can promote lucidity

Remembering Dreams

A February 2014 study found a correlation between activity in two regions of the brain – the temporoparietal junction (combines different senses together) and the medial prefrontal cortex (involved in memory and decision making) and…
- Ability to remember dreams
- Responsiveness to stimuli during sleep
- Frequency of waking up during sleep
Some theorize that in order to remember our dreams, we must briefly awaken during the dream

Other Fun Facts

There is (to my knowledge) no evidence stating that our brain cannot create new faces in our dreams
On average, today’s teenagers get 2 fewer hours of sleep each night than teenagers 70 years ago did; some estimate that 80% of teenagers are chronically sleep deprived
During puberty, your SCN shifts to signal your body to go to sleep around 10 or 11 pm and wake up around 7 or 8 am… unfortunately, society generally doesn’t operate in ways that are conducive to your natural circadian rhythms

Understanding Theories on Emotion

Emotion is a feeling that involves our thoughts, body reactions, and actions, and is influenced by what happens inside us and around us.
The three components of emotion are: physiological, cognitive, and behavioral.
Affect is a display of emotion.
Example: A college student feels joy and excitement upon seeing their best friend, demonstrating how an event triggers a powerful and immediate emotional response.

Arousal Comes Before Emotion (James-Lange)

Suggests that emotions follow bodily arousal; we feel sad because we cry, and afraid because we tremble.
Example: Hearing footsteps at night leads to increased heart rate, sweating, and muscle tension, which then leads to feeling fear.

Facial-Feedback Hypothesis

Suggests that facial expressions can influence emotions; smiling can make you feel happier, and frowning can make you feel sadder.
Example: Intentionally smiling in the mirror helps to improve mood by enhancing feelings of happiness.

Arousal and Emotion Occur Simultaneously (Cannon-Bard)

Arousal and emotion occur simultaneously and independently; an emotion-triggering stimulus causes both bodily arousal and emotional experience at the same time.
Example: Watching a horror movie simultaneously causes a racing heart and the emotion of fear.

Arousal + Cognitive Label = Emotion (Schachter-Singer)

Emotion is the result of physiological arousal and a cognitive label; our interpretation of arousal determines the specific emotion we experience.
Example: Hearing a loud noise in a dark alley causes a pounding heart and sweating, but realizing it's just a cat leads to feeling relief rather than fear.

Elicitors

Stimuli or events that trigger an emotional response in an individual.
Elicitors may regulate how people from different genders, ages, or socioeconomic classes within a culture can display and interpret emotions.
Example: Hearing a piercing scream in a park elicits a surge of fear and anxiety.

Broaden-and-Build Theory of Emotion

Positive emotions help us think more openly and try new things, making us stronger. Negative emotions do the opposite, making us think narrowly and act less.
Example: Implementing a gratitude journal exercise in a classroom leads to increased feelings of happiness and students being more creative and socially connected.

Universal Emotions

The idea that certain emotional expressions are recognized and experienced similarly across different cultures.
Emotions such as anger, disgust, sadness, happiness, surprise, and fear are often considered universal, though research shows mixed results regarding their expression and recognition across cultures.
Example: A traveler crying in a remote village is met with comforting gestures from the villagers, who recognize the expression of sadness.

Display Rules

Cultural norms that dictate how, when, and where individuals should express emotions.
Example: A high school student suppresses disappointment in class but freely expresses it at home.

Reading Emotions

Six emotions are universally recognized: fear, disgust, anger, sadness, surprise, happiness (contempt recently added).
Women generally are more emotionally expressive, better at reading emotions, and show more neurological activation at emotional inputs

Expressed Emotion – Nature or Nurture?

Some emotional expressions are universal (shown previously)
Microexpressions are often unconscious
People often donʼt smile at a triumph until there are other people around
People born blind express emotion in much the same way as sighted people
Reminding people of money makes them less emotionally expressive/perceptive
People in individualistic cultures display emotion more visibly than collectivists
Women generally are more emotionally expressive, better at reading emotions, and show more neurological activation at emotional inputs
Beckman, 2007 –people were quicker to pair “happy” with “female” and “angry” with “male”
Emotional tears contain neurotransmitters associated with pain relief

Formative - Multiple Choice Practice Questions

B) Facial-Feedback Hypothesis
C) Display Rules
A) Universal Emotions
C) Broaden-and-Build theory
A) Emotions result from the simultaneous occurrence of physiological arousal and its cognitive interpretation

Recap: Theories of Emotion

1.Cannon-Bard
2.Zajonc
3.Schachter-Singer
4.Schachter-Singer
5.James-Lange
6. Schachter-Singer
7. Cannon-Bard
8. Schachter-Singer
9. James-Lange
1. Zajonc
Emotions = bodily arousal + expressive behaviors + conscious experience

Understanding Stress and Coping

Health Psychology: The study of how psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors contribute to physical health and illness.

Stress Discussion

Stress is a normal part of life, and we all experience it from time to time. Long-term stress can have negative effects on the brain and body, but it is good to be aware of that fact and find ways to reduce your stress.

Stress

Stress is the response of the body and mind to challenges or demands, characterized by physical, emotional, and mental reactions.
Stress can cause physical problems like high blood pressure (hypertension), headaches, and a weakened immune system (immune suppression).
Example: A college student under exam stress experiences sleep disturbances, fatigue, overwhelm, and diminished focus. Coping strategies include a structured study schedule, exercise, and relaxation techniques.

Stressors

Events or conditions that trigger stress by challenging an individual's ability to cope or adjust.
Example: A high school student balancing academics, sports, and a part-time job experiences exhaustion, anxiety, and mood swings.

Eustress (Motivating)

Positive stress that enhances motivation, performance, and emotional well-being.
Example: A student preparing for AP exams is motivated by the prospect of earning college credits and enhancing college applications.

Distress (Debilitating)

Negative stress that decreases motivation, impairs performance, and leads to emotional and physical problems.
Example: A college student with unexpected financial difficulties experiences constant worry which impacts their academic focus. The student develops mood swings and withdraws socially.

Types of Stressors

Daily Hassles: Minor irritations that occur regularly. (e.g An individual commutes to work daily in heavy traffic.)
Significant Life Changes: Major events that require adaptation. (e.g An individual recently undergoes a major life transition after relocating to a new city for a job opportunity.)
Catastrophes: Unpredictable, large-scale events that cause widespread stress. (e.g A community is struck by a sudden, devastating hurricane)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Stressful or traumatic events in childhood that can have long-lasting effects on health and well-being throughout a person's life.
Example: A child growing up with a parent struggling with substance abuse experiences chronic anxiety, mistrust, and challenges in emotional regulation and interpersonal relationships.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

A three-stage response to stress that includes alarm, resistance, and exhaustion, describing how the body reacts and adapts to stress over time.
Example: A high school student taking on multiple AP classes and extracurriculars experiences alarm, then resistance, and potentially exhaustion if stress continues without adequate breaks.

Alarm Reaction Phase

The initial stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome, where the body reacts to a stressor with a