PSYCH Ch. 9 & 10

Chapter 9: Motivation & Emotion

Motivation

A need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it towards a goal. 

• Perspectives on Motivation 

• Four perspectives used to explain motivation include the following:

1. Instinct theory (evolutionary perspective) 

• Instincts are complex behaviors that have been fixed patterns throughout different species and are not learned 

2. Drive-Reduction Theory 

• When the instinct theory of motivation failed, it was replaced by the drive-reduction theory

• A psychological need creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

• Physiology of Hunger 

• Stomach contractions (pangs) send signals to the brain making is aware of our hunger

• Stomachs Removed 

• Tsang (1938) removed rat stomachs, connected the esophagus to the small intestine, and the rats still felt hungry 

Need (e.g. for water, food) —> Drive (hunger, thirst) —> Drive Reducing behaviors (eating, drinking) 

3. Arousal Theory 

• Human motivation aims to seek optimum levels of arousal, not to eliminate it. 

• Young monkeys and children are known to explore the environment in the absence of a need-based drive. 

• Sensory deprivation experiments have shown that human sensory modalities need to be stimulated regularly. 

4. Hierarchy of Motives 

• Abraham Maslow suggested that certain needs have priority over others

• Physiological needs like breathing, thirst and hunger come before psychological needs such as achievement, self-esteem, and the need for recognition 

• Body Chemistry & The Brain 

• Levels of glucose in the blood are monitored by receptors in the stomach, liver, and intestines. They send signals to the hypothalamus in the brain.  

• Hypothalamic Centers 

• The lateral hypothalamus brings on hunger. Destroy the LH and the animal has no interest in eating. The reduction of blood glucose stimulates orexin in the LH, which leads rats to eat ravenously

• The ventromedial hypothalamus depresses hunger (stimulation). Destroy the VMH, and the animal eats excessively 

Theories of Emotion 

• Emotions are our body’s adaptive response. Emotions are a mix of:

1. Physiological activation 

2. Expressive behaviors

3. Conscious experience 

• Embodied Emotion 

We know that emotions involve bodily responses. 

• Some of these responses are very noticeable (butterflies in our stomach when fear arises), but others are more difficult to discern (neurons activated in the brain)

• Emotions & the ANS 

During an emotional experience, our autonomic nervous system mobilizes energy in the body that arouses us.

• Arousal & Performance 

  • Arousal in short spurts is adaptive

  • We perform better under moderate arousal, but optimal performance varies with task difficulty. 

• Cognition Can Define Emotion

  • An arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event

  • Arousal from a soccer match can fuel anger, which may lead to rioting. 

• Cognition Does Not Always Precede Emotion

When fearful eyes were subliminally presented to subjects, MRI scans revealed higher levels of activity in the amygdala

• Detecting Emotion

  • Most of us are good at deciphering emotions through nonverbal communication. In a crowd of faces a single angry face will “pop out” faster than a single happy face. 

  • Hard-to-control muscles reveal signs of emotions may continue for more than 4-5 seconds while a genuine smile still have faded by them 

• Experience Emotion 

Izard isolated 10 emotions. Most of them are present in infancy, except for contempt, shame, and guilt

• Joy, anger, interest, disgust, surprise, sadness, fear 

• Categorizing Emotion

Emotion can be categorized as: 

• Basic 

• Ekman possible basic emotions:

1. Anger 

2. Fear 

3. Sadness

4. Disgust 

5. Surprise 

6. Happiness 

7. (Contempt) 

• Different facial expressions and characteristics:

1. Facial Action Coding System 

• FACS is a research tool measuring any facial expression a human being can make.

• It is anatomically based system describing all observable facial movement

Commonsense View 

When you become happy, your heart starts beating faster. First comes conscious awareness, then comes physiological activity. 

• James-Lange Theory 

• William James and Carl Lange proposed an idea that was diametrically opposed to the commonsense view 

• The James-Lange theory proposes that physiological activity preceded the emotional experience 

• Cannon-Bard Theory 

• Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard questioned the James-Lange theory and proposed that an emotion-triggering stimulus and the body’s arousal take place simultaneously 

• Two-Factor Theory 

• Stanley Schacter and Jerome Singer proposed yet another theory which suggests our physiology and cognitions create emotions 

• Emotions have two factors: 1. Physical arousal & 2. Cognitive label 

Physiological Similarities 

Physiological responses related to the emotions of fear, anger, love, and boredom are very similar. 

Physiological Difference 

Physical responses, like finger temperature and movement of facial muscles, change during fear, rage, and joy 

• The amygdala shows differences in activation during the emotions of anger and rage. Activity of the left hemisphere (happy) is different from the right (depressed) for emotions. 

Chapter 10: Personality

Personality

An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Psychoanalytic Perspective 

In his clinical practice, Freud encountered patients suffering from nervous disorders. Their complaint could not be explained in terms of purely physical causes.  

• Freud’s clinical experience led him to develop the first comprehensive theory of personality, which included 

• The unconscious mind

• Psychosexual stages

• Freud divided the development of personality into five psychosexual stages.

• Defense mechanisms 

The Neo-Freudians 

Like Freud, Adler believed that childhood tensions. However, these tensions were social in nature and not sexual. 

• A child struggles with an inferiority complex during growth and strives for superiority and power 

Assessing Unconscious Processes

Evaluating personality from an unconscious mind’s perspective would require a psychological instrument that would reveal the hidden unconscious mind. 

Thematic Apperception Test 

Developed by Henry Murray, the TAT is a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they made up about ambiguous scenes. 

Rorschach Inkblot Test 

The most widely used projective test uses a set of 10 inkblots and was designed by Hermann Rorschach. It seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots. 

The Trait Perspective 

An individual’s unique constellation of durable dispositions and consistent ways of behaving (traits) constitutes his or her personality. 

• Examples: honest, dependable, moody, impulsive 

• Exploring traits 

Each personality is uniquely made up of multiple traits 

• Allport & Odbert identified almost 18k words representing traits

• One way to condense the immense list of personality traits is through factor analysis, a statistical approach used to describe and relate personality traits 

• Assessing Traits 

Personally inventories are questionnaires (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors assessing several traits at once 

MMPI 

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests.

• It was originally developed to identify emotional disorders 

• The MMPI was developed by empirically testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminated between diagnostic groups