Vocab quiz

Motivation (4.6)

Yerkes-Dodson Law – Performance only increases with arousal up to a point, beyond which performance decreases.
Extrinsic motivation – An external incentive to engage in a specific activity, especially motivation arising from the expectation of punishment or reward (e.g., completing a disliked chore in exchange for payment).
Affiliation – The desire to have personal relationships with other individuals, which manifests itself in the urge to form friendships and attachments and to join organizations and enjoy social gatherings. People with a high need for affiliation often seek the approval and acceptance of others.
Pituitary gland – A gland, pea-sized in humans, that lies at the base of the brain and is connected to the hypothalamus. "Master gland of the endocrine system."
Self-determination theory – The concept that regulation of behavior varies along a continuum from externally controlled (e.g., to obtain rewards or avoid punishments) to autonomous or intrinsically motivated (e.g., to have fun or explore interests). The theory emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation for producing healthy adjustment and asserts that negative outcomes ensue when people feel that they are driven mainly by external forces and extrinsic rewards.
Leptin – A protein, manufactured and secreted by fat cells, that may communicate to the brain the amount of body fat stored and may help to regulate food intake. Leptin receptors have been found in the hypothalamus, and, when they are stimulated, food intake is reduced.
Arousal theory – The theory that the physical environment can affect arousal levels by stimulation and by stress created when psychological or physical needs are not met.
Sensation-seeking – A motivational theory that an individual maintains contact with various stimuli so as to achieve and maintain a preferred level of stimulation.
Motivation – A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. The impetus that gives purpose or direction to behavior and operates in humans at a conscious or unconscious level. Motives are frequently divided into (a) physiological, primary, or organic motives, such as hunger, thirst, and need for sleep; and (b) personal, social, or secondary motives, such as affiliation, competition, and individual interests and goals.
Avoidance-avoidance conflict – A situation involving a choice between two equally objectionable alternatives, for example, when an individual must choose between unemployment and a salary cut. Also called double-avoidance conflict.
Belonging – The feeling of being accepted and approved by a group or by society as a whole.
Hypothalamus – Its main function is to keep your body in a stable state called homeostasis. It does its job by directly influencing your autonomic nervous system or by managing hormones.
Instincts – A complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned.
Drive-reduction theory – The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.
Boredom susceptibility – A sensation-seeking trait associated with people who enjoy new, complex, and intense sensations and experiences.
Approach-approach conflict – A situation involving a choice between two equally desirable but incompatible alternatives. Also called double-approach conflict.
Lateral hypothalamus (LH) – The region of the hypothalamus that may be involved in the regulation of eating. Lesions of the lateral hypothalamus in animals result in fasting and weight loss. Stimulation of that part of the brain increases food intake.
Incentive – A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior.
Homeostasis – A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level.
Lewin’s motivational conflicts theory – Conflicts between undesirable alternatives (avoidance-avoidance conflicts) are more difficult to resolve than conflicts between desirable alternatives (approach-approach conflicts).
Incentive theory – The theory that motivation arousal depends on the interaction between environmental incentives (i.e., stimulus objects)—both positive and negative—and an organism’s psychological and physiological states (e.g., drive states).
Intrinsic motivation – An incentive to engage in a specific activity that derives from pleasure in the activity itself (e.g., a genuine interest in a subject studied) rather than because of any external benefits that might be obtained (e.g., money, course credits).
Disinhibition – Diminution or loss of the normal control exerted by the cerebral cortex, resulting in poorly controlled or poorly restrained emotions or actions. A level of spontaneity that may be due to the effects of alcohol, drugs, or brain injury, particularly to the frontal lobes.
Thrill and adventure seeking – Sensation-seeking emphasizes the enjoyment of at least moderately frightening activities.
Sensation-seeking – A personality trait defined by the search for experiences and feelings that are varied, novel, rich, and intense, and by the readiness to take risks for the sake of such experiences.
Approach-avoidance conflict – A situation involving a single goal or option that has both desirable and undesirable aspects or consequences. The closer an individual comes to the goal, the greater the anxiety, but withdrawal from the goal then increases the desire.
Ghrelin – A peptide secreted by endocrine cells in the stomach that binds to growth hormone receptors in the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary, stimulating appetite and the release of growth hormone.
Ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) – A region of the hypothalamus primarily associated with feelings of satiety. In studies in which the VMH is lesioned, animals overeat to the point of extreme obesity.

Emotion (4.7)

Emotion – A complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioral, and physiological elements, by which an individual attempts to deal with a personally significant matter or event.
Affect – Any experience of feeling or emotion, ranging from suffering to elation, from the simplest to the most complex sensations of feeling, and from the most normal to the most pathological emotional reactions.
Display rule – A socially learned standard that regulates the expression of emotion. Display rules vary by culture; for example, the expression of anger may be considered appropriate in some cultures but not in others.
Emotional cognition – The ability to recognize and interpret the emotions of others, notably from such cues as facial expression and voice tone, and to interpret one’s own feelings correctly.
Facial-feedback hypothesis – The effect of facial expressions on experienced emotions, as when a facial expression of anger or happiness intensifies feelings of anger or happiness.
Broaden-and-build theory – Experiences of positive emotions broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires, which in turn serve to build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources.
Cognitive appraisal theory – The theory that cognitive evaluation is involved in the generation of each and every emotion. Evaluation includes both a primary appraisal and a secondary appraisal.
Elicitor – A facial emotional expression (e.g., a disgusted face) activates a response that is similar to responses to other emotional stimuli of the same valence.
James-Lange Theory – The theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.
Cannon-Bard Theory – The theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion.
Schachter-Singer Theory (Two-Factor Theory) – This theory states that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal.