Motivation, Emotion, & Stress Flashcards
(102 cards)
1
Q
Define Motivation
A
A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.
2
Q
Define Instinct
A
A complex, unlearned behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species.
3
Q
Define Drive-Reduction Theory
A
The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.
4
Q
Define Homeostasis
A
A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as glucose, around a particular level.
5
Q
Define Incentive
A
A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior.
6
Q
Define Yerkes-Dodson Law
A
The principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases.
7
Q
Define Hierarchy of Needs
A
Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active.
8
Q
Define Glucose
A
The form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissue. When it’s level is low, we feel hunger.
9
Q
Define Set Point
A
The point at which an individual’s “weight thermostat “ is supposedly set. When the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weight.
10
Q
Define Basal Metabolic Rate
A
The body’s resting rate of energy expenditure.
11
Q
Define Sexual Response Cycle
A
The four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson—excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.
12
Q
Define Refractory Period
A
A resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm.
13
Q
Define Sexual Dysfunction
A
A problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning.
14
Q
Define Estrogens
A
Sex hormones, such as estradiol, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males and contributing to female sex characteristics. In nonhuman female mammals, estrogen levels peak during ovulation, promoting sexual receptivity.
15
Q
Define Testosterone
A
The most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty.
16
Q
Define Emotion
A
A response of the whole organism, involving
1) physiological arousal
2) expressive behaviors
3) conscious experience
17
Q
Define James-Lange Theory
A
The theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.
18
Q
Define Cannon-Bard Theory
A
The theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers
1) physiological responses
2) the subjective experience of emotion
19
Q
Define Two-Factor Theory
A
The Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must
1) be physically aroused
2) cognitively label the arousal
20
Q
Define Polygraph
A
A machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes) accompanying emotion.
21
Q
Define Facial Feedback Effect
A
The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness.
22
Q
Define Health Psychology
A
A subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine.
23
Q
Define Stress
A
The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging.
24
Q
Define General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
A
Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases—alarm, resistance, exhaustion.
25
Define Tend-and-Befriend Response
Under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend).
26
Define Psychophysiological Illness
Literally, “mind-body” illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches.
27
Define Psychoneuroimmunology
The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health.
28
Define Lymphocytes
The two types of white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system: B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.
29
Define Coronary Heart Disease
The clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries.
30
Define Type A
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people.
31
Define Type B
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people.
32
How do our motivations arise?
From the interplay between nature (the bodily “push”) and nurture (the “pulls” from our thought processes and culture).
33
What are the four perspectives for viewing motivated behaviors? Describe them.
Instinct theory (evolutionary perspective) focuses on genetically predisposed behaviors. Drive-reduction theory focuses on how our inner pushes and external pulls interact. Arousal theory focuses on finding the right level of stimulation. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes how some of our needs take priority over others.
34
What is the physiological aim of drive reduction?
Homeostasis
35
List in order Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, starting from the lowest level.
Physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, self-actualization needs, self-transcendence needs.
36
Describe physiological needs
Need to satisfy hunger and thirst.
37
Describe safety needs
Need to feel that the world is organized and predictable; need to feel safe.
38
Describe belongingness and love needs
Need to love and be loved, to belong and be accepted; need to avoid loneliness and separation.
39
Describe esteem needs
Need for self-esteem, achievement, competence, and independence; need for recognition and respect from others.
40
Describe self-actualization needs
Need to live up to our fullest and unique potential.
41
Describe self-transcendence needs
Need to find meaning and identity beyond the self.
42
Name a strength and weakness of the instinct theory/evolutionary psychology
Strength: helps explain behavioral similarities due to adaptations from our ancestral past.
Weakness: instinct theory explains animal behavior better than human behavior; humans have fewer true instincts.
43
Name a strength and weakness of drive-reduction theory
Strength: explains our motivation to reduce arousal by meeting basic needs, such as hunger or thirst.
Weakness: does not explain why some motivated behaviors increase arousal.
44
Name a strength and weakness of optimal arousal theory
Strength: explains that motivated behaviors may decrease or increase arousal.
Weakness: does not explain our motivation to address our more complex social needs.
45
Name a strength and weakness of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Strength: incorporates the idea that we have various levels of needs.
Weakness: the order of needs may change in some circumstances. Evolutionary psychologists note the absence in the hierarchy of the universal human motives to find a mate and reproduce.
46
While in a long road trip, you suddenly feel very hungry. You see a diner that looks pretty deserted and creepy, but you are really hungry, so you stop anyway. What motivational perspective would most easily explain this behavior and why?
Drive-reduction theory, because the physical need for food creates an aroused state that prompts you to satisfy the need to reduce arousal.
47
Use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to explain why a
1) hungry person would steal
2) lonely new student would join a club
3) successful artist would continue to invest tremendous effort in her career
1) a hungry person would steal to satisfy their most basic physiological needs for food.
2) a lonely new student would join a club to satisfy their need to belong and be accepted.
3) a successful artist would continue to invest effort into her career to satisfy the need for self-actualization.
48
A. L. Washburn
Showed that stomach contractions accompany our feelings of hunger by swallowing a balloon.
49
How does the brain control feelings of hunger?
When glucose levels drop, the stomach, intestines, and liver will signal the brain to motivate eating.the brain then triggers hunger using several neural areas that influence eating. One neural arc, called the arcuate nucleus, has a center that secretes appetite-suppressing hormones, and another that secretes appetite-stimulating hormones.
50
What are some appetite hormones?
Ghrelin—secreted by empty stomach; sends hunger signals to the brain
Insulin—secreted by pancreas; controls blood glucose
Leptin—protein hormone secreted by fat cells; when abundant, causes brain to increase metabolism and decrease hunger
Orexin—hunger triggering hormone secreted by the hypothalamus
PPY—digestive tract hormone; sends fullness signals to the brain
51
What triggers hunger?
Physical feelings of hunger in the stomach, hormones secreted by the brain, memories of the time of our last meal.
52
What factors influence taste preferences?
Mood, genetics, conditioning, culture, evolution.
53
What are some situational influences on eating?
We tend to eat more around others. Unit bias explains why people in places where food is offered in smaller serving sizes tend to be thinner. Food variety stimulates overeating.
54
What factors influence weight?
Set point and metabolism, genetics, and food and activity factors.
55
You’ve skipped lunch and haven’t eaten anything in eight hours. as your favorite dish is placed in from of you, your mouth waters. What triggers this anticipatory salivation?
You’ve learned through classical conditioning to respond to the cues—the sight and aroma—that signal the food about to enter your mouth. Both physiological cues (low blood sugar) and psychological cues (anticipation of the tasty meal, memory of the last time you ate) have heightened your experience of hunger.
56
Who were William Masters and Virginia Johnson?
In the 1960s, gynecologist-obstetrician William Masters and his collaborator Virginia Johnson observed and recorded the physiological responses of individuals who masturbated or had intercourse. They described the sexual response cycle and identified four stages.
57
Describe the excitement phase of the sexual response cycle
Men’s and women’s genital areas become engorged with blood, a woman’s vagina expands and secretes lubricant, and her breasts and nipples may engorge.
58
Describe the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle
Excitement peaks as breathing, pulse, and blood pressure rates continue to increase. The penis becomes fully engorged and some fluid—frequently containing enough live sleek to enable conception—may appear at its tip. Vaginal secretion continues to increase.
59
Describe the orgasm phase of the sexual response cycle
Muscles all over the body contract, accompanied by further increase in breathing, pulse, and blood pressure rates. Pulse rate surges from about 70 to 115 beats per minute. A woman’s arousal and orgasm facilitate conception by positioning the uterus to receive sperm, and drawing the sperm further inward.
60
Describe the resolution phase of the sexual response cycle
The body gradually returns to its unaroused state as the engorged genitalia blood vessels release their accumulated blood—relatively quickly if orgasm has occurred, relatively slowly otherwise. The body enters the refractory period.
61
Compare the refractory period of males and females
A male’s refractory period lasts from a few minutes to a day or more, while a female’s much shorter refractory period may enable her to have another orgasm if restimulated during or soon after resolution.
62
What are some examples of sexual dysfunctions?
Erectile disorder, premature ejaculation, female orgasmic disorder.
63
What are some examples of paraphilias?
Exhibitionism, fetishism, pedophilia.
65
What is the difference between sexual dysfunction and paraphilias?
Sexual dysfunction involves problems with arousal or sexual functioning. People with paraphilias experience sexual arousal but direct it in unusual ways. The APA only classified such behaviors as disordered if a person experiences distress from their unusual sexual interest, or the sexual desire or behavior entails harm or risk to others.
66
What are the two effects of sex hormones?
They direct physical development of male and female sex characteristics, and (especially in nonhuman animals) they activate sexual behavior.
67
Describe the bio-psycho-social influences on sexual motivation
```
Biological influences:
• sexual maturity
• sex hormones (especially testosterone)
Psychological influences:
• exposure to stimulating conditions
• sexual fantasies
Social-cultural influences:
• family and society values
• religious and personal values
• cultural expectations
• media
```
68
How might the evolutionary perspective, drive-reduction theory, and arousal theory explain sexual motivation?
Evolutionary Perspective: those motivated to have sex were more likely to leave even Santa than were those who lacked sexual motivation
Drive-Reduction Theory: hormonal influences create a driven (physiologically aroused) state that compels is to reduce the drive
Arousal Theory: people sometime seek the pleasure and stimulation of arousal
69
How do external stimuli affect arousal?
External stimuli can trigger arousal in both men and women, although the activated brain areas differ. Men respond more specifically to sexual depictions involving their preferred sex. Sexually explicit material may lead people to perceive their partners as comparatively less appealing and to devalue their relationships. Imagined stimuli (dreams and fantasies) also influence sexual arousal.
70
What percent of the population experience sexual fantasies?
95%
71
What evidence points to our human affiliation need?
Our need to affiliate or belong—to feel connected and identified with others—had survival value for our ancestors, which may explain why humans in every society live in groups. People suffer when socially excluded, and may engage in anti-social or self-defeating behaviors. Feeling loved activates brain regions associated with rewards for safety systems.
72
How does social networking influence us?
We connect with others through social networking, strengthening our relationships with those we already know. When networking, people tend to increase self-disclosure. Working out strategies for self control and discipline can help people maintain a healthy balance between social networking and school/work performance.
73
What are some potentially negative effects of social networking?
Isolated us from others, can become a time-sucking diversion, can become an attention-sucking diversion, people may self-disclose too much, can make us feel emotionally distracted.
74
How do arousal and cognition influence our experience of emotion?
Arousal fuels emotion and cognition channels it.
75
What are the two neural pathways for emotions?
Some emotions, especially more complex feelings like hatred and love, travel a “high road.” A stimulus following this path would travel via the thalamus to the brain’s cortex. There, it would be analyzed and labeled before the common as is sent out via the amygdala to respond.
Other emotions, especially simple likes, dislikes, and fears, take the “low road.” A stimulus following this pathway would travel vi the thalamus directly to the amygdala, enabling a faster emotional response.
76
Summarize the emotion theories and provide examples
James-Lange: emotions arise from our awareness of our specific bodily responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.
Example: we observe our heart racing after a threat and then feel afraid.
Cannon-Bard: emotion-arousing stimuli trigger our bodily responses and simultaneous subjective experience.
Example: our heart races at the same time that we feel afraid.
Schachter-Singer: our experience of emotion depends on two factors—general arousal and a conscious cognitive label.
Example: we may interpret our arousal as fear or excitement, depending on the context.
Zajonc; LeDoux: some embodied responses happen instantly, without conscious appraisal.
Example: we automatically feel startled by a sound in the forest before labeling it as a threat.
Lazarus: cognitive appraisal—sometimes without our awareness—defines emotion.
Example: the sound is “just the wind.”
77
Christine is holding her baby when a fierce dog appears out of nowhere and leaps for the baby’s face. Christine immediately ducks for cover to protect the baby, screams at the dog, then notices that her heart is racing and she’s broken out in a cold sweat. How would the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and two-factor theories explain Christine’s emotional reaction?
James-Lange theory: Christine’s emotional reaction consists of her awareness of her physiological responses to the dog attack.
Cannon-Bard theory: Christine’s fear experience happened simultaneously with her physiological arousal.
Two-factor theory: Christine’s emotional reaction stemmed from her interpreting and labeling the arousal.
78
How do the two divisions of the autonomic nervous system affect our emotional responses?
The sympathetic division arouses us for more intense experiences of emotion, pumping out the stress hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine to prepare the body for fight or flight. The parasympathetic division takes over when a crisis passes, restoring the body to a calm physiological and emotional state.
79
What is the insula?
A neural center deep inside the brain that is activated when we experience various social emotions such as lust, pride, or disgust.
80
What are two problems with the polygraph test?
1) Physiological arousal is much the same from one emotion to another.
2) Many innocent people respond with heightened tension to the accusations implied by critical questions.
81
What is a more effective approach to lie detection?
A guilty knowledge test assesses a suspect’s physiological responses to crime scene details known only to the police and guilty person. For example, if a camera and computer had been stolen, only a guilty person should react strongly to the brand names of the stolen items.
82
Performance peaks at ________ levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and ________ levels of arousal for easy or well-learned tasks.
lower, higher
83
Do different emotions activate different physiological and brain-pattern responses?
Emotions may be similarly arousing, but some subtle physiological responses, such as facial muscle movements, distinguish them. More meaningful differences have been found in activity in some brain pathways and cortical areas and in the hormone secretions associated with different emotions.
84
How do cultures differ in their expression of emotion?
Facial expressions are universal. The meaning of different gestures varies with culture. The amount of emotion expressed also varies. Those that encourage individuality display much more visible emotion, while those that encourage people to adjust to others tend to have less visible displays of emotion.
85
How do we communicate nonverbally?
Much of our communication is through body movements, facial expressions, and voice tones. Even seconds-long filmed slices of behavior can reveal feelings.
86
How do genders differ in the capacity to communicate nonverbally?
Women tend to read emotional cues more easily and to be more empathetic.
87
How do facial expressions influence emotions?
Facial expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal our body to respond accordingly. We also mimic others’ expressions, which helps us empathize.
88
What are the three main types of stressors?
Catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles.
89
Describe catastrophes as a stressor
Catastrophes are unpredictable large-scale events, such as wars, earthquakes, floods, wildfires, and famines. Nearly everyone appraises catastrophes as threatening. We often give aid and comfort to one another after such events, but damage to emotional and physical health can be significant.
90
Describe significant life changes as a stressor
Events such as getting married, leaving home for college, losing a job, or having a loved one die are all significant life changes. Even happy events can be stressful.
91
Describe daily hassles as a stressor
Rush-hour traffic, aggravating siblings, long lunch lines, too many things to do, family frustrations, and friends who don’t respond to calls or texts are all examples of daily stressors. Some people can shake off such hassles, but for others, these annoyances add up and take a toll on health and well-being.
92
How did Walter Cannon view the stress response system?
He confirmed that the stress response is part of a unified mind-body system, and observed that extreme cold, lack of oxygen, and emotion-arousing events all trigger an outpouring of the stress hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine from the core of the adrenal glands.
93
How does the sympathetic nervous system contribute to stress response?
When alerted by any of a number of brain pathways, the sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate and respiration, diverts blood from digestion to the skeletal muscles, dulls feelings of pain, and releases sugar and fat from the body’s stores. All of this prepares the body for a fight or flight response.
94
Describe the other stress response system identified by physiologists
On orders from the cerebral cortex via the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, the outer part of the adrenal glands secretes glucocorticoid stress hormones such as cortisol.
95
Who was Hans Selye?
A Canadian scientist whose 40 years of research on stress extended Cannon’s findings. He studied animals’ reactions to various stressors, and proposed that the body’s adaptive response to stress is so general that it sounds no matter what intrudes. His findings helped make stress a major concept in both psychology and medicine.
96
What are some common responses to stress?
Socially withdraw, become paralyzed by fear, seek and give support, become aggressive, substance abuse
97
How does stress affect our lives?
When short-lived, or when perceived as challenges, stress can have positive effects. Momentary stress can mobilize the immune system for fending off infections and healing wounds, arouse and motivate us to conquer problems, and promote later emotional resilience.
Extreme or prolonged stress can be harmful. People who suffer severe or prolonged stress are later at risk of a variety of chronic diseases. One study found the shortening of telomeres, speeding the aging process, in people suffering enduring stress.
98
Xavier has a huge math test coming up next week. Explain two ways appraisal can determine how stress will influence his test performance.
If Xavier interprets the test as a challenge, he will be aroused and focused in a way that could improve his test performance. If he interprets the test as a threat, he will be distracted by stress in a way that is likely to harm his test performance.
99
What are the four types of cells that are active in the immune system, and what are their functions?
B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, macrophages, and natural killer cells (NK cells).
B lymphocytes release antibodies that fight bacterial infections.
T lymphocytes attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.
Macrophages identify, pursue, and ingest harmful invaders and worn-out cells.
NK cells pursue diseased cells.
100
What factors influence your immune system’s activity?
Age, nutrition, genetics, body temperature, and stress.
101
What two directions can the immune system err when it doesn’t function properly?
It may respond too strongly and attack the body’s own tissues.
It may underreact and allow infections to occur.
102
Why does the stress effect on immunity make physiological sense?
It takes energy to produce an immune response, so when diseased, the body reduces muscular energy consumption by inactivity and increased sleep. Stress does the opposite: during an aroused fight or flight reaction, stress responses divert energy from the immune system and send it to the muscles and brain. It creates a competing energy need, rendering the body vulnerable to illness.
Stress does not make us sick, but it does alter immune functioning, leaving the body less able to resist infection.
103
What is the opponent processing theory of emotion?
The opponent processing theory states that
1) after experiencing an emotion such as excitement or joy, there will be a period of depression afterwards because of the let down
2) the more a person experiences a particular emotion, such as fear, the less it will affect them.
