Unit 7

Physiological

- The physiological needs are handled for you by your caretakers when you are born. Your need for food, water, shelter, and warmth (clothing) is met by those responsible for caring for you. According to Maslow, if these needs are not met, you cannot move up the pyramid.

Superego

- The superego, located in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious, is the part of our personality that develops last. It is made of our morals and sense of right and wrong and contains our conscience.

Behaviorism vs. Social Cognitive Theory

Behaviorists explain our actions and reactions as a result of either classical conditioning or operant conditioning. Like behaviorists, social-cognitive theorists believe we learn many of our behaviors either through conditioning or by observing and modeling others. Social-cognitive theorists also emphasize our mental processes, our environment's impact on our behavior, and how we interact with our environment to interpret things around us.

Coping strategies

help people master, tolerate, or minimize the effects of stressors. It is vital for people to find coping strategies that fit their lifestyle, personality type, and explanatory style. Learning how to effectively cope with stress allows us to experience a healthy and fulfilling life.

Latency Stage

- 6 years old to puberty - Focus of pleasure: None—Libido is a component of social, physical, and intellectual development. - Children play and identify with the same sex; boys play with boys and girls play with girls. - Fixations: At the end of this stage, children should have the ability to get along with each other.

Type C Personality

An agreeable but introverted person who finds sharing feelings hard and does not express anger or worry, but internalizes these feelings

Advantages and limitations of the humanistic perspective on personality

Humanists believe people are innately good. As long as our self-esteem and self-concept are positive, we are happy. Humanists also believe that we have free will, the ability to choose our own destiny. This is a great contrast to Freud's determinism, which says that our actions are dictated by our past. Humanists promote self-growth and assist people in understanding themselves better. Critics believe that humanists are too positive and do not take all aspects of human nature into consideration, such as violence and aggression. Critics also cite that the humanistic theory is difficult to scientifically test, so very little research exists to support this view.

Twin Studies

Identical twins have an identical genetic profile. Fraternal twins share 50 percent of their genetic make-up. We would expect that if a trait is genetic, identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins or other siblings. Indeed, studies show that identical twins are more similar in aggression, empathy, and assertiveness than are fraternal twins. This suggests that these traits are genetically influenced (Miles and Carey, 1997).

G.A.S.

Introduced by Hans Seyle, general adaptation syndrome, also known as G.A.S., is a syndrome associated with ineffective coping. Symptoms of G.A.S. include anxiety, nightmares, difficulty sleeping and concentrating, and reliving the event. Symptoms last for more than one month.

Drive-Reduction Approaches

Needs and drives are central to the drive-reduction approach. Humans have physical, emotional, and psychological needs rooted within. When a need is present, it creates a physiological tension that triggers the psychological drive to reduce that need. The drive-reduction theory explains the connection between the need, the physiological tension, the psychological drive, and the behavior to reduce the drive and satisfy the initial need. The human body wants to maintain homeostasis. Drives trigger the body to act to keep the state of homeostasis.

Maladaptive Eating Behaviors | Obesity

Obesity is a disorder characterized by being excessively overweight. Obesity increases the risk for health issues like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and back problems. Most people that are considered obese are twenty to thirty percent over their optimum body weight. Leptin is a hormone that controls and manipulates appetite. High levels or leptin are released when enough food has been received by the body and allows the body's appetite to assuage. Research has been done on the effects of leptin injections to aid obese people in losing weight. The results are mixed and not conclusive. Medical conditions, genetics, emotional problems, and hormone imbalances may all effect the obesity crisis that is plaguing America. What are your thoughts on obesity in America? How might we change our attitudes toward obesity?

Personnel Psychology

Personnel psychologists aim to identify people's strengths and match them with specific organizational tasks. They use various tools to assess applicants and decide who is best suited to the job. - Unstructured interviews: frequently foster illusory overconfidence in one's ability to predict employee success - Structured interviews: offer a disciplined method of collecting information - Performance appraisals: include checklists, graphic rating scales, and behavior rating scales Personnel psychologists help managers decide which employees to retain, how to appropriately reward and pay people, and how to better harness their strengths.

Sex and Belonging

Social bonds increased the survival rates of our ancestors. Adults who formed attachments were more likely to come together to reproduce and to stay together to nurture their offspring to maturity. Most people believe close relationships make life meaningful. Self-esteem is a measure of how valued and accepted we feel. When something threatens our social ties, negative emotions overwhelm us. When ostracized, people may engage in self-defeating or antisocial behaviors. Finally, social relationships enhance health.

Peak Experiences

Sudden feelings of intense happiness, wonder, and unity

The Hormones of Sexual Behavior

Testosterone, androgen, and estrogen are present in both sexes. Males have a higher level of testosterone and females a higher level of estrogen. In humans, the hormones more loosely control sexual behaviors, especially once sufficient hormone levels are present (after puberty). In later adulthood, sex hormones decline, along with the frequency of sexual interaction.

Aesthetic

The aesthetic level reflects the need to artistically express your individual identity. You may not describe yourself as artistic, but each person has the desire to make some type of artistic expression. Aesthetic value is important to each person and once your aesthetic needs are met you move to the final level of the hierarchy—self-actualization. Note that aesthetic needs were identified later in Maslow's career and, like cognitive needs, were not a part of the original model.

Belonging and Love

The sense of belonging and love from your family, friends, and significant others is vital to your passage into the next level. If you do not feel loved or wanted, you will never have the self-esteem to move to the next level.

Personality and Stress

The type of conflict is one factor that contributes to the level of stress experienced by the individual. But consider this—you and your friend have the same big test on Friday. You are practically pulling your hair out, yet your friend does not appear to be affected at all by the stress. Maybe the difference in the coping and management of stress between you and your friend is due to personality differences and explanatory styles. Personality traits impact the way we cope and the way stress affects our bodies. Explanatory styles are the attitudes people have toward the events that happen to them in life.

Direct Observation

To predict behavior, behaviorists and social-cognitive psychologists often observe behavior in realistic situations. This direct observation allows psychologists to observe their clients as they engage in everyday behavior, preferably in the clients' natural setting. From the direct observations, psychologists can predict future behavior. This method can be very time-consuming and expensive. In addition, there is no control over the external environment so a particular behavior may not be demonstrated during an observation time. In addition, observations may lead to the observer effect, in which a client may begin to act a certain way because they know they are being observed.

Trait Theories

Trait theories identify characteristics that together make our personalities and affect our future behavior. Trait theorists suggest that our individual personalities are composed of dispositions such as outgoing, relaxed, and kind. The dispositions, or traits, are relatively stable throughout our lifetime. Unlike the humanistic and psychodynamic perspectives, trait theories focus on the differences within individuals and how the interactions of various traits form a unique personality for each person.

The Physiology of Emotion

Two physiological areas of emotion: - Facial expressions - Brain regions and circuits

Focus on Wellness

Wellness care is a preventative approach to stress. Taking good care of your physical and mental health puts you in prime shape to deal with the stressors that enter your life. Focus on these eight tips to maintain physical and emotional wellness. 1. Exercise. 2. Eat healthy. 3. Find a social support system (friends, family, etc.). 4. Manage your time wisely. 5. Get plenty of sleep. 6. Make time for fun. 7. Stay organized. 8. Breathe deeply.

How behaviorists explain personality

What about personality? Behaviorists explain personality as a set of learned responses or habits (DeGrandpre, 2000; Dollard & Miller, 1950). Remember Little Albert? John Watson, the classical behaviorist, would explain Albert's personality as a response to his environment. B.J. Skinner, proponent for operant behaviorism, would explain that Albert's personality was shaped through reinforcement or strengthened by a reward. Think about how Skinner might explain the development of a loud and selfish personality. In childhood, a person may be the youngest in a family, only receiving attention by screaming. The parents, to avoid the screaming, would reinforce the child's behavior, by immediately giving the child what he or she wanted. What happens? The child becomes a person with a loud and demanding personality.

Satisfaction & Engagement

What is meant by employee engagement? According to Harter (2002), employee engagement means that the worker: 1. knows what is expected of him 2. feels the need to work 3. feels fulfilled at work 4. has opportunities to do his best 5. thinks himself to be a part of something significant 6. has opportunities to learn and develop

cognitive dissonance

a state when a person's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are not consistent

Maladaptive Eating Behaviors | Bulimia Nervosa

is a disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, using laxatives, fasting, or excessive exercise. Individuals with bulimia are similar to people with anorexia in that they are obsessed with body image, weight, and diet. They often take part in binging and purging behaviors. A person with bulimia may ingest thousands of calories in one sitting and then feel guilty for overeating and purge their system through vomiting or laxatives. The onset of bulimia is typically in the early twenties for women, but men may also suffer from the disorder. Most people with bulimia have a normal body weight but perceive themselves to be overweight. Like anorexia, the cause of bulimia is unknown, but social, psychological, emotional, and genetic factors may influence this disorder. For more information on eating disorders and obtaining help, visit: www.nationaleatingdisorders.org (National Eating Disorders Association website).

Phallic Stage

- 3 to 6 years old - Focus of pleasure: Genitals - During the phallic stage, children discover the difference between the sexes and are curious about their genital areas. This is the age in which children play house and doctor. The conflict in the phallic stage centers on the sexual feelings of the child. Freud believed boys develop a sexual attraction to their mothers and jealousy of their fathers. He called this condition the Oedipus complex. Note that these sexual feelings are not the same as adult sexual feelings, but emotions of sexual curiosity mixed with feelings of love and affection. Children at this stage should identify with their same-sex parent and repress their sexual feelings for the opposite sex parent. Fixations: Freud believed phallic stage fixations, which involve immature sexual attitudes and excessive vanity, happened when a child could not identify with the same-sex parent or had an opposite-sex parent that encouraged the sexual attraction. Males with a fixation in the phallic stage may be considered "mama's boys."

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

- Abraham Maslow classified and ranked the needs of humans and suggested that people are motivated to meet these needs - meet the basic levels before you can move up to the higher levels. - Note that Maslow's first hierarchy included only five levels, but was later expanded to include the levels below.

Oedipus complex

- According to Freud, a boy's sexual desire toward his mother and feelings of hatred and jealously toward his father

Alfred Adler

- Adler also disagreed with Freud over the importance of sexuality in personality development. Adler, like Horney, believed that childhood social tensions, not sexual desires, are crucial for personality formation. Adler claimed that our behavior is driven by efforts to conquer feelings of inferiority, so we strive to develop a sense of superiority. He called this the inferiority complex. Adler was also one of the first psychologists to emphasize the importance of birth order in shaping personality.

How Does the Psychodynamic View Explain Personality?

- After attending medical school at the University of Vienna, Sigmund Freud set up a private practice that focused on treating individuals with nervous disorders. Throughout his career, Freud searched for causes of disorders that had no biological explanation. Freud's explanation for abnormal behavior focused on aggressive and sexual explanations. During this time, though, social conventions often gave sexual desires a negative connotation. As Freud treated patients and analyzed himself, his ideas and views evolved and attracted both followers and criticisms. - Freud's psychoanalysis was the first comprehensive theory of personality. His theory included the view that the unconscious mind had a great influence on our conscious behavior. He also proposed his psychosexual stages and defense mechanisms that he believed controlled anxieties.

The Neo-Freudians

- Although Freud had many critics due to his controversial writings, he also attracted many followers that formed an inner circle around him. - These psychoanalysts, called neo-Freudians, accepted Freud's central ideas of personality structure, the importance of childhood and the unconscious in personality, and defense mechanisms. - At the same time, they veered away from Freud on two accounts. These neo-Freudians doubted sex and aggression were all-consuming motivations for everything. They placed more emphasis on the conscious mind and its role in interpreting experiences and adapting to the environment. - Three of the more famous neo-Freudians are Carl Jung, Karen Horney, and Alfred Adler.

The humanistic perspective

- Based on the idea that we control our own fate and have free will, this perspective focuses on the idea that each person is good and chooses to reach self-actualization.

Behavioral and social-cognitive perspectives

- Based on the theories of learning such as classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning - this approach describes how our environment affects our behavior and personality

Sublimation

- Considered a healthy defense mechanism, sublimation is channeling frustration towards a different goal. - Example: An individual uses sublimation when he takes the negative energy of frustration and anger over a break-up and channels it into running or working out at the gym.

The psychodynamic perspective

- Developed by Sigmund Freud - the central theme is that our personality comes from a deep, hidden place within us called the unconscious. - This perspective focuses on the unconscious mind formed in our childhood, yet affecting our behaviors and personality throughout our lives.

Projection

- Disguising impulses by attributing them to others. - Taking the feelings that our ego cannot handle and thinking that people feel that way towards us. - Example: You are projecting when you tell your friend that "Bill" has a crush on her, when actually you have a crush on "Bill."

Displacement

- Diverting aggressive impulses toward an object or person makes the aggression less threatening or more psychologically acceptable. - Example: After striking out at bat, a baseball player throws the bat, kicks dirt, and yells at the umpire, displacing his anger at himself by behaving aggressively toward the umpire. - Another example would be when children, knowing that yelling back at their parents in anger is unacceptable, kick the family dog instead of angrily responding to parents.

Emotion Defined

- Emotion is the "feeling" aspect of consciousness, characterized by a certain physical arousal, a certain behavior that reveals the emotion to the outside world, and an inner awareness of feelings.

Personality and the Brain

- Extraversion: Researchers used PET scans to show how differences in activity in the frontal lobe are related to extraversion. A part of the frontal lobe that is associated with behavior inhibition is less active in extraverts than in introverts (Johnson & others, 1999). So extraverts seek stimulation in a way that introverts just don't. - Shyness: Psychologist Jerome Kagan attributes differences in shyness among children to differences in the reactivity of the autonomic nervous system. Children with a highly reactive autonomic nervous system respond to stress with a greater degree of inhibition, whereas those with lower reactivity have minimal fear.

The Unconscious Mind

- Freud believed the mind was like an iceberg, divided into three parts: the preconscious, conscious, and unconscious minds (Freud, 1901). According to Freud, our conscious awareness is the part of the iceberg that floats above the water's surface and contains information about ourselves and environment that currently exists in our consciousness. Below the surface, lies the unconscious, where thoughts, feelings, memories, and wishes we are unaware of are kept. - The unconscious mind also contains some thoughts we temporarily store. This area which Freud called the preconscious is the part of the iceberg located just below the surface of the water. The preconscious level contains thoughts or memories that can be brought into our conscious awareness quite easily but are not part of our immediate awareness. For example, if someone asks you who your kindergarten teacher was, the name of that teacher would come from your preconscious into your conscious awareness.

Defense Mechanisms

- Freud proposed that our ego protects itself with defense mechanisms by distorting reality. These defense mechanisms are used to reduce or redirect anxiety that results from ongoing conflict between the ego, id, and superego. We are never consciously aware of exhibiting defense mechanisms. Once we become aware of our action to protect the ego, the mechanism is no longer able to reduce anxiety.

Personality Structure

- Freud proposed that our personality consists of three interacting drives: the id, ego, and superego

Psychosexual Stages

- Freud was convinced that personality develops during the first 3 to 5 years of life. - He concluded that children pass through a series of stages during which energies are focused on erogenous zones. - Erogenous zones are distinct pleasure-sensitive areas of the body. Freud called these stages the psychosexual stages. - In these stages, Freud noted how the erogenous areas are both the focus of pleasure and unresolved conflict. - Unresolved conflicts during earlier psychosexual stages could result in maladaptive behaviors in the adult years. - These unresolved conflicts could result in fixations, disorders in which an individual's behavior is associated with an earlier psychosexual stage or stuck in a previous psychosexual stage.

What are the advantages and limitations of the psychodynamic perspective?

- Freud's influence on the modern world of psychology cannot be ignored! - Freud was one of the first to emphasize the importance of childhood experiences in shaping personality. Freud was also correct when he said that we have limited access to some things in our mind. We see his concepts represented in movies and literature. - In spite of his influence, Freud does have critics. - Recent research has contradicted many of Freud's ideas such as the importance of sexuality in childhood. - Critics also note that Freud's theory was a result of his own observations, and, therefore, not verifiable through experimentation. - There is no scientific basis for any of Freud's ideas.

Psychoanalysis

- Freud's theory of personality that attributes our thoughts, feelings, and actions to unconscious conflicts and motives; also, the technique of therapy founded by Freud in which free association, dream interpretation, and transference are used to discover repressed impulses, and inner conflicts

Oral Stage

- From Birth to 18 months - Focus of pleasure: Mouth - Babies "see" the world through oral activities such as sucking, feeding, making noises and sounds, and putting toys in their mouths.According to Freud, babies are dominated by the id and conflict can arise over weaning the child away from the mother's breast. Weaning that occurs too early or too late can result in too much or too little satisfaction of the child's oral needs.Fixations: Overeating, nail biting, gum chewing, excessively talking or drinking too much would be indications to Freud that a person was experiencing unresolved conflict from the oral stage.

Karen Horney

- Horney (pronounced Horn-eye) disagreed with Freud's views regarding the differences between males and females. She strongly disagreed with Freud's view of women having "penis envy" and instead proposed that males feel the need to compensate for their lack of childbearing abilities, which she labeled "womb envy." Horney also steered clear of focusing on sexuality and gave more attention to the child's sense of basic anxiety in personality development. Horney proposed that children with basic anxiety raised in less secure homes develop neurotic personalities or maladaptive ways of dealing with personal relationships. She explained that these children might either become dependent and clingy, aggressive and demanding, or withdrawn from personal relationships all together.

Four Primary Motives that Influence Human Behavior

- Hunger - Sex - Belonging - Achievement

LeDoux's "Low Road" Theory

- Joseph LeDoux proposed our fastest emotional reaction. He suggested that in some circumstances our emotions reroute away from the cortex and take the "low road," a direct path to the amygdala. Our brain then responds so quickly that we are unaware of the danger until after the fact. According to LeDoux, the "low road" is applicable only in certain situations—when we experience fear, likes, and dislikes.

Carl Jung

- Jung (pronounced Yoong) believed the unconscious contains more than just our repressed feelings and thoughts. He believed that there was a personal unconscious, as explained by Freud, and a collective unconscious as well. Jung believed this collective reservoir was how common myths and images, such as snakes as representative of evil, women as symbols of nature, and evil personalities as the devil, could be explained. He called these memories archetypes.

Instinct Approach

- One of the first theories used to explain motivation; did not explain why humans have instincts, but encouraged psychologists to recognize genetic factors in human motivation - In 1908, William McDougall explored human instincts and labeled 18, including curiosity, flight, and aggression. In the years after McDougall, psychologists have identified other instincts. William James suggested that the following instincts motivate people and are necessary for survival: fear, anger, love, and cleanliness. - supports the evolutionary theory of motivation - Note that the instinct approaches do not attempt to explain WHY humans have instincts. Instead, it encourages psychologists to recognize the genetic and biological factors that influence human motivation

Types of Explanatory Styles

- Optimists: people who look for and expect positive results from life. - Pessimists: people who look for and expect negative results from life.

Genital Stage

- Puberty to death - Focus of pleasure: genitals and sexual behavior - At this stage, the libido or sexual energy is again focused on the genitals and sex. Freud considered this fixation normal.

Repression

- Pushing or banishing anxiety-arousing thoughts out of conscious awareness. - Freud believed repression underlies all other defense mechanisms. - Example: Repression is why we do not remember childhood conflicts.

Regression

- Retreating to an earlier, more infantile and comfortable stage of development - Example: When someone is upset about a break-up, they regress and begin to suck their thumb. - Homesick college student sleeps with a teddy bear or baby blanket.

Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory

- Richard Lazarus's appraisal theory states that both the emotional and physical response is based on a cognitive interpretation, or appraisal, of a stimulus. - For example, Javier walks down a dark alley late at night. He hears a noise behind him. He immediately assumes it may be a mugger, so he begins to shake, his heart palpitates, and his breathing becomes rapid at the same time as he experiences fear. His thoughts mediate his emotional response by serving as the "in-between" between experience and emotion. Lazarus suggested that this may or may not be a conscious decision.

Ego

- The ego is the executive part of our personality that operates on the reality principle, gratifying the id's impulses in realistic ways that will bring long-term pleasure. It contains our partly conscious perceptions, memories, thoughts, and judgments and mediates between the id and superego.

Reaction Formation

- The ego unconsciously makes unacceptable impulses seem like the opposite, and we express the opposite of how we really feel. - Example: When saying "I hate him" becomes "I love him."

Id

- The id is the most primitive, animalistic part of our personality. It houses our unconscious energy and constantly strives to satisfy basic drives, such as reproduction, survival, and aggression. The id operates on the pleasure principle, the instant gratification of needs without regard for the consequences.

Words Matter

- The labeling of a feeling is subjective. What an emotion is called and how it is understood is the cognitive element of emotion. How an emotion is labeled is partially learned from a person's culture and environment. Perceptions and attributions are related to emotions. How one reacts to an event depends on how he or she explains it.

Social Context of Facial Expressions

- The meaning of other facial expressions may depend on the situation. - In some cases, people use facial expressions to intentionally communicate how they are feeling. These expressions are used to "control" how others perceive our feelings. Have you ever smiled and said, "I am ok!," when you were actually feeling very sad? This was your attempt to "control" perception.

Five-Factor Model

- The most recent trait theory to emerge is the five-factor model, also known as the Big Five, which reduces Cattell's sixteen factors into five core traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. - Here's a great mnemonic to remember the Big Five Factors: OCEAN or CANOE.

Safety

- The next level includes the safety needs that encompass your security and safety and our freedom from fear. Once you feel safe and protected (not threatened by outside harmful forces), you are then free to move up to the next level of belonging.

The trait perspective

- This approach focuses on the characteristics of each person rather than the process or origin.

Overjustification Effect

- This means that being rewarded may actually diminish your intrinsic motivation over time. Think back to a time when you just loved to play your favorite sport. As you got better and older and more competitive, playing might have become more about winning and getting a scholarship than enjoying time on the field. Your intrinsic motivation has diminished. - Why? In some cases, individuals might just forget to pay attention to their continued enjoyment. In other cases, the rewards may actually have a negative impact on enjoyment.

Anal Stage

- Toddler (18 months to 3 years) - Focus of pleasure: Anus - Freud believed the main area of conflict is toilet training at this stage of life. Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination. - Fixations: Children who rebel and refuse to go in the toilet and instead defecate when and where they please may develop an anal expulsive personality. Those with anal expulsive personalities are what we call "slobs." Children who passively rebel and refuse to use the toilet or take pleasure in retaining their feces may develop an anal-retentive personality. Adults with this personality are stingy, excessively neat, and stubborn.

Rationalization

- Unconsciously generating self-justifying explanations to hide the truth from ourselves. - Coming up with a beneficial result in your mind of an undesirable occurrence. - Example: When students receive a rejection letter from a university, they may rationalize this outcome by saying they never wanted to go there anyway because it is too far away or too expensive. - Another example is when habitual smokers say they only socially smoke.

Instincts

- a behavior that is genetically programed into an entire species - the most basic drives in humans - EX: hunger, thirst, and the need for shelter

Emotions

- a mix of bodily arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience, but how emotions arise is still debated

Collective unconscious

- a shared, common, and inherited memory reservoir of the human species

Fixations

- according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure from an earlier psychosexual stage in which conflicts are unresolved

Unconscious

- according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts and feelings, and memories

Psychologists define personality

- an individual's unique and stable pattern of thinking, feeling, behaving, and experiencing the environment. - Basically, personality is the organization of enduring behavior patterns that serve to distinguish us from each other. - Important Parts: character & temperament

Erogenous zones

- distinct pleasure-sensitive areas of the body.

Sensation Seekers

- do not seek only dangerous activities, but instead seek novel and varied activities that increase stimulation. Therefore, sensation-seekers search for opportunities to increase arousal levels.

Display Rules

- learned ways of controlling displays of emotion in social settings - Display rules in a culture mandate when, where, and how emotions should be expressed or when they should be stifled.

Stress

- linked to both health and happiness

Excessive optimism

- may result in a sense of detachment from realistic expectations

Emotion

- response by a whole organism, involving (1) physical arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience - Encompasses: - Physiological Response - Behavior - Subjective labeling

Motivation

- result of two interacting forces: push and pull

Arousal Theory

- sets forth that there is an idyllic (optimal) level of tension to optimize motivation. - Being under stimulated (like being bored) will result in a lack of motivation. Being overstimulated (trying to text, write a paper, play a video game, and talk to your mother) will result in overstimulation and an inability to successfully perform tasks (not enough attention to adequately perform each of the tasks).

Incentives

- something that motivates

Yerkes-Dodson law

- states that people require a moderate level of arousal in order to perform tasks - Easy tasks (tying your shoes) can be completed under moderate-high arousal, while more difficult tasks (such as long division) can be completed under low-moderate stimulation. Arousal psychologists believe the "perfect" level of arousal is somewhere in the middle of stimulation. Some may ask the question, "Why do I crave high levels of stimulation?" I love roller coasters and other risk-taking activities. This does not make sense according to the Yerkes-Dodson law. Sensation-seekers appear to be people who require higher levels of stimulation than others.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

- that one's facial expression affects emotions you experience. - For example, a woman attends a party that she does not want to go to. She forces herself to smile. By smiling, she feels better.

Self-esteem

- the belief in your inherent value, whether you successfully complete that task or not - feelings of self-worth (high or low)

Self-efficacy

- the belief that you can successfully accomplish a task - If you believe you can accomplish a task (high self-efficacy), are you also motivated? Not necessarily. - It is possible to have high self-efficacy and low motivation OR low self-efficacy and high motivation. This is not to say the two are unrelated. When a person is motivated and successfully accomplishes a task, that person may experience a boost to self-efficacy. This boost to self-efficacy may increase motivation going forward. - sense of competence

Temperament

- the enduring characteristics with which each person is born

Character

- the judgment of an individual's moral and ethical behavior

Conscience

- the sense or moral compass that compels us to do what is right

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

- there are two factors involved. First, you have to have arousal. Then, you cognitively label your arousal. Then, you feel the emotion. - When your tire blows, your heart is palpitating as you think, "I'm scared," and then you experience the fear (emotion).

According to cognitive dissonance theory of motivation

- when individuals experience cognitive dissonance, they are motivated to change either their beliefs or behaviors to restore consistency and reduce psychological discomfort.

Evolutionary theory of motivation

- which says that people unconsciously behave in a way that improves their chance for survival and reproductive success

James-Lange Theory

- you must first feel the physiological effect and then feel the related emotion. - For example, according to this theory, when your tire blows out and you gasp for air and feel fear, you would experience the racing of your heart and then make the cognitive connection to fear. In short, you experience arousal (palpitating heart) and then fear (the emotion).

Cannon-Bard Theory

- you simultaneously experience both the arousal and the emotion; one does not precede the other. - When your tire blows, your heart palpitates (arousal) and you feel the fear (emotion) at the same time.

Self-serving bias

- you tend to perceive yourself positively - A state of inflated self-esteem may also result in narcissism

Managing Employees

A great leader desires to manage in a way that enhances people's fulfillment, commitment, and efficiency in the organization. Basketball coach, Larry Brown, gave four positive comments for every one negative comment he gave a player.

The Hardy Personality

A person that appears to flourish in stressful circumstances, but does not have aggression of the Type A personality

Type A Personality

A person who is determined, time-conscious, and extremely meticulous; may have a propensity toward hostility and anger and can be easily irritated

Type B Personality

A person who is tranquil and easygoing; less determined and competitive than Type A and not easily angered

Self-Actualization

According to Maslow, many people do not make it to self-actualization. This means we are able to put into practice whatever skills we may possess. Since some people do not use their natural ability, they will never reach self-actualization. Others may achieve self-actualization temporarily through peak experiences. Maslow believed growth occurs as you move from peak experience to peak experience within self-actualization. Later, Maslow added a level above self-actualization known as transcendence. In this final stage, you help others achieve their full potential and self-actualization. This stage is very similar to Erikson's Generativity stage.

Kinsey

Alfred Kinsey, a psychologist at Indiana University, published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male in 1948 and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female in 1953. He and his team at the Institute for Sex Research conducted surveys to better understand human sexual behavior and motivation.

Drives

An aroused state of psychological tension that typically arises from a need Types: - Primary drives: drives to survive and thrive related to our need for things like food and water - Secondary (acquired) drives: learned drives that are powerful because of the organism's experiences. Secondary drives might include the desire for money or to gain approval from others

Self-Efficacy

Bandura also highlights self-efficacy as an important personal and cognitive factor. Unlike self-esteem, which is our feeling of high or low self-worth, self-efficacy is our expectancy of how effective our efforts are to accomplish a goal in any particular situation. For instance, if we set out to win the regional track championship, our self-efficacy would likely be high if we have done well at track meets in the past. We are more likely to strive for that goal because the evidence supports our probable success. Our self-efficacy would be low if we did not do well in previous meets. Because we feel that we may not be successful, we may not give our all to reach that goal. According to Bandura, those with high self-efficacy are more persistent than their counterparts because they expect to succeed (Bandura, 1998).

The Need to Belong

Belonging to a social group helped humans in early centuries protect the young against predators, obtain food, and reproduce. Today, belongingness includes the following specific motivations: 1. Wanting to Belong: The need to belong influences our thoughts and feelings. 2. Social Acceptance: When we feel we belong to a group, self-esteem increases. Segregation decreases self-esteem. 3. Maintaining Relationships: We resist breaking social bonds, even ones that cause us harm. Thus, some individuals stay in abusive relationships to maintain a sense of belonging. 4. Ostracism: Social segregation leads to depression and prejudicial behaviors. 5. Stimulating Health: People who tend to have close friends are happier and healthier.

Hans Eysenck

British psychologist Hans Eysenck, with his wife British psychologist Sybil Eysenck, developed a model of personality based on two to three dimensions rather than sixteen. Eysenck believed these traits are genetically influenced. Eysenck focused on extraversion/introversion and emotional stability/instability. Those who are high in extraversion tend to be sociable and outgoing. Those who are high in introversion tend to be quiet and reserved. Stable individuals tend to be emotionally stable and even-tempered. Those who are high in emotional instability tend to be emotional, easily upset, and moody.

Adoption Studies

Children who are adopted may have both biological siblings and siblings by adoption. By comparing adopted children with both their biological and adoptive families, behavior geneticists can determine how environment and heredity impact personality. If the biological siblings are more similar, then the trait is likely to be influenced by genetics. If the adoptive families are more similar, it is likely that a trait is more impacted by the environment in which the child was raised. Research seems to indicate that 25 to 50 percent of personality differences are inherited (Jang et al., 1998). That means the environment is responsible for about half of the variation. The bottom line—genetics and the environment play a role in personality development.

Leadership Styles

Different organizational burdens need different types of leaders. Leadership differs from an employer-focused style to a self-governing style. 1. Task leadership: involves setting standards, organizing work, and focusing on goals; assumes workers are motivated by extrinsic rewards 2. Social leadership: involves mediating conflicts and building high achieving teams; assumes workers are motivated by intrinsic rewards

Emotion-Focused Coping

Emotion-focused coping are coping strategies that modify the influence of a stressor by altering the emotional response to the stress the person is experiencing. Example: Instead of breaking up with your boyfriend/girlfriend, you sit down with them and discuss your frustrations and see the stress as a challenge that you will overcome together.

Projective Tests

Evaluating personality from the psychodynamic perspective requires that the psychoanalyst uncover the unconscious mind. Projective tests, designed to trigger projections of one's inner personality, provide a psychoanalyst with a glimpse into a client's hidden emotions and past events by having them respond to ambiguous visual stimuli with whatever comes to mind. Obscure cartoons, pictures, ink blots and incomplete sentences are all used as projective techniques. Projective tests assess personality, as well as uncover issues or projections of a client's inner personality. A popular projective test of some psychologists is the Rorschach inkblot test, introduced in 1921 by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach. Inkblot tests, which offer a relaxed testing situation, are still used to reveal the client's personality. Some psychologists also employ the inkblot test to predict behavior and diagnose mental disorders. This projective test consists of a therapist showing ten inkblots and asking the client for a response to the picture. The client responds with whatever the inkblot represents. Psychologists score responses based on factors such as size, shape, color, and figures seen in the inkblot. Therapy using inkblots can be surprising, but from the football scenario we surmise that the client is very comfortable sharing what he sees, and the psychologist is able to understand that the client does have an obsession, since the pictures were not truly sports pictures. Henry Murray created another projective test, the TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) that consists of 20 ambiguous black and white pictures. Clients are asked to tell a story about the picture. The storytelling is used to assess achievement motivation as well as reveal projections of the client's own problems. While these projective tests are part of psychological history, they are neither valid nor reliable in predicting personality traits or behaviors. In fact, projective tests are very subjective and, therefore, influenced by personal biases and prejudices. At the same time, though, these tests enable the psychologist to establish a comfortable sharing environment and to gain some insights into the client's personality.

Emotion | Culture

Facial expressions are behaviors that influence emotion. A person's culture influences what experiences an individual has strong feelings about and may encourage individuals to override what would have been their natural (biological) response. Some cultures have words that are associated with specific emotions unknown or less important to other cultures. For example, Alaskan Natives have four different words for the term "snow" which has a significant impact on daily life. Conversely, some cultures do not have specific words or expressions for emotions that are important in other cultures.

How Psychologists Measure Personality

Factor analysis has contributed to our assessments of traits. This statistical procedure helps psychologists identify test items that assess factors that reflect a particular trait.

Health Psychology and Stressors

Health psychology Health psychology: a branch of psychology that focuses on understanding how biology, behavior, and environment, and stress influence health and illness focuses on how physical activities, psychological traits, and social relationships affect overall health and illness. Stress plays a vital role in our physical and psychological health. The termstressis used to describe our physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are considered threatening or challenging.

Raymond Cattell

In an attempt to reduce Allport's 200 traits, Raymond Cattell categorized traits into two types: surface traits and source traits. According to Cattell, source traits are basic traits that form the core of personality and underlie surface traits. Surface traits are certain aspects of personality that can be easily seen by others. Using factor analysis, Cattell identified 16 source traits or key personality traits that he believed were the foundation of all human personality.

How social-cognitive theorists explain personality

In contrast to behaviorist beliefs, the social-cognitive theory, developed by Albert Bandura, focuses on how we judge and react to our environment. Bandura called our back-and-forth interaction with our environment reciprocal determinism. He believed the influences of environment, behavior, and internal personal factors, such as personality mutually impact each other. For example, the music and television programs you select and the people you befriend are all part of the environment you choose, partly based on your disposition. You choose that environment and then that environment shapes you. Take a look at Figure 58.1 which provides an example of how our personality is shaped by the interaction of our environment, our behavior, and our personal and cognitive factors. An individual who is comfortable with risk may seek out activities involving risk such as rock-climbing. Through rock-climbing, this person meets other like-minded people. This social group reinforces the individual's desire to participate in these activities thereby increasing the frequency of rock-climbing outings. In this way, the environment influences the person, but the person also influences the environment.

How Does the Humanistic Perspective Explain Personality?

In the early 1960's, some personality psychologists were discontent with Freud's psychodynamic perspective and its emphasis on unconscious conflicts. In addition, they believed Skinner's behaviorism and its focus on external control of behavior also fell short. Their dissatisfaction gave rise to a third force that focused on the ways "healthy" people strive for self-determination. This approach is known as the humanistic perspective. Two well-known humanists, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, emphasized human potential and the need for psychologists to see the world through the client's eyes, not through the eyes of the researcher. Maslow believed we are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. He posited that if our physiological and psychological needs are met, we ultimately seek self-actualization. Like Maslow, Carl Rogers believed people are basically good and are always striving to fulfill their goals and to reach self-actualization. Rogers explained that we are nurtured by people who are genuine, open, transparent, self-disclosing about their feelings, and value us even after our failures. Rogers called this unconditional positive regard. Unfortunately, there are many times when parents, friends, and spouses only give conditional positive regard. Love and affection are withheld unless the expectations that others have placed on us are being met. According to Rogers, a fully functioning person is one who is in the process of self-actualization, actively exploring their potential and working to realize the ideal self. These fully functioning individuals trust their innermost urges and intuitions and are in touch with their own feelings. Rogers and his fellow humanists believed that a central feature of personality and an important part of reaching self-actualization is the development of a positive self-concept. Two important components of self-concept are the ideal self and the real (or actual) self. Our ideal self is our perception of how we would like to be, whereas the real self is how we actually see ourselves. Rogers believed that when our ideal self and real self are closely aligned, we tend to act and perceive the world as positive. We feel competent and capable, and we believe in ourselves. When our real self falls short of our ideal self, we feel unhappy, dissatisfied, and overwhelmed with anxiety.

Get to Work

Industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology applies psychological principles and research methods in the ordinary workplace. Improving workplace satisfaction benefits both the employer and the employee. The I/O psychologist may be hired by a business to hire and train employees for the "right" positions within an organization and to address issues, such as motivation and employee retention. Areas of interest for the I/O psychologist include working conditions, employee evaluation, social behavior, the relationships between managers and workers, and conflict.

Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology

Industrial-organizational psychologists apply psychological principles to the workplace. Some focus on individual workers and some focus on maximizing the potential of the organization as a whole. 1. Personnel psychology: studies the principles of selecting and evaluating workers 2. Organizational psychology: studies how work environments and management styles influence worker motivation, satisfaction, and productivity You can obtain a position as an I/O psychologist with a bachelor's degree. There are advanced career opportunities for those with master's and doctorate degrees as well. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) is the premier professional organization for individuals practicing or teaching industrial-organizational psychology. Visit the SIOP website to learn more about industrial-organizational psychology

Hunger Weight

Manipulating the lateral and the ventromedial hypothalamus alters the body's "weight thermostat." Genetically, the body is programmed to maintain a weight set point. This is the optimal weight for a person, and the body works to maintain this weight. If weight is lost, a body's food intake increases (drive to eat more leads to increased food intake) and energy expenditure decreases. If weight is gained, the opposite takes place. The rate at which a body's energy is burned when the body is resting is known as the basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR varies from person to person and will change for people throughout their lifetime. Your BMR is typically higher when you are younger and decreases as you get older. That is probably why you hear your parents complain about their weight and say, "I wish I could eat like I was a teenager!"

Meditation

Meditation is a sequence of mental exercises used to redirect concentration and gain a heightened sense of relaxation. Here are two types of meditation: - Concentrative meditation: a form of meditation in which a person centers his or her thoughts on an unchanging object or thought. Meditation at this level of intensity allows the mind to be cleared of painful thoughts and the body can relax. - Receptive meditation: a form of meditation in which people become attentive of everything in their present thoughts or people attempt to expand their consciousness to another plane of well-being.

Hunger Social Components

Not only does body chemistry influence when we feel hunger, but environmental factors influence what we crave! Although some taste preferences are genetic, training, culture, and society affect food preference. For example, Bedouins enjoy eating the eye of a camel, which most North Americans would find repulsive. Most North Americans also shun rat and horse meat, both of which are valued elsewhere. With recurring experiences to new tastes, your enjoyment for a new taste usually increases, and exposure to one set of new foods increases enthusiasm to attempt another new food. The human body also becomes conditioned to a schedule for eating. Many North Americans become hungry around noon because this is the traditional lunch hour, and the body is accustomed to eating at this time even if the person had a snack thirty minutes prior. Food is also used as a stress reliever. The act of eating may be a temporary way to escape a stress-evoking event or thought. Eating and meals have been integrated into many cultures as opportunities for social gatherings. As you study cultures, you will find food plays an integral part in many of the world's past and present societies.

Organizational Psychology

Organizational psychology focuses on motivating employees towards achievement. Achievement motivation is defined as a desire for significant accomplishment. Organizational psychologists help motivate employees and foster employee satisfaction because research shows that the most productive and engaged workers are those working in satisfying environments.

Facial Expressions

Paul Ekman suggested that some facial expressions are universal and determined by biology. His list of biologically-based facial expressions includes anger, contempt, disgust, enjoyment, fear, sadness, and surprise. - Facial expressions can generate the same expressions in others—"Your mood is contagious!" - Facial feedback is the process by which the facial muscles send messages to the brain about the basic emotion being expressed.

Work Attitudes

People have different attitudes toward work. Some view their job as one of the folllowing: 1. Job: necessary to make money 2. Career: opportunity to advance from one position to another 3. Calling: fulfilling a socially useful activity

Interviews

Personality interviews are much less formal than job interviews and more like an ongoing conversation than a question-answer session. When therapists with a psychodynamic perspective conduct interviews, they ask the clients to free associate, relax and say whatever comes to mind, no matter how embarrassing. The therapist takes notes and attempts to lead patients into their unconscious, where painful memories from their past such as childhood traumas could be revealed. Humanistic psychologists may also use interviews as a way for their clients to express who they actually are and who they would ideally like to be. These relaxed interviews or conversations give the therapist an opportunity to assess the self-concept of clients. Interviews allow clients to self-report their thoughts, feelings, and desires. Although this method allows clients to disclose their concerns freely, there are some potential risks. Similar to any self-report data, such as survey results, participants can lie, construct memories, or give socially acceptable answers to impress the interviewer. In addition, the therapist may misinterpret responses due to personal biases or prejudices. Another concern with interviews can occur based on a psychologist's first impression of a client. The halo effect occurs when a person forms a favorable or unfavorable opinion of someone at the first encounter. This can cause a therapist to incorrectly interpret responses based on the initial observation of the client.

Problem-Focused Coping

Problem-focused coping are coping strategies that attempt to eradicate the cause of a stress or reduce its influence. Example: Your boyfriend/girlfriend is picking many fights with you, and you find that your relationship is very stressful. You solve the situation by ending the relationship.

Personality Inventories

Psychologists and trait theorists assess personality through questionnaires in which clients respond to items designed to gauge behaviors, feelings, and specific personality traits. These personality inventories and their lack of open-ended questioning, allow these assessments to be more reliable than projective tests. The most extensively used personality inventory is the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) that is used to assess "abnormal" personality tendencies rather than normal personality traits. The questionnaire consists of over 560 questions that are grouped into 10 clinical scales to test for particular personality problems from shyness to depression. Another personality inventory is Cattell's 16PF which is based on sixteen source traits such as outgoing vs. reserved, dominant vs. submissive, and imaginative vs. practical. This self-report questionnaire shows results based on continuums, so if you score closer to outgoing rather than reserved, you would be more extroverted than someone scoring in the middle or on the opposite side. Today's trait researchers focus on the dimensions in the five-factor model, known as the Big Five. This personality inventory is currently the best approximation of trait dimensions, is said to be quite stable, and applies well to various cultures. Other common personality inventories are the Myers-Briggs, used to assess personality as well as career paths, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II. As with any personality assessment, there are advantages and disadvantages. Personality inventories are standardized and hold a higher rate of reliability and validity over other personality assessments. However, as in any self-report assessment, participants are still able to fake answers, respond in socially acceptable ways, or may choose answers at random.

Incentive Approaches

Rewards and prizes! Those motivate us to perform and act. In the incentive approaches, incentives are used to entice people to perform and achieve. Incentives can be anything from a gold star on a homework assignment to a new car for graduating high school with honors. An incentive is anything that motivates people to execute desired behaviors. Incentive approaches that focus on human values and beliefs are known as expectancy-value theories. According to these theories, an individual's motivation is determined by how much he or she values the goal and whether he or she expects to be successful. Cognitive processes play a part in this theory. Humans are not slaves to rewards. They can judge a situation and determine if the reward is worth the action. When it comes to motivation, psychologists agree there is both an internal pull and external push that motivate individuals to perform actions and behaviors.

Locus of Control

Social-cognitive theorists also emphasize the importance of a sense of personal control when studying how our interactions with our environment affect our personality. Julian Rotter coined the term locus of control to describe our sense of control, or lack thereof, over our environment. Those who believe they have control over their environment have an internal locus of control. Those who believe they have no control and that external forces determine their fate have an external locus of control. Rotter and various researchers found the following: Individuals with an internal locus of control: -perform well in school and work - exhibit independence - feel optimistic - enjoy good health - cope with stress effectively Individuals with an external locus of control: - give up quickly - easily fall into patterns of depression - are overwhelmed with feelings of helplessness and hopelessness - experience passive resignation Psychologists call this passive resignation learned helplessness. Researcher Martin Seligman found that both animals and people, when faced with repeated traumatic events over which they have no control, display signs of passivity, indecision, and depression.

Arousal Approaches

Stimulation has been studied as a way of motivation. Humans require stimulation to produce behaviors. Stimulus motives provoke behaviors through increasing stimulation within a person. The arousal theory sets forth that there is an idyllic (optimal) level of tension to optimize motivation. Being under stimulated (like being bored) will result in a lack of motivation. Being overstimulated (trying to text, write a paper, play a video game, and talk to your mother) will result in overstimulation and an inability to successfully perform tasks (not enough attention to adequately perform each of the tasks). The Yerkes-Dodson law states that people require a moderate level of arousal in order to perform tasks. Easy tasks (tying your shoes) can be completed under moderate-high arousal, while more difficult tasks (such as long division) can be completed under low-moderate stimulation. Arousal psychologists believe the "perfect" level of arousal is somewhere in the middle of stimulation. Some may ask the question, "Why do I crave high levels of stimulation?" I love roller coasters and other risk-taking activities. This does not make sense according to the Yerkes-Dodson law. Sensation-seekers appear to be people who require higher levels of stimulation than others. Sensation seekers do not seek only dangerous activities, but instead seek novel and varied activities that increase stimulation. Therefore, sensation-seekers search for opportunities to increase arousal levels.

Hunger Physiology

Stomach contractions (pangs) send signals to the brain to make us aware of our hunger. However, even more vital are changes to body chemistry. Increases in the hormone insulin reduce blood glucose. When the brain detects a decrease in the hormone glucagon, blood glucose increases. We are not aware of this change in our body chemistry. Our body's internal functioning is monitored by the hypothalamus, which maintains our body's weight and manipulates our hunger sensations. The hypothalamus also controls other hormones that affect hunger including ghrelin (which is secreted on an empty stomach), leptin (secreted by fat cells), and PYY (a digestive tract hormone). Orexin is a hunger-triggering hormone secreted by the hypothalamus. Action in the lateral hypothalamus (LH-sides of the hypothalamus) increases hunger sensations; action in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) lowers hunger feelings. Without the LH, a person or animal has no desire to eat. The brain and body do not receive signals that the body is hungry. Therefore, eating is not desired. Without the VMH of an animal or person, they eat excessively. The brain and body no longer receive the signals that the body's hunger has been satisfied.

Physiological Effects of Stress

Stress affects the body in multiple ways. The immune system typically takes the biggest hit from outside stressors. Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the effects of psychological factors such as stress, emotions, thoughts, and behavior on the immune system. Through psychoneuroimmunology, scientists have found that common diseases are directly linked to excessive stress. Both heart disease and cancer can be a result of psychological stress on the human body. The body's response to stress includes suppressing the immune system—the system of cells, organs, and chemicals that responds to attacks from diseases, infections, and injuries. Thus, the body is more susceptible to these diseases when an individual experiences stress.

Emotion | The Brain

The amygdala - Assesses danger and fear - Damage to the amygdala may result in impairment of the brain's ability to process fear. Left prefrontal cortex - Related to motivation - Damage to this part of the brain leads to impairment of joy. Right prefrontal cortex - Related to withdrawal and flight - Damage to this area leads to excessive mania.

Esteem

The esteem level is described as the need to love yourself and feel important and useful. It is only after you have a love for yourself and you feel useful and important that you can move to the cognitive level.

Gordon Allport

The trait theory can be traced back to the early 1930's when Gordon Allport defined personality in terms of identifiable behavior patterns. Instead of attempting to explain the traits, he focused on describing personality in terms of fundamental traits.

Advantages and limitations of the social cognitive perspective on personality

Unlike behaviorism, the social-cognitive view of personality takes into account our mental processes as well as the impact of our environment. More than any personality perspective, the social-cognitive view builds from psychological research. The main criticism of the theory is that the situation is emphasized over the person's inner traits. This theory ignores biological and hormonal influences and minimizes the impact of emotion and maturation.

Lewin's Motivational Conflict Theory

You have surely experienced conflict and know that often conflict causes stress. Conflict might be classified as unstable (quickly resolved) or stable (less easily resolved so the individual remains in conflict). Understandably, unstable conflicts cause additional stress for individuals. Psychologist Kurt Lewin defined and sorted conflicts into one of three categories: approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, and approach-avoidance. - Approach-approach conflicts have two desirable outcomes. Individuals facing an approach-approach conflict are considered to be in a state of unstable equilibrium. Because the individual must choose between two good options, the decision is likely to be made more quickly. When the individual makes a choice, the conflict is immediately resolved. - Avoidance-avoidance conflicts have two undesirable outcomes. A person facing this type of conflict is likely to remain in equilibrium for some time as a person is immediately reminded of the negative aspects of an outcome when he or she moves away from or towards one outcome. For this reason, while he experiences this conflict, he is considered to be in a state of stable equilibrium. The conflict is less easily and less quickly resolved. - Approach-avoidance conflicts do not involve a choice between two outcomes. Instead, a single outcome has both positive and negative aspects. Like an avoidance-avoidance conflict, an individual is likely to remain in conflict (stable equilibrium) as he or she is repelled by the negative outcome which slows resolution.

Culture

You know about Geert Hofstede's efforts to answer the question, "How does culture impact personality?" Review the four aspects of personality that seemed to differ based on culture. These dimensions are considered characteristic of each culture. However, the extent to which an individual feels compelled to follow cultural norms affects self-concept as well. 1. Individualism vs. collectivism: Do individuals within a culture look after themselves and their immediate families (individiualism) or do individuals value group membership above self (collectivism)? 2. Power distance: Do individuals expect the power to be evenly distributed (low power distance) or do the people accept power concentrated in the hands of a few (high power distance)? 3. Masculinity/femininity: In "masculine" cultures, competetiveness and assertiveness are respected. In "feminine" cultures, modesty and caring are emphasized. 4. Uncertainty avoidance: How comfortable are people with uncertainty in the culture? In cultures that accept uncertainty, individuals welcome different opinions. In addition, these cultures consider rules governing individual behavior less necessary.

Cognitive

Your cognitive needs include your desire to understand the world and gain new knowledge and experiences. You long to satisfy your natural curiosity. Once cognitive needs are assured, you are able to move up to the next level. Note that cognitive needs were identified later in Maslow's career and were not a part of the original model.

Maladaptive Eating Behaviors | Anorexia Nervosa

an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person diets to become fifteen percent or more underweight, yet this person still feels overweight and is preoccupied with losing more weight. Onset of this disorder typically appears during puberty in females. However, males are not immune to this disorder. People with anorexia may also be fanatical about food, calories, body image, weight, and exercise, spending large portions of their day exercising or cooking meals for others while not eating themselves. When a person falls below their optimal weight, they may require serious medical attention. The heart weakens. Hormone secretions are irregular. Muscle loss is evident. Diarrhea becomes frequent. Unusual hair growth occurs. Lanugo is the fine white body hair that a person grows when they no longer have enough body fat to keep them warm. The exact cause of anorexia is not known. However, psychologists have identified social, psychological, emotional, and genetic factors that play a part in this devastating disorder.

Stressors

are events that cause a stress reaction. There are many types of stressors (real or imagined) we face: - Major life changes: life changes that create stress; examples of such life changes include marriage, moving, and going to college - Catastrophes: random, large occurrences that cause a remarkable need to acclimate and alter your life; they create feelings of danger such as a death or natural disaster - Hassles: the everyday irritations of life such as tests, quizzes, and doing chores - Pressure: the psychological effect produced by vital difficulties or expectations for a person's behavior that come from an outside source, such as the deadline for a final paper due in your English class - Frustration: the psychological phenomenon when an individual is stopped from achieving a goal or cannot complete a task. Imagine you are rushing to get to soccer practice on time, only to be stranded in deadlocked traffic as the seconds tick away. You would likely feel frustrated.

Cognitive psychologists have long suggested that

people have a need to align their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors

Stimulus Motives

provoke behaviors through increasing stimulation within a person

Homeostasis

tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state that is optimal for functioning

Need

tension created in a living being that is the result of deprivation of something essential for survival, general welfare, or personal contentment Types: - Need for achievement: desire to reach goals, challenge oneself to win awards, and be at the "top" - Need for affiliation: desire to be liked by others, to be admired, and to have social interactions - Need for power: desire to influence others, control people, and control situations

Extrinsic Motivation

the aspiration to complete a goal because of outside rewards, such as recognition, money, and praise

The drive-reduction theory

the connection between the need, the physiological tension, the psychological drive, and the behavior to reduce the drive and satisfy the initial need

Intrinsic Motivation

the desire to engage in an activity or perform a task because the activity or task is pleasurable, without any desire for external benefits that may come from the activity or task

Expectancy-value theories

the theory that an individual's motivation is measured by how much he or she values the goal and whether he or she expects to be successful