AP PSYCH CHAPTER 8- Motivation & Emotion

Self efficacy

The degree to which a person is convinced of his or her ability to effectively meet the demands of a particular situation.

Satiation

The feeling of fullness and diminished desire to eat that accompanies eating a meal is termed satiation. Several signals combine to help trigger satiation. One satiation signal involves stretch receptors in the stomach that communicate sensory information to the brainstem.

Cholecystokinin

The sensitivity of the stomach stretch receptors is increased by a hormone called cholecystokinin, abbreviated CCK. During meals, CCK is secreted by the small intestines and enters the bloodstream. In the brain, CCK acts as a neurotransmitter. Many studies have shown that CCK promotes satiation and reduces or stops eating. CCK also magnifies the satiety-producing efforts of food in the stomach by slowing the rate at which the stomach empties.

Basal metabolic rate

About one-third of your body's energy is expended for the routine physical activities of daily life, such as walking, lifting objects, brushing your teeth, and digesting the food you eat. The remaining two-thirds of your body's energy is used for continuous bodily functions that are essential to life, such as generating body heat, heartbeat, respiration, and brain activity. When you are lying down and resting, the rate at which your body uses energy for vital body functions is referred to as your basal metabolic rate (BMR).

Hierarchy of needs

A major turning point in the discussion of human needs occurred when humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow developed his model of human motivation in the 1940s and 1950s. Maslow acknowledged the importance of biological needs as motivators. But once basic biological needs are satisfied, he believed, "higher" psychological needs emerge to motivate human behavior. The centerpiece of Maslow's model of motivation was his famous hierarchy of needs. Maslow believed that people are motivated to satisfy the needs at each level of the hierarchy before moving up to the next level. As people progressively move up the hierarchy, they are ultimately motivated by the desire to achieve self-actualization. The lowest level of Maslow's hierarchy emphasize fundamental biological and safety needs. At the higher levels, the needs become more social and psychologically growth-oriented, culminating in the need to achieve self-actualization. What exactly is self-actualization? Maslow himself had trouble defining the term, saying that actualization is a "a difficult syndrome to describe accurately." Nonetheless he defined it as " the full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc. "

Energy balance

A regulatory process called energy homeostasis helps you maintain your baseline body weight. Over time, most people experience energy balance. This means that the # of calories you consume almost exactly matches the number of calories you expend for energy. The result is that your body weight, including body fat stores, tends to remains stable. However, energy balance can become disrupted if you eat more or less food than you need. If your caloric intake exceeds the amount of calories expended for energy, you experience positive energy balance. When there is more glucose than your body needs for its energy requirements, the excess glucose is converted into reserve energy--fat. If positive energy balance persists over time, the size and number of the body fat cells that make up the adipose tissue increase. Conversely, if you diet or fast, negative energy balance occurs: Caloric intake falls short of the calories expended for the energy. If this imbalance continues, body fat stores shrink as the reserve energy in fat cells is used for physical activity and metabolic functions.

Set point theory

According to set-point theory, the body has a natural or optimal weight, called the set-point weight, that it is set to maintain. Much like a thermostat set to a particular temperature, your body vigorously defends this set-point weight from becoming lower or higher by regulating feelings of hunger and body metabolism. Although body weight tends to stay stable over extended periods of time, that does not necessarily mean that your baseline body weight is fixed at an optimal level throughout the lifespan. Instead, many people experience a strong tendency to drift to a heavier average body weight throughout adulthood.

Two factor theory of emotion

According to the two-factor theory of emotion, emotion is the result of the interaction of physiological arousal and the cognitive label we use to explain our stirred-up state. Schachter and Singer tested their theory in a clever but flawed experiment. Male volunteers were injected with epinephrine, which produces sympathetic nervous system arousal: accelerated heartbeat, rapid breathing, trembling, and so forth. One group was informed that their symptoms were caused by the injection, but the other was not given this explanation. One at a time, the volunteers experienced a situation that was designed to be either irritating or humorous. Schachter and Singer predicted that the subjects who were informed that their physical symptoms were caused by the drug injection would be less likely to attribute their symptoms to an emotion caused by the situation. Conversely, the subjects who were not informed that their physical symptoms were caused by the drug injection would label their symptoms as an emotion produced by the situation. The results partially supported the predictions. The subjects who were not informed tended to report feeling either happier or angrier than the informed subjects.

Ghrelin

An important internal signal is a new hormone discovered by Japanese researcher Masayasu Kojima and his colleagues in 1999. Ghrelin (pronounced GRELL-in) is primarily manufactured by cells lining the stomach and it stimulates the secretion of growth hormone by the pituitary gland in the brain. Ghrelin was quickly dubbed "the hunger hormone" when research showed that it strongly stimulates appetite. When rats were deprived of food, ghrelin levels increased sharply. More directly, rats whose brains were continuously infused with ghrelin ate voraciously and gained weight. When ghrelin receptors were blocked, their eating behavior subsided. What about people? Research Donald Cummings and his colleagues showed that ghrelin is involved in the short-term regulation of eating behaviors. Ghrelin seems to be involved in the long-term regulation of energy balance and weight. When participants in one of his studies lost weight by dieting, their over all plasma levels of ghrelin-- and feelings of hunger-- increased.

Social learning theory

Based on the principles of learning, social-learning theory of gender-role development contends that gender roles are learned through reinforcement, punishment, and modeling. From a very young age, children are reinforced or rewarded when they display gender-appropriate behavior and punished when they do not. For example, psychologists Beverly Fagot and Richard Hagan observed mothers and fathers interacting with their children in their hoes. They found that 18-month old boys received more positive reactions from their parents for playing with male-typed toys and for exhibiting aggressive or assertive behavior. In contrast, 18-month old girls received more positive responses for attempts to communicate with their parents, while boys received more negative reactions for such attempts.

Incentive theories

Building on the base established by drive theories, incentive theories emerged in the 1940s and 1950s. Incentive theories proposed that behavior is motivated by the "pull" of external goals, such as rewards, money, or recognition. It's easy to think of many situations in which a particular goal, such as a promotion at work, can serve as an external incentive that helps activate particular behaviors. Incentive theories drew heavily from well-established learning principles, such as reinforcement, and the work of influential learning theorists such as Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, and Tolman.

Cognitive appraisal theory of emotion

Developed by psychologists Craig Smith and Richard Lazarus, the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion asserts that the most important aspect of an emotional experience is your cognitive interpretation, or appraisal, of the situation or stimulus. That is, emotions result from our appraisal of the personal meaning of events and experiences. Thus, the same situation might elicit very different emotions in different people. So in the case of the shadowy figure in the parking lot, your relief that you were not on the verge of being attacked by a mugger could quickly turn to another emotion. If it's a good friend you hadn't seen for a while, your relief might turn to pleasure, even joy. If it's someone that you'd prefer to avoid, relief might transform itself into annoyance or even anger.

Bailey and Pillard study

Evidence from multiple studies shows that genetics plays a role in determining sexual orientation. For example, psychologists Michael Bailey and Richard Pillard compared the incidence of male homosexuality among pairs of idential twins, fraternal twins, and adoptive brothers. The researchers found that the closer the degree of genetic relationship, the more likely it was that when one brother was homosexual, the other brother would also be homosexual. Specifically, both brothers were homosexual in 52% of the identical twins, 22% of the fratneral twins, and 11% of the adoptive brothers. They discovered very similar results in twin studies of lesbians. In 48% of idential twins and 16% of fraternal twins, when one sister was lesbian, so was the other sister, compared with only 6% of adoptive sisters.

Gender schema theory

Gender schema theory, developed by Sandra Bem, incorporates some aspects of social learning theory. However, Bem approaches gender-role development from a more strongly cognitive perspective. In contrast to the relatively passive role played by children in social learning theory, gender schema theory contends that children actively develop mental categories for masculinity and femininity. That is, children actively organize information about other people and appropriate behavior, activities, and attributes into gender categories. Saying that "trucks are for boys" and "dolls are for girls" is an example of a gender schema.

Leptin resistance

Having greater fat stores, most obese people have high blood levels of leptin. So why don't these high blood levels of the leptin hormone reduce eating behavior and induce weight loss? Many obese people experience leptin resistance, in which the normal mechanisms through which leptin regulates body weight and energy balance are disrupted. Although leptin levels are high in the blood, they are often low in the obese person's cerebrospinal fluid. This suggests that leptin is not sufficiently transported from the blood to the brain. One possibility is that the obese person's high blood levels of leptin are overwhelming the transport system to the brain.

Cafeteria diet effect

If variety is the spice of life, it's also a sure-fire formula to pack on the pounds. Offered just one choice or the same old choice for a meal, we consume less. But when offered a variety of highly palatable foods, such as at a cafeteria or an all you can eat buffet, we consume more. This is sometimes called the cafeteria diet effect.

James-Lange theory of emotion

Imagine that you're walking to your car through the deserted college parking lot late at night. Suddenly, a shadowy figure emerges from behind a parked car. As he starts to move toward you, you walk more quickly. "Hey, what's your hurry?" he calls out, and he picks up his pace. Your heart starts pounding as you break into a run. Reaching your car, you fumble with the keys, then jump in and lock the doors. Your hands are trembling so badly you can barely get the key into the ignition, but somehow you manage, and you hit the accelerator, zooming out of the parking lot and onto a main street. Still feeling shaky, you ease off the accelerator pedal a bit, wipe your sweaty palms on your jeans, and will yourself to calm down. After several minutes, you breath a sigh of relief. In this example, all three emotion components are clearly present. You experienced a subjective feeling that you labeled as "fear." You experienced physical arousal-- trembling, sweating, pounding heart, and rapid breathing. And you expressed the fear, both in your facial expression and by bolting into a run. What caused this constellation of effects that you experienced as fear? The common-sense view of emotion would suggest that you (1) recognized a threatening situation and (2) reacted by feeling fearful. This subjective experience of fear (3) activated your sympathetic nervous system and (4) triggered fearful behavior. In one of the first psychological theories of emotion, William James disagreed with this common-sense view, proposing a very different explanation of emotion. Danish psychologist Carl Lange proposed a very similar theory at about the same time. Thus, this theory is known as the James-Lange theory of emotion. Consider our example again. According to the James-Lange theory, your heart didn't pound and you didn't run because you were afraid. Rather, the James-Lange theory holds that you felt afraid because your heart pounded and you ran. Feedback from your physiological arousal and from the muscles involved in your behavior caused your subjective feeling of fearfulness. Thus, James believed that emotion follows this sequence: (1) We perceive a stimulus; (2) physiological and behavioral changes occur, which (3) we experience as a particular emotion.

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

In 1927, the famous American physiologist Walter Cannon challenged the James-Lange theory. First, Cannon pointed out that body reactions are similar for many emotions, yet our subjective experience of various emotions is very different. For example, both fear and rage are accompanied by increased heart rate, but we have no difficulty distinguishing between the two emotions. Second, Canon argued that our emotional reaction to a stimulus is often faster than our physiological reaction. Third, artificially inducing physiological changes does not necessarily produce a related emotional experience.

Display rules

In many situations, you adjust your emotional expressions to make them appropriate in that particular social context. For example, even if you are deeply angered by your supervisor's comments at work, you might consciously restrain yourself and maintain a neutral facial expression. How, when, and where we display our emotional expressions are strongly influenced by cultural norms. Cultural differences in the management of facial expressions are called display rules.

Competence vs. achievement motivation

In self-determination theory, Deci and Ryan identified competence as a universal motive. You are displaying competence motivation when you strive to use your cognitive, social, and behavioral skills to be capable and exercise control in a situation. Competence motivation provides much of the motivational "push" to prove to yourself that you can successfully tackle new challenges, such as striving to do well in this class. A step beyond competence motivation is achievement motivation-- the drive to excel, succeed, or outperform others at some task. Creaming your rival in a competitive game and trying to outdo your own previous level of performance is an example of achievement motivation. So is getting an A+ on a difficult exam or becoming the top-selling salesperson in your region.

Instinct vs. drive theories

In the late 1800s, the fledgling science of psychology initially embraced instinct theories to explain motivation. According to instinct theories, people are motivated to engage in certain behaviors because of evolutionary programming. Just as animals display automatic and innate instinctual behavior patterns called fixed action patterns, such as migration or mating rituals, human behavior was also thought to be motivated by inborn instinctual behavior patterns. Inspired by Charles Darwin's landmark theory of evolution, early psychologists like William James and William McDougall devised lists of human instincts. By the early 1900s, thousands of instincts had been proposed in one expert's list or another to account for just about every conceivable human behavior. By the 1920s, instinct theories had fallen out of favor as an explanation of human motivation, primarily because of their lack of explanatory power. But the more general idea that some human behaviors are innate and genetically influenced remained an important element in the overall understanding of motivation. Beginning in the 1920s, instinct theories were replaced by drive theories. In general, drive theories asserted that behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal tension caused by unmet biological needs, such as hunger or thirst. The basic idea was that these unmet biological needs "drive" or "push" us to behave in certain ways that will lead to a reduction in the drive. When a particular behavior successfully reduces a drive, the behavior becomes more likely to be repeated when the asme need state arises again. Leading drive theorists, including psychologists Robert S. Woodworth and Clark L. Hull believed that drives are triggered by the internal mechanisms of homeostasis. The principle of homeostasis states that the body monitors and maintains relatively constant levels of internal states, such as body temperature, fluid levels, and energy supplies. If any of these internal conditions deviates very far from the optimal level, the body initiates processes to bring the condition back to the normal or optimal range. According to drive theorists, when an internal imbalance is detected by homeostatic mechanisms, a drive to restore balance is produced. The drive activates behavior to reduce the need and to reestablish the balance of internal conditions. Ex: After you have not eaten anything for several hours, this unmet biological need creates a drive state-- hunger-- that motivates or energizes your behavior.

Humanistic theory

In the late 1950s, humanistic theories of motivation were championed by psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Although not discounting the role of biological and external motivators, humanistic theories emphasized psychological and cognitive components in human motivation. Motivation was thought to be affected by how we perceive the world, how we think about ourselves and others, and our beliefs about our abilities and skills. According to the humanistic perspective, people are motivated to realize their highest personal potential. Although the motivation to strive for a positive self-concept and personal potential. Although the motivation to be inborn, humanistic theories also recognized the importance of the environment. Without a supportive and encouraging environment-- personal, social, and cultural-- the motivation to strive toward one's highest potential could be jeopardized.

Positive incentive value

Operant conditioning and positive reinforcement play a role in eating, too. Voluntary eating behaviors are followed by a reinforcing stimulus-- the taste of food. Granted, not all foods are equally reinforcing. Because of prior reinforcement experiences, people develop preferences for certain tastes, especially sweet, salty, and fatty tastes. In other words, foods with one of these tastes hold greater positive incentive value for some people. Hence, your motivation to eat is influenced by prior learning experiences that have shaped your expectations, especially the anticipated pleasure of eating certain foods.

Leptin

Leptin is a hormone secreted by the body's adipose tissue into the bloodstream. The amount of leptin that is secreted is directly correlated with the amount of body fat. The brain receptor sites for leptin are located in several areas of the hypothalamus. Neurons in the stomach and the gut also have leptin receptor sites. Leptin is a key element in the feedback loop that regulates energy homeostasis. If positive energy balance occurs, the body's fat stores increase, and so do blood levels of leptin. When the leptin level in the brain increase, and so do blood levels of leptin. When the leptin level in the brain increases, foot intake is reduced and the body's fat stores shrink over time. Increased leptin levels also intensify the satiety- producing effects of CCK, further decreasing the amount of food consumed. Should negative energy balance occur, fat stores shrink and there is a corresponding decrease in leptin blood levels, which triggers eating behavior.

Paul Ekman

Psychologist Paul Ekman has studied the facial expressions of emotions for more than four decades. Ekman estimates that the human face is capable of creating more than 7,000 different expressions. This enormous flexibility allows us considerable versatility in expressing emotions in all its subtle variations. To study facial expressions, Ekman and his colleague Walter Friesen coded different facial expressions by painstakingly analyzing the facial muscles involved in producing each expression. In doing so, they precisely classified the facial expressions that characterize the basic emotions of happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, and disgust. When shown photographs of these facial expressions, research participants were able to correctly identify the emotion being displayed. Ekman concluded that facial expressions for the basic emotions are innate and probably hard-wired in the brain. Further evidence comes from children who are born blind and dead. Despite their inability to observe or hear others, they express joy, anger, and pleasure using the same expressions as sighted and hearing children.

Arousal theories

Racing your car down a barren stretch of highway, going to a suspenseful movie, shooting down the Super Slide at a water park-- none of these activities seem to involve tension reduction, the satisfaction of some biological need, or the lure of some reward. Rather, performing the activity itself seems to motivate us. Why? Arousal theory is based on the observation that people find both very high levels of arousal and very low levels of arousal quite unpleasant. When arousal is too low, we experience boredom and become motivated to increase arousal by seeking out stimulating experiences. But when arousal is too high, we seek to reduce arousal in a less stimulating environment. Thus, people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal, one that is neither too high nor too low. This optimal level of arousal varies from person to person, from time to time, and from one situation to another. That the optimal level of arousal varies from person to person is especially evident in people dubbed sensation seekers. Sensation seekers find the heightened arousal of novel experiences very pleasurable. According to psychologist Marvin Zuckerman, people who rank high on the dimension of sensation seeking have a need for varied, complex, and unique sensory experiences. Although such experiences can sometimes involve physical or social risks, sensation seekers aren't necessarily drawn to danger-- but rather to the novel experience itself. For example, college students who study abroad score significantly higher on sensation seeking than college students who stay in their country of origin.

Facial feedback hypothesis

Research on the facial feedback hypothesis also supports the notion that our bodily responses affect our subjective experience. The facial feedback hypothesis states that expressing a specific emotion, especially facially, causes us to subjectively experience that emotion. Supporting this are studies showing that when people mimic the facial expressions characteristic of a given emotion, such as anger or fear, they tend to report feeling the emotion. The basic explanation for this phenomenon is that the facial muscles send feedback signals to the brain. In turn, the brain uses this information to activate and regulate emotional experience, intensifying or lessening emotion.

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation refers to the direction of a person's emotional and erotic attraction, whether toward members of the opposite sex, the same sex, or both sexes.

Gender role stereotype

The beliefs people have about the typical characteristics and behaviors of each sex are referred to as gender-role stereotypes. In our culture, gender-role stereotypes for men and women are very different. Women are thought (and expected) to be more emotional, nurturing, and patient than are men. Men are thought (and expected) to be more aggressive, decisive, and mechanically minded than are women.

Self determination theory

University of Rochester psychologists Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan have developed self-determination theory, abbreviated SDT. Much like Maslow's theory, SDT's premise is that people are actively growth oriented and that they move toward a unified sense of self and integration with others. To realize optimal psychological functioning and growth throughout the lifespan, Ryan and Deci contend that three innate and universal psychological needs must be satisfied: 1) Autonomy- the need to determine, control, and organize one's own behavior and goals so that they are in harmony with one's own interests and values. 2) Competence- the need to learn and master appropriately challenging tasks. 3) Relatedness- the need to feel attached to others and experience a sense of belongingness , security, and intimacy.