AP Psychology: Motivation

Primary Drives

- Biological needs (e.g., thirst). - Drive reduction theory states that our behavior is motivated by biological needs.

Anorexia

- A kind of eating disorder - Anorexics starve themselves to below 85 percent of their normal body weight and refuse to eat due to their obsession with weight. - The vast majority of anorexics are women.

Bulimia

- A kind of eating disorder - Bulimics eat large amounts of food in a short period of time (binging) and then get rid of the food (purging) by vomiting, exercising excessively, or using laxatives. - Bulimics are obsessed with food and their weight. The majority of bulimics are women.

Obesity

- A kind of eating disorder - People with diagnosed obesity are severely overweight, often by over 100 pounds, and the excess weight threatens their health - Obese people typically have unhealthy eating habits rather than the food obsessions of the other two disorders - Some people may also be genetically predisposed to obesity

Instincts

- Automatic behaviors performed in response to specific stimuli. - Even though psychologists debate whether humans are born with any instincts, they agree that our behavior is also motivated by other biological and psychological factors

Set-Point Theory

- Describes how the hypothalamus might decide what impulse to send. - States that the hypothalamus wants to maintain a certain optimum body weight. - When we drop below that weight, the hypothalamus tells us we should eat and lowers our metabolic rate - how quickly our body uses energy. - The hypothalamus tells us to stop eating when that set point is reached and raises our metabolic rate to burn any excess food.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

- Exists when one event or goal has both attractive and unattractive features. - If you were lactose-intolerant, an ice-cream cone would present such a conflict; the taste of the ice cream is appealing but its effect on you are not.

Motivations

- Feelings or ideas that cause us to act toward a goal

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

- Hans Selye's GAS describes the general respone animals (including humans) have to a stressful event. - Our response pattern to many different physical and emotional stresses is very consistent. - Process progresses through alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion phases. - Explains some of the documented problems associated with extended periods of stress. Excessive stress can contribute to both physical diseases (e.g., ulcers and heart conditions) and emotional difficulties (e.g., depression).

Secondary Drives

- Learned drives. - For instance, we learn that resources like money can get us food and water to satisfy our primary drives. - Drive reduction theory states that our behavior is motivated by biological needs.

Approach-Approach Conflict

- Occurs when you must choose between two desirable outcomes. - For example, imagine that for Spring Break one of your friends invites you to spend the week in Puerto Rico and another asks you to go to San Francisco. Assuming that both choices appeal to you, you have a conflict because you can only do one.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict

- Occurs when you must choose between two unattractive outcomes - For example, if your parents gave you a choice one weekend between staying home and cleaning out the garage or going on a family trip to visit some distant relatives, you might experience an avoidance-avoidance conflict.

Opponent-Process Theory of Motivation

- Often used to explain addictive behaviors. - States that people are usually at a normal, or baseline, state. We might perform an act that moves us from the baseline state, such as smoking a cigarette. - These acts may be initially pleasurable (because nicotine is a stimulant and it makes us feel a good "buzz"), but the theory states that we eventually feel an opponent process, meaning a motivation to return to our baseline, neutral state - Do not confuse the Opponent Process Theory of Motivation with the Opponent Process Theory of Color Vision

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

- One of the earliest theories about emotion was put forth by William James and Carl Lange. - Suggests that we feel emotion because of biological changes caused by stress. - For example, when the big bad wolf jumps out of the woods Little Red Riding Hood's heart races. This physiological change causes her to feel afraid.

Lateral Hypothalamus

- Part of the hypothalamus involved in hunger motivation. - Stimulating this area causes an animal to eat. - Destruction of this area destroys hunger, and the animal will starve to death unless forced to eat. - If the hypothalamus functions normally, this area and the ventromedial hypothalamus oppose each other and signal impulses to eat and stop eating at appropriate times.

Extrinsic Motivators

- Rewards that we get for accomplishments from outside ourselves (e.g., grades, salary). - Studies show that if we want an advantageous behavior to continue, intrinsic motivation is most effective. - Extrinsic motivations are very effective for a short period of time. Inevitably, though, the extrinsic motivations end and so will the desired behavior unless some intrinsic motivation continues to motive the behavior

Intrinsic Motivators

- Rewards we get internally, such as enjoyment or satisfaction. - Studies show that if we want an advantageous behavior to continue, intrinsic motivation is most effective - Extrinsic motivations are very effective for a short period of time. Inevitably, though, the extrinsic motivations end and so will the desired behavior unless some intrinsic motivation continues to motivate behavior

Two-Factor Theory

- Stanley Schachter's two-factor theory explains emotional experiences in a more complete way than either the James-Lange or Cannon-Bard theories do. - Suggests that both our physical responses and our cognitive labels (our mental interpretations) combine to cause any particular emotional response.

Drive Reduction Theory

- States that our behavior is motivated by biological needs. - A need is one of our requirements for survival (e.g., food, water, shelter). - A drive is our impulse to act in a way that satisfies this need. - Our body seeks homeostasis, a balanced internal state. When we are out of homeostasis, we have a need that creates a drive. - Drives can be categorized in two ways: primary drives and secondary drives

Arousal Theory

- States that we seek an optimum level of excitement or arousal - Each of us has a different need for excitement or arousal, and we are motivated by activities that will help us achieve this level. - People with high optimum levels of arousal might be drawn to high-excitement behaviors, while the rest of us are satisfied with less exciting and less risk activities - In general, most of us perform best with an optimum level of arousal, although this varies with different activities - We might perform well at an easy task with a very high level of arousal, but the same high level of arousal would prevent us from performing well on a difficult task. - This relationship is called the Yerkes-Dodson law after the researchers who first investigated the concept in animals

Incentives

- Stimuli that we are drawn to due to learning. - We learn to associate some stimuli with rewards and others with punishment, and we are motivated to seek the rewards. - For example, you may learn that studying with friends is fun but does not produce the desired results around test time, so you are motivated to study alone to get the reward of a good test score.

Achievement Motivation

- Tries to explain the motivations behind more complex behaviors. - Examines our desires to master complex tasks and knowledge and to reach personal goals - Humans (and some other animals) seem to be motivated to figure out our world and master skills, sometimes regardless of the benefits of the skills or knowledge - Studies in achievement motivation find that some people have high achievement motivation and consistently feel motivated to challenge themselves more than do other people

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

- Walter Cannon and Philip Bard demonstrated that similar physiological changes correspond with drastically different emotional states. - Suggests that the biological change and the cognitive awareness of the emotional state occur simultaneously.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Psychologist Abraham Maslow pointed out that not all needs are created equal - Predicts which needs we will be motivated to satisfy first. - We will act to satisfy biological needs like survival and safety. Then, we will act to satisfy our emotional needs like love and self-esteem. Finally, once the previous goals have been met, we will want to attain our life goals like satisfaction and self-actualization, a need to fulfill our unique potential as a person