Psych 9b Chapter 9

Explain how a motive to belong can be seen as a form of drive reduction.

Loneliness can be considered a drive, or state of tension, and the person will try to reduce this to reach a contented state, or equilibrium.

Outline and compare the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter-Singer theories of emotion. Why might it matter that more recent research suggests that the physiological differences between different emotions are, in fact, relatively minor.

1) physiological response creates emotional experience 2) stimulus triggers a response which causes a physiological response and emotional experience 3) emotional experience arises from bodily responses with a judgment about the context of situational cues . More recent research tells us the problem these theories might have and allows us to use tools like affective neuroscience to find those specific differences.

What evidence is there that reappraisal may be more effective than suppression?

A study showed that those who tried to suppress emotions did worse in memory tasks because they exert self control to suppress feelings. Reappraisal creates less negative emotion.

What role do stomach contractions play in the control of hunger?

As shown by a study where Washburn swallowed a balloon and monitored its pressure, stomach contractions are associated with eating.

What is BMI? Why is it important?

BMI is body mass index, weight in kg over height in meters, which determines if a weight is healthy or not

What elements are coordinated in an emotion?

Behaviors, physiological changes, and feelings

How do emotions differ from moods? How are they similar?

Both are feelings, but moods are longer term while emotions are applied to more specific things.

What does broadening versus narrowing of cognitive or perceptual processes mean? How can this difference be measured in an experimental setting?

Broadening means to expand the meaning of something cognitively while narrowing limits it. Reappraisal causes more activation of lateral and medial prefrontal lobe and less stimulation in amygdala.

Define anorexia nervosa and bulima nervosa. How are they similar? How do they differ? How does their onset depend on genetics and/or sociocultural factors?

Bulimia is defined by a binge and restrict cycle involving compensatory behavior. Anorexia is an intense fear of gaining weight even if the person is dangerously thin. Both are dangerous eating disorders where body image is damaged, although one involves compensation. There is a genetic connection for both and culture influences the need they have to be thin.

Summarize evidence that supports the claim that the physiological changes associated with strong emotional responses facilitate memory.

Change in body chemistry and activation of amygdala promote memory consolidation. Study shows that those injected with anesthetic that blocked emotional response had less memory of slides.

Describe Mischel's "marshmallow" study. How does it help assess the ability of children to use self-control to delay gratification?

Children are tested to see if they can leave their preferred snack right in front of them in exchange for eating it later or if they cave and go for a less desirable snack. Children put off immediate gratification for more gratification later on. Shows how much self control they have.

What is the body-weight, set point hypothesis? How does this explain the problems that dieters encounter losing weight and keeping it off? What is a potential solution?

Claims that organisms have a certain body weight they seek to maintain, which means that dieters often don't lose weight because their bodies seek to maintain a specific weight. Gradual weight loss might help.

Describe three ways that cultural norms influence eating behaviors. What do these differences suggest about the idea that eating behavior is purely instinctual?

Countries with higher portion sizes have higher BMIs, countries with more femininity ideals have women who eat less, availability of food has an effect.

What is homeostasis? What is the important mechanism that underlies homeostasis? Describe both a biological and a non-biological example of homeostasis.

Homeostasis is the tendency we have to maintain a certain internal equilibrium. Drive, which is a state of internal tension, underlies homeostasis. A biological example is a drive like hunger causing us to eat. A nonbiological example is a grocery store bringing in more checkers when lines get long to make them short again.

What mechanisms other than lipid and glucose levels are important for triggering eating behaviors?

Cultural aspects like unit bias, gender roles, and company also affect how much we eat.

Discuss the evidence that the experience of emotions differs between people and across cultural groups.

Different cultures display emotions differently, and they also have different words for different emotions. Some languages have specific names for emotions that others do not. This could impact how those emotions are thought about or experienced.

Describe two ways that emotions might be classified. If psychologists can agree on a classification system, what sorts of questions about how emotions vary can they now ask?

Discretely and dimensionally. One uses categories and clear distinctions while one uses dimensions like more than or less than and pleasantness/activation to describe emotions. Psychologists would be able to ask how pleasant or active an emotion is, how one emotion compares to another, how emotions are related.

What is delayed gratification? How is it related to positive personality characteristics and life outcomes?

Doing something else instead of what we want at that very moment in order to receive benefits at a later time. It is linked to more self control, attentiveness, more success, more articulation, etc.

What are some ways that emotions can be measured? What are some techniques to manipulate emotions in experiments?

Emotion can be measured by heart rate, facial expression, body language, etc. Emotions can be manipulated by providing stimuli designed to promote a certain response.

What are the phases of sexual response? How does this differ for men and women?

Excitement phase- blood pressure heightens increased blood flow to sex organs, plateau phase- still rising but more slowly, muscles of sex organs tighten, orgasm phase- heightened arousal, muscle contractions that lead to ejaculation and guiding sperm up vagina, resolution phase- heart rate drops and muscles relax

Describe some of the benefits that have been found to be associated with being happy?

Happiness is associated with more friends, better jobs, lower divorce rate, higher life expectancy, and higher chance of getting married.

Summarize the bodily functions that are altered in emotional responses and the direction in which they change for emotions of different polarities?

Heart rate, flaring nostrils, breathing, pupils, glucose and epinephrine/norepinephrine production. Nervous system either becomes more active or less active (rest and digest vs fight or flight)

Identify 5 ways that emotional responses can be beneficial.

Help us increase sensory intake, decrease sensory intake, communicate social intent, remember certain events better, lets us know when something is going good or bad

Is homeostasis just a biological phenomenon or might psychological mechanisms also be involved? How might the homoeostasis concept help us to understand our motivations? Where does drive fit in?

Homeostasis is a mainly biological phenomenon, but psychological mechanisms like drive and motive play a role as well. Homeostasis can help us understand our motives because at a basic level, humans strive to achieve equilibrium.

What is the estimated prevalence of homosexuality among humans? Summarize the evidence for both genetic and environmental influences on the development of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is described as being between 1-4% of the population. Study found that probability of one being homosexual is 52% (48 for women) if they have an identical twin who is gay and drops to 22% (16 for women) if fraternal. Study found that homosexual people are more likely to be non right handed, has to do with neurodevelopmental perspective where sexuality is part of brain's circuitry. Amount of brothers is also thought to have an effect on homosexuality.

Humans have many more nutritional needs than most other animals, even other mammals. If humans eat to maintain homeostatic balance, most of what we eat should be determined by these nutritional needs. What evidence is there for or against this assertion?

Humans eat outside of what is just nutritional, they eat unhealthy foods and eat for enjoyment as well.

Outline the lipostatic hypothesis. What brain areas and transmitters are involved?

Hypothesis that adipose tissue plays a role in governing hunger. When fat stores deviate from the target, fat cells release leptin sensed by parts of the brain including the hypothalamus and prevents eating. Ghrelin can also be secreted and promotes eating when fat stores are depleted.

Outline the glucostatic hypothesis. What brain areas and transmitters are involved? Why is this called a dual-center theory?

Hypothesis that hunger is determined by levels of blood glucose, glucoreceptors activate lateral hypothalamus when glucose is low and ventromedial hypothalamus when glucose is abundant. Dual center theory describes how lateral is go and ventromedial is stop.

What are incentives? What is the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic incentives? What role do incentives play in a theory of motivation?

Incentives are positive goals we seek to achieve. Extrinsic incentives are those that are not an inherent part of the activity, but rather something associated with it. Intrinsic incentives are those sought because of the action or activity itself.

Summarize what is known about the effects of viewing sexually explicit material on sexual behavior. What conclusions does the text suggest can be drawn from this research?

It is believed to encourage sexual behavior short term, but there is conflicting evidence on the long term effects. Some believe it has negative effects like causing partner dissatisfaction and some believe it can create a negative trend between sexual material and instances of rape.

What is libido? What hormone is largely responsible for libido?

Libido is sexual interest and is based on testosterone levels.

What are three factors that control our level of happiness? How relatively important is each of these? If you wanted to increase your happiness, which of these can you change and how?

Life circumstances (least important), happiness set point (most important), intentional activities (moderately important). People have most control over their intentional activities and can do things like practice gratitude, savor positive experience, and use strengths.

What are the benefits of social interaction and the dangers of loneliness? Which is a more important driver of these effects, the actual levels of social interaction or a person's perception of loneliness?

Loneliness can be linked to depression, cardiovascular issues, and early mortality. Social interaction gives us a sense of belonging, support, and even info/help. Perception of loneliness is what actually has an effect on a person, not the objective reality of one's social interactions.

How is sexual responsiveness of females in species with an estrus cycle different from those with a menstrual cycle?

Menstrual cycle means constant receptivity to sex while with estrus it turns on and off.

Outline the menstrual cycle. What hormones influence this cycle?

Menstrual cycle occurs when excess lining is sloughed off after egg is not fertilized. Based on estrogen and progesterone levels.

Why do researchers think that facial expressions are strong signals associated with specific emotions? Describe two caveats/limitations of this interpretation.

Most emotions can be shown with facial expressions, we can identify emotions by looking at one's face. It may also be limited because some facial expressions look similar, and we may need context.

Why does the concept of maintaining homeostasis fail as an explanation of most eating by humans?

Most humans eat even when they aren't hungry, and seek out foods they enjoy.

Define motives and instincts. How are they related? How do they differ? What problem emerged when psychologists tried to use instincts to explain our actions?

Motives are forces that influence our actions. Instincts are genetically endowed tendencies to behave a certain way. Instincts are biological while motives are not, but motives arise from instincts. The problem with using instincts to describe our actions is that psychologists have identified thousands of instincts, which is too many.

What are NSSI's? Give an example. Why do activities like this appear to undermine avoidance of pain as a theory that explains motivations? How might the escape-from-self hypothesis deal with this objection?

Non suicidal self injury, such as cutting or burning oneself. This undermines pain avoidance because in this case the participant is seeking pain. The escape from self hypothesis deals with this by explaining that self injury is a distraction from bigger kinds of emotional pain.

What are some of the health risks associated with obesity? Roughly, how much is the probability of dying between ages 40 and 70 increased if one is obese versus normal weight? How does this compare with the increase in mortality due to being a smoker?

Obesity can lead to diabetes, cardiovascular issues, cancer, and shorter life expectancy.

How can emotional responses hurt us, necessitating self-control? Is self-control better thought of as an issue of emotion or motivation?

Our emotions can urge us to do things like neglect work for fun, tell off someone who bothers us, or maybe get involved with someone we shouldn't. These actions would have bad long term effects, so self control helps us. Self control is better thought of as suppressing emotion.

How can avoidance of pain subsume (include or absorb) the drive theory of motivation? What constitutes pain in this theory?

Pain can be considered a drive as well because it is a state of tension, and humans try to correct it to return to homeostasis, which is like the drive theory of motivation.

What are several contrasting ways in which social context can influence the amount consumed?

People eat more in groups, women eat less around men, sights and smells influence eating.

Characterize the two separate aspects of achievement motivation. What is the connection between these and Dweck's research of mindsets? What is a manipulation that can change mindsets?

Performance orientation where the person is concerned with looking smart and doing well as opposed to mastery orientation where learning and improving are the focus. These orientations are connected to the mindsets one has, fixed vs growth. Teaching students that their brain is a muscle and can be strengthened helps change mindset.

Outline the estrus cycle. What brain areas and hormones control this?

Period of sexual receptivity. Follicles mature and produce estrogen, hypothalamus responds by accelerating follicle growth, follicle ruptures and releases egg, estrogen rises and stimulates hypothalamus which makes the animal receptive, progesterone is released and uterus is prepped

How has recent research altered the interpretation of Mischel's marshmallow experiment?

Recent research shows that the children with self control are more self reliant, more attentive, academically adept, resilient, etc.

Outline the strength model of ego control? What roles do ego depletion and delayed gratification play in this model? What data supports this model? What interventions can restore ego depletion?

Self control draws upon a limited pool of cognitive resources, ego depletion is when willpower for one thing depletes the willpower that one could potentially have for another thing. Delaying gratification is ego depletion. Giving incentives, affirmation, or awareness can restore ego depletion.

Describe and illustrate five strategies for emotional regulation.

Situation selection, situation modification, response modulation, cognitive change, attention deployment.

Why do humans typically eat when they do?

Social cues, stomach contractions, glucose and fat stores.

What is the thrifty gene hypothesis? Explain how it can interact with environmental changes to cause increased obesity.

States that genes and natural selection favored fat storage, which can make obesity more likely combined with affluence and societal factors.

What is the pain matrix?

The pain matrix is a network of brain regions including the amygdala that responds to emotional and physical pain.

How do the hypothesized roles played by the glucostatic and lipostatic mechanisms differ?

They involve different signals in different parts of the body. Glucostatic is based on glucose while Lipostatic is based on fat.

Using an example discuss why there needs to be a mechanism resolving conflicts between motives. How does Maslow's hierarchy of motives help solve this problem? What suggestions are there that this hierarchy may not be completely accurate?

Various motives can have different levels of importance for each person and can create confusion when making decisions, such as if someone is deciding if they should quit their job to follow their dream of becoming a singer but is motivated by self actualization and security. Maslow's heirarchy helps us see what is most important to most people. It is not completely accurate however, because there are examples where poets starve for their craft and people put their priorities out of order.

What is the fraternal birth-order effect? What mechanism has been proposed to underlie this effect?

View that each older brother one has results in greater probability of being homosexual. Reasoning states that males effect the mother's immune system and the way subsequent boys' nervous systems develop.

What is known about the brain area underlying rewards and pleasurable stimuli? What important distinction does this suggest about pleasure versus pain?

Wanting involves the brainstem, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum. Liking involves the nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum only. This shows how pleasure is different than pain because the pain matrix is not split between different regions.

In what way are we "wired" so that it is hard to say "no" to food we do not need nutritionally? How does the text suggest that this can be addressed at a societal level?

We have "hungry" brains where the body will take means necessary to get food it desires.