Unit 7 AP Psych

• motivation is the biological, emotional, cognitive or social forces that activate and direct behavior; in other words, it is the need or desire to do something
• instinct is a species' innate, unlearned, complex behavior
• The evolutionary theory of motivation states that species are motivated to engage in certain behaviors due to evolutionary programming
• William James came up with the evolutionary theory of motivation; animal psychologists are also proponents of this theory
• the drive reduction theory states that behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal tension caused by unmet biological needs like hunger and thirst
• drives are triggered by homeostasis
• homeostasis is the regulation of an organism of its internal environment, including body temperature and blood sugar level
• the incentive theory states that behavior is motivated toward attaining desirable stimuli and avoiding unwanted stimuli
• proponents of the incentive theory are behaviorists
• the arousal theory states that people are motivated to maintain a level of arousal that is optimal, neither too high or too low, and that the optimal level varies from person to person
• the arousal theory explains sensation seeking
• the Yerkes-Dodson Law states that effective performance is more likely if the level of arousal is suitable for the activity
• the humanistic theory emphasizes the importance of psychological and cognitive factors in motivation, especially the idea that people are motivated to realize their personal potential
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs states that we can only ascend to higher levels, like self-actualization, once basic needs like food and shelter have successfully been met
• self efficacy is an individual's belief in their capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments; it reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over one's own motivation, behavior, and social environment
• cognitive dissonance is an aversive state that triggers mechanisms to bring cognitions back into a consistent relationship with one another; it is a powerful motivator for change
• the following are examples of cognitive dissonance:

  • a person who is passionate about protecting the environment uses plastic water bottles (so they later decide to use a reusable water bottle instead)
  • a person who believes that animal cruelty is a serious problem buys products that are tested on animals (so they later stop buying those products)
  • a person who says that COVID-19 is a hoax cuts in line to receive the vaccine earlier than he should based on his priority group
• when levels of the following substances are low, hunger or eating results; when levels of these substances are high, satiety (fullness) results:

  • blood glucose
  • cholecystokinin (CCK)
  • norepinephrine
  • dopamine
  • serotonin
  • glucagon
  • leptin
• when levels of these substances are high, hunger or eating results; when levels of these substances are low, satiety (fullness) results:

  • insulin
  • neuropeptide Y
• The 4 Fs that the hypothalamus is in charge of is fight, flight, feeding, and mating
• The 3 parts of the hypothalamus:

  • Lateral hypothalamus (feeding system): stimulation->hunger, lesioning->satiety
  • Ventromedial hypothalamus (satiety system): stimulation->satiety, lesioning->hunger
  • Paraventricular nucleus: both increase and decreases appetite by controlling the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood
• body weight set point is the weight at which your body stabilizes; set point is controlled by the hypothalamus; set points are hard to change, but not impossible
• basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy (calories) your body burns at rest; it decrease with age; is higher in males than females
• the cafeteria diet effect is the tendency to eat more when a wide variety of palatable foods is available
• Alfred Kinsey concluded that sexual behavior is enormously varied and isn't limited to reproduction, and that sexual orientation exists along a continuum from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual (Kinsey scale)
• Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson found that the human sexual response could be scribed as a cycle with 4 stages:

  excitement->plateau->orgasm->resolution
• the average woman has relatively more estrogens and progestins than the average man
• the nervous system splits into the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS); the PNS splits into the somatic nervous system (SNS) and the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and the ANS splits into the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system
• The James-Lange theory of emotion states that we first experience physiological changes and then later label those as signs of a certain emotion (study tip: jump then label)
• the Cannon-Bard theory states that physiological changes and the awareness of emotion are processed simultaneously by the thalamus
• Schachter's two-factor theory of emotion states that emotions result from cognitive labels of psychological changes

  • ex: if you're stuck in traffic, you'll likely appraise or label your arousal as anger
  • ex: if you're taking an exam, you'll likely appraise or label your arousal as anxiety
• appraisal is cognitive evaluation or assessment
• Richard Lazarus' cognitive appraisal theory of emotion states that immediate unconscious interpretation of events leads to both labeling of the emotion and the physiological response; a thought must precede any emotion or physiological arousal
• Schachter discussed appraisal of physiological arousal while Lazarus discussed appraisal of the stimulus itself
• Joseph LeDoux's theory of emotion supports two sensory routes or pathways to the amygdala: a fast short, direct subcortical pathway from the thalamus to the amygdala, and a slower, more accurate, highly processed pathway from the thalamus to the cortex to the amygdala
• Paul Ekman says that facial expression are universal products of evolution
• display rules are learned ways of controlling displays of emotion in social settings; these vary from culture to culture and between men and women
• microexpressions are facial expressions that occur within half a second or less; they unconsciously display a concealed emotion
• the facial feedback hypothesis assumes that facial expressions provide feedback to the brain concerning the emotions being expressed, which in turn not only intensifies the emotion but actually CAUSES the emotion
• acute stress is short duration while chronic stress is long duration