Motivation and Emotion

• Stressors are stimuli that cause stress
• Eustress is positive or beneficial stress such as excitement or motivation and that come from a challenging task or situation. This kind of stress leads to personal growth and achievement
• Distress is “negative” stress
• The Cognitive Appraisal Theory suggests that our emotions are determined by out interpretation for the situation.
• General Adaption Syndrome is a three stage response, developed by Hans Selye, that the body responses to stress: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
• Alarm reaction is when the body recognizes the stressor and initializes response. this leads To increased adrenaline production and physiological arousal
• Resistance reaction is when the body attempts to cope with the ongoing stressor. The physiological changes stabilize as the body tries to adapt to the stress
• Exhaustion reaction is when if the stress continues for an extended period of time, the body’s resources bevome depleted, this leads to a decrease in the body’s ability to resist the stressor
• Conflict situations are situation in which a person is conflicted between two or more option due to opposing motives: three types of situations: approach-approach, approach-avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance
• Approach-Approach: the situation involves choosing between two attractive alternates. ex. Harvard -and MIT
• Approach-Avoidance is when the Situation has both appealing and appealing characteristics. Example: Icecream
• Avoidance- Avoidance is when the situation is unappealing in either case. example: AP Psych and AP bio test
• Type A personality is competitive. hard driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone: these people are more likely to have heart attacks
• Type B personality are people who are easygoing, relaxed; so they are less likely to get heart attacks
• Walter Cannon first described the fight or flight response
• Hans Selye researched a recurring response to stress that he called (GAS)
• Emotion refers to a complex phycological state that involves physiological activation, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience
• Motivation is a need or desire that energized and directs behavior
• Arousal is the state or being physiologically alert, awake, and attentive
• A need is something that is required for physical or psychological well-being
• The Hierarchy of Needs is a model of Maslow‘s pyramid of human needs; physiological needs must be met, then safety needs, then psychological needs.
• Order of hierarchy of needs: physiological needs, safety needs, Belonging needs, esteem needs, and pastels Self Actualization
• A drive is an aroused state of psychological tension that typically arises from a need
• An incentive is a positive or negative environmental stimulus that typically arises from a need
• The lateral hypothalamus is at the side regions of the hypothalamus and when they are simulated they produce a feeling of hunger
• The ventromedial hypothalamus located around the lower middle area of the hypothalamus and when this is simulated it produces feelings of satiety
• The set point theory is an idea that there is a point at which an individual‘s “weight thermostat” is set. So it is basically the weight that your body thinks you should be at.
• Obesity is the condition of being overweight and it is influenced by both genetic and behavioral factors. For example eating too much and exercising too less.
• Anorexia nerviosa is characterized by a distorted body image, fear of gaining weight, and a refusal to eat.
• Bulimia nervosa is characterized by recurrent and frequent episodes of binge eating, feeling that one lacks control over eating, and then purging
• Instinct theory, one of the theories explaining motivation, is biological or genetic programming as the cause of motivation
• the drive reduction theory when a psychological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need
• Arousal theory is when an individual seeks a level of arousal that is comfortable for them
• Yerkes-Dodson law dictates that performance increases which physiological or mental awareness, but only to a point. ex. Difficult of intellectually demanding tasks may require a lower level of arousal (for concentration) whereas tasks demanding stamina may be best performed which higher levels of arousal (for motivation)
• Incentive theory suggests that behavior is motivated by a desire for reinforcement or incentives instead of just the reduction or internal incentives or drives
• Cognitive dissonance is mental discomfort caused when there is a conflict between a person’s attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. This often causes people to change their attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.
• Intrinsic motivation is driven by internal factors such as enjoyment and reward
• Extrinsic motivation is driven by an external reward or punishment
• James-Lange Theory states that physiological arousal causes the experience of emotion
• The Cannon-Bond Theory states that physiological arousal and the experience of emotion happen simultaneously