Motivation and Emotion

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 8 Motivation and Emotion I. Concepts and Theories of Motivation 1. A motive is a reason or purpose for behavior. One motive can often account for many behaviors. (see Concepts and Theories of Motivation) Example: A woman drives a Jaguar, wears expensive sports clothes, and joins a country club. Her motive is to demonstrate that she belongs to a specific group of people who are quite wealthy. 2. Instinct theory proposed that human behavior is caused by instincts. (see Instinct Theory and Its Descendants) Example: An instinct theorist would say that Nancy wants to have children because she has a reproductive instinct. 3. Instincts are automatic, involuntary, and unlearned behavior patterns that are consistently displayed in the presence of specific stimuli. (see Instinct Theory and Its Descendants) Example: In some species of birds, baby birds instinctively respond to the striped beak of the adult birds by opening their mouths. 4. Homeostasis is the tendency of an organism to maintain its physiological systems at a stable, steady level, or equilibrium, by constantly adjusting to changes in internal or external stimuli. (see Drive Reduction Theory) Example: Suppose that you had to walk outside in bitterly cold weather. Your body would sense this change in an external stimulus (the cold) and would begin taking action to maintain your temperature. Shivering, an adjustment that generates body heat, would help keep your temperature from dropping. 5. Drive reduction theory states that biological needs, which are created by imbalances in homeostasis, produce drives. (see Drive Reduction Theory) Example: Oscar hasn t had anything to drink for hours. He has a need for fluids, which has caused a drive to find something to drink. 6. A need is a biological requirement for well-being. (see Drive Reduction Theory) Example: Because we cannot live without food and water, they are excellent examples of needs. 7. A drive is a psychological state of arousal that compels us to take action to restore our homeostatic balance. When balance is restored, the drive is reduced. (see Drive Reduction Theory) Example: When you have not eaten for a while, you experience a biological need to eat, which produces the psychological state of arousal known as the hunger drive. Hunger drives us to eat so we can restore balance to our systems. 8. Primary drives are drives that arise from biological needs. (see Drive Reduction Theory) Example: You have primary drives for obtaining food, water, and warmth. These are basic biological needs.

2 Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion Secondary drives are learned through operant or classical conditioning. We learn drives that prompt us to obtain objects that are associated with the reduction of a primary drive. (see Drive Reduction Theory) Example: Joseph lives in Alaska. He has learned that it is necessary to pay his power bill on time (secondary drive) in order to stay warm (primary drive) during the winter.

3 174 Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion 10. Arousal is a general internal level of activation reflected in the state of several physiological systems. (see Optimal Arousal Theory) Example: After the announcement about the pop quiz, Paola s heart rate, muscle tension, and brain activity increased. 11. Optimal arousal theory states that people are motivated to behave in ways that maintain an optimal level of arousal. The level of arousal considered optimal varies from person to person. (see Optimal Arousal Theory) Example: Jorge is sitting in his office after a twelve-hour day, unhappy and bored. His level of arousal is too low. He decides to take a vacation in a country he has never visited. Toward the end of his vacation, he begins to look forward to getting back to work. Now Jorge s level of arousal is too high. He wants to go back to a well-known environment where his arousal level will decrease. 12. Incentive theory states that human behavior is goal directed; we act to obtain positive stimuli and avoid negative stimuli. Positive stimuli or incentives vary from person to person and can change over time. (see Incentive Theory) Example: When Joanna and David were first married, they saved money to buy a house (incentive). Now their mortgage is paid, and buying a house is no longer an incentive that guides their behavior. Instead, they save money to take vacations in Europe. II. Eating 13. Hunger is the state of wanting to eat. Stomach cues, signals carried by the blood, and hypothalamus activity indicate when we should eat. (see Signals for Hunger and Satiety) 14. Satiety is the state of no longer wanting to eat. It is triggered by the brain recognizing nutrients and hormones in the bloodstream. (see Signals for Hunger and Satiety) Example: When James finishes eating a large pizza all by himself, he experiences a sense of satiety, meaning he no longer wants to eat. 15. Obesity is a condition of severe overweight and can contribute to diabetes, high blood pressure, and increased risk of heart attack. (see Eating Disorders) Example: Kurt is 6 feet, 2 inches tall, but weighs over 300 pounds. He is obese. 16. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an obsession with eating and selfstarvation, sometimes to the point of death. Psychological factors associated with anorexia include a preoccupation with thinness and a distorted body image. (see Eating Disorders) Example: Linda refuses to eat anything except one grapefruit per day. She exercises all the time, and is constantly thinking about ways to make herself thinner, even though she is already well underweight. Linda has anorexia nervosa. 17. Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder in which a person consumes large quantities of food (binges) and then attempts to eliminate the food (purges) through vomiting or laxatives. (see Eating Disorders) Example: Veronica comes home and eats a bag of Oreos, a bag of potato chips, and a container of ice cream in one sitting. She then proceeds to induce vomiting so that she will not gain weight from her binge. Veronica probably has bulimia nervosa.

4 Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion 175 III. Sexual Behavior IV. Focus on Research: Tell Me About Your Sex Life 18. The sexual response cycle is the pattern of arousal before, during, and after sexual activity. (see The Biology of Sex) 19. Sex hormones influence our motivation to participate in sex activity. (see The Biology of Sex) Example: Estrogens, progestins, and androgens are examples of sex hormones. 20. Estrogens and progestins are female hormones. They are found in males too, but females have more estrogen and progestin than they have male hormones. (see The Biology of Sex) 21. Androgens are male hormones. Androgens are found in both males and females and play a role in sexual motivation. Testosterone is the principal androgen. (see The Biology of Sex) 22. Heterosexual activity is sexual interaction with people of the opposite sex. (see Sexual Orientation) Example: Jonna is an eighteen-year-old female. She is sexually active and has sex only with men. She is heterosexual. 23. Homosexual activity is sexual interaction with people of the same sex. (see Sexual Orientation) Example: Scott is a thirty-five-year-old male. He is sexually active and has sex only with men. His sexual orientation is homosexual. 24. Bisexual activity is sexual interaction with people of both sexes. (see Sexual Orientation) Example: Hawley is a forty-seven-year-old woman. She is sexually active and has had sex with both men and women. She is bisexual. V. Thinking Critically: What Shapes Sexual Orientation? 25. Sexual dysfunctions are conditions in which a person s ability or desire to have sex is diminished or gone. (see Sexual Dysfunctions) Example: The most common sexual dysfunctions in men and women are, respectively, the erectile disorder and arousal disorder. VI. Achievement Motivation 26. Need achievement is reflected in the degree to which people establish specific goals, care about meeting those goals with competence, and experience feelings of satisfaction in doing so. People with a high need for achievement prefer honest, even if harsh, criticism from a competent critic over unconstructive but pleasant comments. The development of this need is affected by parents, culture, and school experiences. (see Need for Achievement) Example: During grade school, Kelly chose to join an after-school math activity program that had regular tests in addition to projects. Kelly knew that she was good in math and wanted something new to challenge her. 27. Subjective well-being is a combination of judging one s own life as satisfying, frequently experiencing positive mood and emotion, and infrequently experiencing negative mood and emotion. (see Achievement and Subjective Well-Being) Example: Jo Ann feels that her life is pretty good, she is generally happy, and hardly ever gets really mad or sad. Jo Ann has high subjective well-being.

5 176 Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion VII. Relations and Conflicts Among Motives VIII. Linkages: Conflicting Motives and Stress IX. The Nature of Emotion 28. An emotion is either a positive or a negative experience that is felt with some intensity as happening to the self, is generated in part by a cognitive appraisal of situations, and is accompanied by both learned and innate physical responses. (see Defining Characteristics) Example: Imagine that your boss unjustly says that your work is worthless. Rage wells up inside you because you have worked very hard. The involuntary experience of negative emotion just happens; you do not make it happen. Your cognitive appraisal of the situation is also important. You have determined that your boss is not kidding but is very serious. When in a rage, you may feel your face flush and your heart rate increase (reflexive physical responses). 29. The parasympathetic nervous system, a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system, is involved in activities relating to the growth and nourishment of the body. (see The Biology of Emotion) Example: Coleman is happily relaxing after a long day of classes. As he watches a comedy on TV, his heart rate slows, but digestion activity increases. 30. The sympathetic nervous system, a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system, prepares the body for vigorous activity, such as the fight-or-flight syndrome. (see The Biology of Emotion) Example: When Miranda thinks she hears someone breaking into her apartment one night, her sympathetic system initiates the fight-or-flight syndrome, causing her mouth to feel dry, her pupils to dilate, her breathing to become rapid, and other changes associated with fear. 31. The fight-or-flight syndrome is a series of physiological changes in activity, controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares the body for combat (fight) or escape (flight) from threatening situations. (see The Biology of Emotion) Example: A fire alarm startles Coleman. In the fight-or-flight response activated by the sympathetic nervous system, his heart rate and breathing increase. Although he can t feel the difference as he walks to the stairway, his digestive activity has slowed and his blood sugar has increased. X. Theories of Emotion 32. Attribution is the process of identifying the cause of an event through cognitive appraisal. (see Cognitive Theories) Example: Felicia was smiling as she studied. When she noticed it, she attributed it to her happiness about a trip she was planning for the weekend. 33. Transferred excitation occurs when arousal from one experience carries over to a different situation. People stay aroused longer than they think they do. If people have been aroused and then encounter a new situation, they may interpret their arousal as an emotional reaction to the new situation. (see Cognitive Theories) Example: You have just run to class. Just outside the door of the classroom, one of the people working on your group project tells you that she could not finish her part of the paper that is due this period. Normally you would be angry, but your increased arousal from the run intensifies your emotion. You are not just angry; you are furious.

6 Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion 177 XI. Communicating Emotion 34. Social referencing occurs in ambiguous social situations. People use others body language, including posture and facial expressions, to determine appropriate choices for their behavior. (see Social and Cultural Influences on Emotional Expression) Example: When Caryn reached for the candy dish, her mother frowned, so she stopped.