PSYCHOLOGY EXAM Chapter 10 Motivation Motivation describes the wants or needs that direct behavior toward a goal Motivations can be intrinsic arising from internal factors or extrinsic arising from external factors Intrinsically motivated behaviors are performed because of the sense of personal satisfaction that they bring while Extrinsically motivated behaviors are performed in order to receive something from others William James 1842 1910 was an important contributor to early research into motivation and he is often referred to as the father of psychology in the United States James theorized that behavior was driven by a number of instincts which aid survival From a biological perspective an instinct is a species specific pattern of behavior that is not learned According to the drive theory of motivation deviations from homeostasis create physiological needs These needs result in psychological drive states that direct behavior to meet the need and ultimately bring the system back to homeostasis A habit is a pattern of behavior in which we regularly engage Motivation The concept of optimal arousal in relation to performance on a task is depicted here Performance is maximized at the optimal level of arousal and it tapers off during under and over arousal This relationship is known as Yerkes Dodson law which holds that a simple task is performed best when arousal levels are relatively high and complex tasks are best performed when arousal levels are lower Task performance is best when arousal levels are in a middle range with difficult tasks best performed under lower levels of arousal and simple tasks best performed under higher levels of arousal Self efficacy is an individual s belief in her own capability to complete a task which may include a previous successful completion of the exact task or a similar task Albert Bandura 1994 theorized that an individual s sense of self efficacy plays a pivotal role in motivating behavior Physiological Mechanisms For most people once they have eaten they feel satiation or fullness and satisfaction and their eating behavior stops The food s passage through the gastrointestinal tract also provides important satiety signals to the brain and fat cells release leptin a satiety hormone Hunger and eating are regulated by a complex interplay of hunger and satiety signals that are integrated in the brain Metabolic rate is the amount of energy that is expended in a given period of time and there is tremendous individual variability in our metabolic rates People with high rates of metabolism are able to burn off calories more easily than those with lower rates of metabolism The set point theory asserts that each individual has an ideal body weight or set point which is resistant to change Bulimia nervosa engage in binge eating behavior that is followed by an attempt to compensate for the large amount of food consumed Binge eating disorder is a disorder recognized by the American Psychiatric Association APA Unlike with bulimia eating binges are not followed by inappropriate behavior such as purging but they are followed by distress including feelings of guilt and embarrassment Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by the maintenance of a body weight well below average through starvation and or excessive exercise Sexual Behavior A male rat that cannot engage in sexual behavior still seeks receptive females suggesting that the ability to engage in sexual behavior and the motivation to do so are mediated by different systems in the brain The medial preoptic area is involved in the ability to engage in sexual behavior but it does not affect sexual motivation In contrast the amygdala and nucleus accumbeus are involved in motivation for sexual behavior In 1947 Alfred Kinsey established The Kinsey Institute for Research Sex Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University The Kinsey Institute has continued as a research site of important psychological studies for decades Sexual orientation is an individual s emotional and erotic attractions to same sexed individuals homosexual opposite sexed individuals heterosexual or both bisexual Resolution is the relatively rapid return to an unaroused state accompanied by a decrease in blood pressure and muscular relaxation The refractory period is a period of time that follows an orgasm during which an individual is incapable of experiencing another orgasm Gender Gender identity refers to one s sense of being male or female Generally our gender identities correspond to our chromosomal and phenotypic sex but this is not always the case When individuals do not feel comfortable identifying with the gender associated with their biological sex then they experience gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria is a diagnostic category in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM 5 that describes individuals who do not identify as the gender that most people would assume they are Emotion I An Emotion is a subjective state of being that we often describe as our feelings Emotions are often thought to be consciously experienced and intentional Mood on the other hand refers to a prolonged less intense affective state that does not occur in response to something we experience Theories of Emotion The James Lange theory of emotion asserts that emotions arise from physiological arousal Recall what you have learned about the sympathetic nervous system and our fight or flight response when threatened The Cannon Bard theory of emotion was developed According to this view physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously yet independently Lang 1994 So when you see the venomous snake you feel fear at exactly the same time that your body mounts its fight or flight response The Schachter Singer two factor theory of emotion is another variation on theories of emotions that takes into account both physiological arousal and the emotional experience Emotion II Amygdala The amygdala has received a great deal of attention from researchers interested in understanding the biological basis for emotions especially fear and anxiety The basolateral complex has dense connections with a variety of sensory areas of the brain It is critical for classical conditioning and for attaching emotional value to learning processes and memory The central nucleus plays a role in attention and it has connections with the hypothalamus and various brainstem areas to regulate the autonomic nervous and endocrine