Motivation and Emotion - AP Psychology

Cannon-Bard theory states that we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling, and muscle tension simultaneously.

Type A personalities are characterized as being very competitive, goal-driven, and impatient. Additionally, Type A personalities are most likely to exhibit high levels of anger, hostility, and cynicism. While all humans will, at some point, experience lethargy, sadness, happiness, and depression these are, specifically, not characteristic of a Type A personality.

The Cannon-Bard theory states that the brain cannot rely on bodily responses to know which emotions it is experiencing. This is supported by the observation that a racing heart can indicate excitement, fear, or anger.

Edward Thorndike was a prominent American psychologist who proposed the law of effect, which posits that responses that are followed with a positive consequence are more likely to be repeated, as opposed to responses that are not reinforced. B.F. Skinner's theory of operant conditioning is primarily based on the law of effect.

Positive psychology is a growing field of psychological research that seeks to grow the empirical data on optimal human functioning and positive emotions (e.g., longitudinal happiness)

While primary drives are directly related to basic survival and reproduction, secondary drives are related to social factors. Money is not directly related to basic survival, but it can aid in quelling primary drives (for example, using money to buy food to reduce hunger).

The id operates on the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification. The id satisfies drives, developed from physiological needs such as hunger, thirst, sexual drives, and more. The id, unlike the ego or superego, contains no morality or judgment of value. Rather, it seeks immediate pleasure or avoidance of pain, and disregards long-term consequences and benefits.

Proposed by Abraham Maslow, the hierarchy of needs theory states that the most important physiological needs must be met before other, less urgent needs are met. These essential needs consist of oxygen, food, water, and shelter. After physiological needs are met, one will seek to fulfill the need for safety and security (personal, physical, and financial), belongingness and love (friendship, intimacy, and family), then self esteem (earned respect), self actualization (reaching one’s highest potential), and then self transcendence (finding a greater, spiritual purpose in life). According to Maslow, very few people reach a level of self transcendence.

The amygdala is a key brain structure in the limbic system. Those who experience brain damage in this area have difficulty developing conditioned fear responses.

Drive reduction theory is based on the idea that human behavior is motivated by various drives. This behavior is undertaken in hopes of reducing the state of tension these drives create. The most basic of examples would be that when people are hungry they experience the distress of hunger and are motivated to look for food. A more nuanced example might be humans' drives to connect with romantic partners. If humans seek connection and don't find it with one partner, they may look for it in another person.

Extrinsic motivation is a pervasive force behind many of our daily behaviors. Most people don't go to work because it's intrinsically pleasurable, but because they need something. In essence, extrinsic is when someone does something for something else. We go to school to avoid punishment and get approval from our teachers, parents, and peers. We work to get money to pay the bills to avoid being broke and to make our families happy and comfortable.

The reverse is doing something for its intrinsic pleasure, known as intrinsic motivation. For instance we may enjoy knowing more about the world for the pleasure it gives us, not what we have to gain from it.

Emotions are a product of evolution designed to signal when humans need or want something or when a certain need or want has been met. Emotions are universal, as they can be observed cross-culturally, though the degree of expression of emotion may vary in different cultures.

Gherlin is secreted by an empty stomach and tells the brain to switch hunger on. Leptin is secreted by fat cells and tells the brain to switch hunger off. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of well-being.

Primary drives refer to things a person needs to survive, like thirst and hunger. Secondary drives are determined by social factors, money, pride, and fame are all great examples of secondary, not primary, drives.

The Yerkes-Dodson law is a curve known for its bell shape, relating its independent variable (i.e. arousal) to its dependent variable (i.e. performance). This graph shows that performance peaks at moderate levels of arousal, as high levels of arousal result in stress while low levels of arousal result in boredom.

Mood-congruent memory is the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's good or bad mood. Thus, if the subject is upset, he is more likely to recall negative memories during which he experienced a similar emotional state.

There are seven "basic" emotions that have been observed in nearly every culture on earth, and are recognizable between cultures even if those cultures have never interacted previously. These fundamental emotions are: joy, sadness, anger, fear, surpise, contempt, and disgust. Confusion is not one of the universal expressions.

The limbic system deals with emotion and memory. The corpus callosum connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Richard Lazarus's theory of appraisal, which departs from a physiological explanation for emotion, posits that emotions are a result of people's subjective experience of an event. This theory is exemplified by the old tale of many different people looking at an elephant: each of these people will focus on different aspects of this elephant, like its ears, trunk, feet, etc. Likewise, someone's emotional experience of a busy road depends on his or her interpretation. Many might fear the busy road. Others accept it and feel content. Others focus on the sun outside and feel joy.