Chapter 10
Motivation and Emotion
Motivational Theories and Concepts
– needs, wants, desires leading to goaldirected behavior
 Drive theories – seeking homeostasis
 Incentive theories – regulation by external stimuli
 Evolutionary theories – maximizing reproductive
success
 Motives
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Fig 10.2 – The diversity of human motives. People are motivated by a wide range of
needs, which can be divided into two broad classes: biological motives and social motives.
The list on the left (adapted from Madsen, 1973) shows some important biological needs in
humans. The list on the right (adapted from Murray, 1938) provides examples of prominent
social needs in humans.
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The Motivation of Hunger and Eating:
Biological Factors
Brain
regulation
– Lateral and ventromedial hypothalamus
– Paraventricular nucleus
Glucose
and digestive regulation
– Glucostatic theory
Hormonal
regulation
– Insulin and leptin
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Fig 10.3 – The hypothalamus.
This small structure at the base
of the forebrain plays a role in
regulating a variety of human
biological needs, including
hunger. The detailed blowup
shows that the hypothalamus is
made up of a variety of discrete
areas. Scientists used to
believe that the lateral and
ventromedial areas were the
brain’s start and stop centers
for eating. However, more
recent research suggests that
the paraventricular nucleus is
more crucial to the regulation of
hunger.
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The Motivation of Hunger and Eating:
Environmental Factors
 Learned
preferences and habits
– Exposure
– When, as well as what
 Food-related
cues
– Appearance, odor, effort required
 Stress
– Link between heightened arousal/negative emotion
and overeating
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Eating and Weight: The Roots of Obesity
 Evolutionary
explanations
 Genetic predisposition
– Body Mass Index and adoption study
 The
concept of set point/settling point
 Dietary restraint
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Fig 10.5 – The heritability of weight. Body mass index is a measure of weight that
controls for variations in height. Twin studies reveal that identical twins are much more
similar in body mass index than fraternal twins, suggesting that genetic factors account
for much of the variation among people in the propensity to become overweight. (Data
from Stunkard et al., 1990)
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Sexual Motivation and Behavior:
Determining Desire
 Hormonal regulation
– Estrogens
– Androgens
– Testosterone
 Pheromones
– Synchronized menstrual cycles
 Aphrodisiacs
 Erotic materials
 Attraction to a Partner
 The Coolidge effect
 Evolutionary
factors
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Fig 10.7 – Parental investment theory and mating preferences. Parental
investment theory suggests that basic differences between males and females
in parental investment have great adaptive significance and lead to gender
differences in mating propensities and preferences, as outlined here.
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Fig 10.8 – The gender gap in how much people think about sex. This graph
summarizes data on how often males and females think about sex, based on a largescale survey by Laumann, et al., (1994). As evolutionary theorists would predict, based on
parental investment theory, males seem to manifest more interest in sexual activity than
their female counterparts.
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Fig 10.10 – Gender and potential mates’ financial prospects. Consistent with evolutionary
theory, Buss (1989) found that females place more emphasis on potential partners’ financial
prospects than males do. Moreover, he found that this trend transcended culture. The specific
results for 6 of the 37 cultures studied by Buss are shown here.
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Fig 10.11 – Gender and potential mates’ physical attractiveness. Consistent with
evolutionary theory, Buss (1989) found that all over the world, males place more emphasis
on potential partners’ good looks than do females. The specific results for 6 of the 37
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cultures studied by Buss are shown here.
The Mystery of Sexual Orientation
 Heterosexual
– A continuum
– Bisexual – Homosexual
 Theories explaining
– Environmental
– Biological
– Interactionist
homosexuality
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Fig 10.12 – Homosexuality and heterosexuality as endpoints on a continuum.
Sex researchers view heterosexuality and homosexuality as falling on a continuum
rather than make an all-or-none distinction. Kinsey and his associates (1948, 1953)
created this seven-point scale (from 0 to 6) to describe people’s sexual orientation.
They used the term ambisexual to describe those who fall in the middle of the scale,
but such people are commonly called bisexual today.
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Fig 10.13 – How common is homosexuality? The answer to this question is both
complex and controversial. Michaels (1996) brought together data from two large-scale
surveys to arrive at the estimates shown here. If you look at how many people have
actually had a same-sex partner in the last five years, the figures are relatively low, but if
you count those who have had a same-sex partner since puberty the figures more than
double. Still another approach is to ask people whether they are attracted to others of the
same sex (regardless of their actual behavior). This approach suggests that about 8% of
the population could be characterized as homosexual.
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Fig 10.14 – Genetics and sexual orientation. A concordance rate indicates the percentage of twin
pairs or other pairs of relatives who exhibit the same characteristic. If relatives who share more genetic
relatedness show higher concordance rates than relatives who share less genetic overlap, this
evidence suggests a genetic predisposition to the characteristic. Recent studies of both gay men and
lesbian women have found higher concordance rates among identical twins than fraternal twins, who,
in turn, exhibit more concordance than adoptive siblings. These findings are consistent with the
hypothesis that genetic factors influence sexual orientation. (Data from Bailey & Pillard,
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1991; Bailey et al., 1993)
The Human Sexual Response
 Masters
and Johnson – 1966
 Stages:
–
–
–
–
Excitement
Plateau
Orgasm
Resolution
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Fig 10.15 – The human sexual response cycle. There are similarities and differences between men and
women in patterns of sexual arousal. Pattern A, which culminates in orgasm and resolution, is the ideal
sequence for both sexes, but not something one can count on (see Figure 10.20). Pattern B, which involves
sexual arousal without orgasm followed by a slow resolution, is seen in both sexes but is more common among
women. Pattern C, which involves multiple orgasms, is seen almost exclusively in women, Table of Contents
as men go through a refractory period before they are capable of another orgasm.
(Based on Masters & Johnson, 1966)
Fig 10.16 – The gender gap in orgasm consistency. In their sexual interactions, men seem to
reach orgasm more reliably than women. The data shown here, from Laumann et al. (1994),
suggest that the gender gap in orgasmic consistency is pretty sizable. Both biological and
sociocultural factors may contribute to this gender gap.
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Affiliation and Achievement Motivation
 Affiliation
motive = need for social bonds
– Devote more time to interpersonal activities
– Worry more about acceptance
 Achievement
–
–
–
–
–
motive = need to excel
Work harder and more persistently
Delay gratification
Pursue competitive careers
Situational influences on achievement motives
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
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Fig 10.18 – Determinants of achievement behavior. According to John Atkinson, a person’s
pursuit of achievement in a particular situation depends on several factors. Some of these
factors, such as need for achievement or fear of failure, are relatively stable motives that are
part of the person’s personality. Many other factors, such as the likelihood and value of
success or failure, vary from one situation to another, depending on the circumstances.
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The Elements of Emotional Experience
 Cognitive
component
– Subjective conscious experience
– Positive psychology
 Physiological
component
– Bodily (autonomic) arousal
 Behavioral
component
– Characteristic overt expressions
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Theories of Emotion
 James-Lange
– Feel afraid because pulse is racing
 Cannon-Bard
– Thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the cortex
and the autonomic nervous system
 Schacter’s
Two-Factor Theory
– Look to external cues to decide what to feel
 Evolutionary
Theories
– Innate reactions with little cognitive interpretation
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Fig 10.24 – Theories of emotion. Three influential theories of emotion are contrasted with
one another and with the commonsense view. The James-Lange theory was the first to
suggest that feelings of arousal cause emotion, rather than vice versa. Schachter built on
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this idea by adding a second factor —interpretation (appraisal and labeling)
of arousal.
Fig 10.25 – Primary emotions. Evolutionary theories of emotion attempt to identify
primary emotions. Three leading theorists—Silvan Tomkins, Carroll Izard, and
Robert Plutchik—have compiled different lists of primary emotions, but this chart
shows great overlap among the basic emotions identified by these theorists. (Based
on Mandler, 1984)
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Happiness
 Common
sense notions incorrect
– Income, age, parenthood, intelligence, and
attractiveness largely uncorrelated
– Physical health, good social relationships, religious
faith, and culture modestly correlated
– Love, marriage, work satisfaction, and personality
strongly correlated
 Subjective
rather than objective reality important
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Fig 10.28 – The subjective well-being of nations. Veenhoven (1993) combined the results of
almost 1000 surveys to calculate the average subjective well-being reported by representative
samples from 43 nations. The mean happiness scores clearly pile up at the positive end of the
distribution, with only two scores falling below the neutral point of 5. (Data adapted from Diener
and Diener, 1996)
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Fig 10.30 – Possible causal relations among the correlates of happiness. Although
we have considerable data on the correlates of happiness, it is difficult to untangle the
possible causal relationships. For example, we know that there is a moderate positive
correlation between social activity and happiness, but we can’t say for sure whether high
social activity causes happiness or whether happiness causes people to be more socially
active. Moreover, in light of the research showing that a third variable— extraversion—
correlates with both variables, we have to consider the possibility that extraversion causes
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both greater social activity and greater happiness.