Chapter 10
Motivation and Emotion
Motivational Theories and Concepts
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Motives – needs, wants, desires leading to goaldirected behavior
Drive theories – seeking homeostasis (equalibrium)
Incentive theories – regulation by external stimuli
Evolutionary theories – maximizing reproductive
success - natural selection favors behaviors that
maximize reproductive success
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The Motivation of Hunger and Eating:
Biological Factors
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Brain regulation
– Lateral and ventromedial hypothalamus
– Paraventricular nucleus
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Glucose and digestive regulation
– Glucostatic theory
• glucostats – neurons sensitive to glucose in the surrounding
fluid
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Hormonal regulation
– Insulin and leptin
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The Motivation of Hunger and Eating:
Environmental Factors
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Learned preferences and habits
– Exposure
– When, as well as what
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Food-related cues
– Appearance, odor, effort required
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Stress
– Link between heightened arousal/negative emotion and
overeating
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Eating and Weight: The Roots of
Obesity
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Evolutionary explanations – food abundance
Genetic predisposition
– Body Mass Index and adoption study
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The concept of set point/settling point
Dietary restraint – starve/excess cycle
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Sexual Motivation and Behavior:
Determining Desire
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Hormonal regulation
– Estrogens
– Androgens
– Testosterone
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Pheromones
– Synchronized menstrual cycles
Aphrodisiacs – substances that increase desire
 Erotic materials
 Attraction to a Partner
 The Coolidge effect
 Evolutionary factors – parental investment
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The Mystery of Sexual Orientation
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Heterosexual – Bisexual – Homosexual
– A continuum
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Theories explaining homosexuality
– Environmental
– Biological – anterior hypothalamus, X chromosome
• Some theorists believe that anatomical brain differences such
as these may be due to the organizing effects of prenatal
hormones on neurological development.
– Interactionist- The interactionist view holds that genes and
prenatal hormones shape a child’s temperament, which
initiates a chain of events that ultimately shapes sexual
orientation.
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The Human Sexual Response
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Masters and Johnson – 1966
Stages:
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Excitement
Plateau
Orgasm
Resolution
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Affiliation and Achievement
Motivation
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Affiliation motive = need for social bonds
– Devote more time to interpersonal activities
– Worry more about acceptance
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Achievement motive = need to excel
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Work harder and more persistently
Delay gratification
Pursue competitive careers
Situational influences on achievement motives (probability)
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
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The Elements of Emotional
Experience
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Cognitive component
– Subjective conscious experience
– Positive psychology - increasing research on contentment, wellbeing, human strength, and positive emotion.
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Physiological component
– Bodily (autonomic) arousal – limbic system (fight of flight)
• In the brain, the limbic system is the emotional circuit (the
hypothalamus, the amygdala, and adjacent structures); Joseph LeDoux
(1996) has shown that the amygdala plays a particularly central role in
modulating emotions.
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Behavioral component
– Characteristic overt expressions
• Behaviorally, emotions are expressed through body language and facial
expressions. Research indicates considerable cross-cultural similarities
in the ability to differentiate facial expressions of emotion. The facialfeedback hypothesis holds that facial muscles send signals to the brain
that help it recognize the emotion being experienced…smile and feel
better.
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Theories of Emotion
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James-Lange
– Feel afraid because pulse is racing
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Cannon-Bard
– Thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the cortex and
the autonomic nervous system
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Schacter’s Two-Factor Theory
– Look to external cues to decide what to feel
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Evolutionary Theories
– Innate reactions with little cognitive interpretation
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Happiness
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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
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Subjective rather than objective reality important
 Display rules – cultural norms that regulate the
appropriate expression of emotions (Paul Ekman).
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