Motivation & Emotion
AP Psychology
Chapter 10
Emotion
• Organized psychological and physiological
reactions to changes in one’s relationship to the
world.
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Transitory (not constant)
Either positive or negative
Dependent on cognitive appraisal of a situation
Alter thought processes
Create tendency towards certain actions
Passions (not actions) because they occur whether
you want them to or not
The Brain’s Role in Emotion
• Activity in the limbic system is important to the
experience of emotion
• Control over emotional and nonemotional facial
expressions.
• Hemispheric Differences – right hemisphere is
more active in experiencing positive emotions
Figure 11.11: The Autonomic
Nervous System
Autonomic nervous system controls
physiological arousal
Sympathetic
division (arousing)
Parasympathetic
division (calming)
Pupils dilate
EYES
Pupils contract
Decreases
SALIVATION
Increases
Perspires
SKIN
Dries
Increases
RESPIRATION
Decreases
Accelerates
HEART
Slows
Inhibits
DIGESTION
Activates
Secrete stress
hormones
ADRENAL
GLANDS
Decreases
secretion of
stress
hormones
Theories of Emotion
• Does your heart pound because you are
afraid….or are you afraid because you feel your
heart pounding?
James-Lange
Theory of Emotion
• We feel emotion because of biological changes
caused by stress
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
Cannon-Bard
Theory of Emotion
 Emotion-arousing
stimuli simultaneously
trigger:
 physiological
responses
 Emotion
 Thalamus sends
signals to the cortex
and to our autonomic
nervous system at the
same time
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory
of physical
 Both our
responses and our
Emotion
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Fear
(emotion)
Cognitive
label
“I’m afraid”
cognitive labels
(mental
representations)
combine to cause
an emotional
response
 Emotion
depends on 2
factors:
1. Biology
2. Cognition
Emotion- Lie Detectors
 Polygraph
 machine commonly used in attempts to
detect lies
 measures several of the physiological
responses accompanying emotion
 perspiration
 cardiovascular
 breathing changes
Emotion-Lie Detectors
 Control Question
 Up to age 18, did you ever physically
harm anyone?
 Relevant Question
 Did [the deceased] threaten to harm you
in any way?
 Relevant > Control --> Lie
Emotion-Lie Detectors
Respiration
Perspiration
Heart rate
Control Relevant
question question
(a)
Control
question
Relevant
question
(b)
Communicating Emotion
• Facial movements and expressions – primary
role
▫ Body cues and tone of voice play smaller role
• Cultural affect on ways in which emotions are
expressed –
▫ Japanese and North American people disagreed
about which faces showed anger, disgust, and fear
• Social referencing – people use another’s
emotional state to determine how to react
Culturally universal expressions
Infants’ naturally occurring emotions
What Is Motivation?
• Factors that influence the initiation, direction,
intensity, and persistence of behavior.
• Motives – act as intervening variables – provide
a single reason for the occurrence of behaviors
• Sources of motivation:
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Biological
Emotional
Cognitive
Social
Drive Reduction Theory
• Primary and secondary drives reduce
biological needs caused by an imbalance in
homeostasis
• the idea that a physiological need creates an
aroused tension state (a drive) that
motivates an organism to satisfy the need
• Need – a requirement for survival
• Drive – our impulse to act in a way that
satisfies the need
Figure 11.3: Drive Reduction Theory
and Homeostasis
Need
(e.g., for
food, water)
Drive
(hunger, thirst)
Drive-reducing
behaviors
(eating, drinking)
Arousal Theory
• People are motivated to
maintain their optimal level of
arousal
▫ Increase arousal when it is too
low
▫ Decrease arousal when it is
too high
• Regulation of arousal
• Yerkes-Dodson Law – performance
at any task varies with arousal. At low
arousal, people are lethargic and
perform badly. As arousal increases,
performance also increases - but only to
a point, after which increasing arousal
actually decreases performance.
Opponent-Process Theory
• People are usually at a normal, baseline state
• We perform acts that move us from our baseline
state, which are initially pleasurable
• Eventually, we feel an opponent process, or
motivation to return to our baseline, neutral
state
• Common with addictions – smoking, drinking,
etc.
Incentive Theory
• Behavior is goalorientated
• We behave in ways that
allow us to attain
desirable stimuli and
avoid negative stimuli
• We are motivated to
seek rewards
3 Types of Motivation:
• Hunger
• Sexual
• Achievement
Hunger Motivation
• Biological signals for hunger and satiety:
 Signals from stomach
 Signals from the blood
• Hypothalamus – monitors and controls body
chemistry – makes us feel hungry
▫ Hypothalamus is involved in the homeostatic
maintenance of a set point
• Ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus –
stop eating
• Lateral hypothalamus – “hunger center” – start
eating
Hunger Motivation – Psychological
Factors
• Nonbiological factors can override the brain’s
regulatory processes.
• Externals – motivated to eat by external food
cues (attractiveness or availability of food)
• Internals – less affected by the presence and
presentation of food
• Garcia Effect – occurs whenever nausea is paired
with food or drink (classical conditioning – taste
aversion)
• Culture & background
Eating Disorders: Obesity
• Overweight by 100+ pounds
• Possible Causes:
▫ Inadequate physical activity and overeating
▫ Genetic predisposition
▫ Psychological explanations
• Losing Weight
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Diet
Surgery
Antiobesity medications
Exercise
Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa
• Characterized by behaviors resulting in weight
loss below 85% of normal.
▫ About 95% of sufferers are young females.
▫ Despite hunger, refusal to eat.
• Causes serious, often irreversible physical
damage.
Women’s Body Images
Eating Disorders: Bulimia Nervosa
• Intense fear of being fat, but may be thin,
normal in weight, or even overweight.
• Characterized by “binge-purge” episodes.
• episodes of overeating, usually of high-calorie foods,
followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive
exercise
• Majority of sufferers are women
• Weight of a bulimic is normal or slightly above
average
Sexual Motivation
• Sex
▫ a physiologically based motive, like hunger, but it
is more affected by learning and values
• Factors affecting sexual motivation and behavior
include:
▫ Individual’s physiology.
▫ Learned behavior.
▫ The physical and social environment.
Sexual Orientation
• Nature of a person’s enduring emotional,
romantic, or sexual attraction to others.
• In many cultures, heterosexual is a moral norm.
▫ Homosexuality seen as a disease, a mental
disorder, or a crime.
• Attempts to alter sexual orientation of
homosexuals usually ineffective.
Achievement Motivation
• Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation
• Much of our behavior is motivated by a desire
for esteem.
• Need for Achievement – motivated to master
tasks – raise the bar high
▫ Individual differences – high need to achieve vs.
low need to achieve
Development of Achievement
Motivation
• Tends to be learned, especially during early
childhood.
• Parental Influences
• Cultural Influences
• Effects of Beliefs About Oneself
Goal Setting and Achievement
Motivation
• Goals established to reduce a discrepancy
between current and desired situation.
• In general, the more difficult the goal, the harder
one will try to reach it.
▫ Goal must be attainable and valued.
• Important to set clear and specific goals.
Achievement and Success in
the Workplace
• Low motivation when one feels they have little or
no control over work environment.
• Ability to set and achieve clear goals can increase
job performance and satisfaction.
• Especially effective goals are:
▫ Personally meaningful.
▫ Specific and concrete.
▫ If supported by management.
Achievement in the Workplace
 Theory X
 assumes that workers are basically lazy, errorprone, and extrinsically motivated by money
 workers should be directed from above
 Theory Y
 assumes that, given challenge and freedom,
workers are motivated to achieve self-esteem and
to demonstrate their competence and creativity
Achievement and Subjective
Well-Being
• Subjective well-being is feeling satisfied with life,
often having positive emotions
• Subjective well-being tends to be relatively
stable through life.
▫ Baseline level may be influenced by genetics.
• What generates happiness?
▫ Close Social Ties
▫ Religious Faith
▫ Having necessary resources to allow progress
toward one’s goals.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 begins at the base with
physiological needs that must
first be satisfied
 then higher-level safety needs
become active
 then psychological needs
become active
Conflicting Motives & Stress
• Four basic types of motivational conflicts:
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Approach-approach
Avoidance-avoidance
Approach-avoidance
Multiple approach-avoidance
• Conflicts can create significant stress.