Psych 111 Exam 2 - Ch 9&10

physiological activation (ex. increased brain activity) increased autonomic responses (quickened heart rate, increased sweating, muscle tension)

psychological state that motivates an organism to satisfy its needs (ex. need= food, drive= hunger, behavior= eating)

• tendency for bodily functions to maintain equilibrium (think of a thermostat... if the temperature is off from the set point on the thermostat then the furnace or air conditioner operates to adjust the temperature.)
• when the body is too cold we shiver to warm up
• when the body is too warm we sweat to cool down

performance increases with arousal up to an optimal point and then decreases with increasing arousal graph is an inverted U (too little we are bored, too much we are overwhelmed)

Ex. a student will perform best on exams when they are feeling moderate anxiety too little anxiety makes them inattentive/unmotivated too much anxiety can interfere with their thinking ability

• the external goals an activity is directed towards
• Ex. working to earn a paycheck

• value or pleasure that is associated with an activity that has no apparent external goal. Behavior that is performed for their own sake. Just enjoyable.
• Ex. playing, listenting to music

basic needs (food and water) are satisfied before higher needs, such as achievement

• starting from the bottom up
• -physiological (hunger, thirst, warmth, air, sleep)
• -safety (security, protection, freedom from thereats
• -belonging and love (acceptance, friendship)
• -esteem (good self opinion, accomplishments, reputation)
• -self-actualization (living to full potential, achieving person dreams and aspirations)

anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, and surprise

people from the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Japan, and the US were all able to recognize the 6 emotional expressions

rules learned through socialization that dictate which emotions are suitable to given situations

bodily reactions that arise from the emotional evaluation of an action’s consequences

ex: queasy feeling in your stomach when you look over the ledge of a tall building

• Selye described the Threes Stages of physiological response to stress:
• -alarm stage
• fight or flight
• the body is most likely to be exposed to infection and disease, so the immune system kicks in and the body begins fighting back

• -resistance stage
• defenses prepare for a longer, sustained attack against the stressor

• -exhaustion stage
• variety of physiological and immune systems fail

biological system responsible for stress response

-brain (stress begins here with the perception of some stressful event) → hypothalamus (sends chemical message) → pituitary gland (secretes hormones) → adrenal glands (secrets cortisol - responsible for many of the feelings we have when we are stressed)

Emotion-focused

Problem-focused

taking a break and distracting yourself eg. going for a run

tackle the problem at hand and try to overcome it

• 1980s study in Denmark
• -BMI of adopted children was strongly related to the BMI of their biological parents and not at all to the BMI of their adoptive parents

genetics determines whether a person can become obese, but environment determines whether that person will be obese

genetics determine sensitivity to environmental influences

more than 300 genetic markers or genese have been identified as playing some role in obesity

does not work

• most diets fail primarily because of the body’s natural defense against weight loss
• -body weight is regulated around a set-point determined primarily by genetic influence

• the body responds to weight loss by slowing down the metabolism and using less energy
• -after the body has been deprived of food, it needs less food to maintain a given body weight

females- ultrathin

males- taller and weigh more

• -dieting, binge eating, purging
• -self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, or abuse of laxative

average weight, or slightly overweight upper-middle- and upper-class Caucasian women

eating disorder characterized by an excessive fear or becoming fat, and thus refusing to eat

self-imposed starvation

upper-middle- and upper class Caucasian girls.