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Introduction to Psychology: Emotion and Motivation

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Terms in this set (21)

  • What is emotion?

    Emotion is a temporary response to something personally meaningful, involving subjective experience, physiological activity, and readiness to act .

  • What are the two main dimensions of emotion?

    Valence (pleasantness) and arousal (physiological activation level).

  • What is appraisal in emotion?

    Appraisal is the conscious or unconscious evaluation of what a situation means, influencing the emotion experienced.

  • What are action tendencies in emotion?

    Emotions prepare us to respond in specific ways, e.g., anger prepares to confront, fear prepares to escape.

  • Describe the James–Lange theory of emotion.

    A stimulus produces a physiological response first; perception of this bodily change creates the emotional experience.

  • Describe the Cannon–Bard theory of emotion.

    A stimulus produces physiological arousal and emotional experience simultaneously, independently.

  • What is Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory?

    Emotion involves physiological arousal plus a cognitive label interpreting that arousal based on context.

  • What role does the amygdala play in emotion?

    The amygdala rapidly evaluates emotional significance, especially threats, and initiates physiological and behavioral responses.

  • What are the fast and slow pathways of fear processing?

    Fast pathway: thalamus to amygdala for rapid response; Slow pathway: thalamus to cortex to amygdala for detailed evaluation.

  • What is the universality hypothesis in emotional expression?

    Some emotional expressions have similar meanings across cultures due to evolutionary functions.

  • Which basic emotions are widely recognized across cultures?

    Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness.

  • What are display rules in emotional expression? /

    Cultural norms that influence when, where, and how emotions are expressed, including intensification, masking, and neutralizing.

  • What is the facial feedback hypothesis?

    Forming a facial expression can influence the emotion we experience.

  • What distinguishes sincere from insincere emotional expressions?

    Features like morphology (hard-to-control muscles), symmetry, duration (0.5–5 seconds), and smooth timing help distinguish sincerity.

  • Define motivation in psychology.

    Motivation refers to internal processes that initiate, direct, and sustain purposeful behavior.

  • What is drive-reduction theory?

    Physiological needs create drives that motivate behavior to restore homeostasis.

  • What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

    A pyramid organizing human needs from physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, to self-actualization.

  • How does the hypothalamus regulate hunger?

    The hypothalamus integrates signals like ghrelin (stimulates hunger) and leptin (reduces hunger) to regulate eating.

  • What factors contribute to obesity?

    Genetics, appetite regulation, energy balance, environment, sleep, medications, and evolutionary mismatch.

  • What is intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation?

    Intrinsic motivation is doing something for its own enjoyment; extrinsic motivation is doing something for external rewards or to avoid punishment.

  • What is loss aversion in motivation?

    People tend to care more about avoiding losses than achieving equivalent gains, influencing behavior strongly.