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Motivation and emotion

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  • What are the major theories of emotion?

    James-Lange: physiological arousal comes first, then we label it as an emotion. Cannon-Bard: body and emotion occur simultaneously. Schachter-Singer two-factor: arousal + cognitive label = emotion. Appraisal theories: our interpretation of an event determines the emotion felt.

  • What are unconscious influences on emotion?

    Subliminal priming, mere exposure effect, and unconscious appraisal processes can trigger emotional responses before conscious awareness. The amygdala can process emotionally relevant stimuli (e.g. threat cues) and generate responses below conscious awareness.

  • What is Subliminal Priming? Hint: related to unconscious influence on emotion

    A brief exposure to a stimulus so subtle that it goes below the conscious lvl. It might affect out perception of reality. Example: brief exposure to a smiling face will make us rate that image as positive.

  • Why is non-verbal expression of emotion important?

    Non-verbal cues (facial expressions, posture, gesture, tone) often convey emotional meaning more reliably than words. Paul Ekman identified six basic facial expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise) as universally recognised across cultures.

  • What are the major lie detection methods and their pitfalls?

    The polygraph measures physiological arousal (heart rate, skin conductance, respiration) but cannot reliably distinguish lying from general anxiety. Voice stress analysis and fMRI have similar validity problems. All methods produce high false-positive rates and are generally inadmissible in court.

  • What are common myths and realities about happiness and self-esteem?

    Myths: money reliably buys happiness; self-esteem is the key to success.

    Realities: adaptation-level phenomenon means people return to a baseline after good/bad events; high self-esteem is not consistently linked to better outcomes and can co-occur with narcissism.

  • What is the emerging discipline of positive psychology?

    Founded by Seligman, positive psychology scientifically studies human strengths, flourishing, and well-being — including happiness, resilience, gratitude, optimism, and meaning — rather than focusing primarily on pathology and disorder.

  • What are the basic principles and theories of motivation?

    Drive reduction theory: Biological needs create an internal tension (drive) motivates behaviour to restore homeostasis. Incentive theory: external rewards pull behaviour. Maslow's hierarchy: needs from physiological to self-actualisation. Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation also shapes behaviour.

  • Drive reduction theory of motivation

    Biological needs (hunger, thirst) create an uncomfortable internal state called a drive, which motivates behaviour to reduce that tension and restore homeostasis. Works well for basic survival behaviours but fails to explain why people seek stimulation even when all needs are met.