Chapter 10

Motivation and Emotion

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Motivational Theories and Concepts

Motives – needs, wants, desires leading to goal-directed behavior

Drive theories – seeking homeostasis Incentive theories – regulation by external stimuliEvolutionary theories – maximizing reproductive

success

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Fig 10.2 – The diversity of human motives. People are motivated by a wide range of needs, which can be divided into two broad classes: biological motives and social motives. The list on the left (adapted from Madsen, 1973) shows some important biological needs in humans. The list on the right (adapted from Murray, 1938) provides examples of prominent social needs in humans.

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The Motivation of Hunger and Eating: Biological Factors

Brain regulation– Lateral and ventromedial hypothalamus– Paraventricular nucleus

Glucose and digestive regulation– Glucostatic theory

Hormonal regulation– Insulin and leptin

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Fig 10.3 – The hypothalamus. This small structure at the base of the forebrain plays a role in regulating a variety of human biological needs, including hunger. The detailed blowup shows that the hypothalamus is made up of a variety of discrete areas. Scientists used to believe that the lateral and ventromedial areas were the brain’s start and stop centers for eating. However, more recent research suggests that the paraventricular nucleus is more crucial to the regulation of hunger.

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The Motivation of Hunger and Eating: Environmental Factors

Learned preferences and habits– Exposure– When, as well as what

Food-related cues– Appearance, odor, effort required

Stress – Link between heightened arousal/negative emotion

and overeating

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Eating and Weight: The Roots of Obesity

Evolutionary explanationsGenetic predisposition

– Body Mass Index and adoption study

The concept of set point/settling pointDietary restraint

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Fig 10.5 – The heritability of weight. Body mass index is a measure of weight that controls for variations in height. Twin studies reveal that identical twins are much more similar in body mass index than fraternal twins, suggesting that genetic factors account for much of the variation among people in the propensity to become overweight. (Data from Stunkard et al., 1990)

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Sexual Motivation and Behavior: Determining Desire

Hormonal regulation– Estrogens– Androgens– Testosterone

Pheromones– Synchronized menstrual cycles

AphrodisiacsErotic materialsAttraction to a PartnerThe Coolidge effectEvolutionary factors

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Fig 10.7 – Parental investment theory and mating preferences. Parental investment theory suggests that basic differences between males and females in parental investment have great adaptive significance and lead to gender differences in mating propensities and preferences, as outlined here.

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Fig 10.8 – The gender gap in how much people think about sex. This graph summarizes data on how often males and females think about sex, based on a large-scale survey by Laumann, et al., (1994). As evolutionary theorists would predict, based on parental investment theory, males seem to manifest more interest in sexual activity than their female counterparts.

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Fig 10.10 – Gender and potential mates’ financial prospects. Consistent with evolutionary theory, Buss (1989) found that females place more emphasis on potential partners’ financial prospects than males do. Moreover, he found that this trend transcended culture. The specific results for 6 of the 37 cultures studied by Buss are shown here.

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Fig 10.11 – Gender and potential mates’ physical attractiveness. Consistent with evolutionary theory, Buss (1989) found that all over the world, males place more emphasis on potential partners’ good looks than do females. The specific results for 6 of the 37 cultures studied by Buss are shown here.

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The Mystery of Sexual Orientation

Heterosexual – Bisexual – Homosexual– A continuum

Theories explaining homosexuality– Environmental– Biological– Interactionist

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Fig 10.12 – Homosexuality and heterosexuality as endpoints on a continuum. Sex researchers view heterosexuality and homosexuality as falling on a continuum rather than make an all-or-none distinction. Kinsey and his associates (1948, 1953) created this seven-point scale (from 0 to 6) to describe people’s sexual orientation. They used the term ambisexual to describe those who fall in the middle of the scale, but such people are commonly called bisexual today.

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Fig 10.13 – How common is homosexuality? The answer to this question is both complex and controversial. Michaels (1996) brought together data from two large-scale surveys to arrive at the estimates shown here. If you look at how many people have actually had a same-sex partner in the last five years, the figures are relatively low, but if you count those who have had a same-sex partner since puberty the figures more than double. Still another approach is to ask people whether they are attracted to others of the same sex (regardless of their actual behavior). This approach suggests that about 8% of the population could be characterized as homosexual.

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Fig 10.14 – Genetics and sexual orientation. A concordance rate indicates the percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives who exhibit the same characteristic. If relatives who share more genetic relatedness show higher concordance rates than relatives who share less genetic overlap, this evidence suggests a genetic predisposition to the characteristic. Recent studies of both gay men and lesbian women have found higher concordance rates among identical twins than fraternal twins, who, in turn, exhibit more concordance than adoptive siblings. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that genetic factors influence sexual orientation. (Data from Bailey & Pillard, 1991; Bailey et al., 1993)

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The Human Sexual Response

Masters and Johnson – 1966Stages:

– Excitement– Plateau– Orgasm– Resolution

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Fig 10.15 – The human sexual response cycle. There are similarities and differences between men and women in patterns of sexual arousal. Pattern A, which culminates in orgasm and resolution, is the ideal sequence for both sexes, but not something one can count on (see Figure 10.20). Pattern B, which involves sexual arousal without orgasm followed by a slow resolution, is seen in both sexes but is more common among women. Pattern C, which involves multiple orgasms, is seen almost exclusively in women, as men go through a refractory period before they are capable of another orgasm. (Based on Masters & Johnson, 1966)

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Fig 10.16 – The gender gap in orgasm consistency. In their sexual interactions, men seem to reach orgasm more reliably than women. The data shown here, from Laumann et al. (1994), suggest that the gender gap in orgasmic consistency is pretty sizable. Both biological and sociocultural factors may contribute to this gender gap.

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Affiliation and Achievement Motivation

Affiliation motive = need for social bonds– Devote more time to interpersonal activities– Worry more about acceptance

Achievement motive = need to excel– Work harder and more persistently– Delay gratification– Pursue competitive careers– Situational influences on achievement motives– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

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Fig 10.18 – Determinants of achievement behavior. According to John Atkinson, a person’s pursuit of achievement in a particular situation depends on several factors. Some of these factors, such as need for achievement or fear of failure, are relatively stable motives that are part of the person’s personality. Many other factors, such as the likelihood and value of success or failure, vary from one situation to another, depending on the circumstances.

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The Elements of Emotional Experience

Cognitive component– Subjective conscious experience– Positive psychology

Physiological component – Bodily (autonomic) arousal

Behavioral component – Characteristic overt expressions

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Theories of Emotion

James-Lange– Feel afraid because pulse is racing

Cannon-Bard– Thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the cortex

and the autonomic nervous system

Schacter’s Two-Factor Theory– Look to external cues to decide what to feel

Evolutionary Theories– Innate reactions with little cognitive interpretation

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Fig 10.24 – Theories of emotion. Three influential theories of emotion are contrasted with one another and with the commonsense view. The James-Lange theory was the first to suggest that feelings of arousal cause emotion, rather than vice versa. Schachter built on this idea by adding a second factor —interpretation (appraisal and labeling) of arousal.

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Fig 10.25 – Primary emotions. Evolutionary theories of emotion attempt to identify primary emotions. Three leading theorists—Silvan Tomkins, Carroll Izard, and Robert Plutchik—have compiled different lists of primary emotions, but this chart shows great overlap among the basic emotions identified by these theorists. (Based on Mandler, 1984)

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Happiness

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

Subjective rather than objective reality important

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Fig 10.28 – The subjective well-being of nations. Veenhoven (1993) combined the results of almost 1000 surveys to calculate the average subjective well-being reported by representative samples from 43 nations. The mean happiness scores clearly pile up at the positive end of the distribution, with only two scores falling below the neutral point of 5. (Data adapted from Diener and Diener, 1996)

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Fig 10.30 – Possible causal relations among the correlates of happiness. Although we have considerable data on the correlates of happiness, it is difficult to untangle the possible causal relationships. For example, we know that there is a moderate positive correlation between social activity and happiness, but we can’t say for sure whether high social activity causes happiness or whether happiness causes people to be more socially active. Moreover, in light of the research showing that a third variable— extraversion—correlates with both variables, we have to consider the possibility that extraversion causes both greater social activity and greater happiness.