PSYC340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Sexual Arousal, Libido, Social Emotions

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Theme 2psychology is theoretically diverseis featured in an attempt to explain the concepts of
motivation and emotion. Both concepts encompass great varieties of human experience, and a single
theory seems inadequate to explain the diversity; even a synthesis of theories falls short, which
indicates that more research is necessary.
Theme 3psychology evolves in a sociohistorical contextconsiders motivational views, such as the
sociobiological and evolutionary views, which are reflected in the section that deals with the origins of
homosexuality.
Theme 4behaviour is determined by multiple causesbecomes an important consideration in Chapter
10 because theoretical synthesis cannot likely be used to explain motivation and emotion. For example,
several factors affect thirst, hunger and eating, sexual behaviour, emotional expression, affiliation, and
achievement. Many of the factors interact in various ways, and often one factor may be affected by
another. Hunger, for example, may be signalled physiologically, but that signal may be overridden by
environmental factors, such as learned preferences, habits, and even the time of day.
Theme 5behaviour is shaped by our cultural heritagefocuses on the basic underlying processes that
seem to be invariant among cultures; however, the outward expression of those processes differs.
Weiten and McCann (2013) highlight the role of culture in hunger and eating as well as in emotional
expression.
Theme 6heredity and environment jointly influence behaviouris another important topic. The
interactionist theory developed by Bem (1996) explains sexual orientation in terms of the complex
interplay between biological and environmental processes. Many motivational and emotional concepts
are grounded in biological and environmental factors.
The interweaving of these five key themes in Chapter 10 of Weiten and McCann (2013) shows once
again that psychology is characterized by theoretical diversity, that biological and environmental factors
interact to shape behaviour, that behaviour is governed by multiple causes, that psychological processes
are characterized by both cultural variance and invariance, and that psychology evolves in a
sociocultural context.
Motivation
involves goal directed behavior
Drive
* A Drive is an internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should
reduce this tension.
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- when a person experience a drive, they're motivated to pursue actions that will lead to drive reduction.
- for instance, the hunger motive has been used to explain the drive system. if you go without food, for a
while then you experience some discomfort.The internal tension (the drive) motivates you to obtain
food.
- however drive theories cannot explain all motivation. (eating when not hungry)
- Many theories view motivational forces in terms of drives.
- the drive concept appears in a diverse array of theories that otherwise have little in common.
- derived from Cannon's theory of Homeostasis (a state of psychological equilibrium or stability)
Incentive
an external goal that has the capacity to motivate behavior
- Incentive theories emphasize how EXTERNAL stimuli PULL people in certain directions
Push versus Pull theories
- Drive theories emphasize how INTERNAL states of tension PUSH people in certain directions
- Incentive theories emphasize how Eternal a stimuli PULL people in certain directions
- according to drive theories, the source of motivation lies WITHIN the organism
Expectancy-value models
people cant always obtain the goals they desire. expectancy -value models of motivation are incentive
theories that take this reality into account.
1. Expectancy about one's chances of attaining the incentive
2. the Value of the desired incentive
so your motivation to pursue a promotion at work will depend on your estimate of likelihood that you
can snare the promotion (expectancy) and how appealing the promotion is to you (value)
Evolutionary Theories
- evolutionary psychologists assert that human motives and those of other species are the products of
evolution.
- argue that natural selection favors behaviors that maximize reproductive success
- explain motives like achievement, dominance, aggression, and sex drive in terms of their adaptive
value.
Dominance / Evolutionary Theory
1. females may prefer mating with dominate males
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2. dominant males may poach females from subordinates males
3. dominant males may intimidate male rivals in competition for sexual access
4. dominant males may acquire more material resources which may increase mating opportunities
Affiliation Motive
the need for belongingness.
- the adaptive benefits of affiliation for our ancestors probably included help with offspring,
collaboration in hunting or defense, opportunistic for sexual interaction and so forth points out that it is
not by accident that achievement, power (dominance), and intimacy are among the most heavily
studied social motives,, as the satisfaction of each of these motives is likely to affect one's reproductive
success.
Moitivation Theories
1. Drive Reduction Theory
- our behavior is motivated by biological needs
- ex: needs (requirements for survival)
- primary (food) & secondary drive (money)
Arousal Theory
We seek an optimum level of excitement or arousal - we are motivated by activities that help us achieve
our needed level.
* Yerkes- Dodson Law
1. we might perform well at an easy task with a very high arousal level
2. the same high level would worsen our performance on a difficult task
Opponent Process Theory
a theory of motivation that says that we start off at a motivational baseline, at which we are not
motivated to act, then we encounter a stimulus that feels good, such as a drug or even a positive social
interaction, the pleasurable feelings we experience causes us to have motivation to seek the stimulus
again
Incentive Theory
- is an external goal that has the capacity to motivate behavior.
-stimuli that we are drawn to due to learning
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Document Summary

Theme 2 psychology is theoretically diverse is featured in an attempt to explain the concepts of motivation and emotion. Both concepts encompass great varieties of human experience, and a single theory seems inadequate to explain the diversity; even a synthesis of theories falls short, which indicates that more research is necessary. Theme 3 psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context considers motivational views, such as the sociobiological and evolutionary views, which are reflected in the section that deals with the origins of homosexuality. Theme 4 behaviour is determined by multiple causes becomes an important consideration in chapter. 10 because theoretical synthesis cannot likely be used to explain motivation and emotion. For example, several factors affect thirst, hunger and eating, sexual behaviour, emotional expression, affiliation, and achievement. Many of the factors interact in various ways, and often one factor may be affected by another.

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