Motivation, Emotion, and Stress

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation

• Extrinsic: External forces, tangible rewards (e.g., studying for a good grade, competition)
• Intrinsic: Internal interest, personal satisfaction (e.g., studying to master content)

Instinct Theory

• Innate fixed patterns of behavior in response to stimuli
• Examples: thumb sucking for stress in babies; some instincts disappear with age
• Derived from Darwin's evolution
• William James: 20 physical instincts, 17 mental instincts
• Some instincts conflict, can be overridden by experience
• Suckling and carrying food → motivates eating

Arousal Theory

• Arousal = psychological & physiological state of being awake/reactive to stimuli
• Involves brain stem, ANS, endocrine system
• People act to maintain optimal arousal; increase arousal if low
• Yerkes-Dodson law: U-shaped function between arousal and performance
  • Very high or low arousal → worse performance
  • Low arousal good for cognitive tasks, high for physical tasks
  • Simple tasks require higher arousal than complex tasks

Drive Reduction Theory

• Drives = internal states of tension activating goal-directed behavior
• Originate internally, independent of external factors
• Help maintain homeostasis
• Primary drives: food, water, warmth (negative feedback loop)
• Secondary drives: learned drives (e.g., get into medical school, emotion-based)
• Motivation eliminates uncomfortable states; physiological imbalances trigger drives

Need-Based Theories

• Motivation influenced by needs; energy allocated to satisfy needs
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: pyramid from bottom → top
  • Physiological → Safety/Security → Love/Belonging → Self-Esteem → Self-Actualization
  • Unmet lower levels dominate motivation
• Self-Determination Theory (SDT):
  • Autonomy: control over actions
  • Competence: excel at difficult tasks
  • Relatedness: feel accepted and connected
  • All three needed for healthy motivation and relationships

Additional Theories and Applications

• Incentive Theory: behavior motivated by reward/punishment
• Expectancy-Value Theory: motivation = expectation of success × value of goal
• Motivation can extend beyond survival (e.g., eating for pleasure)

Opponent Process Theory

• Destructive motivations (e.g., drug use) trigger physiological counteractions
• Frequent drug use → body adapts → tolerance and withdrawal
• Example: alcohol → increased arousal, withdrawal symptoms

Sexual Motivation

• Driven by E, P, and androgens
• Smell can influence sexual desire
• Cultural norms affect expression and acceptability of sexual behaviors
• Example: different reactions to pornography between men and women

Elements of Emotion

• Physiological: HR, BP, skin temp, breathing rate
• Behavioral: facial expressions, body language
• Cognitive: subjective interpretation of feelings

Universal Emotions

• Happiness, sadness, contempt, surprise, fear, disgust, anger

Theories of Emotion

• James-Lange: physiological arousal precedes emotional labeling
  • Example: car cuts you off → ↑HR/BP → anger
  • Proven partially false in some cases
• Cannon-Bard: cognitive and physiological responses occur simultaneously
  • Does not fully account for feedback systems like vagus nerve
• Schachter-Singer (2-Factor): arousal + cognitive labeling → emotion
  • Experiment: injected epinephrine, informed vs. misinformed → misinformed highest emotional response
  • Must analyze environment to label arousal

Limbic System

• Structures: amygdala, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, fornix, septal nuclei, cortex
• Amygdala: processes attention/emotional cues, fear, facial expressions
• Lesions → inability to learn new fears
• Right hemisphere more active; women > men
• Thalamus: sensory relay to cortex
• Hypothalamus: releases NTs, modulates homeostasis, influences emotions
• Hippocampus: creates long-term memories, contextualizes emotional experiences
  • Emotional memory: stores feelings associated with events
• Prefrontal Cortex:
  • Planning, decision-making, personality
  • Left PFC: positive emotions, right PFC: negative
  • Dorsal: attention/cognition, ventral: emotion
  • Ventromedial: decision-making, emotion control
• ANS: mediates physiological responses
  • ↑Skin temp → anger; ↓Skin temp → fear
  • ↑HR → anger/fear; ↓HR → happy

Cognitive Appraisal

• Primary appraisal: initial evaluation → irrelevant, benign-positive, stressful
• Secondary appraisal: evaluation of coping ability if threat detected
  • Harm = damage, Threat = potential future damage, Challenge = potential to overcome
  • Example: spiders → stress for some, irrelevant for others
• Reappraisal may be required in dynamic situations

Types of Stressors

• Minimal → catastrophic
• Distress: unpleasant stressors
• Eustress: positive stress (graduation, marriage)
• Measured via social readjustment scale
• Psychological stressors: pressure, control, predictability, frustration, conflict
  • Controllability → ↓stress, unpredictability → ↑stress
  • Example: firefighters, police

Conflict Stress

• Approach: 2 desirable options
• Avoidance: 2 negative options
• Approach-Avoidance: one choice with + and - elements
  • Example: job promotion → more money (+), more responsibility (-)

Physiological Response: General Adaptation Syndrome (Selye)

• Alarm: initial reaction, ↑sympathetic activity, ACTH → cortisol, medulla → E & NE
• Resistance: continuous hormone release maintains sympathetic activation
• Exhaustion: cannot maintain response, ↑susceptibility to illness

Emotional and Behavioral Responses

• Irritability, moodiness, tension, fearfulness, helplessness
• Chronic stress → mental health disorders

Coping and Stress Management

• Active coping: overcome stressor, social support
• Cognitive strategies: reframe feelings, positive reappraisal, distancing
• Maladaptive coping: drugs, alcohol
• Stress management: exercise, relaxation, spiritual practice