PSYCH101: Introduction to Psychology

7a. Define motivation, explain the psychological factors that affect hunger and eating, and sexual behavior

• What do psychologists mean by the term "motivation"?
• What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
• What are the characteristics of Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
• Why do we get hungry, and how do we gain excess weight?
• What factors contribute to eating disorders?
• Which factors determine sexual behavior and motivation?
• What did Alfred Kinsey, William Masters, and Virginia Johnson contribute to our understanding of sexuality and sexual response?
• What do the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" describe?

Motivation directs our behavior toward goals that satisfy our needs. Intrinsic motivators refer to the drives within us, which may differ between individuals. Extrinsic motivators refer to factors in the environment that encourage us to behave in certain ways. Individuals often respond to extrinsic motivators in different ways.
 
Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs, which explained that satisfying some needs (like hunger and safety) is more important than others (like belonging and esteem) – they are more motivating. As individuals reliably satisfy more pressing needs, they can devote more energy to pursuing higher needs.
 
Biological factors, such as hormones, blood sugar, and stomach rumbling, in addition to psychological factors, such as stress, boredom, and the availability of attractive food, contribute to hunger. If we reliably consume more calories than we can burn, we will alter our set point and gain weight. Once our set point is reset, it is difficult to return it to its original state.
 
Eating disorders are common among people who fear weight gain. They may display bulimia nervosa (binging on a large amount of calorie-dense food, then purging by vomiting, excess exercise, and/or use of laxatives and diuretics) or anorexia nervosa (restricting food intake to a small caloric amount).
 
Many of our sexual behaviors are biologically based. The limbic system contains structures that govern sexual behavior and the motivation to engage in sexual behavior. Alfred Kinsey conducted surveys describing human sexual behavior that were published in the late 1940s and early 1950s. William Masters and Virginia Johnson conducted observational studies in their laboratory of human sexual response cycles, which described how the body responds as it moves through the phases of the response cycle.
 
Sexual orientation refers to the sex of the people we are emotionally, romantically, and erotically attracted to. Gender identity refers to how we internalize the roles and behaviors associated with one sex or the other or both.
 
To review, see Principles of Motivation, Hunger and Eating, Sexual Behavior, Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation, Maslow's Pyramid and the Hierarchy of Needs, Anorexia Nervosa, and The Sexual Response Cycle.
 

7b. Explain the main theories of emotion, the brain areas involved in emotion, and the factors involved in recognizing emotional expression

• What are the main theories of emotion?
• What role does the limbic system play in emotional processing?
• How do we produce and recognize emotional expressions?

Four main theories of emotion explain how we experience emotions. The James-Lange theory claims that physiological arousal causes emotion. The Cannon-Bard theory claims physiological arousal occurs at the same time as emotion. The Schacter-Singer two-factor theory claims physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal occur at the same time, which causes emotion. Lazarus' cognitive-mediational theory claims physiological arousal causes cognitive appraisal, which in turn causes emotion.
 
Two structures in the limbic system – the amygdala and the hypothalamus – play a significant role in how we regulate and process emotion.
 
Cultural display rules often dictate how and when we express emotions. However, universal expressions accompany the basic emotions of happiness, surprise, sadness, fright, disgust, contempt, and anger.
 
To review, see Principles of Emotion and Evolutionary Theory of Emotion.
 

7c. Define personality and describe early theories of personality

• What is personality?
• What were the earliest theories of personality?
• What are the modern theories of personality?

Personality refers to the long-term traits and patterns that make us think, behave, and feel the way we do. Personality is what makes us who we are and what differentiates us from others.
 
Theorists have studied personality and its development since ancient Greece. Hippocrates (460–370 BCE) identified four basic temperaments (choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic). Galen (129–216) believed personality results from imbalances in these temperaments. Franz Gall (1758–1828), a German physician, examined patients' brain size in relation to their personalities. Phrenology became an early focus in this line of inquiry, although it has since been discredited.
 
Several theorists, including Immanuel Kant and Wilhelm Wundt, have added their thoughts about the four basic temperaments originally introduced hundreds of years ago. For example, Wundt used these temperaments to understand personality through two major axes: emotional/nonemotional and changeable/unchangeable.
 
Sigmund Freud introduced the first complete theory of personality. According to Freud's psychodynamic perspective, the id contains our most primitive instincts (hunger, thirst, sex) and houses the pleasure principle, which seeks immediate gratification. The id is present from birth onwards, while the superego develops over time as children navigate rules and order. The superego is essentially our conscience and tells us what our expected behaviors are.
 
The ego is the rational part of our personality. Freud viewed this part as our true self and how others perceive us. The ego balances the conflicting id and superego drives by finding a middle ground. Freud further suggested that our mind makes use of defense mechanisms (e.g., denial, displacement, repression) to reduce the anxiety that often arises from these conflicts.
 
Freud developed stages of psychodynamic development starting with oral at birth, anal during early toddler years, phallic, latency, and lastly, genital during the adolescent years. Each stage is marked by a pleasure fixation (id drive). His theory was controversial when first introduced but has dominated much of the psychology literature.
 
Freud's theory believed underlying sexual and aggressive drives motivate our behaviors, while Alfred Adler believed our underlying feelings of inferiority motivate us to feelings of superiority which guide our behaviors, thoughts, and actions. Unlike Freud, Adler also embraced the role of social relationships in developing personality and examined how birth order affects personality.
 
Unlike Freud's theory, Erik Erikson's theory focused on personality development throughout our entire lifetime. Freud focused on the significance of childhood years. Further, Erikson suggested our personality is a product of how we resolve various conflicts throughout our lifespan.
 
Carl Jung introduced the school of analytical psychology and focused on the role of a collective unconscious. Unlike Freud, Jung assumed we all have shared collective unconscious memories and experiences.
 
Karen Horney was the first woman to take a serious look at Freud's theory. Like Jung, she concentrated on reaching patients' full potential through psychoanalysis. Freud focused on uncovering childhood experiences. Horney's theory addressed the role of unconscious anxiety. She identified three ways of coping: moving toward people, moving against people, and moving away from people.
 
Those who follow B.F. Skinner's behaviorist perspective believe personality is not a product of genes but results from learned behaviors that have been reinforced. Albert Bandura believed cognition or thought and situation or context also affect behaviors. He termed the idea of reciprocal determinism, which is at the heart of the social-cognitive perspective.
 
Within this social-cognitive perspective, Bandura introduced the concept of self-efficacy, namely the level of confidence we have in our abilities. Julian Rotter discussed the locus of control, referring to the belief of how much control we have over our lives.
 
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers favored the humanistic approach, which suggests we should focus on our personal depth and how we interpret the meaning of an experience to understand personality. They studied the characteristics of healthy, productive people and the concept of the self.
 
The biological approach views personality as innate – this research examined the outcomes of twins who are reared together and apart (if they are adopted) and how their environment affects their personalities.
 
Walter Mischel studied self-regulation (self-control) with a group of preschoolers by presenting them with one marshmallow. He gave the children a choice when he had to leave the room: either eat one marshmallow now or wait for him to return when they could eat two marshmallows. He followed the children's academic careers for several years and found that the children who could wait for his return and thus self-regulate had better educational outcomes compared to children who chose to eat the marshmallow right away.
 
Raymond Cattell built on the work of Gordon Allport in identifying personality traits. Cattell substantially narrowed Allport's list of character traits and believed multiple traits shape our personality. He identified 16 factors or dimensions of personality: warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to change, self-reliance, perfectionism, and tension.
 
To review, see What Is Personality, Freud and the Psychodynamic Perspective, Neo-Freudians: Adler, Erikson, Jung, and Horney, Myers Briggs Personality Types Explained, Erik Erikson's Eight Stages of Development, Learning Approaches, Personality as the Behaviorist Views It, Humanistic Approaches, Carl Rogers' Theory of Personality, Biological Approaches to Psychology, Trait Theorists, and The Big Five Personality Traits.
 

7d. Interpret cultural understandings of personality

• What are the personality differences between people from collectivist cultures and individualist cultures?
• What are the approaches to studying personality in a cultural context?

Personality is partly genetic, but plenty of evidence shows it is also shaped by culture. We should not be surprised to see personality differences among cultures, especially since individualistic cultures encourage different behaviors (independence, boldness, and a strong sense of self) than collectivist cultures.
 
Psychologists use the cultural-comparative approach to study cultural differences and compare cultures with Western cultural theories. Psychologists also use the indigenous approach, which develops new measures of personality specifically for the culture they are examining. The combined approach combines these two strategies to develop new tools and compare the results with Western cultural theories and evidence.
 
To review, see Cultural Understandings of Personality and Culture and Personality.

 

7e. Discuss personality assessment

• What are the differences between self-report and projective personality tests? What are some examples of each?
• How have popular personality assessment tests been modified to adapt to minority populations?

Psychologists have created several personality assessment techniques to measure personality. Self-report assessments such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) ask respondents to rate answer choices on Likert scales to a host of statements. The MMPI takes a few hours to administer. Generally, these self-report assessments yield more reliable and valid results than projective inventories. Clinicians favor the MMPI because they can summarize the results in distinct clinical profiles.
 
Several subjective projective tests measure personality. For example, the Rorschach Inkblot test asks respondents to describe what an Inkblot might depict. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) asks respondents to tell a story about a picture. The Rotter Incomplete Sentence Bank (RISB) asks respondents to finish a sentence. Projective tests are generally not as reliable or valid as self-report measures, although they are still used in several settings.
 
Psychologists have introduced two personality tests for minority populations since the conventional assessments have been shown to have bias. They modified the TAT for African-Americans to create the Contemporized-Themes Concerning Blacks Test (C-TCB). They developed the TEMAS Multicultural Thematic Apperception Test for Hispanic populations.
 
To review, see Personality Assessment and More on Personality Assessment.
 

Unit 7 Vocabulary

Be sure you understand these terms as you study for the final exam. Try to think of the reason why each term is included.

• Abraham Maslow
• Alfred Adler
• Alfred Kinsey
• biological factors
• Cannon-Bard theory
• Carl Jung
• Carl Rogers
• collective unconscious
• collectivist cultures
• combined approach
• cultural-comparative approach
• cultural display rules
• eating disorders
• ego
• extrinsic motivators
• four basic temperaments
• gender identity
• hierarchy of needs
• hypothalamus
• id
• indigenous approach
• individualistic cultures
• intrinsic motivators
• James-Lange theory
• Karen Horney
• Lazarus' cognitive-mediational theory
• locus of control
• motivation
• personality
• personality assessment
• phrenology
• psychological factors
• Raymond Cattell
• reciprocal determinism
• Schacter-Singer two-factor theory
• self-efficacy
• sexual orientation
• superego
• Virginia Johnson
• Walter Mischel
• William Masters