Motivation, Emotion & Stress

This is Unit Nine of Psychology, Part One: motivation. Motivation is the set of processes that start behavior, aim it, and keep it going. And the theories of it arrive in a sequence, each one added because the previous one could not explain something. Drive reduction explains hunger and thirst well. It does not explain why anybody would ride a roller coaster, which is not reducing any drive. Arousal theory covers that — and produces a law about performance that has a second clause most people leave off. There is an error entry about the most famous model in this topic. Maslow's hierarchy is in every textbook and on every wall. The course teaches it, and it also says plainly that presenting it as an empirically established sequence is an error. Then hunger, which is regulated rather than chosen — the body defends a weight using a signal from its own fat stores. And three eating disorders, covered at recognition level, with the course of the most dangerous one stated including the fact that it responds to treatment. By the end you will be able to do five things. One: say what drive reduction explains and what arousal theory adds. Two: state the Yerkes-Dodson law, including the second clause. Three: say what the overjustification effect predicts. Four: say why presenting Maslow as established is an error. Five: say what regulates hunger and what a defended weight means.

Four entries. A definition with three verbs in it, and then two theories — the second of which rests on a regulatory principle that runs through the whole of biology, not only through motivation.

The definition.

Psych 0981 Motivation

The set of processes that initiate, direct and sustain behavior toward a goal. Three separate things, and a person can have one without the others.

The first theory.

Psych 0983 Instinct Theory

Behavior driven by innate, species-typical patterns requiring no learning. It accounts for a narrow class of behavior and was left behind for most of it.

The second.

Psych 0985 Drive-Reduction Theory

A physiological need creates a drive that motivates behavior to reduce it. It explains hunger and thirst well and explains almost nothing that is not a physiological need.

The principle underneath.

Psych 0987 Homeostasis

The body maintaining internal states within a narrow range around a set point. Which is what a drive is correcting toward — the drive theory is a motivational reading of this.

Two entries, and the second is a law most people know in half. Performance is best at moderate arousal — that part is famous. The part that gets dropped is that the optimum is lower for difficult tasks, which is the half with practical consequences.

The theory.

Psych 0989 Arousal Theory

People are motivated to maintain an optimal level of physiological activation, raising or lowering it as needed. Which explains seeking stimulation — something drive reduction cannot do.

The law.

Psych 0991 The Yerkes-Dodson Law

Performance is best at moderate arousal, and the optimum is lower for difficult tasks. The second clause means a hard task needs you calmer than an easy one — which reverses the usual advice about getting fired up.

Four entries. A belief that predicts how much effort somebody puts in, two places motivation comes from — and then a finding that is genuinely counterintuitive, because paying somebody for something they already enjoyed can reduce how much they want to do it.

The belief.

Psych 0993 Self-Efficacy

Belief in one's capability to carry out the actions needed to reach a specific goal. Specific — it is not general confidence, and it varies by domain within one person.

The first source.

Psych 0995 Intrinsic Motivation

Arising from interest or satisfaction in the activity itself. The reward is inside the doing, which is why it needs no maintenance.

The second.

Psych 0996 Extrinsic Motivation

Arising from external outcomes — reward, grades, pay, avoiding a penalty. Effective, and it has to keep being supplied.

And the interaction.

Psych 0997 The Overjustification Effect

The reduction of intrinsic motivation that can follow rewarding an already-enjoyed activity. Adding the external reason can displace the internal one — so the two do not add up.

Two entries on the most recognisable diagram in psychology. The course teaches it, because a learner will meet it everywhere — and it states in its own numbered entry that presenting it as established is an error.

The model.

Psych 0999 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Needs arranged in a hierarchy from physiological through safety, belonging and esteem to self-actualization. Ordered, with lower levels held to come first.

And its standing.

Psych 1000 The "Maslow Is Established" Error

It is an error to present the hierarchy as an empirically established sequence of human motivation. Useful as a framework, widely taught, and not a finding — three different things.

Three entries on eating, and the useful idea is that a body defends a weight rather than merely arriving at one. There is a signal from the fat stores themselves, and the regulation happens whether or not anybody intends it.

The regulator.

Psych 1002 The Hypothalamus in Hunger

The hypothalamus regulating hunger by integrating signals about available energy and body stores. Unit Two's regulator again, with another of its specific jobs.

The signal.

Psych 1004 Leptin and Set Point

A hormone released by fat cells that signals energy stores to the brain, contributing to a defended body weight. Defended means the system pushes back — which is why weight change is harder than arithmetic suggests.

One health condition.

Psych 1006 Obesity as a Health Concern

A condition of excess body fat associated with elevated risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Stated as a health association, which is what the entry claims and all it claims.

Four entries, at recognition level. Three named disorders defined by what distinguishes them from each other — and one entry that states the course of the most dangerous of them, including that it responds to treatment and that early specialist care produces the best outcomes.

The first.

Psych 1008 Anorexia Nervosa

A psychological disorder involving restriction of food intake, intense fear of weight gain, and a disturbed experience of body size. Three criteria, and the third is what distinguishes it from a decision about eating.

Its course.

Psych 1009 The Course of Anorexia Nervosa

It carries the highest mortality of any eating disorder, and it responds to treatment, with the best outcomes following early specialist care. Both facts belong in the same sentence, and the course puts them there.

The second.

Psych 1011 Bulimia Nervosa

Recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behavior. The compensation is the distinguishing feature.

The third.

Psych 1013 Binge-Eating Disorder

Recurrent episodes of eating unusually large amounts with a sense of loss of control, without regular compensatory behavior. Which is what separates it from the previous entry — the absence, not the presence.

Three entries closing the part. One physiological description from a classic research programme, and two characteristics defined precisely — because precision is what these definitions are for.

The physiology.

Psych 1015 The Sexual Response Cycle

A four-phase physiological response cycle — excitement, plateau, orgasm and resolution. Described from direct observation, which was the contribution.

The first characteristic.

Psych 1017 Sexual Orientation

An enduring pattern of emotional and sexual attraction to others. Enduring and a pattern — the definition is about stability over time.

The second.

Psych 1019 Gender Identity

A person's internal sense of their own gender, which may or may not correspond to their sex assigned at birth. A separate characteristic from the previous entry, defined separately and not derived from it.

Five things you can now do, and Part Two takes up emotion and stress. You can say what drive reduction explains — behavior correcting a physiological need back toward a set point — and that arousal theory adds the seeking of stimulation, which drive reduction cannot cover. You can state the Yerkes-Dodson law with both clauses: performance is best at moderate arousal, and the optimum is lower for difficult tasks. You can say what the overjustification effect predicts — that rewarding an already-enjoyed activity can reduce the intrinsic motivation for it. You can say why presenting Maslow's hierarchy as established is an error: it is a widely taught framework and not an empirically established sequence. And you can say what regulates hunger and what a defended weight means — the hypothalamus integrating energy signals, with leptin reporting the stores, and a system that pushes back against change.