Week 10 · Chapter

Chapter 10 — Motivation & Emotion

Introduction to Psychology Free sample edition

The module's primary reading · ~40–50 minutes · Objective 6 (analyze higher mental processes (cognition, judgment and its biases, language, and intelligence) and the forces of motivation and emotion), Objective 3 (describe the biological bases of behavior: neurons and neural transmission, the major neurotransmitters, and the structures and functions of the nervous system and brain) · Read it first this week; the lecture, the slides, the tutorial, the quiz, and the Analysis Workshop all build on it.

In plain language

Some forces push you to act, like the empty feeling that sends you to the fridge, and some pull you, like a prize you want to win. Motivation is the word psychologists use for those pushes and pulls: a need or desire that gets you moving and points you at a goal. This week you will compare four ways of explaining motivation and look closely at one everyday motive, hunger. When you take a feeling apart, you will see that an emotion, in this course, is a whole-person response with three parts: what your body does, what your face and body show, and what you think the moment means. Finally, you will run one scary moment through three competing theories of emotion and see exactly where they disagree.

Why you already care about this

It is past midnight, and you are standing in front of an open fridge. You skipped dinner to finish a 10-page lab report, and it has been 8 hours since lunch. Your stomach is growling, and you cannot think about anything else. You grab leftovers, eat, and within a few minutes the restless feeling is gone. Something pushed you out of your chair, and once you ate, the push stopped.

Now picture a different night, weeks later. You are hiking a trail at dusk, you round a bend, and a bear steps onto the path ahead. Your heart pounds. Your mouth goes dry. You freeze, then back away slowly. A second later, or maybe at the very same moment, you realize you are terrified.

Those two moments carry the whole week. The first asks what moves you to act. The second asks what a feeling is made of, and in what order its parts arrive. Psychologists have argued about both questions for more than a century, from Yerkes and Dodson's 1908 work on arousal to Schachter and Singer's 1962 theory of emotional labels. You will meet their answers, test each one on a concrete case, and see where each one breaks.

By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

define motivation and explain why calling a behavior an instinct does not explain it;
trace the drive-reduction loop (need, drive, behavior, homeostasis) through a new case;
use arousal theory and the Yerkes–Dodson law to predict when nerves help and when they hurt;
tell a push from a pull with incentive theory, and name a behavior incentives cannot explain;
put Maslow's five levels in order and state the model's known limits;
describe how the hypothalamus, ghrelin, and leptin help regulate hunger, and name the learned and cultural pulls on eating;
name the three components of an emotion and the amygdala's role in fear;
run one event through the James–Lange, Cannon–Bard, and two-factor theories and say what each one predicts.

Carry this sentence with you: needs push and incentives pull, but a feeling is not one thing.

Where we are

Already covered: Weeks 1 and 2 built the "how do we know?" habit. Week 3 mapped the brain and nervous system. Weeks 4 to 7 covered sensing, awareness, learning, and memory. Week 8 reviewed it all, and Week 9 covered how you think, judge, and speak.
This week: what moves you to act (motivation and hunger) and what a feeling is made of (emotion).
How they connect: Week 3's hypothalamus and amygdala return for their roles in hunger and fear, and Week 6's reinforcement returns as the reward that pulls behavior in incentive theory.
Where we're going next: Week 11, Development Across the Lifespan, follows how a mind, its motives, and its feelings grow and change from infancy to old age.

Three earlier ideas matter most this week. In Week 3 you met the hypothalamus, a small structure below the thalamus that helps regulate hunger, thirst, body temperature, and the release of hormones, and the amygdala, a structure deep in each temporal lobe that is central to fear. You also met the sympathetic nervous system, the division of the autonomic nervous system that speeds the heart and breathing in the fight-or-flight response. That is the pounding heart on the trail. Finally, in Week 6 you saw that reinforcement is any consequence that makes a behavior more likely. Rewards that pull you toward a goal are reinforcement seen from the front.

1. Name the force: motivation and instinct theory

Think about the last time you did something hard on purpose. Maybe you stayed up to finish a project, or got up early to train. Something started you moving, and something kept you aimed at the goal until you got there. Psychologists want a word for that force, and then a theory of where it comes from.

Motivation is a need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it toward a goal. The definition has two halves, and both matter. Energizes means it gets you going and keeps you going. Directs means it points you somewhere specific: to the kitchen, not to the couch.

The earliest scientific answer was instincts. An instinct is a complex behavior pattern that is unlearned and fixed across a whole species. A young bird builds its first nest without ever having watched one being built. Every member of the species builds it in roughly the same way.

Instinct theory is an early view that explained behavior with instincts, complex unlearned behavior patterns that are fixed across a species, such as a bird building its first nest; naming a behavior an instinct describes it without explaining it.

Instinct theory faded for two reasons. First, early writers labeled almost everything an instinct, from curiosity to shyness, and a label that fits everything explains nothing. Saying "people help because of a helping instinct" only renames the behavior. Second, most human behavior is learned, as you saw in Week 6, and it varies widely across people and cultures. A fixed, species-wide pattern cannot account for that variety.

The idea did not vanish entirely. Evolutionary psychologists still ask how some motives, such as the pull toward food and safety, may have helped our ancestors survive. But they ask that question with evidence, not with labels.

Misconception check. Students often think that calling a behavior "instinctive" explains it. It is tempting because the word sounds scientific. The cure is to ask what the label predicts. "She studies because she has a studying instinct" predicts nothing you did not already know. A real explanation names a cause you could measure, such as a need, a reward, or a level of arousal. The rest of this chapter supplies those causes.

2. Follow a drive: need, drive, and homeostasis

Back to the midnight fridge. You skipped dinner, so your body was low on fuel. That lack produced a gnawing, restless feeling. The feeling pushed you to the kitchen. You ate, the lack was filled, and the restlessness stopped. That is a loop, and it has four parts.

Drive-reduction theory is the theory that a biological need creates a drive, an aroused state of tension, that pushes behavior toward meeting the need and restoring homeostasis. Clark Hull developed this view in the 1940s. It has three terms you will use all week:

A need is a lack of something the body requires, such as food or water, which sets the drive-reduction loop in motion.
A drive is an aroused, uncomfortable state of tension, such as hunger or thirst, that a need produces and that pushes a person to act until the need is met.
Homeostasis is the body's tendency to keep a steady internal balance, such as a stable temperature or blood sugar level, and to return to it after a change.

The loop is always written in the same order: need → drive → behavior → homeostasis.

Worked example — the midnight snack. Label each step of the skipped-dinner night.

Need. You skipped dinner, so your body has a need for food.
Drive. The need creates a drive, hunger, that you feel as tension. It is hard to focus on anything else.
Behavior. The drive pushes you to act: you go to the fridge and eat.
Homeostasis. The need is met, the tension fades, and homeostasis returns.

In words: the need is the body's problem, the drive is how that problem feels, the behavior solves it, and homeostasis is the balance you return to. A thermostat works the same way. When the room drops below its setting, the heat comes on, and when the room warms back up, the heat shuts off.

Drive reduction explains a lot of behavior that keeps you alive: eating, drinking, warming up, resting. It also has a clear limit. It describes motives that come from inside the body and stop once a need is met. As the next two sections show, many of your motives do neither.

Misconception check. Students often think drive-reduction theory explains all motivation. It is tempting because the loop is neat and fits hunger and thirst so well. The cure is a counterexample. If every motive were about reducing tension, nobody would pay to ride a roller coaster, read a thriller, or train for a race. People seek tension, too, and a second theory is needed to explain that.

3. Find the sweet spot: arousal theory and the Yerkes–Dodson law

A runner signs up for a marathon. For hours, the race will raise her heart rate, her fatigue, and her nerves. No bodily need is being met. She is not hungry for a race the way you were hungry for leftovers. She is choosing more tension, not less.

Arousal theory is the theory that people are motivated to keep their level of physical and mental arousal comfortable, so they sometimes seek excitement and raise tension on purpose rather than only reducing it. Arousal here means how alert, energized, and stirred up your body and mind are, from drowsy at one end to panicked at the other. When life is too dull, people look for stimulation. When life is too intense, they look for calm.

Worked example — the marathon. Label the runner's choice.

Check for a need. Is a bodily need being reduced? No. The race uses up energy instead of restoring it.
Check the direction. Is she reducing tension or seeking it? She is seeking it: she chose hours of effort and nerves.
Label. No need is being reduced, so drive-reduction theory cannot explain the choice. She is seeking arousal, so this is arousal theory.

Arousal also affects how well you perform, and there is a famous rule for that. The Yerkes–Dodson law is the finding, from Yerkes and Dodson (1908), that performance is best at a moderate level of arousal, with the best level lower for a difficult task than for an easy one. Picture a hill. Performance climbs as arousal rises from sleepy toward alert, peaks in the middle, and falls off as arousal rises toward panic.

Worked example — the start line. Use the Yerkes–Dodson law to predict three starts.

Too little arousal. A runner who feels bored and sluggish at the start line gets a slow start.
Too much arousal. A runner whose nerves have tipped into panic, with shaking legs and racing thoughts, also gets a poor start.
A moderate level. A runner who feels alert and ready, with some nerves but not too many, gets the best start.
Adjust for difficulty. Running is a well-practiced, physical task. For a difficult task, such as a hard exam full of new problems, the best level of arousal is lower. A little alertness helps on the exam; the same jolt that powers a sprint can scatter your thinking.

In words: there is a sweet spot, it sits in the middle, and it moves lower as the task gets harder. That is why a pep talk can help a team about to run drills, and a slow breath can help a student about to solve proofs.

Pause and think. Choose one. Answer it in two or three sentences.

(a) Describe a time your nerves helped you perform, and explain why the task or your arousal level put you near the sweet spot.

(b) Describe a time your nerves got in the way, and explain whether the task was difficult or your arousal was very high.

Misconception check. Students often think more arousal always means better performance, so the most fired-up person should win. It is tempting because energy feels like effort. The cure is the shape of the Yerkes–Dodson hill. Past the middle, more arousal makes performance worse, and on a difficult task the drop starts sooner. One honesty note: psychologists treat the law as a broad pattern that describes people on average, not an exact formula that predicts any one person's best level.

4. Feel the pull: incentive theory and its limit

A student is offered a scholarship for keeping top grades. Over the next term he studies longer, starts papers earlier, and visits office hours more often. Nothing inside his body is out of balance. Something outside him is pulling.

Incentive theory is the theory that external rewards, such as money, grades, or praise, pull behavior toward them, in contrast to internal needs that push it. An incentive is the reward that does the pulling. You already know the machinery from Week 6. A reward that follows a behavior is reinforcement, and it makes the behavior more likely. Incentive theory looks at that same reward from the front, before you act, as a goal that draws you forward.

Worked example — the scholarship. Label the student's behavior.

Look inside. Is a bodily need driving the extra study? No.
Look outside. Is a reward pulling the behavior? Yes: the scholarship is offered for top grades.
Label. An external reward pulls the behavior toward it, so this is incentive theory.

Pushes and pulls often work together. Hunger pushes you toward food, and the smell of fresh bread from a bakery pulls you toward one particular door. A good explanation of a real behavior often needs both.

Now try a harder case. A person spends weekends building furniture in a garage workshop. Nobody pays for the chairs. Nobody judges them. There is no prize. The person keeps at it for years, for the satisfaction of the craft.

Worked example — the hobby nobody pays you for. Test incentive theory on the furniture maker.

Look for an external reward. There is no pay, no grade, and no prize.
Test the theory. Incentive theory needs an outside reward to pull the behavior. None exists here.
Label the limit. Incentive theory cannot explain this behavior. The motive comes from the activity itself and from what it means to the person. The next section gives that kind of motive a name.

Misconception check. Students often think incentive theory and drive-reduction theory are the same idea in different words. It is tempting because both end with a person getting something they want. The cure is to ask where the force starts. A drive starts inside the body as a need and pushes. An incentive starts outside the person as a reward and pulls. The midnight snack is a push; the scholarship is a pull.

5. Stack the needs: Maslow's hierarchy and its limits

Imagine a week when your rent is late, your phone is about to be cut off, and a big project is due. It is hard to think about who you want to become when you are worried about a place to sleep. Abraham Maslow, one of the founders of the humanistic movement you met in Week 1, built a model around that experience.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is Abraham Maslow's 1943 model that ranks five levels of need, from physiological up to self-actualization; it is a descriptive model whose strict ordering is not well supported by evidence. The five levels, always written from the bottom up, are:

Physiological needs: food, water, sleep, and warmth.
Safety needs: shelter, security, and a predictable world.
Belongingness and love needs: friends, family, and acceptance.
Esteem needs: respect from others and a sense of your own competence.
Self-actualization: the drive to develop your talents and become the most complete version of yourself.

In shorthand: physiological → safety → belongingness and love → esteem → self-actualization. Maslow proposed that lower needs tend to demand attention first, and that higher needs become strong motives once the lower ones are reasonably met.

Worked example — placing the furniture maker. Find the level the weekend hobby serves.

Check the bottom. The hobby does not feed, house, or protect anyone, so it is not physiological or safety.
Check the middle. Nobody else sees the chairs and no one praises them, so belonging and esteem do not explain it well.
Place it. The person is developing a talent for its own sake. In Maslow's terms, the hobby serves self-actualization, the top of the five levels.

The model is popular in business, nursing, and teaching because it is easy to remember and fits many everyday stories. Its limits matter as much as its uses. Research has not found that people climb the levels in a strict order. Artists have made great work while poor and hungry. People in hard circumstances often put love, faith, or community first. The ranking of needs also differs across cultures; in many communities, belonging comes before personal achievement.

Pause and think. Choose one. Answer it in two or three sentences.

(a) Describe a person, real or imagined, who pursued a higher-level need while a lower one was unmet, and explain what this suggests about the model's strict ordering.

(b) Describe a week in your own life when one level took over your attention, and say which level it was and why.

Misconception check. Students often think Maslow's hierarchy is a proven law of human nature. It is tempting because the pyramid appears everywhere, in posters and training slides. The cure is to call it what it is: a widely used descriptive model, not a tested law. It is a useful way to talk about priorities, but the evidence does not support the claim that every person must satisfy each level before moving to the next.

6. Trace hunger: the hypothalamus, ghrelin, and leptin

You finish a big holiday meal and push back from the table, full. Then someone brings out a tray of dessert, and suddenly you find room. Your stomach did not empty in the last minute. Something other than an empty stomach is shaping what you eat.

Hunger is a good case study because both the body and the mind are at work in it. Start with the body. The hypothalamus helps regulate hunger by responding to signals that travel in the blood. Two of those signals are hormones, chemical messengers that one part of the body releases and another part responds to.

Ghrelin is a hormone released mainly by the stomach that signals hunger to the brain, rising when the stomach has been empty for a while.
Leptin is a hormone released by fat cells that signals fullness to the brain and helps regulate appetite over the long run.

To keep them apart, remember "ghrelin growls, leptin lets go." Ghrelin is the "time to eat" signal, and leptin is the "you have enough stored" signal.

Worked example — the skipped dinner, from the inside. Trace the two hormones through the midnight-snack night.

Evening. You skip dinner, and your stomach stays empty for hours. Ghrelin rises and signals hunger to the brain.
Midnight. The hypothalamus responds to that signal, and you feel the drive to eat. This is the drive in the drive-reduction loop.
After the snack. With food in your stomach, the hunger signal falls and the drive fades. Over the longer run, leptin from fat cells tells the brain how much energy the body has stored, which helps set how much you tend to eat from day to day.

In words: ghrelin is a short-term "eat now" signal from the stomach, leptin is a longer-term "you have enough" signal from fat cells, and the hypothalamus is involved in reading both. A caveat about the wording: these hormones help regulate appetite; neither one alone causes a person to eat or to stop.

Now the mind. Learned, social, and cultural influences shape what, when, and how much people eat. Some of these pulls are learned, like feeling hungry at noon because you always eat at noon, or craving popcorn the moment you walk into a movie theater. Some are social: people tend to eat differently at a shared table than alone. And many are cultural. What counts as breakfast, which foods are treats, how large a normal portion looks, and which foods are off limits all differ from one family and community to the next. A meal of rice and fish at breakfast is ordinary in one household and surprising in another.

That is why the dessert tray works on a full stomach, and why the leftovers looked so good at midnight even before you felt the full drive. The sight and smell of a favorite food act as an incentive, and a lifetime of learning has taught you that holidays mean sweets.

Misconception check. Students often swap the two hormones, calling leptin the hunger signal and ghrelin the fullness signal. It is tempting because both names are unfamiliar and both end in similar sounds. The cure is this section's phrase: "ghrelin growls," so ghrelin signals hunger, and "leptin lets go," so leptin signals fullness. A second trap is thinking hunger is only about the stomach. Hormones matter, and so do habits, company, and culture.

7. Take a feeling apart: the three components of emotion

Think about the last time you were truly embarrassed. Maybe you waved back at someone who was waving to the person behind you. Your face got hot. You looked down and gave an awkward laugh. And a voice in your head said, "Everyone saw that." Those are three different things happening at once.

An emotion is a response of the whole person that combines physiological arousal, expressive behavior, and a conscious cognitive appraisal of what a situation means. Each part has its own name:

Physiological arousal is the body's stirred-up state during an emotion, such as a pounding heart, faster breathing, or sweaty palms.
Expressive behavior is the outward signs of an emotion that others can see or hear, such as a facial expression, a posture, or a tone of voice.
Cognitive appraisal is a person's conscious reading of what a situation means for them, such as judging a sound in the dark to be a threat or a friend.

Worked example — the bear, in three parts. Sort what happens on the trail into the three components.

Physiological arousal. Your heart pounds, your breathing speeds up, and your mouth goes dry. This is your sympathetic nervous system preparing you to act.
Expressive behavior. Your eyes go wide, you freeze, and then you back away slowly. A hiker behind you could see your fear from your face and posture.
Cognitive appraisal. You think, "That is a bear, and I could get hurt." That reading of the moment is what makes this fear and not excitement.

In words: the body stirs, the face and body show it, and the mind reads the moment. Leave out any one of the three and the experience changes.

The brain plays a part in each component. For fear in particular, the amygdala plays a central role. It is involved in the fear response itself and in strengthening memories that carry emotional weight, which is why you may remember that bend in the trail for years. As always with biology, the careful wording matters: the amygdala is central to fear, but no single structure is the whole of an emotion. Week 14 will return to the body's full stress response in much more depth.

Misconception check. Students often think an emotion is only the feeling inside your head. It is tempting because the feeling is the part you notice most. The cure is the embarrassed wave. The hot face is arousal, the awkward laugh is expressive behavior, and "everyone saw that" is cognitive appraisal. All three are part of the emotion, which is why psychologists can study emotion by measuring heart rate, coding facial expressions, or asking people what they were thinking.

8. Run the bear three times: James–Lange, Cannon–Bard, and two-factor

The three components raise a question that has divided psychologists for over a century. When the bear appears, which comes first: the pounding heart or the feeling of fear? Three theories give three answers. The fairest way to compare them is to feed each one the same event and see what it predicts.

The James–Lange theory is the theory of emotion that the body reacts to an event first and the feeling is the experience of that bodily reaction, so a person feels afraid because they tremble. It is named for William James, the functionalist you met in Week 1, and for Lange, a second researcher who proposed a similar idea.
The Cannon–Bard theory is the theory of emotion that an event triggers the bodily reaction and the conscious feeling at the same time, so neither one causes the other.
The two-factor theory is Schachter and Singer's 1962 theory of emotion that physiological arousal plus a cognitive label for that arousal together produce the emotion a person feels.

Worked example — the bear on the trail, three ways. Narrate the same moment once per theory.

James–Lange. You see the bear. Your heart pounds and you tremble. Then you notice your body's reaction, and that awareness is the feeling of fear. Body first, feeling second: you feel afraid because you tremble.
Cannon–Bard. You see the bear, and your brain sends two signals at the same time. One sets your heart pounding. The other produces the feeling of fear. Neither causes the other; they arrive together.
Two-factor. You see the bear and your heart pounds. You look for a reason, notice the bear, and label the arousal "fear." Arousal plus a label is the emotion. The same pounding heart at the top of a roller-coaster drop might be labeled "thrill."

Lay the three side by side and the disagreement becomes sharp.

Three theories of emotion compared on the bear on the trail: the order of events each predicts and the question that tells it apart
Theory	What happens first	What produces the feeling	The question that identifies it
James–Lange	The bodily reaction	Noticing the bodily reaction	Does the feeling come after the body?
Cannon–Bard	Body and feeling together	A brain signal, sent at the same time as the bodily one	Do they arrive at the same moment?
Two-factor	The bodily arousal	Arousal plus a cognitive label	Does a label decide which emotion it is?

Worked example — the tally. Count the labeled moves in this week's worked example. The five scenarios used 4 motivation labels: drive-reduction theory, arousal theory, incentive theory, and Maslow's hierarchy. The one bear scenario ran through 3 emotion theories. That is 4 + 3 = 7 labeled moves, and every one of them came from the same handful of everyday moments.

Each theory has earned its place. James–Lange made the body central to feeling. Cannon–Bard pointed out that very different emotions, such as fear and anger, can come with similar bodily arousal, so the body alone cannot tell you which emotion you are having. Two-factor theory answered that point with the label: the arousal says "something big is happening," and the appraisal says what.

Pause and think. Choose one. Answer it in two or three sentences.

(a) Think of a time you felt your heart race before you knew why, and explain which theory best fits what happened.

(b) Think of a time the same racing heart could have been two different emotions, such as nerves or excitement before a performance, and explain how the two-factor theory would describe it.

Misconception check. Students often blur Cannon–Bard and two-factor theory, or flip James–Lange into "feeling first, then body." It is tempting because all three involve a body and a feeling. The cure is one question per theory. James–Lange: body first, then feeling. Cannon–Bard: body and feeling at the same time, with no label needed. Two-factor: arousal first, then a label that decides the emotion. If a description has a label in it, it is two-factor, not Cannon–Bard.

Key terms

Motivation — A need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it toward a goal, such as hunger sending you to the kitchen or a scholarship sending you to the library. (first used: 1. Name the force: motivation and instinct theory)
Instinct theory — An early view that explained behavior with instincts, complex unlearned behavior patterns that are fixed across a species, such as a bird building its first nest; naming a behavior an instinct describes it without explaining it. (first used: 1. Name the force: motivation and instinct theory)
Drive-reduction theory — The theory that a biological need creates a drive, an aroused state of tension, that pushes behavior toward meeting the need and restoring homeostasis. (first used: 2. Follow a drive: need, drive, and homeostasis)
Need — A lack of something the body requires, such as food or water, which sets the drive-reduction loop in motion. (first used: 2. Follow a drive: need, drive, and homeostasis)
Drive — An aroused, uncomfortable state of tension, such as hunger or thirst, that a need produces and that pushes a person to act until the need is met. (first used: 2. Follow a drive: need, drive, and homeostasis)
Homeostasis — The body's tendency to keep a steady internal balance, such as a stable temperature or blood sugar level, and to return to it after a change. (first used: 2. Follow a drive: need, drive, and homeostasis)
Arousal theory — The theory that people are motivated to keep their level of physical and mental arousal comfortable, so they sometimes seek excitement and raise tension on purpose rather than only reducing it. (first used: 3. Find the sweet spot: arousal theory and the Yerkes–Dodson law)
Yerkes–Dodson law — The finding, from Yerkes and Dodson (1908), that performance is best at a moderate level of arousal, with the best level lower for a difficult task than for an easy one. (first used: 3. Find the sweet spot: arousal theory and the Yerkes–Dodson law)
Incentive theory — The theory that external rewards, such as money, grades, or praise, pull behavior toward them, in contrast to internal needs that push it. (first used: 4. Feel the pull: incentive theory and its limit)
Maslow's hierarchy of needs — Abraham Maslow's 1943 model that ranks five levels of need, from physiological up to self-actualization; it is a descriptive model whose strict ordering is not well supported by evidence. (first used: 5. Stack the needs: Maslow's hierarchy and its limits)
Self-actualization — The top level of Maslow's hierarchy: the drive to develop your talents and become the most complete version of yourself. (first used: 5. Stack the needs: Maslow's hierarchy and its limits)
Ghrelin — A hormone released mainly by the stomach that signals hunger to the brain, rising when the stomach has been empty for a while. (first used: 6. Trace hunger: the hypothalamus, ghrelin, and leptin)
Leptin — A hormone released by fat cells that signals fullness to the brain and helps regulate appetite over the long run. (first used: 6. Trace hunger: the hypothalamus, ghrelin, and leptin)
Emotion — A response of the whole person that combines physiological arousal, expressive behavior, and a conscious cognitive appraisal of what a situation means. (first used: 7. Take a feeling apart: the three components of emotion)
Physiological arousal — The body's stirred-up state during an emotion, such as a pounding heart, faster breathing, or sweaty palms. (first used: 7. Take a feeling apart: the three components of emotion)
Expressive behavior — The outward signs of an emotion that others can see or hear, such as a facial expression, a posture, or a tone of voice. (first used: 7. Take a feeling apart: the three components of emotion)
Cognitive appraisal — A person's conscious reading of what a situation means for them, such as judging a sound in the dark to be a threat or a friend. (first used: 7. Take a feeling apart: the three components of emotion)
James–Lange theory — The theory of emotion that the body reacts to an event first and the feeling is the experience of that bodily reaction, so a person feels afraid because they tremble. (first used: 8. Run the bear three times: James–Lange, Cannon–Bard, and two-factor)
Cannon–Bard theory — The theory of emotion that an event triggers the bodily reaction and the conscious feeling at the same time, so neither one causes the other. (first used: 8. Run the bear three times: James–Lange, Cannon–Bard, and two-factor)
Two-factor theory — Schachter and Singer's 1962 theory of emotion that physiological arousal plus a cognitive label for that arousal together produce the emotion a person feels. (first used: 8. Run the bear three times: James–Lange, Cannon–Bard, and two-factor)

Summary

Motivation is a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.
Calling a behavior an instinct names it; it does not explain it.
Drive reduction runs need, drive, behavior, homeostasis: needs push.
Arousal theory explains seeking excitement; the Yerkes–Dodson sweet spot is moderate.
The best arousal level is lower for a difficult task.
Incentive theory says external rewards pull; a hobby nobody pays for shows its limit.
Maslow's five levels run physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, self-actualization.
Maslow's hierarchy is a descriptive model; its strict ordering is not well supported.
The hypothalamus helps regulate hunger; ghrelin signals hunger and leptin signals fullness.
Learned, social, and cultural pulls shape what, when, and how much people eat.
An emotion has three parts: physiological arousal, expressive behavior, and cognitive appraisal.
The amygdala is central to fear.
James–Lange: body first. Cannon–Bard: body and feeling together. Two-factor: arousal plus a label.

Check your understanding

Work these before looking at the answers — they are ungraded, and the answers (with reasoning) are at the bottom of the page.

A cyclist rides for two hours on a hot afternoon without a water bottle, feels a strong, nagging thirst, stops at a fountain, drinks, and rides on comfortably. Label each step of the drive-reduction loop.
A violinist is learning a brand-new, very difficult concerto for an audition and also plays a simple, familiar warm-up scale every morning. Using the Yerkes–Dodson law, for which task should the violinist aim for a lower level of arousal, and why?
Kenji ate a large breakfast at 8 a.m. and nothing since; it is now 2 p.m. Which hormone is most likely rising, where is it released, and what does it signal? Name one learned or cultural influence that could also shape when Kenji eats.
A loud crack of thunder wakes Amara at night. Her heart races, and she says, "I realized I was scared only after I noticed my heart pounding." Which theory of emotion does her description fit best, and how would the two-factor theory describe the same night?

Answers (worked reasoning — read after attempting)

The need is water: two hours in the heat left the cyclist's body short of fluid. The drive is thirst, the nagging tension that need produces. The behavior is stopping at the fountain and drinking. Homeostasis returns when the body's fluid balance is restored and the thirst fades, so the cyclist rides on comfortably. Need, drive, behavior, homeostasis, in that order.
The difficult concerto. The Yerkes–Dodson law says performance peaks at a moderate level of arousal, and the best level is lower for a difficult task than for an easy one. A familiar scale can handle more arousal, but a hard, new piece needs a calmer, more focused state. Too much arousal would likely scatter the violinist's attention on the concerto.
From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. is 6 hours with an empty stomach, so ghrelin is most likely rising. It is released mainly by the stomach and signals hunger to the brain. A learned influence could be that Kenji usually eats lunch at noon, so the clock itself cues hunger. A cultural one could be his family's custom of a large shared meal later in the day, which might lead him to wait. (Leptin is the fullness signal from fat cells, so it is the wrong hormone here.)
Amara's description fits the James–Lange theory: her body reacted first (the racing heart), and the feeling of fear came from noticing that reaction. The two-factor theory would say Amara felt arousal, looked for a reason, identified the thunder, and labeled the arousal "fear." If she had been watching a thrilling storm from a safe porch, the same arousal might have been labeled "excitement."

Next up in this module: the Readings & Resources page, the lecture tutorial, the practice set, and the quiz — and next week Piaget's stage model follows how a mind and its feelings grow across a lifetime.

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