Week 10 — Quiz (auto-graded) · Motivation & Emotion

Course: Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Bennett
Objective tested: Objective 6 — the forces of motivation and emotion (theories of motivation; Maslow; hunger; the components and theories of emotion).
Points: 10 (1 each) · Assignment group: Quizzes (15% of grade) · Due: end of Module 10.

This is the human-readable quiz with its vetted answer key and feedback. The import-ready Classic QTI is in F-quiz-week-10-qti.xml; the reusable item-bank entries and the Canvas placement block are at the bottom of this file.

Blueprint

No trick questions; distractors target the Week 10 misconceptions named in the lecture outline.

Questions, key, and feedback

Q1 (MC). A person feels hungry, which creates an uncomfortable internal state of tension; they eat, the tension goes away, and the body returns to balance. Which theory of motivation does this illustrate?
- A. Incentive theory
- B. Drive-reduction theory ✅
- C. Instinct theory
- D. Arousal theory
Feedback: Drive-reduction theory runs on the loop need → drive → action → homeostasis. A biological need creates a drive (tension); acting to reduce it restores the body's balance. (Incentive theory would emphasize an external reward; arousal theory is about seeking an optimal level of stimulation.)

Q2 (MC). According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, performance on a task is generally best when arousal is at —
- A. the highest possible level
- B. the lowest possible level
- C. a moderate level ✅
- D. any level — arousal does not affect performance
Feedback: The Yerkes-Dodson law describes an inverted-U: too little arousal leaves us bored and unfocused, too much causes us to choke, and moderate arousal produces the best performance. (Harder tasks shift the peak toward lower arousal.)

Q3 (Multiple answer — select all that apply). Which of the following are components of an emotion?
- A. Physiological arousal (the body's response, like a racing heart) ✅
- B. Homeostasis
- C. Expressive behavior (facial expressions, posture, tone of voice) ✅
- D. A reflex arc
- E. Cognitive appraisal (how you interpret and label the situation) ✅
Feedback: An emotion has three components working together — physiological arousal, expressive behavior, and cognitive appraisal ("body + behavior + interpretation"). Homeostasis belongs to motivation/drive-reduction, and a reflex arc is a nervous-system pathway — neither is a component of emotion.

Q4 (MC). Maya has enough food and feels physically safe, and now she is focused on making close friends and feeling like she belongs in her new dorm. On Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which level is Maya primarily working on?
- A. Physiological needs
- B. Safety needs
- C. Love and belonging needs ✅
- D. Self-actualization
Feedback: Friendship, intimacy, and feeling part of a group are love and belonging needs — the third level, above physiological and safety and below esteem. (Self-actualization is the top level: becoming one's fullest self.)

Q5 (MC). Darnell sees a snake on the trail. His heart pounds and his hands tremble first, and he concludes, "My heart is racing and I'm shaking, so I must be afraid." The emotion is read from the body's reaction. Which theory of emotion is this?
- A. James-Lange theory ✅
- B. Cannon-Bard theory
- C. Schachter-Singer two-factor theory
- D. Drive-reduction theory
Feedback: James-Lange puts the body first — the physiological reaction comes first, and we infer the emotion from it ("I'm shaking, therefore I'm scared"). (Cannon-Bard says body and feeling occur at the same time; two-factor adds a cognitive label; drive-reduction is a motivation theory, not an emotion theory.)

Q6 (Matching). Match each theory or term to its core idea.
| Theory / term | Correct core idea |
|---|---|
| James-Lange theory | The body reacts first, and we read the emotion from the body |
| Cannon-Bard theory | Bodily arousal and the felt emotion occur at the same time |
| Schachter-Singer two-factor theory | Arousal plus a cognitive label together produce the emotion |
| Incentive theory (motivation) | Behavior is pulled by external rewards and goals |
Feedback: The three emotion theories differ on order: James-Lange = body first; Cannon-Bard = body and feeling at once; Schachter-Singer = arousal + a label. The fourth item is a motivation term — incentive theory, where behavior is pulled from outside (drives, by contrast, push from inside).

Q7 (MC). In the Schachter-Singer two-factor theory, a person experiences physiological arousal and then must add one more ingredient to feel a specific emotion. That second ingredient is —
- A. a reflex
- B. a drop in body temperature
- C. a cognitive label (an interpretation of the situation) ✅
- D. a release of leptin
Feedback: Two-factor theory says arousal + a cognitive label = emotion. The same pounding heart becomes fear, excitement, or anger depending on how the mind labels the situation. (Leptin is a hunger hormone — a distractor from this week's other topic.)

Q8 (True / False). "Maslow's hierarchy of needs requires that each level be completely satisfied before a person can attend to any need on the next level up."
- True
- False ✅
Feedback: False. The hierarchy is a flexible priority map, not a rigid staircase — the levels overlap, and people pursue belonging, esteem, and even self-actualization while lower needs are only partly met. Lower needs usually shout louder, but they don't have to be perfectly satisfied first.

Q9 (MC). A small, almond-shaped structure deep in the brain acts as a fast threat detector, triggering a fear response even before conscious thought. What is it?
- A. The hypothalamus
- B. The amygdala ✅
- C. The cerebellum
- D. The hippocampus
Feedback: The amygdala is the brain's rapid threat detector and is central to fear — it can set off the fear response faster than we can consciously think. (The hypothalamus is the hunger-and-fullness center; the hippocampus is tied to memory; the cerebellum to movement and balance.)

Q10 (MC). Which pair of hormones helps regulate hunger, and what does each signal?
- A. Leptin signals hunger; ghrelin signals fullness
- B. Ghrelin signals hunger; leptin signals fullness ✅
- C. Both ghrelin and leptin signal hunger
- D. Dopamine signals hunger; adrenaline signals fullness
Feedback: Ghrelin says "go" (it rises when the stomach is empty and signals hunger); leptin says "leave it" (released by fat cells, it signals that the body has enough energy — fullness). (Dopamine and adrenaline are involved in reward and arousal, not the core hunger/fullness signal.)

Answer key (quick reference)

Quality gate (self-checked): each single-answer item has exactly one correct option; the multiple-answer item (Q3) lists all three emotion components (A, C, E) and no others; the matching item (Q6) pairs four prompts to four distinct core ideas; Q8 is written so it is unambiguously False (Maslow's levels are flexible, not strictly sequential); no item asserts a fact outside the Week 10 course definitions. No computation in this quiz, so no arithmetic to mis-key.

Item-bank entries (for variants + the midterm/final)

All ten items are tagged course=PSYC1 · week=10 · objective=6 · topic=motivation-and-emotion and deposited in Item Bank: Week 10 — Motivation & Emotion. The final (Week 16) and the per-term variant updates draw fresh items from this bank. (Tags: q1 drive-reduction, q2 yerkes-dodson, q3 emotion-components, q4 maslow-belonging, q5 james-lange, q6 emotion-theories-match, q7 two-factor-label, q8 maslow-flexible, q9 amygdala-fear, q10 hunger-hormones.)

Canvas placement block

canvas_object   = Quizzes::Quiz
title           = "Week 10 Quiz — Motivation & Emotion"
assignment_group = "Quizzes"
points_possible = 10
grading_type    = points
due_offset_days = 6        # 6 days after module start
published       = true
shuffle_answers = true
provenance      = "~ Prof. Bennett's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"