AP Psychology: Motivation - The Night Before 🚀

Hey! Let's make sure you're feeling super confident about motivation for tomorrow's exam. We'll break it down, connect the dots, and make it stick. You got this! 💪

Table of Contents

1. Hunger Motivation 🍔
2. Sexual Motivation 💋
3. Social Motivation 🗣️
4. Final Exam Focus 🎯
5. Practice Questions 📝

🍔 Hunger Motivation

Let's dive into the science of why we eat! It's way more than just a rumbling tummy.

The Basics

• Washburn & Cannon's Experiment: Remember this classic? Stomach contractions were initially thought to be the sole cause of hunger, but it's more complex than that.
• Glucose: Your body's main energy source. When levels drop, hunger signals kick in.

The Brain's Role

• Hypothalamus: The hunger control center!
  • ⬆️ Lateral Hypothalamus (LH): Stimulates hunger. Think Large Hunger. Produces orexin, a hunger-triggering hormone. Damage to LH = no desire to eat.
  • ⬇️ Ventromedial Hypothalamus (VMH): Stimulates satiety (feeling full). Damage to VMH = never feeling full.

• Other Players:
  • Thyroid: Regulates metabolism.
  • Pancreas: Regulates blood glucose (insulin).

Hormones & Neurotransmitters

• ⬆️ Ghrelin: Increases hunger; secreted by an empty stomach.
• ⬆️ Orexin: Increases hunger; secreted by the hypothalamus.
• ⬇️ PYY: Decreases hunger; digestive tract hormone.
• ⬇️ Leptin: Decreases hunger; protein hormone secreted by fat cells.
• Insulin: Controls blood glucose levels; secreted by the pancreas.

Image Courtesy of Sutori.

Set-Point Theory

• Your body has a genetically predetermined weight. When you deviate, it fights back with increased hunger and lowered metabolism. 🤸‍♀️
• Basal Metabolic Rate: How much energy your body uses at rest.

👅 Taste Preferences

• Thinking about food can trigger hunger. 🤯
• Carbs boost serotonin, which is why we crave them when upset.
• Conditioning shapes taste preferences (remember Pavlov?).
• Culture dictates what we consider edible.
• Neophobia: Dislike of new foods, an evolutionary adaptation. 🤢
• Social Eating: We eat more when with others, and when there are more options. 🍏🍕🍳

💋 Sexual Motivation

Let's talk about sex! It's a fundamental drive, but also influenced by learning and values.

Kinsey's Research

• Alfred Kinsey (1948): Pioneering (though not super scientific) survey on sexual behavior. Found premarital sex was more common than previously thought.

Sexual Response Cycle (Masters & Johnson)

• 4 Stages:
  1. Excitement: Initial arousal; blood flow to genitals.
  2. Plateau: Peak of arousal; increased secretions.
  3. Orgasm: Genital contractions; ejaculation; peak of physiological responses.
  4. Resolution: Body returns to normal; males enter a refractory period (resting period).

Image Courtesy of WebMD.

Sexual Dysfunction

• Impairment of sexual excitement. Classified by:
  1. Distress from unusual sexual interests.
  2. Sexual desire that harms others.

Hormones

• Estrogen: Primary female sex hormone.
• Testosterone: Primary male sex hormone.
• Hormones and sexual attraction are interconnected.

🗣️ Social Motivation

We're social creatures! Our need to belong is a powerful motivator.

Belonging

• Social Connections: Boosted survival for our ancestors. ❤️
• Social + Autonomy: Leads to high self-esteem and feeling valued.
• Conformity: We often go to great lengths to fit in (more on this in Unit 9!).
• Ostracism: The pain of being excluded. Hurts! 💔
• Immigration: Often driven by the need to belong.
• Technology: Social media impacts our sense of belonging. Use it wisely! 💻📱

🎯 Final Exam Focus

Okay, let's nail this! Here's what to focus on:

High-Value Topics: * Hypothalamus and its role in hunger and satiety. * Hormones related to hunger and sex. * The stages of the sexual response cycle. * The impact of social belonging on well-being.

📝 Practice Questions

Let's test your knowledge with some practice questions!

Practice Question

Multiple Choice Questions:

1. Which of the following hormones is primarily associated with increasing hunger? (A) Leptin (B) Insulin (C) Ghrelin (D) PYY (E) Estrogen

2. Damage to the ventromedial hypothalamus in rats will result in: (A) Decreased appetite and weight loss (B) Increased appetite and weight gain (C) Normal eating patterns (D) A preference for sweet foods (E) Aversion to all foods

3. According to Masters and Johnson, which of the following is the correct order of the phases of the sexual response cycle? (A) Orgasm, plateau, excitement, resolution (B) Excitement, plateau, resolution, orgasm (C) Plateau, excitement, orgasm, resolution (D) Excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution (E) Resolution, excitement, plateau, orgasm

Free Response Question (FRQ):

Explain how biological, psychological, and social factors interact to influence eating behavior.

Scoring Breakdown:

• Biological Factors (2 points):
  • 1 point for correctly identifying a biological factor (e.g., hormones like ghrelin or leptin, hypothalamus).
  • 1 point for explaining how the biological factor influences eating behavior (e.g., ghrelin increases hunger, lateral hypothalamus stimulates eating).
• Psychological Factors (2 points):
  • 1 point for correctly identifying a psychological factor (e.g., stress, learned taste preferences, conditioning).
  • 1 point for explaining how the psychological factor influences eating behavior (e.g., stress can lead to increased carb consumption, conditioning can alter taste preferences).
• Social Factors (2 points):
  • 1 point for correctly identifying a social factor (e.g., cultural norms, social eating, ostracism).
  • 1 point for explaining how the social factor influences eating behavior (e.g., cultural norms dictate what foods are acceptable, social eating leads to increased consumption).

You've got this! Go ace that exam! 🌟