AP Psychology · Unit 7

Motivation, Emotion and Personality: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)

42 flashcard terms for AP Psychology Unit 7, written to match the course framework. Read them here, drill them as flashcards, or take the 24-question quiz. Free, no account needed.

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Motivation: A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior toward a goal.
Instinct Theory: Early view that behavior is driven by innate, fixed patterns common to a species.
Drive-Reduction Theory: A physiological need creates an aroused drive that motivates behavior to restore homeostasis.
Homeostasis: The body's tendency to maintain a balanced, steady internal state.
Arousal Theory: People are motivated to seek an optimal level of arousal, not merely reduce it.
Yerkes-Dodson Law: Performance peaks at moderate arousal; too little or too much impairs it, especially on hard tasks.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Needs arranged from physiological and safety up to self-actualization; lower needs are met first.
Self-Actualization: The need to fulfill one's potential; the top of Maslow's hierarchy.
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic comes from internal satisfaction; extrinsic comes from external rewards or pressures.
Emotion: A response involving physiological arousal, expressive behavior, and conscious experience.
James-Lange Theory: Emotion results from awareness of a physiological response (we feel afraid because we tremble).
Cannon-Bard Theory: Physiological arousal and the emotional experience occur simultaneously and independently.
Schachter-Singer Two-Factor: Emotion requires physiological arousal plus a cognitive label for that arousal.
General Adaptation Syndrome: Selye's three-stage stress response: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
Stress & Stressors: The process of appraising and responding to threatening events (stressors) that challenge coping.
Sigmund Freud (Psychoanalytic): Held that personality arises from unconscious conflict among the id, ego, and superego.
Id, Ego, Superego: Id seeks immediate pleasure, superego enforces morals, and ego balances them with reality.
Defense Mechanisms: Unconscious ego strategies (like repression and projection) that reduce anxiety by distorting reality.

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Humanistic Theory: Rogers and Maslow stressed free will, growth, and the drive toward self-actualization.
Unconditional Positive Regard: Rogers's concept of full acceptance that fosters a healthy self-concept.
Trait Theory: Describes personality as a set of stable characteristics that predict behavior.
Big Five (OCEAN): The five-factor model: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.
Social-Cognitive Theory: Bandura's view that personality arises from the interaction of traits, thoughts, and environment.
Reciprocal Determinism: Bandura's idea that behavior, personal factors, and environment mutually influence each other.
Homeostasis: The body's tendency to maintain a balanced internal state; drive-reduction theory holds that needs create drives that push us to restore balance.
Incentive Theory: External stimuli (a bonus, aroma of food) pull behavior; combined with internal pushes (drives) to explain motivation.
Yerkes-Dodson Law: Performance is best at moderate arousal; easy tasks benefit from higher arousal, difficult tasks from lower.
Maslow's Hierarchy: Physiological → safety → belonging → esteem → self-actualization (later self-transcendence); lower needs generally take priority, though the order is not universal.
Set Point & Basal Metabolic Rate: The body defends a 'set' weight by adjusting hunger and metabolism; weight loss lowers basal metabolic rate, making further loss harder.
Ghrelin & Leptin: Ghrelin, from an empty stomach, signals hunger; leptin, from fat cells, signals fullness to the hypothalamus.
Approach-Avoidance Conflict: A single goal has both attractive and unattractive features (a job with high pay but long hours); ambivalence rises as the goal nears.
James-Lange Theory: Emotion is the awareness of our physiological responses: we feel afraid because we tremble.
Cannon-Bard Theory: Physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously and independently via the thalamus.
Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory: Emotion = physiological arousal + cognitive label; the same arousal can be experienced as anger or euphoria depending on interpretation.
Zajonc & LeDoux Low Road: Some emotional reactions occur instantly through a thalamus-to-amygdala shortcut before conscious appraisal (jumping at a shadow).
Lazarus Appraisal: Cognitive appraisal — even unconscious — precedes emotion; the same event is threatening or exciting depending on interpretation.

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Facial Feedback Effect: Facial muscle states trigger corresponding feelings; holding a pen in the teeth (forcing a smile) makes cartoons seem funnier.
General Adaptation Syndrome: Selye's three-phase stress response: alarm, resistance, exhaustion; prolonged stress depletes resources and weakens immunity.
Type A vs Type B: Friedman and Rosenman: competitive, hostile Type A people had higher heart-attack risk; anger/hostility is the toxic component.
Problem-Focused vs Emotion-Focused Coping: Problem-focused tackles the stressor directly when control is possible; emotion-focused manages feelings when the stressor cannot be changed.
Spillover Effect: Arousal from one event (exercise) can intensify emotion in a following unrelated situation, consistent with two-factor theory.
Catharsis Myth: Venting anger tends to amplify rather than reduce it; expressing anger can rehearse hostility.

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