Objectives for Genes and Environment - Chapter 3, pp. 107-110
1. Distinguish between genotype and phenotype. (lecture)
2. Distinguish between monozygotic and dizygotic twins; explain how twin studies help
determine the relative contributions of nature (genes) and nurture (environment) on
behavioral traits. (lecture)
3. Define heritability; explain the concept of an individual’s genes interacting with the
environment to produce physiology and behavior that are unique.
Chapter 8 Objectives
1. Explain how emotions can be mapped along the two dimensions of valence and arousal and
explain how this mapping helps us to define what an emotion is.
2. Contrast the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter-Singer (two-factor) theories of
emotion and note which elements of each have been supported and contradicted by
subsequent research.
3. Explain how the amygdala is involved in the appraisal of emotion; describe the fast and slow
pathways that emotional information can take through the brain, and note how fear can
actually affect our vision.
4. Define the process of emotion regulation and explain how reappraisal is a primary means of
regulating our emotional states.
5. Define emotional expression and explain why facial expressions of emotion are capable of
communicating the greatest degree of specificity regarding underlying emotional
experiences.
6. Describe two lines of evidence supporting the universality hypothesis for facial expressions
of emotion and list emotions that have been shown to have a universal quality.
7. Discuss evidence for the facial feedback hypothesis and describe how the pathway of
emotional experience can be bidirectional.
8. Define display rules and describe four techniques that are used to follow them.
9. List four sets of features of facial expressions that allow a trained observer to detect
whether an expression is sincere.
10. Describe a number of ways in which our verbal and nonverbal behavior is altered when we
lie; provide two reasons why people are poor at detecting lies, and discuss the advantages
and limitations of the polygraph lie detection machine.
11. Define motivation and describe its linguistic and functional connections to emotion.
12. Describe how people use emotional experiences as information about the world and
contrast this with the cognitive-behavioral repertoires of people who have impairments in
experiencing emotion.
13. State the hedonic principle and note how it is an example of emotions serving to motivate
behavior.
14. Discuss the problems of instinct theory as a primary conceptualization of motivation, noting
objections raised by behaviorists; explain how natural selection helps to explain inherited
motivational tendencies. (lecture)
15. Discuss Hull and Spence’s theory that drives motivate behavior in an attempt to maintain
homeostasis.
16. Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
17. Discuss the regulation of hunger and satiety, noting the influence of chemical messengers
(e.g., ghrelin and leptin) and of areas within the hypothalamus.
18. Define anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and describe some biological and cultural
causes of these eating disorders.
19. Discuss the problem of obesity, give three reasons why people tend to overeat, and explain
why dieting is often ineffective.
20. Discuss the hormonal factors that contribute to sexual interest; describe how these
hormonal factors differentially regulate sexual interest in human and nonhuman females,
and discuss human gender differences in sexual interest.
21. Describe the stages of the human sexual response cycle and discuss common reasons that
people give for having sex.
22. Describe some of the issues surrounding sexuality among adolescents, particularly noting
the influence of sex education on adolescents’ sexual activity and its consequences.
(Chapter 11, pp. 451-454)
23. Discuss evidence for and against various explanations for the development of sexual
orientation. (Chapter 11, pp. 451-454)
24. Describe how terror-management theory and the resulting mortality-salience hypothesis
predict behavior motivated to alleviate death-related anxiety.
25. Compare intrinsic and extrinsic motives and note some of the factors that can enhance or
detract from these types of motivation.
26. Compare conscious and unconscious motives, including the need for achievement.
27. Compare approach and avoidance motives and their relative strengths; provide an example
of how each type of motivation can direct our behavior.
Objectives for Defense Mechanisms – Chapter 12, pp. 482-484
1. Define defense mechanisms and explain what they do and how they operate.