Motivation is a process of initiating, guiding, and maintaining actions to fulfill physiological or psychological needs or desires. For example, feeling ...

The motivational cycle is a psychological framework that explains how individuals are driven to fulfill their needs, achieve goals, and restore ...

Hunger and thirst are two basic physiological drives that guide survival behaviors in humans and animals. Hunger is triggered when the brain detects ...

Sleep, sex, and pain avoidance are key physiological motives that shape human and animal behavior. Sleep, regulated by the hypothalamus and brainstem, ...

Power motivation and achievement motivation are two key social motives identified by psychologist David McClelland. Power motivation refers to the desire ...

Affiliation motivation is the innate need to connect with others and belong to a social group and is crucial for maintaining relationships and overall ...

Instinct theory suggests that humans have innate instincts that drive their behavior and decision-making. Similar to how animals rely on instincts for ...

Clark Hull introduced the drive-reduction theory, often called the push theory of motivation. This theory explains how biological drives such as hunger or ...

Incentive theory, or the pull theory of motivation, suggests that behavior is explained by the external stimulus and its rewarding properties, such as ...

The optimal arousal theory is based on the Yerkes-Dodson law, formulated by Robert Yerkes and John Dodson. This law illustrates the relationship between ...

Abraham Maslow's theory of motivation is organized as a hierarchy of needs, where lower-level needs must be satisfied before pursuing higher ...

Self-determination theory, pioneered by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, focuses on three fundamental organismic needs: autonomy, competence, and ...

The physiology of emotions involves complex interactions between the autonomic nervous system, brain structures, hormones, and neurotransmitters. The ...

Emotional expression refers to how people show their feelings through spoken words and non-verbal actions. This includes facial expressions, body ...

Emotional labeling refers to the cognitive process of identifying and naming emotions such as anger, fear, happiness, or sadness. Emotional labeling is ...

The James-Lange theory of emotion, proposed by William James and Carl Lange in the late 19th century, asserts that emotions are the result of ...

The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion was developed by physiologists Walter Cannon and Philip Bard to explain the relationship between emotions and ...

Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed the two-factor theory of emotion, which emphasizes the interplay between physiological arousal and cognitive ...

Richard Lazarus's cognitive mediational theory emphasizes the role of cognitive interpretation or appraisal. This appraisal mediates between the ...

Charles Darwin argued that facial expressions evolved to communicate intentions like threat or fear and are universal across species, not ...