Arousal, Behavior, Stress, and Affect Worksheet

Using the text for this course, the University Library, the Internet, and/or other resources answer the following questions. Your response to each question should be at least 250 words in length.

1. What are the differences between physiological and psychological needs? Provide examples of each in your response.

Needs are a simple requirement for life and health. Needs are very simple and not often met. Physiological needs affect the body while psychological needs affect the mind. Psychological needs are air, water, food, shelter, sanitation, sleep and touch. Psychological needs are autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Physiological needs are in the brain and body while psychological needs have no material existence and are mental in nature. Physiological need is maintenance of condition within the body and psychological need is when a person strays from this need and the pushes the body into action.

If a person is thirsty than the person would drink water, this thirst or need for water is physiological. If someone decides they are not going to drink water even though he or she is thirsty, than this physiological need becomes a psychological need. This is when the need becomes great and a person does whatever it takes to meet this need. Going without water can cause a person to die; the will to meet this need will make the person use their resources in order to find water.

An example of a psychological need is the desire to be in a relationship. If the person is unable to find a partner this psychological need is not met and the person can become chronically unsatisfied. If the need lies dormant until it is aroused. Such as the person may be able to stay busy where being single doesn’t bother them until they are in situation where they see others couples then the need will arise again. This need reappearing and wanting filled once more is redintegration.

2. What is the relationship between arousal and behavior? Does this relationship impact performance and affect?

Arousal is the energy that develops in preparation of or during behavior. Physiological arousal is the body changes during arousal. Brain arousal is the stages of sleep, awake, and alertness within the brain. How a person feels about an anticipated event such as a first date is psychological arousal. Arousal is energy produced by within the interaction of external and internal stimuli, and the energy from psychological and physiological needs.

This energy is brought about from drive it helps to satisfy intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, that physiological and psychological arousal manifest. Since arousal occurs during the preparation of or at the time of behavior it is safe to say that arousal and behavior have a relationship. Arousal and behavior impact performance based on the task being performed. Arousal can enhance performance, such as a little arousal before a speech can help the speaker deliver the speech better while too much will mess it up.

Arousal before a big game will make the person more alert and have better performance. Little arousal before trying to sleep will prevent the person from falling asleep. Arousal can help reaction time, but then the performance will level off and further performance will suffer. According to Yerkes-Dodson low arousal maximizes performances with difficult tasks. Hull’s theory says that arousal helps with the complexity of task. Arousal can increase focus and attention; it is arousal that energizes a person behavior having a direct effect on it. The relationship between arousal and behavior is a direct one as arousal impacts performance and how a person will behave with the different amounts of arousal.

3. Assess the long-term and short-term effects of stress on the body, brain, and behavior.

The way the body responds to and adjusts to change is stress. Changes can cause an emotional, mental or physical change from the body. Stress an internal or external affect on an individual and a fact of nature. Humans are designed to react to and experience stress. Stress can be positive or negative; it’s positive in keeping us from harm and negative when there is no relief from challenges. Stress as a negative can result in an overworked person with tension. This stress tension can cause internal problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, sleep deprivation, and upset stomach.

Stress can make a person partake in harmful activities such as smoking, drug use, and excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages. Stress can cause weight gain and loss as a person eating habits will change with stress. Short-term stress can even cause lasting changes in a person brain. While the birth of a baby or a promotion can be a good change it is still stress, this stress can posttraumatic stress disorder, different forms of depression, and anxiety. Stress can become problematic when arousal is too high or too low becoming a negative feeling, maladaptive behavior, or disease. Learning to how to handle stress is very important to a person health. Stress can cause impotence in men, vaginal infections in woman, premature ejaculation in men, and menstrual disorders. One of the scariest effects of stress on the human body is death. Stress is one of the common causes for heart attacks, stroke, and hypertension.