Unit 2

Circadian rhythm

Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark and affect most living things, including animals, plants, and microbes

Sleep cycle

The sleep cycle is an oscillation between the slow-wave and REM phases of sleep

Stages of Sleep

Scientists categorized the stages of sleep based on the characteristics of the brain and body during sleep Stage 1,2,3, and 4, are categorized as 'non-REM sleep', and the fifth stage is REM sleep

NREM-1:

A transition period between wakefulness and sleep. The brain, heartbeat, eye movements, and breathing slows down

NREM-2:

Lasts about 20 minutes and may begin to have slow-wave (delta) brain activity

NREM-3:

Delta waves emerge and the brain consolidates declarative memories

REM (Rapid Eye Movement):

The brain's activity most closely resembles its activity during waking hours, but the body is temporarily paralyzed to prevent acting out dreams

Gamma waves

Considered to be the fastest brain wave. It is responsible for cognitive functioning, learning, memory, and information processing. In optimal conditions gamma waves help with attention, focus, binding of senses (smell, sight, and hearing), consciousness, mental processing, and perception

Beta waves

A characteristic of a strongly engaged mind. It is involved in conscious thought and logical thinking

Alpha waves

Occurs when people feel relaxed and when the brain is in an idle state without concentrating on anything

Theta waves

Strong during internal focus, meditation, prayer, and spiritual awareness. It reflects the state between wakefulness and sleep and relates to the subconscious mind

Delta waves

High amplitude, low frequency brain wave. It is most often associated with slow wave sleep

Sleep spindles

Bursts of coherent brain activity visible on the EEG, which are most evident during stage 2 sleep

Hypnagogic sensations

Sensory experiences that occur just before falling asleep

Hallucinations

Sensory experiences that appear real but are created by your mind. They can affect all five of your senses

Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

A small region of the hypothalamus in the brain, above the optic chiasm that is the location of the circadian oscillator, which controls circadian rhythms. It receives direct input from the retina

Melatonin

A hormone released by the pineal gland that produces sleepiness. Its production increases with evening darkness, promoting healthy sleep and helping to orient our circadian rhythm.

Sleep debt / Sleep deficit

The difference between the amount of sleep someone needs and the amount they actually get

REM rebound

The compensatory increase of the frequency, depth, and intensity of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep following sleep deprivation or significant stressors

Insomnia

A sleep disorder in which you have trouble falling and/or staying asleep. The condition can be acute or chronic. It may also come and go

Sleep apnea

The temporary cessation of breathing while asleep, which occurs when the upper airway briefly becomes blocked or when the respiratory centers in the brain fail to stimulate respiration

Sleep paralysis

A period of transient, consciously experienced paralysis either when going to sleep or waking up, often accompanied by terrifying hallucinations

sleep talking

a sleep disorder defined as talking during sleep without being aware of it

sleep walking

Involves getting up and walking around while in a state of sleep

Night terrors

Episodes of screaming, intense fear and flailing while still asleep. Also known as night terrors, sleep terrors often are paired with sleepwalking

Narcolepsy

A chronic sleep disorder characterized by overwhelming daytime drowsiness and sudden attacks of sleep

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

A test that detects electrical activity in your brain using small, metal discs (electrodes) attached to your scalp

5 theories for why we sleep

1. Sleep protects
2. Sleep helps us recuperate
3. Sleep helps us restore and rebuild our fading memories of the day's experiences
4. Sleep feeds creative thinking
5. Sleep supports growth

Dream content: manifest

Manifest: Includes the actual images, thoughts, and content contained within the dream. It's the elements of the dream that you remember upon awakening

Dream content: latent

Latent: The hidden psychological meaning of the dream. It appears in disguise symbolically and contains things that are hidden from conscious awareness, often because it may be upsetting or traumatic

Dream Theory: Freud's Wish Fulfillment

dreams provide a "psychic safety valve"--expressing otherwise unacceptable feelings contain manifest (remembered) content and a deeper layer of latent content (a hidden meaning).
(lacks any scientific support dreams may be interpreted in many different ways) (do what we can't do in real life)(psycho)

Dream Theory: Information Processing

dreams help us sort out the day's events and consolidate our memories (but why do we sometimes dream about things we have not experienced) (psycho)

Dream Theory: Physiological Function

regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways (this does not explain why we experience meaningful dreams)(brain repairs itself -> memories get triggered randomly)(bio)

Dream Theory: Neural Activation

REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories.
(the individual's brain is weaving the stories, which still tells us something about the dreamer)(our brain is always active, even during REM -> memories triggered randomly)(bio)

Dream Theory: Cognitive Development

dream content reflect dreamers' cognitive development--their knowledge and understanding.
(does not address the neuroscience of dreams)(dream about what is relevant in our lives)(psycho)

Social psychology

The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Social context/setting

The physical, social, and cultural environment we are in or have been in

Social reality

Our perceptions of all the other individuals, groups, and cultures we have encountered and currently encounter

Situationism

A psychological theory which explains how external (environmental) factors can influence one's thoughts and behaviors

Culture

The set of ideas, beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, and traditions that exist within large or small groups of people

Individualism vs Collectivism

Individualism gives priority to personal wants and needs over the group's

Collectivism focuses on the priorities of the group and not the individual

Social norms

The general cultural rules of how people are expected to act in a situation, group, or society

Social role

The part people play as members of a social group. With each role, your behavior changes to meet your and everyone's expectations of that role

Gender role

A set of expectations held by society about the ways in which people are supposed to behave based on gender

Social script

The specific steps you are expected to carry out in a particular situation based on the culture

Attitudes

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events

anchoring bias

The tendency to rely too much on the first information or impression we receive when judging something

confirmation bias

The tendency to only pay attention to information that supports one's prior judgments

false consensus effect

the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Attribute theory (disposition vs situation)

FAE (fundamental attribution error)

book

SSB (Self-serving bias)

book

Modesty bias

When individuals attribute failed to internal factors and success to situational factions

Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion

A theory of persuasion that explains how people process stimuli differently and how these processes change attitudes and consequently behavior

central route persuasion

Being influenced by facts, logic

peripheral route persuasion

Being influenced by things other than facts and logic such as appearance, expectations, biases, etc.

Cognitive dissonance

The discomfort that results from either:
1. a thought that is inconsistent with a behavior,
2. two thoughts that conflict with each other

To resolve this discomfort we automatically
1. change our thought to match our behavior,
2. change our thought to match our thought

self-fulfilling prophecy

A belief (positive or negative) that causes one to have that belief come true

stereotype threat

When a negative stereotype about the group you identify with causes you to live down to that stereotype

Reciprocal determinism

A person's behavior is influenced by their thoughts, which are influenced by their environment, which is influenced by their behavior, in a cycle

Person-situation controvery

A debate in psychology that questions whether one's personality or situation best explains one's behavior

Social identity theory

Our self-concept is influenced by how we view the groups we feel a part of. Therefore, we look for ways to make our in-groups look good and our out-groups look bad.

Social categorization

Classifying people into groups based on similar characteristics

Social comparison

Evaluating the values, behaviors, and performance of an individual to another individual or of a group to another group

In-group

The tendency to view the ingroup (group we identify with) and its members as distinctive, diverse, and/or superior

Out-group

The tendency to view an outgroup (the group the individual does not identify with) and its members as homogeneous and inferior

Minimal group paradigm

It takes very little to feel like you're a part of an in-group with others, and once you do you tend to feel positively towards your in-group and feel negatively towards your out-group

Other race effect

Recall faces of one's race more accurately than faces of other races

Stereotype

An over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people

Prejudice

Negative and unjustified attitudes that are directed towards people who belong to a social group

Discrimination

The actions, usually negative, towards an individual or group of people, especially on the basis of sex/race/social class, etc

Grain of truth hypothesis

One experience with an individual can cause that experience to be generalized to a group of similar people

Social distance

The feeling you have of how much you can relate to and understand another person, group, or culture. Not actual physical distance

Scapegoat theory

The tendency to blame another person or group (usually unfairly) for one's own problems, a process that often results in feelings of prejudice toward the person or group that one is blaming

Just-world phenomenon

The tendency to believe that people get what they deserve. People want to believe that the world is fair and look for ways to rationalize away injustice, often blaming the victim in certain situations. This can result in prejudice towards people and groups

Ethnocentrism

The belief that your society, group, or culture is superior to all others

Social trap (tragedy of the commons)

A short-term gain for oneself or one's group that ultimately causes a loss for others and eventually oneself or group

Conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to match those of others

Social contagion

Involves behavior, emotions, or conditions spreading spontaneously through a group or network
- (conformity)

Asch effect

A form of conformity in which a group majority influences individual judgments
- (conformity)

Normative vs Informational social influence

Normative: change your behavior / thinking to match others even though you know they are incorrect, because you want to fit in

Informational: change your behavior / thinking to match others because you think they know what is correct better than you do

- (conformity)

Factors that influence conformity

1) Group size (the larger, the better)
2) Unanimity
3) Cohesion
4) Status
5) Accountability
6) No prior commitment

- (conformity)

Compliance

Being persuaded by a person or group, who doesn't have control over you, to do something they want you to do

Commitment / Consistency

We're more likely to be persuaded to do something if we have already agreed to do it in some way, especially if we communicate this to others
- (compliance)

Foot in the Door

Get someone to do a large request by first doing a small request
- (commitment / consistency)

Goal Gradient Theory

We are more likely to keep working towards a big long-term goal if we break it up into smaller short-term goals
- (commitment / consistency)

Low Balling

Offer someone a low price, then after they have agreed and started the purchase process raise the price by adding fees
- (commitment / consistency)

Reciprocity

We're more likely to be persuaded to do something if someone has already done something for us

Door in the Face

Get someone to do something you want by first asking them to do something large, then they say no and feel bad for rejecting you, then you ask them to do something smaller, and then they feel like you have done them a favor by lowering your request so they reciprocate by saying yes
- (reciprocity)

Authority / Credibility

We're more likely to be persuaded to do something if the person asking seems credible, even if their credibility isn't directly related to what they are asking us to do

Social Proof / Consensus

We're more likely to be persuaded to do something if it seems like others are doing it, especially if the others seem similar to us

Likeability

We're more likely to be persuaded to do something if the person asking is pleasant, friendly, and praises or values us

Scarcity

We're more likely to be persuaded to do something if it seems like the thing we are being offered seems to be limited or running out soon

Obedience

When you change your opinions, judgements, or actions because someone who has some power or control over you told you to, even if you don't agree with this

Social facilitation

People perform certain tasks better when they are being watched, or think they are being watched, by others

Social loafing

Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal

Social inhibition

when a person restrains or alters their behavior when around others in a social setting for fear of being judged, or facing the disapproval of others

Deindividuation

The tendency for people in groups to not act like themselves but instead act like the group is acting

Diffusion of responsibility

A situation where it is not clear who, if anyone, is responsible for something. In such a situation, no one tends to take action because they don't think they are responsible.

Bystander effect

Individuals are less likely to give help to a victim in need when other people are present, because they assume someone else will help that person