General Psychology Exam 2

Consciousness

Awareness of both internal and external stimuli

Awareness of sensations, thoughts, and feelings being experienced at a given time

Beta Brain Waves

alert

Alpha Brain Waves

rest/relaxation

Theta Brain Waves 

light sleep

Delta Brain Waves

deep sleep

Electroencephalograph (EEG)

monitors electrical activity of the brain by recording electrodes attached at the surface of the scalp

Electromyography (EMG)

records muscular activity and movement

Electrooculograph (EOG)

records eye movements

Electrocardiograph (EKG)

records the contractions of the heart

Stage 1 of Sleep

1-7 minutes

Theta waves dominant

breathing, heart rate, muscle tension and body temperature decrease

Stage 2,3,4 of Sleep

Reached in less than an hours and stay for ½ an hour

breathing, heart rate, muscle tension and body temp continue to decline

Low frequency Delta waves become prominent

REM

Deep Sleep

rapid eye movements and irregular breathing

muscles are relaxed

Sleeper is almost paralyzed

Beta waves are dominant

Sleep Cycle

Repeats 4 times

Whole cycle lasts 90 minutes

Sleep Restriction

Less sleep than normal 

Affects attention, reaction time, motor coordination, and decision making

Sleep Deprivation

When deprived of REM sleep, people will fall into REM sleep more easily when they have the chance

Insomnia

Difficulty falling asleep, remaining asleep, and persistent early morning awakening

Narcolepsy

Sudden attacks of sleep

Gro from awake to REM

Lasts 10-20 minutes

Sleep Apnea

Gasping for air awakens person and disrupts sleep

Person stops breathing for 10-30 seconds 

Somnambulism

Sleepwalking 

A person gets up and wanders while sleeping

Episode lasts for 15-30 minutes 

Accident Prone

Circadian Rhythms

24-hour biological sleep/awake cycle

The Unconscious Wish Fulfillment Theory

Freud

Dreams are our desires being fulfilled

Latent content of dreams are wishes in disguise

Dreams For Survival Theory

Dreams permit information that is critical for daily survival 

Things are reconsidered and reprocessed during sleep

Activation Synthesis Theory

Brain fires at random when we are sleeping and the firing may stimulate certain memories

images, sounds, smells

makes a story

Hypnosis Background

Franz Mesmer stumbled upon power of suggestion

James Braid coined the term mesmerism (hypnotism)

Hypnosis

A systematic procedure to put someone in a heightened state of suggestibility (giving up control)

Hypnotism can produce

Anesthesia

Sensory distortion and hallucinations

Disinhibitions

Posthypnotic suggestion and amnesia

Role Playing

Subjects feel like they are in an altered state but they are awake

subjects are acting

Meditation

Practice in which a person is trained to heighten awareness and mental process under greater control

Alpha/theta waves are prominent in a meditation state

Three Types of Meditation in North America

Yoga

Zen

Transcendental Meditation

Psychoactive Drugs

Chemicals that alter mental, emotional, perceptual, and behavioral functioning

ex: LSD, mushrooms, antidepressants, meth

Biological Addiction

Body becomes accustomed to functioning with the presence of the drug

Serious withdrawal

Psychological Addiction

The belief that the drug helps to respond to everyday life stressors

Can’t get through the day without it

Why do drugs?

escape problems

coping mechanism

pee pressure

easy access

Stimulants

Stimulates central nervous system

caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, crack, amphetamines, meth

Depressants

Depresses central nervous system

barbiturates, alcohol

Narcotics

Relaxing “who cares” attitude

morphine, heroin, methadone

Learning

a durable change in behavior and knowledge due to experiences

Ivan Pavlov

Physiologist

Worked on digestion with animals

How much saliva produced when dogs are fed

Rang a bell to feed dogs at the same time every day

Dogs produced saliva after the bell was rung

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning in which the stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus

Involuntary

Neutral Stimulus

does not naturally bring a response of interest

ex: the bell

Classical Conditioning Theory

neutral stimulus (bell) + unconditioned stimulus (meat) —→ unconditioned response (salvation)

Extinction

Gradual weakening and then disappearance of the conditioned response

ex: ring the bell without unconditioned stimulus and the conditional response goes away

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of non-exposure to the conditioned stimulus

Conditioned stimulus appears after extinction but will have a weaker conditioned response

Stimulus Generalization

The organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus responds in the same way to a new stimulus that is similar to the original

Stimulus Discrimination

The organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to a new similar stimulus

Operant Conditioning

A form of learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences

Voluntary

B.F. Skinner

The Skinner Box

Press lever, got food

Hungry rat eventually will press lever

Law of Effect

Responses that lead to satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated

ex: child will behave when rewarded for good behavior

Reinforcement

When an event following a response INCREASES an organism’s tendency to make the response

Primary Reinforcer

To satisfy biological needs (water, food, shelter, sex, and affection)

Secondary Reinforcer

money, attention, praise

we work to achieve these reinforcements 

Positive Reinforcement

Increasing response/behavior with a rewarding consequence

ex: praising a child when they do something good

Negative Reinforcement

Response is strengthened when it is followed by the removal of an unpleasant stimulus

ex: lab rat presses lever to get rid of electric shock

Punishment

A stimulus that DECREASES the probability that a previous behavior will occur

Positive Punishment

Decrease behavior by applying an unpleasant stimulus

ex: spanking

Negative Punishment

Removal of something pleasant

ex: time out

Shaping

The process of teaching complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

ex: giving foods when a rat goes near the lever, once mastered stop food

Schedules of Reinforcement

Different patterns of frequency and timing of reinforcement following desired behavior

Continuous Reinforcement Schedule

Reinforcing behavior some of the time but not all the time

Partial (intermittent) Reinforcement Schedule

Reinforcing behavior some of the time but not all

Little longer for learning to happen, but lasts longer after reinforcement stops

Ratios

number of responses before reinforcement

Interval

amount of time before reinforcement

Fixed Ratio Schedule

Reinforcement is only given after a specific number of responses

Rates of responses have short pauses after each response

ex: rat receives food every 10 lever pushes

Variable Ratio Schedule

Reinforcer occurs after varying the numbers of responses usually in a specific range or average

ex: one time the rat may be reinforced after 2 presses, then after 20 presses, then after 8 presses

Fixed Interval Schedule

Reinforcer for a response is given only is a fixed amount of time has elapsed

ex: after rat presses the lever, the rat must wait two minutes before receiving next reinforcer

Variable Interval Schedule

Reinforcer is given for the first response after a variable time interval has elapsed

Observational Learning

Albert Bandura

Learning by observing the behaviors of another person or model

Four steps to observational learning

attention

retention

reproduction

motivation

Encode

Forming a memory code

Initial process of recording information in a form usable to memory

Storage

Maintaining encoded information in memory over time

Retrieval

Recovering information from memory stores

Sensory Memory

Preserves information in its original sensory form for a brief time

Forgetting happens in 1 second

Iconic Memory

Visual sensory memory

Echoic Memory

Auditory sensory memory

Short Term Memory

Memory that holds information for 15-25 seconds and information has meaning to us

Information Processing Theory

Sensory input —→

Sensory memory —→

Working short term memory —→

Central Executive Processor —→

Long term memory last until death —→

Chunking

Grouping of familiar items stored as a single unit

Rehearsal

Repetition of information that has entered short term memory

Usually forget

ex: telephone numbers

Elaborative Rehearsal

When the information is considered and organized in some fashion such as relating that information to something

ex: father nicknaming everyone to remember their name

ex: memorizing a phone number by singing

Mnemonics

Formal technical way to organize information

ex: ROY G BIV

Long Term Memory

Memory that stores information on a relatively permanent basis although difficult to retrieve at times

Serial Position Effect

The ability to recall information on a list depends on the location on that list

Primary Effect

Items early on the list are remembered

Recency Effect

Items late on the list are remembered

Declarative Memory

Memory for factual information

names, faces, etc.

Semantic Memory

Uses general knowledge and facts of the world and deduce other facts

Episodic Memory

dates or experience for you

Procedural Memory

Memory for skill and habits

Don’t have to think about how to do it, just can do it

ex: riding a bike

Semantic Networks

Nodes representing concepts joined together by pathways that link related concepts

ex: fire engine in book

Recall

Specific information must be retrieved 

Recognition

Stimuli help you remember

Levels of Processing Theory

the deeper you go, the stronger it stays in long term memory

Shallow Level (structural)

The physical characteristic of the stimulus

ex: shape of letters

Intermediate Level (phonemic)

Put sounds to letters and words

Deepest Level (semantic)

Give meaning to the letters and phonics

Explicit

making a conscious effort to remember

ex: name, dates, phone numbers

Implicit

Do not need to think about it, just do it

Flashbulb Memories

visually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events

ex: 9/11, birth of a child, Covid

Schemas

Knowledge of an event or object and use this for future events

Eyewitness Testimony

very unreliable