Psychology: Consciousness, Social Influence, and Personality

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering sleep stages, dream theories, psychoactive drugs and substance use, social thinking and group influence, and classic psychoanalytic and humanistic personality theories.

Sleep

The periodic, natural loss of consciousness

unconsciousness

coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation

Circadian Rhythm

The internal biological clock, 24-hour cycle

REM Sleep

Rapid eye movement sleep; a recurring sleep stage

1. vivid dreams

2. accompanied by internal physiological arousal while the brainstem blocks messages to muscles.

REM Rebound

The tendency for the amount of REM sleep to increase following periods of REM sleep deprivation.

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

A pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that controls the circadian rhythm in response to light, causing decreased melatonin production in the morning and increased production in the evening.

Why do we sleep?

1. restore and repair

2. protective role

3. strengthen neural connection (REM synapse)

4. growth hormone

5. promotes creative problem-solving

Insomnia

A major sleep disorder characterized by persistent and recurring problems in falling or staying asleep.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder characterized by sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks, with the sleeper sometimes lapsing directly into REM sleep.

Night terrors

high arousal during sleep + appear to be terrified

Sleep Apnea

A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings, commonly associated with obesity.

Manifest Content

According to Sigmund Freud, the remembered storyline of a dream, which functions as a censored version of its underlying meaning.

Latent Content

According to Sigmund Freud, the underlying hidden psychological meaning of a dream, representing unconscious drives and unacceptable wishes.

Why do we dream?

ordinary events and everyday experiences, involving anxiety or misfortune.

Psychoactive Drug

A chemical substance that alters brain chemistry

• causes changes in perceptions, thoughts, moods, and behaviors.

Substance Use Disorder

Continued substance craving and use despite significant life disruption and dangerous physical or psychological consequences.

Tolerance

A state in which, due to repeated exposure, the brain chemistry adapts (neuroadaptation), requiring increasingly larger doses of a drug to produce its original effect.

Withdrawal

The distress and unpleasant physical or mental reactions that follow the cessation or reduction of an addictive drug or compulsive behavior.

Depressants

A category of psychoactive drugs that calm neural activity and slow down bodily functions.

• alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates

Barbiturates

Tranquilizers that depress central nervous system activity, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgment, with potentially lethal effects when combined with alcohol.

• Nembutal, Seconal, and Amytal

Opioids

Drugs derived from opium and their synthetic counterparts that depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety.

• morphine, codeine, heroin

• fentanyl and methadone

Stimulants

Psychoactive drugs that excite neural activity and accelerate bodily functions, often increasing alertness and energy.

• caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, and methamphetamine

Hallucinogens

Psychedelic drugs that distort perceptions and evoke vivid sensory images in the absence of external sensory input.

• LSD, MDMA, psilocybin, and ketamine

THC (Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol)

The major active chemical ingredient in cannabis that triggers heightened sensitivity to colors, sounds, tastes, and smells, relaxes inhibitions, and impairs motor coordination and reaction time.

Social Psychology

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

• explores social interactions and their effects on individuals

Attribution Theory

Fritz Heider's theory proposing that people explain others' behavior by attributing it to feelings, beliefs, intentions, and situations to them.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Explain other people’s behavior dispositionally, but your own situationally

How do attributions matter?

Explaining other’s actions and attributing them to the person or their situations can have important, real-life effects

EX: politics

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger, more demanding request.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Leon Festinger's theory stating that people experience psychological discomfort when two thoughts clash, prompting them to change their attitudes to align with their actions.

Normative Social Influence

Conformity resulting from an individual's desire to gain approval or avoid rejection and disapproval from a social group.

Informational Social Influence

Conformity resulting from a person's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality, often driven by the desire to be accurate.

Social Facilitation

Norman Triplett's finding that the presence of others increases physiological arousal, strengthening performance on easy or well-learned tasks while hindering performance on complex tasks.

Social Loafing

The tendency for individuals in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward a common goal than when individually accountable.

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint that occurs in group situations.

• high emotional arousal and anonymity

Group Polarization

The enhancement and strengthening of a group's prevailing beliefs and inclinations through discussion among like-minded individuals.

Groupthink

A mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony and unanimity within a decision-making group overrides a realistic evaluation of alternative options.

Personality

An individual's characteristic, enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

• persist across time and situations

Free Association

A psychoanalytic method in which the client is encouraged to speak whatever comes to mind, allowing the therapist to trace the flow of thoughts into the unconscious.

Id

Unconscious structure of personality that contains basic instinctual drives and operates strictly on the pleasure principle.

Ego

The largely conscious 'executive' part of personality that mediates between the demands of the id, the superego, and reality, operating on the reality principle.

Superego

The voice of conscience and internalized moral ideals acquired from parents and society, operating on the morality principle.

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious protective methods used by the ego to distort reality and reduce anxiety stemming from unacceptable impulses and thoughts.

Reaction Formation

The ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their direct opposites.

Projection

Individuals disguise their own threatening or unacceptable impulses by attributing them to other people.

Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces and universal archetypes derived from our species' universal experiences.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

A projective test presenting a standardized series of ambiguous inkblots designed to reveal an individual's inner dynamics, though characterized by low validity and reliability.

Self-Actualization

According to Abraham Maslow, the psychological need and motivation to fulfill one's unique potential, arising after basic deficiency needs have been satisfied.

Unconditional Positive Regard

According to Carl Rogers, a caring, accepting, and nonjudgmental attitude that honors an individual without devaluing them, fostering healthy personal growth.