Introduction to Psychology Exam 2

Chapters 5-7

Conciousness

Person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind

Phenomenology

How things seem to the conscious person

Problem of other minds

Fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving consciousness of others

People judge minds according in several ways

Capacity for experience

Capacity for agency (plan, control behavior, make decisions)

Mind-body problem

How the mind is related to brain and body

Descartes

Dualism

Pineal Gland= Seat of soul

Mind affects brain via pineal gland

Pineal Gland

Helps regulate sleep hormones

Contemporary view

Mind is what brain does (Materialism)

Seat of soul

seat of consciousness in pineal gland located in brain’s ventricles, middle of brain

Timing of Conscious will

Brain decides before we’re conscious of it.

Consciousness catches up with brain but you can stop it, you still have a choice

William James’ Four Basic Properties of Consciousness

Intentionality, Unity, Selectivity, and Transience

Intentionality

Being directed towards an object

Unity

Resistance to division, integration information from the senses to form a whole

Selectivity

Capacity to include some objects but not others, dichotic listening, Cocktail party phenomenon

Cocktail party phenomenon

Ability to focus on one conversation in a crazy or loud environment, can still notice something important like your name

Transience

Tendency to change, stream of consciousness

Levels of Consciousness (Awareness)

Minimal Consciousness, Full Consciousness, Self-consciousness

Minimal Consciousness

Low level (wakeup), not fully engaged

Full Consciousness

Alert (able to reflect on thought), engaged

Self-coonsciousness

Attention turns inward, everyone looking at you, nervous during presentation

Two ways to measure consciousness

Level and content

Experience-sampling technique or ecological momentary assessment (EMA)

What are you thinking right now

Moment to moment experience AND how you feel doing it

Consciousness

Daydreaming

Helps with creativity and problem solving

Seemingly purposeless flow of thoughts

Default Network

Active when given a specific mental tasks to perform, supports daydreaming

Mental Control

Attempt to change conscious states of mind

Thought Suppression

Conscious avoidance of a thought

Rebound effect of thought suppression

Tendency of a thought to return to consciousness with greater frequency following suppressioon

Wagner

Try not to think about a white bear, think about a white bear and ring the bell

Theory of ironic processes of mental control

Mental process can produce ironic errors because monitoring for errors can itself produce them, not present in consciousness

Unconscious Mind

Unconscious processing can help (solve problems in background) or hurt (biases, judgement) decision- making, plays big role in everyday thinking

Freudian Unconscious

Dynamic Unconscious and Repression

Dynamic Unconscious

Active system encompasses hidden memories, instincts and desires, and inner struggle to control these forces, Freudian slips found in speech

Freudian slips

Saying wrong word by accident but it actually reveals unconscious desires

Repression

Mental process removing unacceptable thoughts and memories from consciousness and keeps them in the unconscious

Cognitive unconscious

Mental processes that give rise to a person’s thoughts, choices, emotions, and behavior even though the person does not experience them/ isn’t aware of them

Ex: Driving home without remembering or thinking about it

Dual-process theories

Two different systems in brain for processing info, used to understand cognitive processes

Fast (System 1)

Slow (System 2)

Dual-Process: Fast

Automatic and unconscious processing

System 1

2+2=4

Make more mistakes bc quick

Dual-Process: Slow

Effortful and conscious processing

System 2

47×38

Kahneman

System 1- Fast

System 2- Slow

Altered state of consciousness

Form of experience that departs from normal subjective experience of the world and mind

Ex: Dreaming, hypnosis, drugs, meditation

Altered states accompanied by a variety because consciousness isn’t fixed and can take many different forms

Changes in thinking/ logic

Disturbances in sense of time

Feelings of loss of control

Changes in emotional expression

Alterations in body image and sense of self (flying/ you’re someone else)

Perceptual distortions

Changes in meaning or significance

Hypnagogic State

Pre-sleep consciousness

Hypnic Jerk

Sudden quiver or sensation of dropping, as if missing a step

Hypnopompic state

Post-sleep consciousness, groggy, half awake

Sleep Cycle

Sequence of events that occurs during a night of sleep is part of one of the major rhythms of human life

Circadian rhythm

Naturally occurring 24-hr cycle

Brain shows EEG changes in beta, alpha, theta, and delta waves

Stages of Sleep

5 stages: 1 to 4 and REM sleep

REM sleep

Rapid eye movements, high level of brain activity, dreaming occurs most often in this stage, body immobilized,

REM gets longer throughout night which is why dreams happen closer to morning

Sleep stage(s) that represents deep sleep and is most restorative

Stages 3 and 4

Awake

Beta waves

Drowsy, relaxed

Alpha waves

Stage 1 sleep

Theta waves

Stage 2 sleep

Sleep spindles, K complexes

Stage 3/ Stage 4 Sleep

Delta waves

REM sleep waves

Fast, random

Sleep laboratories (EOG, EEG, etc)

Capture brain and body activity while sleeping in a controlled environment

Time of human cycle between REM and slow wave/ deep sleep

About 90 minutes

Sleep= Necessity

Sleep after learning= essential for memory consolidation

Memories are kept in place

Sleep loss can be fatal

Glymphatic system operates mainly during sleep

Insomnia

Most common sleep disorder

Difficulty falling/ staying asleep

Sleep Apnea

Stop breathing while sleeping

Somnambulism

Sleep walking

Narcolepsy

Sudden sleep attacks

Sleep paralysis

Waking up and unable to move body

Night terrors

Terrifying wakeup from REM

Five major characteristics distinguish dreaming from waking consciousness

Intense emotion, illogical thought, meaningful sensation (seems real), uncritical acceptance (don’t question what’s happening even if it’s bizzare)

Difficulty remembering dream on waking

Schedules of reinforcement

Organism responds in the pattern with which reinforcement appeared

Interval Schedules

Based on time intervals between reinforcements

Ratio Schedules

Based on ratio of responses to reinforcements

Manifest content

Dream’s apparent topic or superficial meaning (surface story of dream)

Latent content

Dream’s true underlying meaning