Intro to Psych Chapters 4 & 5 - FINAL EXAM

consciousness

An individual’s awareness of external events and internal sensations under a condition of arousal, including awareness of the self and thoughts about one’s experiences.

controlled processes

The most alert states of human consciousness, during which individuals actively focus their efforts toward a goal.

automatic processes

States of consciousness that require little attention and do not interfere with other ongoing activities.

circadian rhythms

Daily behavioral or physiological cycles that involve the sleep/wake cycle, body temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar level.

non-REM sleep

characterized by a lack of rapid eye movement and little dreaming

REM sleep

A stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement when most vivid dreams occur. Most dreaming occurs in this stage.

Insomnia

can involve troubles with falling asleep, waking up during the night, or too early, more common in women, older adults, and thin people

Narcolepsy

overpowering urge to sleep, very uncontrollable

Sleep apnea

individuals stop breathing when sleeping due to this condition

tolerance

the need to take increasing amounts of a drug to get the same affect with lesser amount

physical dependence

physiological need for a drug that causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms like physical pain

psychological dependence

the strong desire to repeat the use of a drug for emotional reasons like reducing stress

addiction

refers to a physical or psychological dependence or both on a drug

psychoactive drugs

depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, increase dopamine levels

depressants

psychoactive drug that slows mental and physical activity, includes alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates

stimulants

stimulants

psychoactive drug that increases central nervous system’s activity, includes caffeine, nicotine, cocaine

hallucinogens

Psychoactive drugs that modify a person’s perceptual experiences and produce visual images that are not real.

opioids

class of drug that act on the brain’s endorphin receptors and are powerful painkillers

meditation

The attainment of a peaceful state of mind in which thoughts are not occupied by worry

learning

A systematic, relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs through experience.

associative learning

One type of learning that occurs when an organism makes a connection, or an association, between two events.

observational learning

One type of learning that occurs through observing and imitating another’s behavior.

behaviorism

A theory of learning that focuses solely on observable behaviors, discounting the importance of such mental activity as thinking, wishing, and hoping.

classical learning

organisms learn the association between two stimuli

unconditioned stimulus

A stimulus that produces a response without prior learning.

unconditioned response

An unlearned reaction that is automatically elicited by the unconditioned stimulus.

conditioned stimulus

A previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits a conditioned response after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus.

conditioned response

The learned response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs after a conditioned stimulus–unconditioned stimulus pairing.

classical conditioning

Learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response.

neutral stimulus

a stimulus that initially produces no specific response other than focusing attention

operant conditioning

A form of associative learning in which the consequences of a behavior change the probability of the behavior’s occurrence.

reinforcement

The process by which a stimulus or an event following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again.

positive reinforcement

The presentation of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior.

negative reinforcement

The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior.

punishment

A consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur.

positive punishment

The presentation of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior.

negative punishment

The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior.

shaping

Rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior.