sleep and dreaming psychology

Benefits of Sleep (3)

Physical repair

Healthy brain

Emotional stability

Benefits of Sleep - Healthy Brain

Flushed toxins that could damage brain.

Benefits of Sleep - Physical repair

Reparation of damaged cells.

Benefits of Sleep - Emotional stability

Prevents emotional problems such as feeling irritable or agitated

Stage 1 of sleep cycle (physical) (2)

Drowsy, muscle spasms followed by falling feeling

Stage 1 of Sleep cycle (biological)

Slowing synchronised alpha waves

Stage 2 of sleep cycle (physical)

Loss of consciousness

Stage 2 of sleep cycle (biological)

Slower theta waves, random bursts of fast waves

Stage 3 of Sleep cycle (physical)

Deep sleep, growth hormone released

Stage 3 of Sleep cycle (biological)

Slow delta waves

Stage 4 of Sleep cycle (physical)

No muscle activity, deep sleep

Stage 4 of Sleep cycle (biological)

Slow delta waves

how many stages of sleep are there?

four + REM

REM cycle (physical)

Increased blood pressure, eyes move rapidly

REM cycle (biological)

Similar waves to when awake

When does dreaming occur?

during REM sleep

role of pineal gland

Produces melatonin

Role of melatonin

Feel drowsy then fall asleep. High levels for 12 hours after being released

Neuroscience of Sleep (5)

1- Eye sends message to SCN when exogenous zeitgerber happens

2- send signal to pineal gland to release hormones

3- melatonin delayed until dark

4- melatonin released

5- Sleep

What is an Endogenous Pacemaker?

INTERNAL biological factors that regulate sleep cycle

What is an exogenous zeitgeber?

Physical and changes to our surroundings that regulate our sleep cycle

What is sleep maintenance insomnia?

When sleep cycle is disturbed and keep waking up during the night

Causes of Sleep maintenance insomnia (3)

Depression

Alcohol

Menopause

What is sleep onset insomnia?

difficulty falling asleep

Causes of Sleep-Onset Insomnia (3)

Anxiety

Caffeine

Eating a lot before bed

What is the unconcious mind?

Thought and feeling we are not consciously aware of

Role of the unconscious mind in sleep

Urges are suppressed into unconscious mind and released when asleep

What is the id?

Primitive urges in unconscious mind

Role of repression in dreaming

The id urges are suppressed but released when egos defences are weakened (when asleep)

Role of wish fulfilment in dream

Dreams act as wish fulfilment and release anxiety about these urges.

How are dreams presented (Freud)

Don't always present urges in an obvious way, there is the manifest and the latent content.

Definition of manifest content

Actual content of dreams

Definition of latent content

Underlying meaning of dreams

Key criticism of Freuds Theory

Too subjective, since dream analysis is open to interpretation, it can be viewed in many different ways depending on your viewpoint

Other criticism of Freuds Theory

Weak evidence, as it's difficult to test. Therefore must rely on case studies which can be unreliable

REM Sleep in ASH

There is a lot of brain activity in REM that is similar to when awake

Activity of neurons in pons

Neurons are passed through the pons into the higher levels of the brain where the cerebral cortex makes sense of them

How does brain synthesise neurons

It activates the limbic system that attaches meaning to the waves

Synthesis of brain waves in Activation Synthesis Theory (Hobson and McCarely 1977)

The limbic system attaches a memory or emotion to the wave then the cerebral cortex tries to make sense of it by sensing if it is similar to the waves of past experiences.

Key Criticism of Activation Synthesis Theory (Hobson and McCarely 1977)

Too reductionist, as it tries to simplify complex functions to random electrical activity

Criticism of Activation Synthesis Theory (Hobson and McCarely 1977)

Those with damaged brain stems still dream, even though the pons aren't producing any signals. This suggests it is the product of something else

Damage of what part of the brain can cause sleeping issues?

Hypothalamus, because it's where the SCN is located, so signals for the release of melatonin would be delayed

Examples of relaxation techniques (3)

Writing down worries

Deep breathing

Relaxing muscles

electroencephalogram EEG

machine that records the patterns of electrical activity in the brain

Boivin et al (1996)

found that after 3 days, participants exposed to very bright light had an advancement in circadian rhythms by 5 hours, those exposed by a bright light just 3 hours, ordinary light 1 hour, dim light it drifted to 1 hour later

psychianalysis

a therapy that aims yo treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements of the minf

weakness of freuds theory of dreaming

studies against like hobson and mccarley 1977 who saw dreaming as a result of random activity in the brain. relies on the subjective interpretation of symbols by the analyst, so the meaning that they put on may not be an accurate reflection of the dreamers mind

strenghts of freuds theory of dreaming

useful tool in psychotherapy. dreams are thought to be a window into the unconscious mind. supported by evidence of little hans. qualitative data

superego

the part of Freuds personality theory that is the conscience. thought of as 'you cant have…'

ego

the part of Freuds personality theory that is reasoning, to balance demands of the id and superego

id

the part of Freuds personality theory that is demanding, thought of as 'i want…'

psychosexual stages

part of freuds theory of child development

phallic stage

3-5 years old, gender behaviour is developed through identifying with same sex parent

Oedipus Complex

part of Freuds phallic stage; a boy has unconscious sexual feelings for his mother and hates his father, who he sees as a rival and fears he will castrate him

Aims of Little Hans study

help little hans, gather evidence to build his theory on child development

conclusion of little hans study

freud used evidence from little hans to support his theory of psychosexual stages in children

strengths of freuds little hans study

in depth data gathered. very carefully documented

weakness of freuds little hans study

most of the information came from Hans father, it might have been biased as both parents believed in Freuds theories.not generalisable as only little hans was studied. other explanations to Hans dreams like when he saw a horse have an accident and started having nightmares about horses.

Siffre (1975) aims

to see how people would get on travelling through space's circadian rhythms would react withotu zeitgeibers. his previous work suggested circadian rhythms adjusted themselves to a 48 hours and wanted to see if he could replicate it

Siffre (1975) procedure

spent 63 days/ sic months in a cave without daylight to see how his circadian rhythms would react without zeitbergers. took his own blood pressure. went through memory and physical tests recording his results.kept a diary when he thought it was day and night. when he was ready for sleep his research team turned off the lights and when he woke up he'd call them and ther would turn back on

Siffre (1975) results

became depressed. became desparate for companionship. suicidal thoughts.came out with worse eyesight and psychological problems. short term memory was affected. his sleep wake cycle varied from 18 hours to 52 hours. he had two periods where his cycles were 48 hours like he wanted.

Siffre (1975) conclusion

his circadian rhythms/sleep wake cycle were affected. concluded the body clock might be manageable, if erratic. however the period of isolation in a confined space was not manageable and austronauts would need companionship. time is not something humans can understand without external cues

strength of siffre 1975

both qualitative and quantitative data. longitudinal study.

weakness of siffre 1975

lights still went on and off and they could act as external cues (zeitgeibers) and affect his internal body clock, which makes the results not very valid. not generalisable