Psychology Final Prep

consciousness

awareness of a stimulus

masking (controlling consciousness)

a procedure of preceding or following a stimulus with an interfering pattern that might prevent consciousness of the stimulus

Flash suppression

a procedure of blocking consciousness of a stationary
visual stimulus by surrounding it with rapidly flashing items

Attentional blink

when your attention to a first stimulus blocks notice of a
second stimulus.

Binocular rivalry

an alteration between seeing a pattern in the left retina and
the pattern in a right retina.

Consciousness & Brain Activity

When someone is conscious of a stimulus
• The stimulus activates neurons more
strongly.
• Their activity reverberates through other
brain areas.
• That activity rebounds to magnify the
original response.
• The process inhibits responses to
competing stimuli.

Brain death (measurement of consciousness)

The brain shows no activity and no response to any stimulus.

Coma 

The brain shows a steady but low level of activity and no response to any stimulus

Vegetative state

Limited responsiveness to stimuli, such as increased heart rate in response to pain

Minimally conscious state

Brief periods of purposeful actions and speech comprehension

Graduations of Brain Activity (Consciousness)

1. Brain death
   2. Coma
   3. Vegetative state
   4. Minimally conscious state

Circadian Rhythms

Rhythm of activity and inactivity lasting approximately one day

• The rising and setting of the sun provide cues to reset our rhythm, but we
generate the rhythm ourselves.

Also controls:

• Hunger and thirst
• Urine production
• Blood pressure
• Alertness
• Body temperature
• Mood

suprachiasmatic nucleus

central pacemaker of the circadian timing system and regulates most circadian rhythms in the body

Stages of Sleep

Stage 1
• Eyes nearly
motionless.
• EEG shows short,
choppy waves that
indicate brain activity.

Stage 2
• Marked by sleep
spindles, which are
important for memory

Slow-Wave Sleep (Stages 3+4)
• Long, slow waves indicate
decreased brain activity.
• Can be divided into stages
3 and 4.
• After slow-wave sleep,
sleeper returns to stage 2

Insomnia

• Not getting enough sleep to feel
rested the next day.

• Set a regular schedule for sleep and
wake.

• Spend time in the sun to reset
circadian rhythms.

Sleep Apnea

• Failure to breathe for a minute or
more during sleep and wake up
gasping for breath.

• Sleep apnea is most common in
overweight middle-aged men whose
breathing passages become narrower
than usual.

Narcolepsy

• Condition characterized by sudden
attacks of sleepiness during the day.

• Maybe caused by loss of brain cells
that produce orexin.

• Has a genetic predisposition.

Hypnosis

a condition of focused attention and increased suggestibility that
occurs in the context of a special hypnotist–subject relationship

What Hypnosis Can Do

• Inhibits pain.

• Posthypnotic suggestion is a
suggestion to do or experience
something after coming out of
hypnosis.

• Posthypnotic suggestions help some
people break unwanted habits.

What Hypnosis Does Not Do

• Does not give people special strength
or unusual powers.

• It does not improve memory
accuracy.

• When asked to report their memories
under hypnosis, people report a
mixture of correct and incorrect
information with much confidence

Ways of Inducing Hypnosis

•  A person must be cooperative and follow the hypnotist’s suggestions of
relaxation.

• Believing you are being hypnotized is a big step in actually being hypnotized.

Motivation

the process that determines the reinforcement value of an outcome.

Drive Theories of Motivation

• Motivation is an
irritation that continues
until we find a way to
reduce it.

• They do not specify
particular actions.

Homeostasis Motivation

• Homeostasis is the
process of
maintaining a
variable within a set
range.

• Motivations tend to
maintain body states
near some optimum
intermediate level

Incentive Theories of Motivation

• Incentives are
external stimuli that
attract us even if we
have no biological
need for them.

• Motivations are
responses to
attractive stimuli.

Value of Goals

Goals are one of the most powerful ways to motivate anyone.

The most effective goals are specific, difficult, and realistic.

• Other important factors include making a serious commitment, receiving
feedback on progress, and believing that the goal will bring a fair reward.

Value of Deadlines

• Deadlines motivate people to work harder.

• Setting deadlines for parts of an assignment can spread out the task.

Scientific-Management Approach of Job Design

• Theory X

• Employers do not expect employees
to take initiative or show creativity.

• The job should be made simple and
foolproof.

Human-Relations Approach of Job Design

• Theory Y

• Idea that employees like variety in
their job, a sense of accomplishment,
and a sense of responsibility.

Transformational Leadership

• Articulates a vision of the future.

• Intellectually stimulates subordinates.

• Motivates people to use their
imagination to advance the
organization.

Transactional Leadership

• Tries to make the organization more
efficient at doing what it is already
doing.

• Provides rewards (mainly pay) for
effective work.

Short-Term Regulation of Hunger

1. just finished a meal
   2. increased levels of glucose and other nutrients in the blood
   3. satiety
   OR
   3. pancreas secretes more insulin
   4. excess glucose and nutrients are converted to fats and stored in body cells

Social Influences on Eating

People eat more when:
• In groups

• They have high expectations for the meal, based on such things as the name of the food or the supposed location of the winery.

• They are offered larger portions.

The Kinsey Survey

• The first important survey on human
sexual behavior.

• Documented the variability of human
sexual behavior.

• Kinsey found that most people were
unaware of how much sexual behavior
varies.

Sexual Arousal

Sexual motivation depends on physiological and cognitive influences

• Hormones, presence of a suitable partner, willingness, lack of anxiety.

Masters and Johnson study found:

• Women enjoy sex as much as men.

• Pattern of excitation varies from one person to another.

• Most men have only one orgasm with out refractory period, but women may be able to have many.

• Testosterone correlates weakly with frequency of sexual activity.

Stages of Sexual Arousal

1. Excitement
   2. Plateau
   3. Orgasm
   4. Resolution

Gender differences in sexual arousal cycles

• women enjoy sex as much as men

• pattern of excitation varies from one person to another

• most men have only one orgasm without a refractory period, but women may be able to have many

• Testosterone correlates weakly with frequency of sexual activity.

The basic emotions

• happiness

• sadness

• disgust

• fear

• anger

circumplex model

emotions range on a continuum from pleasure to misery, and from arousal to sleepiness

function of emotionality

significant stimuli in guiding behavior and decision-making, influencing social interactions and personal well-being. (prep us for behavior)

emotional intelligence

the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's own emotions as well as the emotions of others, using that information to make a decision

subjective wellbeing

a self-evaluation of one’s life as pleasant, interesting,
satisfying and meaningful.

Selye’s Concept of Stress

• a theory that describes stress as a physiological response to perceived threats, involving three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Hans Selye also found that:

Any event, pleasant or unpleasant, that brings about change in a person’s life

How Stress Affects Health

Indirect:

• Influences health by altering behavior

• People exposed to stressful events often change their eating, sleeping, and drinking habits

Direct:

• Increased secretion of the hormone cortisol.
  • Brief, moderate elevations of cortisol enhance memory and immune system responses.
  • Prolonged cortisol damages health by impairing the hippocampus and by exhausting the immune system

microexpression

brief, involuntary facial expressions that reveal true emotions, often lasting only a fraction of a second.

James-Lange Theory of Emotions

Perception of bodily changes provides the feeling aspect of emotion

1. situation

2. appraisal: cognitive aspect of the emotion

3. action: physiological and behavioral aspects

4. perception of the action: feeling aspect of the emotion

(aka, we don’t cry because we’re sad, we’re sad because we cry)

Schachter and Singer’s Theory of Emotions

a theory that states that emotion is due to two factors, physiological arousal and cognitive processes

Lawrence Kohlberg‘s beliefs about moral reasoning

we should evaluate moral reasoning based on the reasons people give for a decision rather than the decision itself

limits of Kohlberg’s approach

• People make quick moral decisions intuitively and emotionally, rather than
reasoning them out logically.
• Assumed that all moral decisions are based on seeking justice and avoiding harm to others.
• Did not consider matters such as group loyalty, respect for authority, and
spiritual purity.

the prisoner's dilemma

A situation where people choose between a cooperative act and a competitive act that benefits themselves but hurts others

Deindividualization

Perceiving others as anonymous, without any real personality

Dehumanization

Perceiving others as less than human

prejudice vs. discrimination

Prejudice: An unfavorable attitude toward a group of people.

Discrimination: Unequal treatment of different groups of people.

Multiculturalism

Accepting, recognizing, and enjoying the differences among people and groups and the unique contributions that each person can offer.

fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overemphasize personal characteristics and ignore situational factors when evaluating others' behavior.

(AKA: when being cut off, you see the other person as a jerk, but when you cut someone off you see yourself as having a good reason.)

cognitive dissonance

A state of unpleasant tension that occurs when people hold contradictory attitudes, or behavior contradicts stated attitudes.

• According to the theory of cognitive dissonance, changing someone’s behavior changes an attitude.

Asch and Milgram conformity studies

These influential psychological experiments demonstrated how social pressure can lead individuals to conform to group norms, even against their own beliefs. Asch's study showed the power of group influence on perception, while Milgram's explored obedience to authority.

Liking and similarity in persuasion

Someone you like or consider similar to yourself is more persuasive than other people are

Social norms in persuasion

Being told that most people favor some idea or action makes it appealing.

Reciprocation

You may feel obligated to perform a favor for someone who did a favor for you or gave you something.

Active participation

Actively advocating for something helps to persuade yourself as well

Contrast effects

An item may appear more desirable because of its contrast to something else.

(Example:if a high-priced item is displayed next to a lower-priced one, the expensive item seems more valuable.)

Foot-in-the-door technique:

Eliciting compliance by starting with a modest request, which you accept, and following with a larger request

The Equity (or Exchange) Theories

Definition: The idea that social relationships are transactions in which partners exchange goods and services

• Relationships are most likely to thrive if each person believes that he or she is getting about as good a deal as the other person is.

Factors that draw people to each other

• similiarity

• proximity

• exposure affect

• physical appearance

Passionate love

The stage in a relationship when sexual desire, romance, and friendship increase in parallel.

Companionate love

The stage in a relationship marked by sharing, care, and protection

conformity

Altering one’s behavior to match other people’s behavior or expectations

Personality

involves the consistent ways people differ in their attitudes, interests, and social behaviors.

Structure of personality (Sigmund Freud)

1. Id - sexual & other biological drives that demand immediate gratification

2. Ego - the rational, decision-making aspect of the personality

3. Superego - the memory of rules and prohibitions we learned from our parens and others

Jung’s collective unconscious theory

People have not only a conscious mind and a “personal
unconscious” (similar to the unconscious that Freud described) but also a collective unconscious mind. The collective unconscious, present at birth, relates to the cumulative experience of preceding generations.

Carl Rodgers’ Humanism Theory

focuses on the idea that people have an innate desire for personal growth and self-actualization. He believed that people have an inherent tendency to realize their full potential when supported by an environment that provides unconditional positive regard

Measuring Personality

done using various assessment tools, such as questionnaires and interviews, that evaluate different traits and characteristics.

Ex: OCEAN and Myers-Briggs

Five Factor Inventory

1. Emotional stability: Resistance to unpleasant emotions
2. Extraversion: Seeking excitement and social contact
3. Agreeableness: Compassionate and trusting
4. Conscientiousness: Self-disciplined and dutiful
5. Openness: Stimulated by new ideas

Implicit Assocations

the automatic and unconscious associations people make between concepts, often measured through tasks that assess reaction times to gauge biases.

NEO PI-R

a widely used personality assessment tool designed to measure the five factors of personality as defined by the Five Factor Model.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

A test of normal personality, loosely based on Carl Jung’s theories

The MBTI classifies people as:
• Extraverted or introverted
• Sensing or intuitive
• Thinking or feeling
• Judging or perceiving

Rorschach inkblots

a technique based on people’s interpretations of 10 ambiguous inkblots.

• Critics claim an unrealistically high percentage of results
that indicate someone is disturbed.
• Provides little information that cannot be obtained from
other sources.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

projective personality technique in which someone is asked to make up a story for each picture

• describing what events led up to the scene
• what is happening now
• what will happen in the future

Personality disorder

A maladaptive, inflexible way of engaging with the environment and other people.

(Ex: anxiety & mood disorders, impulse control, substance abuse, etc)

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

• Features frequent and exaggerated worries.
• People affected face no more actual danger than others.
• Creates tension, irritability, and fatigue, hinders enjoyment of life.
• May overlap with other disorders.

Phobia

a fear that interferes with normal living, learned through observation and experience

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

features repetitive thoughts and actions.

• Obsession: A repetitive, unwelcome stream of thought.
• Compulsion: A repetitive, almost irresistible action.
• OCD affects roughly 2 to 3 percent of people in the U.S., to varying degrees.

Bipolar disorder

features extreme mood changes.
• Previously known as manic-depressive disorder.
• Bipolar disorder 1 is associated with depression and mania.
• Bipolar disorder 2 is associated with depression and hypomania.

Mania

features constant activity, being uninhibited, and irritability. The opposite of
depression.

Hypomania

mild degree of mania

Schizophrenia

features prolonged deterioration of daily activities such as work, social relations, and self-care

• Must include some combination of hallucinations, delusions, disorganized
speech and thought, movement disorder, and loss of normal emotional
responses and social behaviors

Positive symptoms

the presence of a behavior.

Negative symptoms

lack of a behavior -- lack of emotional expression, motivation and/or social interaction.

unipolar depression

a mood disorder characterized by persistent low mood and lack of interest in activities, leading to significant impairment in daily functioning.

Causes of Schizophrenia

• Neurodevelopmental hypothesis are impairments developing before
birth or in early childhood because of genetics or prenatal environment.
• Season-of-birth effect, a person born in winter or early spring is more
likely to develop schizophrenia.
• Brain abnormalities

Tarasoff ruling (Duty to Warn)

A legal principle that requires mental health professionals to breach confidentiality and inform authorities or individuals if a patient poses a serious threat of harm to themselves or others.

M’Naghten rule

A legal standard used to establish whether a defendant was insane at the time of committing a crime, focusing on their inability to understand the nature of their actions or distinguish right from wrong.

(Not Guilty by reason of insanity)

Three themes of psychology 

1. Free will vs determinism
2. The mind-brain problem
3. Nature vs nurture

Explain free will and determinism.

A philosophical issue in psychology. 

Free will: Behavior is caused by independent decisions
Determinism: Every event has a cause.

The mind-brain problem

Dualism: The mind is separate from the brain but controls it, and therefore, the rest of the body.
Monism: Conscious experience is inseparable from the brain.

Nature vs Nurture

How behavior differences relate to heredity and environment differences.

What areas might someone who has a degree in psychology work?

- Government
- Hospitals & mental health facilities
- Schools
- Private practice

Ex: clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, counseling psychologists, psychoanalysts

What are the origins of psychology?

- Psychology began as a deliberate attempt to start a new science.
- First instance is when an Arab psychologist discovered that vision depends on light hitting the eye, and not sending out sight rays. First discovery about psychology based on scientific research.