Sleep and Consciousness - Psychology Chapter 5

Sleep and Consciousness (Chapter 5)

• Humans cycle through sleep stages approximately 4-5 times per night, with each cycle lasting around 90 minutes.
• The stages of sleep include REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM sleep.
• REM sleep, specifically stage 4, is most associated with dreaming.
• The transition from waking to sleeping is marked by sleep stages 2-3.
• Individuals in stage 1 sleep may not realize they are sleeping.
• Some individuals do not dream.
• Freud's dream theory is based on unconscious wish fulfillment.
• Manifest content: The actual description of the dream.
• Latent content: The hidden meaning in the dream.
• Rat experiment: Evidence suggests that sleep aids survival.
• One group was taught a maze and received sleep.
• The other group was taught the same maze, but did not receive sleep.
• Results found that the rats that received sleep performed better.
• Activation-synthesis theory: Dreams occur because neurons fire at random.
• The brain recalls information from the occipital lobe to make a story to explain the random firing of neurons.
• Strategies for overcoming insomnia:
• avoid drugs that alter consciousness,
• limit caffeine intake,
• drink milk,
• maintain a consistent sleep schedule,
• limit electronics use 30 minutes before bed,
• exercise a couple of hours before bed,
• avoid heavy foods before bed.

Classical and Operant Conditioning (Chapter 6)

• Classical conditioning: Repeated pairing of two stimuli where a response initially elicited by the second stimulus eventually becomes elicited by the first stimulus alone.
• Operant conditioning: Behavior is modified through consequences.
• Classical conditioning is associated with Pavlov's experiments.
• Pavlov’s Dogs Experiment:
• US (Unconditioned Stimulus): Food, which causes salivation.
• UR (Unconditioned Response): is salivation to food
• CS (Conditioned Stimulus): Bell.
• CR (Conditioned Response): Salivation to the bell.
• The Little Albert experiment shows how a previously unafraid baby was conditioned to fear a rat; conducted by John B. Watson.
• Conditioned stimulus:
• Neutral stimulus (e.g., the sound of a tuning fork)
• Unconditioned stimulus:
• Biologically potent (e.g., the taste of food).
• Triggers an unlearned reflex response (e.g., salivation).
• Unconditioned: innate and requires no prior learning.
• Conditioned: A learned response; generally unconditioned responses are stronger.
• Performance/learning distinction: Learning can occur without immediate behavioral change.
• just because someone does not demonstrate a learned behavior does not mean they have not acquired the knowledge
• Real-life example: A student understands how to solve a math problem but does not perform well on a test due to anxiety
• Discrimination: The ability to distinguish between different stimuli and respond accordingly.
• Example: A dog is trained to respond to a specific whistle pitch but not other sounds
• Generalization: The tendency to respond similarly to stimuli that are alike.
• Example: A child who fears all dogs after being bitten by one.
• Extinction: A learned behavior weakens or disappears because it is no longer reinforced.
• Not forgetting, but the learned association can often be relearned quickly if reinforcement resumes.
• Decreases a behavior and strengthens a new behavior instead.
• Conditioned food aversion:
• classical conditioning example
• Association is made between a food and illness, leading to avoidance of that food in the future.
• Unique aspects of conditioned food aversion:
• Can occur after just one pairing of food and illness.
• Development can happen with a long delay between eating the food and feeling sick.
• One trial is all it takes, and it is resistant to extinction.
• Edward Thorndike conducted the cat puzzle box experiment; hungry cats were placed in a box with a latch, and food was placed outside of the box as a positive reinforcer.
• Over time, the cats learned to escape faster demonstrating the Law of Effect: behaviors followed by positive outcomes are more likely to be repeated.
• Reinforcers (positive or negative): Increase the likelihood of a behavioral response.
• Punishers (positive or negative): Decrease the likelihood of a behavioral response.
• Reinforcers: Increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring again.
• Punishers: Decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring again.
• Reinforcement is usually better than punishment, because reinforcement works better and faster than punishment
• Punishment can lead to Emotional responses/aggression
• Superstitious Behaviors
• The behavior results from accidental reinforcement of an action so that the organism continues to repeat it
• Insight learning: A mental rearrangement or restructuring of the elements in a problem to achieve a sudden understanding and solution.
• Wolfgang Kohler demonstrated this with chimpanzees by placing apes in problem-solving scenarios that required the use of tools to reach out of reach fruits.

Intelligence (Chapter 8)

• Charles Spearman proposed the idea of general intelligence, known as the "g" factor.
• Sternberg's triarchic model of intelligence describes three types:
• Practical: The ability to get along in different contexts.
• Analytical: The ability to evaluate information and solve problems.
• Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes 8 types:
• Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalist.
• IQ Formula: mental age/chronological age X 100
• The average IQ is 100.
• 95% of people score between 85 and 115.
• A person is considered "gifted" if they score around 130.
• A person is considered "intellectually disabled" if they score 70 or below.
• There are subtypes of intellectual disability: mild, moderate, severe, and profound.
• "Gifted" individuals typically thrive more than others.

Personality (Chapter 11)

• Freud, Jung, and Adler are associated with the psychodynamic approach to studying personality.
• Freud believed that personality was made up of three parts:
• ID: Pleasure principle, immediate gratification, completely unconscious.
• Superego: Moral component, represents right and wrong.
• Ego: Mediates conflict between the id and superego, reality principle.
• Conscious mind is the part of the iceberg that is above the water, according to Freud.
• Freud proposed 5 stages of personality development:
• Oral (0-1 years): Mouth is the center of pleasure and conflict.
• Anal (second year of life): Anus is the focus of pleasure/conflict, learning to potty train.
• Phallic (ages 3-5): Genitals are the source of pleasure and conflict.
• Latency (ages 6-12): Peaceful interval, focus on education and social skills.
• Genital (adolescence): Genitals are the focus of pleasure and conflict; basics of personality are established.
• Carl Jung proposed that an archetype is part of the collective unconscious.
• An inferiority complex is a psychological condition in which a person feels a deep sense of inadequacy, worthlessness, or inferiority.
• This develops due to experiences in childhood such as excessive criticism, failure, neglect, or unfavorable comparison
• Costa and McCrae proposed the 'Five Factor Model and Big 5'
• Traits of the Five Factor Model (Ocean):
• Openness to experience: Trying new things.
• Conscientiousness: Dependable, organized, reliable.
• Extraversion: Being open to, kind, trusting, helpful
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism