Psych. Ch. 5 "Consciousness"

Question 1

Consciousness

Answer 1

A person’s subjective experience of the world

Question 2

Experience is…

Answer 2

The defining feature of consciousness

Question 3

Psychology, apart from objects, has to make sense of…

Answer 3

Subjects

Question 3

The two great mysteries of consciousness:

Answer 3

the problem of other minds, and the mind/body problem.

Question 4

Phenomenology-

Answer 4

How things seem to the conscious person

Question 5

Problem of other minds:

Answer 5

the fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others; no way to tell if someone’s experience is at all like yours.

Question 6

“zombie”:

Answer 6

a hypothetical nonconscious person

Question 7

Two dimensions of mind perception:

Answer 7

experience and agency

Question 8

Agency:

Answer 8

ability for self-control, planning, memory, or thought

Question 9

The mind/body problem:

Answer 9

the issue of how the mind is related to the brain and body

Question 10

Rene Descartes:

Answer 10

proposed that the human body is a machine made of physical matter but that the human mind or soul is a separate entity made of a “thinking substance”.

Question 11

Brain activity happens before:

Answer 11

conscious experience or movement

Question 12

• Four properties of consciousness:

Answer 12

intentionality, unity, selectivity, and transience

Question 13

• Intentionality:

Answer 13

being directed toward an object

Question 14

• Unity:

Answer 14

resistance to division; attention

Question 15

• Selectivity:

Answer 15

the capacity to include some objects but not others.

Question 16

• Dichotic listening:

Answer 16

consciousness can filter out some info, but it can also tune in to other info.

Question 17

• The cocktail party phenomenon:

Answer 17

people tune in one message even while they filter out other nearby.

Question 18

• Transience:

Answer 18

the tendency to change; the mind is a constant stream.

Question 19

• Minimal consciousness:

Answer 19

consciousness that occurs when the mind inputs sensations and may output behavior; sensing sunlight.

Question 20

• Full consciousness:

Answer 20

you know and are able to report your mental state; thinking about the fact that you are thinking about things.

Question 21

• Self consciousness:

Answer 21

focuses on oneself to the exclusion of almost everything else; embarrassed, center of attention; on camera; deep thought about personal qualities.

Question 22

• Experience sampling technique:

Answer 22

people are asked to report their conscious experiences at particular times; thinking aloud.

Question 23

• Mental control:

Answer 23

the attempt to change conscious states of mind.

.

Question 24

• Thought suppression:

Answer 24

the conscious avoidance of a thought.

Question 25

• Rebound effect of thought suppression:

Answer 25

the tendency of a thought to return to consciousness with greater frequency following suppression

Question 26

• Theory of ironic processes of mental control:

Answer 26

ironic errors occur because the mental process that monitors errors can itself produce them; by trying not to think of a white bear, the mid searches for it.

Question 27

• The actual process of thinking is:

Answer 27

unconscious

Question 28

• Dynamic unconscious:

Answer 28

an active system encompassing a lifetime of hidden memories, the person’s deepest instincts and desires, and the person’s inner struggle to control these forces.

Question 29

• Repression:

Answer 29

a mental process that removes unacceptable thoughts and memories from unconsciousness and keeps them in the unconscious.

Question 30

• Freudian slips-

Answer 30

forgetting the name of someone you dislike; have some surplus meaning that may appear to have been created by the unconscious mind.

Question 31

• Cognitive unconscious:

Answer 31

includes all the mental processes that are not experienced by a person but that give rise to the person’s thoughts, choices, emotions, and behavior.

Question 32

• Subliminal perception:

Answer 32

when thought or behavior is influenced by stimuli that a person cannot consciously report perceiving; degree of influence on behavior is very small.

Question 33

• Altered states of consciousness can cause:

Answer 33

changes in thinking, disturbances in the sense of time, feelings of the loss of control, changes in emotional expression, alterations in body image or sense of self, perceptual distortions, and changes in meaning or significance.

Question 34

Altered state of consciousness:

Answer 34

a form of experience that departs significantly from the normal subjective experience of the world and the mind; dreams.

Question 35

• Hypnagogic state:

Answer 35

presleep consciousness

Question 36

• Hypnopompic state:

Answer 36

postsleep consciousness

Question 37

Beta waves

Answer 37

high frequency (alertness)

Question 38

Alpha waves

Answer 38

low frequency (relaxation)

Question 39

What are the five stages of sleep?

Answer 39

Theta waves, sleep spindles & K complexes, delta waves (3&4), REM sleep.

Question 40

• REM sleep-

Answer 40

a stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement and a high level of brain activity

Question 41

• Electrooculograph (EOG):

Answer 41

used to measure eye movements

Question 42

• You cycle between REM and slow-wave sleep stages every:

Answer 42

90 minutes

Question 43

• REM deprivation causes a rebound of more …

Answer 43

REM cycles the next night

Question 44

• Insomnia (most common):

Answer 44

difficulty falling or staying asleep

Question 45

• Sleep apnea-

Answer 45

the cessation of breathing for brief periods during sleep

Question 46

Narcolepsy

Answer 46

sudden sleepiness

Question 47

Sleep paralysis:

Answer 47

waking up and unable to move

Question 48

• Five major differences between waking and dream consciousness:

Answer 48

emotion, thought, sensation, uncritical acceptance, difficult remembering.

Question 49

Manifest content:

Answer 49

a dream’s apparent or superficial meaning

Question 50

latent content:

Answer 50

a dream’s real meaning

Question 51

• Dreams often don’t have sensible storylines because …

Answer 51

the dreamer’s ability to plan is inactive (prefrontal cortex).

Question 52

what does the brain physically inhibit while dreaming?

Answer 52

movement

Question 53

• Psychoactive drugs:

Answer 53

chemicals that influence consciousness or behavior by altering the brain’s chemical message system; tripping out.

Question 54

• Depressants:

Answer 54

reduce the activity of the CNS; alcohol, barbituates, benzodiazepines, toxic inhalants.

Question 55

• Expectancy theory:

Answer 55

alcohol effects are produced by people’s expectations of how alcohol will influence them in particular situations.

Question 56

• Balanced placebo design:

Answer 56

behavior is observed following the presence or absence of an actual stimulus and also following the presence or absence of a placebo stimulus.

Question 57

• Alcohol myopia:

Answer 57

alcohol hampers attention, leading people to respond in simple ways to complex situations.

Question 58

• Barbituates:

Answer 58

sleep aids and anesthetics

Question 59

• Benzodiazepines:

Answer 59

minor tranquilizers; antianxiety drugs

Question 60

• Stimulants:

Answer 60

excite the CNS, increase levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, heightening arousal and activity levels; caffeine, amphetamines, nicotine, cocaine, modafinil, and ecstacy (MDMA).

Question 61

• Narcotics (opiates):

Answer 61

drugs derived from opium that are capable of relieving pain; opium, heroin, morphine, methadone, codeine, oxycontin.

Question 62

• Hallucinogens:

Answer 62

drugs that alter sensation and perception, often causing hallucinations.

Question 63

• Hypnotic analgesia:

Answer 63

the reduction of pain through hypnosis in people who are hypnotically susceptible.