the physiological approach

Question 1

socialisation

Answer 1

the process of learning to behave in socially acceptable ways. This may differ somewhat for the two genders and in different cultures

Question 2

gender stereotype

Answer 2

a bias exhibited in society, which may be held by people and represented, for example, in toys or books that assign particular traits, behaviours, emotions, occupations, etc. to males and females

Question 3

play

Answer 3

behaviour typical of childhood, that appears to be done for fun rather than any useful purpose. It may be solitary or social and may or may not involve interaction with an object. Objects designed for the purpose of play are called ‘toys’

Question 4

sleep

Answer 4

a state of reduced conscious awareness and reduced movement, which occurs on a daily cycle

Question 5

circadian rhythm

Answer 5

a cycle that repeats daily, i.e. approximately every 24 hours, such as the sleep/wake cycle

Question 6

ultradian rhythm

Answer 6

a cycle that repeats more often than daily, e.g. the occurrence of periods of dreaming every 90mins during sleep

Question 7

electroencephalograph (EEG)

Answer 7

a machine used to detect and record electrical activity in nerve and muscle cells when many are active at the same time. It uses macroelectrodes, which are large electrodes stuck to the skin or scalp.

Question 8

frequency

Answer 8

the number of events per fixed period of time, e.g. the number of eye movements per minute (approx 60 per min in REM sleep) or the number of brain waves (cycles) per second, or Hertz (Hz), e.g. 13-30 Hz for beta waves

Question 9

amplitude

Answer 9

the ‘height’ of waves, e.g. on an EEG (indicating voltage)

Question 10

dream

Answer 10

a vivid, visual sequence of imagery that occurs at regular intervals during sleep and is associated with rapid eye movements

Question 11

rapid eye movements (REM) sleep

Answer 11

a stage of sleep in which our eyes move rapidly under the lids, which is associated with vivid, visual dreams

Question 12

non-rapid eye movement (nREM) sleep

Answer 12

the stages of sleep (1-4) in which our eyes are still. It’s also called quiescent (quiet) sleep. It’s not associated with dreaming

Question 13

eye-movement patterns

Answer 13

the pattern that most people tend to follow when looking at, for example, a menu. This can be helpful in designing menus.

Question 14

localisation of function

Answer 14

refers to the way that particular brain areas are responsible for different activities

Question 15

mindfulness

Answer 15

a state achieved through meditation that aims to increase awareness of the present-moment experience and enable a person to look at themselves in a compassionate, non-judgemental way

Question 16

correlation coefficient

Answer 16

a number between -1 and 1 that shows the strength of a relationship between two variables with a coefficient of -1 meaning there is a perfect negative correlation and a coefficient of 1 meaning there is a perfect positive correlation