Final Exam Notes for General Psychology | PSYC 1001, Study notes of Psychology

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Sleep/Dreams Biological rhythms: Periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning Circadian rhythms? Twenty-four hour biological cycles Muscle tone? Tension of muscle while supporting the body Physiological changes in each stage:

• Stage 1: slowing of EEG; some loss of muscle tone but still apparent; slow or no eye movements, decline in body temperature.
• Stage 2: sleep spindles and K-complexes in EEG; muscle tone still apparent; slow or no eye movements
• REM sleep: high frequency, low amplitude EEG; loss of muscle tone; often rapid eye movements Hypnogogic imagery occurs? During sleep onset Hypnopompic imagery occurs? Upon awakening During what sleep stage does sleepwalking and bedwetting occur? Delta sleep Tonic events? Continuous throughout during REM sleep Phasic events? Periodic events during REM sleep (muscle twitching) How does length of sleep stages change throughout the night? REM periods become longer. Stages 3 and 4 become shorter through the night. Sleep stages change with age? REM sleep decreases through childhood, stages 3 and 4 sleep decrease through adulthood. Effects of sleep deprivation? Sleepy, ability at tasks decreases; immune system weakens. Person does not become psychotic. Yoked controls? Animal paired with an experimental animal each receiving the same treatment, but the treatment is controlled by the experimental animal’s behavior. Effects of REM sleep deprivation? Humans: agitation and impulsiveness; Yoked- controlled rats: death in 16 to 54 days. REM Rebound? REM sleep increases following REM sleep deprivation 4 major types of sleep theories:

1. Protection: stay out of harm’s way at a time of ay when don’t perform well. Cut down on energy expenditure
2. Recuperation: restore and repair brain tissue; aids immune system
3. Aids memory
4. Growth: Growth hormone is released by pituitary gland during sleep. Cataplexy? A sudden, brief loss of muscle tone without loss of consciousness; can be symptom of narcolepsy Nightmares occur? During REM sleep REM sleep and dreams: People woken up during REM, not always report dreaming Content analysis of dreams: Putting content of dream reports into categories, statistically examining occurrence of content Influencing dreams:

• First night effects: sleepers tend to dream about the lab during their first night
• Wearing red-tinted goggles: wearing red-tinted during the day = red tinted dreams
• Stimulating while dreaming: water in the face incorporated more in dreams than light shone in eyes and more than a tone that was sounded

• False awakening: wake up, do something then dream you go back to sleep
• Sleep paralysis: voluntary muscles are paralyzed as remnants of REM sleep activity
• Manifest content: remembered storyline of a dream (obvious)
• Latent content: meaning of a dream CHAPTER 8 Learning? Relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience and practice Associative learning? Learning that two events can occur together What is associated in classical conditioning? Two stimuli Operant conditioning? A response and its consequence Classical Conditioning: a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. UCS (unconditioned stimulus): a stimulus that produces an unconditioned response without previous conditioning UCR (unconditioned response): an unlearned response to an unconditioned stimulus CR (conditioned response): learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that results from conditioning CS (conditioned stimulus): a previously neutral stimulus that acquires the capacity to evoke a conditioned response Short-delayed conditioning: CS begins just before UCS and end together Backwards Conditioning: CS occurs after UCS Which works better? Short delayed conditioning: backwards conditioning seldom results in learning. Acquisition: phrase in which a stimulus comes to evoke a CR; training period Extinction: gradual weakening and disappearance of a CR by presenting the CS repeatedly without the UCS Generalization: tendency to respond in the same way to a stimulus similar to a CS. Discrimination: ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that do not signal an UCS How is classical conditioning used in TV commercials? Products are associated with a stimulus that elicits an emotional response, usually a positive response. Spontaneous recovery: reappearance of an extinguished response after a test period Systematic desensitization: a type of counter-conditioning used to treat phobias. A pleasant relaxed state is associated with gradually increasing anxiety-causing stimuli. Conditioned taste aversion: one trial conditioning in which illness is associated with a specific taste; organisms avoid that food for a long period of time. How does it differ from most other forms of classical conditioning? One trial learning, hours between CS and UCR, extremely long lasting, doesn’t work with other CSs Taste association with illness? Helps organisms learn to avoid poisons or foods that are dangerous

Operant conditioning: learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment B.F. Skinner: psychologist best known in operant conditioning Skinner box: operant conditioning chamber Positive reinforce: any event that strengthens the behavior it follows Negative reinforce: strengthens a response by removing a stimulus after a response Token: a type of conditioned reinforce that can be exchanged for something else, often a primary reinforce-r Delayed reinforce-r: a reinforce-r given a substantial time after the desired response is made Shaping: the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired behavior What are discriminative stimuli? Cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences of a response Continuous reinforcement: reinforce desired response only part of the time What are 4 basic schedules of reinforcement?

1. Fixed ratio: reinforce behavior after a set number of responses Results = high rate of responding, extinguishes relatively quickly
2. Variable ratio: reinforce-r is given after an unpredictable number of responses Results = high rate of responding, resistant to extinction
3. Fixed interval: reinforce-r is given for the first response following a fixed interval of time Results = Responses decrease between reinforcements and increase near reinforcement time
4. Variable interval: reinforce is given for the first response after a varying time interval Results = low rate of responding, highly resistant to extinction CHAPTER 9 Memory: the persistence of learning over time by means of the storage and retrieval of information Narrative reconstruction? Changing a memory in order to give it meaning, structure, and completeness (filling in gaps/omitting details) Encoding: getting information into memory Storage: retention of information Retrieval: getting information out of storage Sensory Storage: 1-4 seconds holds a large amount of information Short-term memory: about 20 seconds, 5-9 chunks of information Long-term memory: very long time, very large capacity Rehearsal: the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage Chunking: organizing items into familiar, manageable, meaningful units Primacy effect: tend to remember items in the first part of a list Recency effect: tend to remember items in the last part of a list 3 test of memory:

• Recall: ability to retrieve information not in conscious awareness
• Recognition: identifying items previously learned
• Relearning: amount of time saved when relearning material Priming: activation of particular associations in memory Context effects: better recall if return to context where learned something State-dependent memory: slightly better recall when in same state of consciousness as when information was learned. What is maintenance rehearsal? Repetition of information in order to maintain it in consciousness CHAPTER 17 Psychological disorders? Harmful dysfunction in which behavior is judged to be atypical, maladaptive Medical perspective on psychological disorders: Psychological disorders are sicknesses that can be diagnosed/treated What is the DSM-IV? Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used for classifying disorders, prevalence but does not explain the causes Anxiety disorders: characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety, or maladaptive behaviors that reduces anxiety Generalized anxiety disorder: a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal Panic disorder: an anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable episodes of intense dread, terror, and accompanying chest pain, choking or other frightening sensations Phobia: Persistent irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation OCD: an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts and/or actions
• Obsession: persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts
• Compulsion: urges to engage in senseless rituals (behavior) Major depressive disorders: During a period of at least 2 weeks, five or more of the following symptoms have occurred and represent a change in functioning:
• Depressed mood most of the day
• Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in nearly all daily activities
• Significant weight loss, not through dieting
• Daily insomnia or hypersomnia (sleeping a lot)
• Daily psychomotor agitation (intense restlessness) or retardation (physical sluggishness)
• Daily fatigue or energy loss
• Almost daily feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate or excessive guilt
• Almost daily diminished ability to think or concentration
• Indecisiveness (based on subjective or objective reports)
• Recurrent thoughts of death and suicide with or without specific plans Bipolar disorder: person alternates between depression and manic episodes (manic episode: a period of at least one week during which an abnormally elevated, expansive or irritable mood persist) What characterizes schizophrenia? Characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, hallucinations, inappropriate emotions and actions

Prevalence of schizophrenia: about 1% of people Delusions: false thoughts maintained even though clearly wrong or demonstrated to be wrong What are the subtypes of schizophrenia?

1. Paranoid: preoccupation with delusions or hallucinations, often with themes of persecution or grandiosity
2. Disorganized: disorganized speech or behavior, or flat or inappropriate behavior
3. Catatonic: immobility (or excessive, purposeless movement), extreme negativism, and/or parrot-like repeating of another’s speech or movements
4. Undifferentiated: many and varied symptoms (Symptoms don’t fall into other categories)