AP Psychology Chapter 5 States of Consciousness

Chapter 5: States of Consciousness ● Overview o Dualism vs. Monism ▪ Dualism: humans consist of thought (nonmaterial, rises from the brain) and matter (substance) ▪ Monism: thought and matter are aspects of the same substance, thought stops existing when the body dies o Consciousness: our level of awareness about ourselves and our environment ● Levels of Consciousness o Mere-Exposure Effect: we prefer stimuli that we have seen before over novel stimuli, even if we don’t consciously remember seeing it o Priming: research participants respond more quickly/accurately to questions they’ve seen before, even if they don’t remember it o Blind Sight: one level of consciousness is not getting visual information, their behavior demonstrates that another level can see but they report being blind o Types of Levels ▪ Conscious level: information about yourself and your environment that you are aware of ▪ Preconscious level: information about yourself or your environment that you are not thinking about, but could be ▪ Subconscious level: information of which we are not consciously aware, must exist due to behavior, proved by priming and mere exposure effect ▪ Unconscious level: some events/feelings that are unacceptable to the conscious mind are repressed into it ▪ Nonconscious level: body processes controlled by the mind that we are not aware of Sleep ● Sleep Cycle/stages o Sleep stage 1: relaxed, the brain’s activity slows to a large amplitude and slow, regular alpha waves ▪ Hypnagogic jerks: jerking awake, associated with falling/floating ▪ Hypnagogic images: flashes of a picture o Sleep stage 2: slipping into sleep, brain has theta waves ▪ Sleep spindles: bursts or rapid rhythm o Sleep stage 3: transitioning to deep sleep, delta waves begin o Sleep stage 4: deepest sleep, people are hard to wake, breathing/pulse are low, muscles react o REM (rapid eye movement): 95% of dreams, brain waves resemble alpha waves (awake waves) ▪ Paradoxical sleep: body internally aroused but externally calm ● Sleep paralysis: caused by body’s REM paralysis not wearing off despite being more awake ● REM rebound: if deprived of REM sleep the previous night, we will spend more time in REM ● Sleep Disorders o Insomnia: recurring problems in falling or staying asleep ▪ affects 10% of the population ▪ sleeping pills disturb sleep patterns o Narcolepsy: periods of intense sleepiness, may fall asleep at unpredictable times, possibly right into REM ▪ affects less than .001% of the population o Sleep apnea: causes you to stop breathing for short periods of time at night then wake up a little and gasp for air (but might not remember) ▪ affects attention, memory, energy ▪ prevents deep sleep ▪ high risk group: overweight men o Night terrors: episodes of extreme screaming, fear, or flailing during sleep (during deep sleep, things like thrashing) o Somnambulism (sleep walking) ● more common in children ● early in the night; stage 4 ● not remembered in the morning ● Dreams o Freudian psychoanalysis: emphasizes dream interpretation as a way to uncover information in the unconscious mind since dreams are wish fulfilling (we act out our unconscious desires) ▪ Manifest content: the literal storyline of dreams ▪ Latent content: the unconscious meaning of it o Activation-synthesis theory (Hobson and McCarley): dreams are the brain’s interpretation of what is happening physiologically during REM sleep o Activation-information theory: the function of REM is to integrate information processed during the day into our memory ▪ Supported by stress increasing the number and the intensity of our dreams as well as seeing bits and pieces of our day in them ▪ Dealing with daily events during REM (aka information-processing theory) ● Hypnosis: a calm, trance-like state during which you tend to have higher concentration and focus, you are more open to suggestion o Hypnosis cannot bring back memories or make you act totally against your will o Posthypnotic Amnesia: forgetting events that occurred while you were under hypnosis o Posthypnotic Suggestion: a suggestion that a hypnotized person behave in a certain way after hypnosis ends o Role Theory: during hypnosis, people act out the role of a hypnotized person because they are expected to, meaning hypnosis is a social phenomenon o Dissociation: a dual-processing state of “split consciousness” (zoning out), some might think it is behind hypnosis o Hypnotic suggestibility: ability to be hypnotized ▪ higher in people who have rich fantasy lives and follow directions ▪ Hilgard’s hypnotic susceptibility test: 10% of subjects won’t be susceptible, 10% will always give in, but most are in the middle o State Theory: hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness o Dissociation Theory: Ernest Hilgard said hypnosis causes a voluntary split in consciousness (one level responds to the suggestions of the hypnotist while the other level retains awareness of reality) ▪ Ice water bath experiment: subjects felt pain but reported none, demonstrates the presence of a hidden observer/ a level of our consciousness that monitors what is happening while another level obeys the hypnotist Drugs ● Antagonist: blocks receiving sites o Alcohol: makes GABA receptors more sensitive to GABA and glutamate production slows; affects memory, decisions, and impulses (frontal lobe & cerebellum) o Cocaine: traps dopamine in the synapse, blocks the dopamine transporters (Active in motor cortex, voluntary movements) ● Agonist: mimics substances o Marijuana: mimics anandamide, a natural cannabinoid responsible for stopping inhibitory transmitters that stop excess dopamine (so basically it allows more dopamine); anandamide plays a role in memory, which explains memory loss o Ecstasy: emits a serotonin-like chemical and is absorbed by serotonin receptors into sending cell ▪ Habitual use leads to less natural serotonin, which leads to depression ▪ Raises body temp, decreases appetite and sleep o LSD: resembles serotonin and binds to receptors, leading to complex sensory impacts by brain area communication (explains the hallucinations and out-ofbody experiences) o Heroin: mimics natural opiates/endorphins; stops the release of inhibitory neurotransmitters that normally stop dopamine, allowing more of it into the synapse ▪ Total euphoria and no pain ▪ Addictive and killer o Meth: imitates dopamine ▪ Leads to heavy addiction ● Categories of Drugs: o Stimulants: speed up body processes in the autonomic nervous system ▪ Ex: Caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine ▪ Disturb sleep, reduce appetite, increase anxiety, cause heart problems o Depressants: slow down body systems ▪ Ex: Alcohol, barbiturates, anxiolytics (tranquilizers, antianxiety drugs) ▪ Cause euphoria ▪ Too much: memory problems, judgement o Hallucinogens (Psychedelics): cause changes in perception of reality, sensory hallucinations, loss of identity, vivid fantasies ▪ Ex: LSD, ecstasy ▪ Reverse tolerance: second dose may be less than first but cause greater effects, the drug lingers in the body for weeks o Opiates: agonists for endorphins (kills pain), depressing neural activity ▪ Ex: morphine, heroin, methadone, codeine ▪ Similar in chemical structure to opium ▪ Elevates mood, cause drowsiness and euphoria ▪ Very physically addictive (rapidly change brain chemistry and create tolerance/withdrawal) ▪ The brain will stop making its own endorphins if too much ● More vocab: o Psychoactive drugs: chemical substances that alter mood and perception (right to the synapses!) o Tolerance: the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring bigger doses to get the drug’s same affect o Neuroadaptation: the brain adapts to offset the drug affect