Psychology Concepts: Consciousness, Sleep, IQ
Understanding Consciousness
Views on Consciousness
The Freudian Viewpoint
Three levels of awareness:
- Conscious mind: Contains thoughts and perceptions of which we are aware.
- Preconscious: Mental events that are outside current awareness but can easily be recalled.
- Unconscious: Events that cannot be brought into conscious awareness under ordinary circumstances.
The Cognitive View
Cognitive psychologists reject the notion of an unconscious mind driven by instinctive urges and repressed conflicts. Rather, they view conscious and unconscious mental life as complementary forms of information processing that work in harmony.
Defining Consciousness
Our moment-to-moment awareness of ourselves and our environment. Consciousness brings varied information to the surface. Example: When you first learn how to drive, consciousness focuses our attention on the car and traffic.
Characteristics of Consciousness
- Subjective and private: Other people cannot directly know what reality is for you, nor can you enter directly into their experience.
- Dynamic: We drift in and out of various states throughout each day.
- Self-reflective: The mind is aware of its consciousness.
- Intimately linked to selective attention: A process that focuses awareness on some stimuli to the exclusion of others.
Hypnosis
A state of heightened suggestibility, where one person leads another into hypnosis through a process called hypnotic induction. Some people are able to experience imagined situations as if they were real.
Dreams
We dream of events in our daily lives, such as a meeting at work, taking an exam, or a family member. Our dreams may incorporate traces of previous days’ experiences and preoccupations. We may be influenced by sensory stimuli in our environment. Example: A phone ringing.
Daydreams
Are a significant part of waking consciousness that provides stimulation during periods of boredom. However, daydreams are:
- Greater: Visual imagery than other waking mental activities.
- Less: Vivid, emotional, and bizarre than nighttime dreams.
The Science of Sleep
Theories of Sleep
Restoration Theory
The body wears out during the day, and sleep is necessary to put it back in shape (helps restore body tissue, especially those of the brain). Thus, sleep recharges our bodies and allows us to recover from physical and mental fatigue.
Preservation and Protection
Sleep increases a species’ chances of survival in relation to its environmental demands. Sleep emerged in evolution to preserve energy and protect individuals during the time of day when there is little value and considerable danger. Sleeping in the darkness when predators loomed about kept our ancestors out of harm’s way.
Sleep and Memory
Memory consolidation is a process by which the brain transfers information into long-term memory. Sleep helps us remember; it restores and rebuilds our fading memories and can be changed during REM sleep.
Sleep and Growth
Sleep has a role in the growth process: During sleep, the pituitary gland releases growth hormone. Older people release less of this hormone and sleep less.
Factors Affecting Sleep
Environmental Factors
- Changes in season: In fall and winter, most people sleep about 15 to 60 minutes longer per night.
- Shift work.
- Stress (work, school).
- Night-time noise.
Cultural Factors
- Cultures in warm, tropical climates tend to nap during the afternoon and sleep less at night.
- Places we sleep (bed, hammock).
Circadian Rhythm
Is the 24-hour biological clock cycle. It consists of regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle, such as wakefulness and body temperature.
REM Rebound
When deprived of REM sleep and then allowed to sleep, we show increased REM sleep; this is REM rebound.
Exploring Intelligence
Defining Intelligence
Is the ability to learn from experiences, solve problems, and use our knowledge to adapt to new situations.
Influences on Intelligence
Genetic Influences
Studies of twins, family members, and adopted children together; however, there is no single intelligence gene, it is a combination.
Environmental Influences
- Early intelligence effects: Early neglect from caregivers leads children to develop a lack of personal control over the environment (e.g., Victor).
- Schooling effect: Is an experience that provides benefits which are reflected in intelligence scores. Increased schooling correlated with higher intelligence scores.
Thurstone’s Primary Abilities
Human ability performance doesn’t depend on a general factor but rather on seven distinct abilities called primary mental abilities.
Fluid Intelligence
Gets its name from the non-linear nature of these thought processes, which are ever changing, just as the nature of fluid is always changing to adapt to the shape of its container.
Meta Components
Higher-order processes used to plan and regulate task performance. Include problem-solving skills.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
We can have more than one. He supports the idea that intelligence comes in multiple forms. Gardner notes that brain damage may diminish one type of ability but not others (e.g., individuals with Down Syndrome may be good in music).
Personal Intelligence
Ability to understand who one is and who one wants to be. Process and reason about personally relevant information. Incorporate information into accurate self-knowledge. Select goals that are consistent and realistic.
Emotional Intelligence
The ability to perceive, understand, and use emotions. Tests of emotional intelligence measure overall emotional intelligence and its 4 components, often summarized as PUMU (Perceive, Understand, Manage, Use emotions).
Crystallized Intelligence
Involves knowledge that comes from prior learning and past experiences. Situations that require crystallized intelligence include reading comprehension and vocabulary exams. It tends to increase with age.
Intelligence Extremes
Valid intelligence tests identify two groups of people at the extremes: individuals with intellectual disability (e.g., IQ 70 or below) and individuals with high intelligence (e.g., IQ 135 or above).
Carroll’s Three-Stratum Model
Three levels of mental abilities arranged hierarchically:
- 1st Stratum (General): The ‘g’ factor.
- 2nd Stratum (Broad): Includes abilities like fluid intelligence and memory, arranged by their relation to ‘g’.
- 3rd Stratum (Specific): Includes specific cognitive, perceptual, and speed tasks.
Psychoactive Substances
Stimulants
- Caffeine
- Nicotine
- Amphetamines
- Cocaine
- Ecstasy
Depressants
- Alcohol
- Tranquilizers
- Opium