Psychology Test 2

Blindsight awareness

A person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it.

Temperament

A person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity; apparent from first weeks of life and generally persists into adulthood

Relational aggression

An act of aggression (physical or verbal) intended to harm a person's relationship or social standing

What is the process of natural selection?

An organisms' varied offspring compete for survival, Conditions make it difficult for individuals with certain traits (some versions of those genes) to survive long enough to reproduce, Other individuals, which do manage to reproduce, have their traits and genes "selected" to spread in the population

Aggression

Any act intended to harm someone physically or emotionally

Define consciousness

Awareness of self and environment

Change blindness

Failure to notice changes in the environment, a form of inattentional blindness

Inattentional blindness

Failure to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere

The older we get, the longer we stay in REM sleep.

False

Hallucinations

False sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus

Selective attention

Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Sequential processing

Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

What is the difference between the various sleep stages?

In stage 1, you transition from wakefulness to sleep. In stage 2 you enter light sleep. By stage 3 you are in a deep sleep. Stage 4 REM, known as paradoxical sleep, is when the body's immobilized and dreams occur.

Fetus

In the next 6 weeks, body organs begin to form and function. By 9 weeks, the fetus is recognizably human.

explain dual processing.

Information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious (explicit) and unconscious (implicit) tracks.

Circadian rhythm

Internal biological clock of 24-hour cycle of day and night

Delta waves

Large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep

Secondary sex characteristics

Nonreproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair

Parallel processing

Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions

Fast and jerky movements of the eyes are more likely to be associated with:

REM sleep.

What is insomnia

Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

Alpha waves

Relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state

Gender roles

Roles and characteristics that a culture expects from individ

What is the difference between parallel and sequential processing?

Sequential processing allows only one object at a time to be processed, whereas parallel processing assumes that various objects are processed simultaneously.

Why do we sleep?

Sleep helps restore and repair damaged neurons, REM and NREM-2 sleep help strengthen neural connections that build enduring memories, Sleep promotes creative problem solving the next day and During deep sleep, the pituitary gland secretes a growth hormone necessary for muscle development.

REM (rapid eye movement)

Sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur

What is Narcolepsy

Sudden uncontrollable sleep attacks, sometimes lapsing directly into REM sleep

REM rebound

Tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation

Heredity

The genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring

Zygote

The life cycle begins at conception, when one sperm cell unites with an egg to form a zygote (fertilized egg). The zygote enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division.

Behavior genetics

The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior

Embryo

The zygote's inner cells become the embryo; the outer cells become the placenta. The embryo is the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through 2 months.

refers to understanding that a persons' mental state and experience differs from yours; that is, how feelings, perceptions, or thoughts might predict or explain their behavior.

Theory of ideas

Chromosomes

Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes

Circadian rhythm refers to:

a pattern of biological functioning that occurs on a roughly 24-hour cycle.

If you are like most people, you experience daily fluctuations in many bodily processes, such as blood pressure, hormone secretions, and so on. These daily variations in biological and psychological processes are called:

circadian rhythms

The interdisciplinary study of the linkages between brain activity and mental processes is known as

cognitive neuroscience.

Sequential processing refers to:

consciously processing one aspect of a problem at a time

The transmission of shared knowledge, customs and traditions across generations is an indication of:

culture

The large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep are called:

delta waves.

The simultaneous processing of information at both conscious and unconscious levels is called:

dual processing.

Twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs are called ________ twins.

fraternal

Primary sex characteristics

Body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible

Intersex

Born with combinations of male and female chromosomes, hormones, and anatomy; possessing biological sexual characteristics of both sexes

DNA

Complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes

What is temperament

Consistent individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes

A bank teller was so distracted by the sight of a bank robber's weapon that she failed to notice important features of the criminal's physical appearance. This best illustrates the impact of:

selective attention.

A periodic, natural loss of consciousness that involves distinct stages is known as

sleep

The circadian rhythm is influenced by light-sensitive retinal proteins that trigger signals to the

suprachiasmatic nucleus

Dr. Sanchez is at a work party and is currently listening to Dr. Chen talk about her latest research on facial recognition software when he suddenly becomes aware of someone mentioning his name on the other side of the room. This phenomenon is known as:

the cocktail party effect

Heritability

is the proportion of difference among individuals that can be attributed to genetics