Test Bank for Psychology From Inquiry to Understanding 2nd Canadian Edition by Lilienfeld Sample Chapter 5: CONSCIOUSNESS Essay Questions 1) Describe the typical night‘s sleep cycle, including the defining characteristics of each stage of sleep Answer: Answers will vary but should include the following information for full credit –The human sleep cycle takes approximately 90-110 minutes to cycle through once and is repeated approximately five to six times over the course of eight to nine hours of sleep This cycle is comprised of two different types of sleep: non-REM and REM sleep –The non-REM sleep is comprised of four different stages In stage sleep, the person is transitioning from wakefulness to sleep This stage of sleep is quite brief, perhaps no more than 10 minutes in length, and sees brain activity decline by up to 50 percent –The majority of our sleep is spent in stage sleep, which is marked by continued slowing of brain wave activity that lasts between 10–30 minutes each time we pass through it Every so often a person may experience sudden, quick, intense bursts of activity known as sleep spindles Consistent with the overall slowing of brain activity many other body changes occur including slowing heart rate, decreased body temperature, and muscle relaxation –Stages and are marked by deep, slow-wave sleep These combined stages last 15–30 minutes but disappear later in the sleep cycle From here one cycles back through stage sleep and into REM sleep –REM sleep is characterized by high-frequency brain wave activity and the movement of our eyes under our eyelids (which gives this sleep its name) –Along with this increased brain activity, we also see increased heart rate and blood pressure levels along with a more rapid and irregular breathing Although the brain is highly active, our body remains inactive –More of our dreaming occurs during REM sleep than during the various non-REM stages The first REM stages lasts between 10 and 20 minutes but each subsequent REM sleep stage increases in length Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-1 Diff:2 Type: ES Page Ref: 177-178 Topic: Stages of Sleep Skill: Factual 2) Compare and contrast Freud‘s wish fulfillment theory of dreaming with Hobson and McCarley‘s activation-synthesis theory of dreaming Answer: Answers will vary but should contain the following information for full credit –The one general area of agreement between the two theories is that they both say that dreams are a real phenomena that occurs as we sleep –The two perspectives differ in terms of (a) general explanation for why we dream, (b) the function of dreams, and (c) the meaning of the content of dreams –Freud‘s wish fulfillment approach is a largely psychological approach to why we dream The psychological function of dreams is to protect the dreamer from his or her more inappropriate or socially unacceptable urges and desires The ego protects sleep by using manifest content to cover the unacceptable id impulses that comprise the latent content and provide the ultimate meaning of one‘s dreams –Hobson and McCarley‘s activation-synthesis approach is a largely biological approach to why we dream Dreams simply represent the brain activation that is occurring as we sleep and develop through the forebrain‘s efforts to provide coherence and understanding of these random, internally generated signals during REM sleep The content of the dreams therefore is less meaningful and in fact, only involves meaning because the brain tries to impart that meaning, not knowing that there is no need to understand this internal activity Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-2 Diff:2 Type: ES Page Ref: 183-184 Topic: Freud’s Dream Protection Theory & Activation-Synthesis Theory Skill: Conceptual 3) Discuss how several of the principles of critical thinking apply to a discussion of altered states of consciousness such as out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, or hypnosis Answer: Answers will vary but should contain discussion of at least three of the principles of critical thinking and how they apply to these alterations of consciousness The examples could be either based on material from the text or a student‘s own original example –Hume‘s dictum/extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: This principle requires that claims that differ greatly from what is accepted about human consciousness require greater evidence for such claims to be accepted –Occam‘s razor/parsimony: This principle says that we choose the explanation that makes the fewest assumptions –Replicability: This implies that others are able to take the basic elements of our research and produce similar results with different people If positive results cannot be verified by others, scientists come to doubt the existence of the particular phenomenon –Ruling out rival hypotheses: This principle requires that the data are not open to more than one particular interpretation Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-3 Diff:3 Type: ES Page Ref: 186-188, 189-194 Topic: Out-of-Body and Near-Death Experiences & Hypnosis Skill: Applied 4) Discuss why critical thinkers are likely to be skeptical about claims of age regression and past life regression Answer: Answers will vary but should contain the following information, along with supportive explanations, for full credit –First, there is the issue of ruling out rival hypotheses –Second, because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, both examples demonstrate that this is often not the case –Third, because of rival hypotheses, we have to go with the principle of parsimony; what reasonable explanation makes the fewest assumptions? Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-4 Diff:2 Type: ES Page Ref: 192-193 Topic: Hypnosis Skill: Conceptual 5) Discuss how one‘s expectations of the influence of a drug affect one‘s subsequent behaviour after using that drug Answer: Answers will vary but should include the following information, along with supporting discussion, for full credit –The authors mention the importance of mental sets—that is, one‘s beliefs and expectations—as an important influence on their behaviour after taking that drug –The authors mentioned the importance of culturally learned expectancies that are most influential at low alcohol dose levels People ―act‖ as if they are more inebriated than they really, physiologically speaking, are Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-5 Diff:2 Type: ES Page Ref: 194-198 Topic: Drugs and Consciousness & Substance Abuse and Dependence & Depressants Skill: Applied 6) Describe the sleep disorders of sleepwalking and REM behaviour disorder, and discuss how these disorders differ Answer: Answer: Answers will vary but should contain the following information for full credit Sleepwalking (walking while fully asleep) often involves relatively little activity, but sleepwalkers have been known to drive cars, turn on computers, or fire guns In actuality, a sleepwalking person often acts like any fully awake person, although a sleepwalker may be somewhat clumsier For most people, sleepwalking is harmless, and sleepwalkers rarely remember their actions on awakening Sleepwalking isn‘t associated with deepseated psychological problems, although episodes of sleepwalking can be triggered by stress And, contrary to another common myth, most sleepwalkers aren‘t dreaming, because sleepwalking almost always occurs during non-REM (especially stage or 4) sleep Most common in children REM behaviour disorder—normally during REM sleep, our supercharged brains are creating dreams, but our bodies are relaxed and, for all practical purposes, paralyzed If we weren‘t paralysed by REM, we‘d act out our dreams In fact, people with the strange condition called REM behaviour disorder (RBD) just that In this condition, the brain stem structures that ordinarily prevent us from moving during REM sleep don‘t function properly Only about person in 200 has symptoms of RBD, which occurs most frequently in men over the age of 50 Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-6 Diff:2 Type: ES Page Ref: 179, 181-182 Topic: Stages of Sleep & Disorders of Sleep Skill: Conceptual 7) Describe the characteristics of insomnia and at least four different types of treatments/tips for helping to overcome insomnia Answer: Answer: Answers will vary but should contain the following information for full credit Insomnia can take the following forms: (a) having trouble falling asleep (regularly taking more than 30 minutes to doze off), (b) waking too early in the morning, and (c) waking up during the night and having trouble returning to sleep Treatments/tips: hide clocks to avoid becoming preoccupied with the inability to fall asleep quickly, short-term psychotherapy, don‘t anything stressful and relax as much as possible before bedtime, sleep and wake up at regular times, sleep in a cool room, avoid consuming caffeine (especially after p.m.), taking naps longer than 20 minutes, or watching television and surfing the Web right before bedtime, try to sleep only when you‘re tired, get out of bed if you‘re having a hard time sleeping and go back to bed when you‘re tired so that your bed becomes a classically conditioned stimulus Sleeping pills can also be used to treat insomnia but can lead to rebound once you stop taking them Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-7 Diff:2 Type: ES Page Ref: 179-180 Topic: Disorders of Sleep Skill: Factual 8) Identify the six misconceptions about hypnosis and briefly discuss each Answer: Answer: Answers will vary but should contain the following information for full credit, and should briefly mention how each myth is contrary to research findings Myth 1: Hypnosis Produces a Trance in Which ―Amazing‖ Things Happen Myth 2: Hypnotic Phenomena Are Unique Myth 3: Hypnosis Is a Sleep-like State Myth 4: Hypnotized People Are Unaware of Their Surroundings Myth 5: Hypnotized People Forget What Happened during Hypnosis Myth 6: Hypnosis Improves Memory Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-8 Diff:2 Type: ES Page Ref: 190-192 Topic: Hypnosis Skill: Factual 9) Pretend that you are a researcher who wants to study the effects of alcohol on flirting behaviour Using a balanced placebo design, discuss what conditions you would have and how you would conduct your study Answer: Answer: Answers will vary but should contain the following information for full credit The balanced-placebo design includes four groups in which participants (a) are told they‘re receiving alcohol and in fact receive alcohol, (b) are told they‘re receiving alcohol but actually receive a placebo, (c) are told they‘re receiving a placebo but actually receive alcohol, and (d) are told they‘re receiving a placebo and in fact receive a placebo Assign single participants into conditions, administer the alcohol or placebos and allow for time for these to take effect, and then put participants into an experimental situation with several ―attractive‖ individuals (pre-rated for levels of attractiveness) Measure extent to which participants engage in social interactions, seek out phone numbers or dates from attractive confederates, or some variation of measuring ‗flirting‘ (as long as well described) Question ID: Lil 2ce 5.4-9 Diff:2 Type: ES Page Ref: 199 Topic: Depressants Skill: Applied 10) Briefly describe the major drug types, their effects on our bodies and consciousness, and provide one example of each drug category Answer: Answer: Answers will vary but should contain the following information for full credit Stimulants: Increased activity of the central nervous system Examples are tobacco, cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamine Depressants: Decreased activity of the central nervous system Examples are alcohol, barbiturates, Quaaludes, Valium Opiates: Sense of euphoria, decreased pain, sleep Examples are heroin, morphine, codeine Psychedelic: Dramatically altered perception, mood, and thoughts; hallucinations Examples are marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy