Week four: consciousness

Question 1

Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)

Answer 1

Blood Alcohol Content (BAC): a measure of the percentage of alcohol found in a person’s blood. This measure is typically the standard used to determine the extent to which a person is intoxicated, as in the case of being too impaired to drive a vehicle.

Question 2

Circadian Rhythm

Answer 2

Circadian Rhythm: The physiological sleep-wake cycle. It is influenced by exposure to sunlight as well as daily schedule and activity. Biologically, it includes changes in body temperature, blood pressure and blood sugar.

Question 3

Consciousness

Answer 3

Consciousness: the awareness or deliberate perception of a stimulus

Question 4

Cues

Answer 4

A stimulus that has a particular significance to the perceiver (e.g., a sight or a sound that has special relevance to the person who saw or heard it)

Question 5

Depressants

Answer 5

a class of drugs that slow down the body’s physiological and mental processes.

Question 6

Dissociation

Answer 6

the heightened focus on one stimulus or thought such that many other things around you are ignored; a disconnect between one’s awareness of their environment and the one object the person is focusing on

Question 7

Euphoria

Answer 7

an intense feeling of pleasure, excitement or happiness.

Question 8

Flexible correction model

Answer 8

the ability for people to correct or change their beliefs and evaluations if they believe these judgments have been biased (e.g., if someone realizes they only thought their day was great because it was sunny, they may revise their evaluation of the day to account for this “biasing” influence of the weather)

Question 9

Hallucinogens

Answer 9

substances that, when ingested, alter a person’s perceptions, often by creating hallucinations that are not real or distorting their perceptions of time.

Question 10

Hypnosis

Answer 10

the state of consciousness whereby a person is highly responsive to the suggestions of another; this state usually involves a dissociation with one’s environment and an intense focus on a single stimulus, which is usually accompanied by a sense of relaxation

Question 11

Hypnotheraphy

Answer 11

The use of hypnotic techniques such as relaxation and suggestion to help engineer desirable change such as lower pain or quitting smoking.

Question 12

Implicit Associations Test (IAT):

Answer 12

A computer reaction time test that measures a person’s automatic associations with concepts. For instance, the IAT could be used to measure how quickly a person makes positive or negative evaluations of members of various ethnic groups.

Question 13

Melatonin

Answer 13

A hormone associated with increased drowsiness and sleep.

Question 14

Mindfulness:

Answer 14

a state of heightened focus on the thoughts passing through one’s head, as well as a more controlled evaluation of those thoughts (e.g., do you reject or support the thoughts you’re having?)

Question 15

Priming:

Answer 15

the activation of certain thoughts or feelings that make them easier to think of and act upon

Question 16

Stimulants

Answer 16

a class of drugs that speed up the body’s physiological and mental processes.

Question 17

Trance

Answer 17

a state of consciousness characterized by the experience of “out-of-body possession,” or an acute dissociation between one’s self and the current, physical environment surrounding them.

Question 18

In her travel to India, Coralie has crossed time zones and is now experiencing jet lag. This is due to disruption to her:

Select one:

a. REM sleep.
b. circadian rhythm.
c. daydreaming.
d. stage 4 sleep.

Answer 18

b. Circadian rhythm

Question 19

Which one of the followings is NOT an example of low awareness?

Select one:

a. Cocktail party effect
b. Subliminal messaging
c. Implicit associations
d. Mindfulness

Answer 19

d. mindfulness

Question 20

In 1993, John was one of the jurors who were asked to determine the guilt or innocence of two African-American defendants who were charged with violently assaulting a Caucasian truck driver. John realized that in their culture many of the popular media portrayals of African-Americans were violent in nature. He tried to ignore those media portrayals because he didn’t want them to influence his perception of the defendants.

John’s behaviour is an example of the …

Select one:

a. Implication Association Theory
b. Cocktail Party Effect
c. Flexible Correction Model
d. Priming Effect

Answer 20

c. flexible correction model

Question 21

The EEG recorded that Liz’s brain activity changed from beta waves to alpha waves. This means that Liz is …

Select one:

a. dreaming.
b. falling asleep.
c. relaxed.
d. awake and alert.

Answer 21

c. relaxed

Question 22

Pat was offered a cup of tea by his friend Sam. After drinking the tea, Pat suddenly got very dizzy, started to see wicked colours and magical animals all around him. It is likely that the tea Pat drank contained …

Select one:

a. a depressant.
b. a hallucinogen.
c. a stimulant.
d. nothing special.

Answer 22

b. a hallucinogen

Question 23

Clara is so lost in her favourite book that she doesn’t realize that her phone has been ringing for minutes. This is an example of …

Select one:

a. hypnosis.
b. dissociation.
c. the cocktail party effect.
d. mindfulness.

Answer 23

b. dissociation

Question 24

What is REM sleep?

Select one:

a. It is when someone falls asleep while listening to R.E.M.
b. It is a form of daydreaming.
c. It is a stage of sleep when people don’t dream at all.
d. It is a stage of sleep characterized by bizarre and vivid dreams.

Answer 24

d. it is a stage of sleep characterised by bizarre and vivid dreams

Question 25

Brenda was conducting a study with Chinese New Zealanders. Half of the participants were asked to read a newspaper article on rain forests in Chinese, while the other half were asked to read the same article in English. Next, they were asked to identify cultural icons as being typically Chinese or New Zealander. She found that those who read the newspaper article in Chinese were much faster at categorizing Chinese cultural icons. In contrast, those who read the article in English were better at categorizing the Kiwi cultural icons. This experiment is an example of …

Select one:

a. trance states.
b. priming.
c. high awareness.
d. dissociation.

Answer 25

b. priming

Question 26

Consciousness can best be described as:

Select one:

a. a state of awareness of the self and of the environment
b. a state of meditation in which a person focuses on the self
c. the times in which a person is not asleep
d. a state of calm and peace

Answer 26

a. a state of awareness of the self and of the environment

Question 27

Which of the following is the best definition of hypnosis?

Select one:

a. a form of mind control in which a hypnotist becomes the “master” of others
b. a form of subliminal priming in which people fall asleep
c. a form of entertainment where people pretend to be suggestible
d. a form of relaxation in which focus is diminished and suggestibility is increased

Answer 27

d. a form or relaxation in which focus is diminished and suggestibility is increased.