 | Term | Definition |
| |
construct |
concept requiring belief in something that cannot be seen or touched, but that seems to exist |
| |
consciousness |
the awareness of what is happening in and around an organism |
| |
subconscious |
thoughts and memories that are just below our level of awareness and that can be easily accessed with attention |
| |
unconscious |
thoughts and memories and desires about which we have no direct knowledge or access |
| |
chronobiology |
study of forces that control the body based on time of day, month, year, etc. |
| |
biological clocks |
internal chemical units that control regular cycles in parts of the body (there's one for temperature, menstruation, etc.) |
| |
free-running cycles |
cycles run by biological clocks that are under their own control and not affected by the environment |
| |
entrainment |
the process of altering free-runing cycles to fit a different rhythm |
| |
circadian rhythm |
sequences of behavioral and body changes that occur every 24 hours |
| |
twilight state |
relaxed state just before we fall asleep where the mind wanders |
| |
REM sleep |
rapid eye movement occurs during this stage and we dream and experience cataplexy |
| |
beta waves |
rapid brain waves appearing when a person is awake |
| |
alpha waves |
failry relaxed brain waves that occur as we fall asleep (stage 1 sleep) |
| |
delta waves |
slow , lazy, deep-waves occuring during stage 4 sleep |
| |
NREM sleep |
sleep involving partial thoughts & images, deep restorative sleep, no paralysis |
| |
nightmare |
disturbing dream during REM sleep |
| |
incubus attack |
also called a night terror , a horrible dream that occurs during NREM sleep and therefore feels real |
| |
insomnia |
inability to get to sleep or stay asleep |
| |
narcolepsy |
disorder in which a person fall instantly into REM sleep regardless of their environment or the time |
| |
sleep apnea |
breathing stopages during sleep, leads to excessive tiredness and in extreme cases, death |
| |
hypnosis |
a trance state in which attention is highly focused on certain things (brought about by a professional who often asks questions) |
| |
meditation |
trance state brought on by oneself in which you cut off the outside world from consciousness, has been shown to have health benefits |
| |
latent content |
according to Freud, this is the true unconscious meaning behind what goes in your dreams |
| |
manifest content |
the actual description of what happens in your dreams |
| |
wish fulfllment |
Freud's main contention of the purpose of dreams |
| |
activation-synthesis theory |
theory of dream interpretation that argues that dreams are simply a random collection of thoughts and memories and your brain automatically strings them together in a story: holds that these stories have no real significance |
