Intro to Psychology (Psy 120)

Chapter 6 For just $29.95, a “subliminal tape” promises to tune up your sluggish motivation. It is true that many perceptual processes occur outside awareness, but does that mean that these tapes can change your behaviour or improve your life? It is true that many perceptual processes occur outside awareness. We can be affected by subliminal sensations. This is when a stimulus so weak, that we don't consciously notice, still influences one's response. By using the technique of priming, doing just that of exposing a recipient to one stimulus influencing the response to a following stimulus, proves that many perceptual processes occur outside of awareness. For example say two people are shown pictures of vacant houses and are to rate it favorable or unfavorable. While one person looks at the pictures a subliminal flash of puppies are shown on the side of the screen but the stimuli is so weak the recipient wasn't consciously aware of the image. Now imagine the second r...

Chapter 4 What does it mean to say that some trait is highly heritable? If you want to improve your flute playing and someone tells you that musical ability is heritable, should you stop practicing? Heritability is basically the part of an individual in a group that varies due to their genes, for example height, personality, and intelligence are all heritable. Although we inherit many things from our parents there are many population and environmental influences that can differ heritability between people. To say that personality traits are 40 percent heritable does not suggest that 40 percent of your personality comes from your parents and 60 percent comes from environmental factors. Heritability suggests that 40 percent of the observed differences among people are influenced by genes. To make matters even more clear heritability is how much of a difference there are in people based on their genetics. To say something is highly heritable suggests that it is more likely th...

Chapter 3 One person takes a drink and flies into a rage. Another has a drink and mellows out. What qualities of the user rather than the drug might account for this difference? First off, alcohol is a depressant. Meaning that it reduces neural activity and body functions slow down. When alcohol is consumed in low doses it slows down judgement and inhibitions within the brain's activity. With reduced judgment and inhibition the user may find themselves left with less self-consciousness. The voice in their head that tells them not to do something is almost silenced. The feeling of guilt is reduced as judgement lessens. The thought of consequences has been override by by pure crave and desire. In low doses the user becomes more relaxed physically and mentally, often giving them the drive that they didn't have before to do certain things. When sober, one person in a relationship may see someone attractive and think that to themselves as well but not act upon it. When alcoh...