Post RN BSN Psychology Course – Units IV to VI Solved Answers
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| Solved model answers for Units IV-VI of the Post RN BSN psychology course syllabus (Course No. 706). Use as a revision guide and verify with your course notes. |
Unit IV: Consciousness and Altered States
Course syllabus · Model exam answers
B.Sc NURSING (POST-RN), FIRST YEAR, SEMESTER-I
SOCIAL SCIENCES (PSYCHOLOGY) – COURSE NO. 706
UNIT IV: CONSCIOUSNESS AND ALTERED STATES
Syllabus topics: Sleep and dreams; meditation; hypnosis; drug use; sleep disorders and their treatment.
Q-1. Define consciousness and describe its levels and altered states.
Consciousness is awareness of oneself and the environment, including thoughts, feelings and sensations at a given moment.
| Level | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Conscious | Awareness of present thoughts and surroundings | Reading this page |
| Preconscious | Material not in awareness now but easily recalled | Your home address |
| Unconscious | Material outside awareness that may still influence behaviour (Freud) | Repressed fears |
Altered states of consciousness
States that differ from ordinary waking awareness: sleep and dreaming, meditation, hypnosis, and states produced by psychoactive drugs, high fever, delirium or extreme fatigue.
Nursing relevance: level of consciousness (alert, drowsy, stuporous, comatose) is a key part of neurological assessment, for example with the Glasgow Coma Scale.
Q-2. Describe the stages of sleep and the functions of sleep.
Sleep is a recurring, reversible state of reduced responsiveness. Sleep is studied with the EEG (brain waves), EOG (eye movements) and EMG (muscle tone).
| Stage | Brain waves | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Awake, alert / relaxed | Beta / alpha | Active thinking or relaxed with eyes closed |
| NREM Stage 1 (N1) | Theta | Light sleep; drifting off; easily awakened; muscle jerks |
| NREM Stage 2 (N2) | Theta with sleep spindles and K-complexes | Heart rate and temperature fall; about half of total sleep |
| NREM Stage 3 (N3) | Delta (slow waves) | Deep or slow-wave sleep; hard to wake; body repair; sleepwalking and night terrors occur here |
| REM sleep | Fast, low-amplitude, similar to waking | Rapid eye movements; vivid dreams; muscles temporarily paralysed (atonia); memory processing |
Sleep cycle: one cycle (NREM then REM) lasts about 90 minutes and repeats 4–6 times a night. Deep sleep is greater early in the night; REM periods lengthen towards morning. Most adults need about 7–9 hours.
Functions of sleep
- Physical restoration and tissue repair; immune function.
- Memory consolidation and learning.
- Emotional regulation and mood.
- Energy conservation and hormonal balance (growth hormone is released in deep sleep).
- Attention, alertness and safe performance.
Nursing relevance: hospital noise, light, pain and night-time procedures disturb sleep; clustering care and a quiet environment support recovery.
Q-3. Discuss dreams and the main theories of dreaming.
A dream is a sequence of images, thoughts and emotions experienced during sleep, most vivid in REM sleep.
| Theory | Main idea |
|---|---|
| Freud (psychoanalytic) | Dreams are disguised wish fulfilment; manifest content hides latent (unconscious) content |
| Activation–synthesis (Hobson & McCarley) | The brain interprets random neural activity from the brainstem and creates a story from it |
| Information processing / memory consolidation | Dreams help sort and store the day’s experiences |
| Problem-solving / emotional regulation | Dreams help work through concerns and feelings |
Nightmares are frightening dreams that wake the person from REM sleep and are remembered. They differ from night terrors, which occur in deep NREM sleep, usually without recall.
No single theory fully explains dreaming.
Q-4. Write short notes on meditation and hypnosis.
Meditation
A mental training practice that focuses attention to produce calm and awareness (e.g. mindfulness meditation, focus on breath, transcendental meditation).
- Effects: lowers heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate; reduces stress and anxiety; improves attention.
- Use: adjunct for stress, pain, anxiety and sleep problems; safe to teach as a relaxation technique.
Hypnosis
A state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility, induced by a trained practitioner, in which the person is more responsive to suggestions.
- Characteristics: deep relaxation, narrowed focus, responsiveness to suggestion. The person stays aware and cannot be made to act against their will or values.
- Uses: pain control, anxiety, habit change (e.g. smoking), and some procedures, as an adjunct to standard care.
- Limitations: response varies; not suitable for everyone; must be carried out by a qualified professional.
Q-5. Discuss drug use and the effects of the main groups of psychoactive drugs.
A psychoactive drug changes mood, perception, thinking or behaviour by acting on the brain.
| Group | Examples | Main effects |
|---|---|---|
| Depressants | Alcohol, sedatives, benzodiazepines | Slow brain activity; relaxation, slurred speech, poor coordination; respiratory depression in overdose |
| Opioids | Heroin, morphine, codeine | Pain relief, euphoria, drowsiness; respiratory depression; high dependence risk |
| Stimulants | Caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines | Alertness, raised heart rate and blood pressure; agitation, anxiety, insomnia |
| Hallucinogens | LSD, psilocybin, cannabis (mixed effects) | Altered perception, hallucinations, mood and thought changes |
Key terms
- Tolerance: larger doses needed for the same effect.
- Physical dependence and withdrawal: body adapts; stopping causes withdrawal symptoms.
- Psychological dependence: craving and compulsive use.
- Addiction (substance use disorder): continued use despite harm.
Factors in drug use
Biological (genes), psychological (stress, mental illness), and social (peer pressure, availability, family, culture).
Nursing role
- Screen non-judgementally and assess risk.
- Monitor for overdose and withdrawal (e.g. alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening).
- Provide health education and refer to treatment, counselling and rehabilitation services.
Q-6. Describe the common sleep disorders and their treatment.
| Disorder | Description | Treatment / management |
|---|---|---|
| Insomnia | Difficulty falling or staying asleep, or non-restorative sleep, with daytime impairment | Sleep hygiene; cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (first-line); short-term medication only when prescribed; treat causes (pain, anxiety, depression) |
| Sleep apnoea | Repeated breathing pauses in sleep; loud snoring, daytime sleepiness | Weight loss, avoiding alcohol and sedatives, CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), dental devices or surgery in selected cases |
| Narcolepsy | Sudden uncontrollable sleep attacks; may include cataplexy (sudden muscle weakness) | Scheduled naps; prescribed stimulant-type and other medications; safety advice (driving) |
| Restless legs syndrome | Urge to move the legs, worse at night | Treat iron deficiency if present; reduce caffeine; prescribed medication; exercise |
| Sleepwalking and night terrors | Occur in deep NREM sleep, more common in children | Safe environment; regular sleep schedule; reassurance; do not forcibly wake |
| REM sleep behaviour disorder | Acting out dreams because muscle atonia is lost | Medical evaluation; bedroom safety; prescribed treatment |
Sleep hygiene tips
- Keep a fixed bedtime and wake time.
- Avoid caffeine, nicotine and heavy meals before bed.
- Keep the bedroom dark, quiet and cool.
- Avoid screens before sleep.
- Exercise regularly but not just before bed.
- Use the bed only for sleep.
Note: medicines are prescribed and monitored by doctors; nurses assess, teach and monitor.
Unit V: Memory
Course syllabus · Model exam answers
B.Sc NURSING (POST-RN), FIRST YEAR, SEMESTER-I
SOCIAL SCIENCES (PSYCHOLOGY) – COURSE NO. 706
UNIT V: MEMORY
Syllabus topics: Stages and types of memory; remembering and forgetting; memory improvement techniques.
Q-1. Define memory. Describe its stages (the information-processing model).
Memory is the process of encoding, storing and retrieving information over time.
Three processes
- Encoding: converting information into a form the brain can store.
- Storage: maintaining the information over time.
- Retrieval: bringing stored information back into awareness.
Stages (Atkinson–Shiffrin model)
| Stage | Capacity | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensory memory | Very large | Fraction of a second to a few seconds (iconic about 0.5 s; echoic 3–4 s) | Exact copy of sensory input; attention moves it on |
| Short-term (working) memory | About 7 ± 2 items | About 15–30 seconds without rehearsal | Holds information being used; chunking increases capacity |
| Long-term memory | Practically unlimited | Minutes to a lifetime | Needs encoding and rehearsal; organized by meaning |
Information passes from sensory memory to short-term memory through attention, and to long-term memory through rehearsal and meaningful encoding.
Q-2. Describe the types of long-term memory.
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Explicit (declarative) | Conscious recall of facts and events | |
| Episodic | Personal experiences tied to time and place | Your first day in nursing school |
| Semantic | General knowledge and facts | Normal adult pulse is 60–100 per minute |
| Implicit (non-declarative) | Unconscious influence of past learning | |
| Procedural | Skills and habits | Giving an injection, riding a bicycle |
| Priming / conditioning | Earlier exposure or learned associations affect response | Feeling anxious at the smell of a hospital |
The hippocampus is important for forming new explicit memories; the amygdala for emotional memories; the cerebellum and basal ganglia for procedural memory.
Q-3. Explain the factors in remembering (retrieval).
Methods of measuring retrieval
- Recall: reproducing information without cues (essay question).
- Recognition: identifying correct information among options (MCQ); easier than recall.
- Relearning: time saved when learning material again.
Factors that help retrieval
- Retrieval cues: hints that trigger a memory.
- Context-dependent memory: recall is better in the setting where learning occurred.
- State-dependent memory: recall is better in a similar mood or physical state.
- Serial position effect: items at the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of a list are remembered best.
- Meaningful organization and emotional importance improve recall.
- Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: knowing information is stored but being temporarily unable to retrieve it.
Q-4. Discuss the causes and theories of forgetting.
Forgetting is failure to retrieve information that was previously stored. Hermann Ebbinghaus showed that forgetting is fastest soon after learning and then levels off (the forgetting curve).
| Cause / theory | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Encoding failure | Information never entered long-term memory because attention was poor |
| Decay (disuse) | Memory traces fade with time if not used |
| Interference | Proactive: old learning blocks new. Retroactive: new learning blocks old |
| Retrieval failure | Information is stored but the right cue is missing |
| Motivated forgetting (repression) | Painful or threatening memories are pushed out of awareness (Freud) |
| Organic causes | Brain injury, dementia, alcohol, drugs, delirium, certain illnesses |
Amnesia
- Anterograde: inability to form new memories after the injury or illness.
- Retrograde: loss of memories from before the injury or illness.
Nursing relevance: in patients with memory loss, use reminders, simple routines, orientation aids and repeated, clear instructions.
Q-5. Describe the techniques for improving memory.
- Attention: reduce distractions when learning.
- Rehearsal: repeat; elaborative rehearsal (linking to meaning) is better than rote repetition.
- Chunking: group items into meaningful units (e.g. phone numbers).
- Mnemonics: acronyms and phrases, e.g. RICE for rest, ice, compression, elevation.
- Method of loci: picture items placed along a familiar route.
- Visual imagery and association: link new facts to known ones.
- Spaced practice: spread study over time instead of cramming.
- Active retrieval: self-testing, past papers, flashcards.
- Organization: outlines, concept maps, SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, review).
- Healthy lifestyle: adequate sleep, exercise, nutrition and stress control.
Use in nursing: teach patients with short messages, repetition, written instructions and the teach-back method.
Unit VI: Thought and Language
Course syllabus · Model exam answers
B.Sc NURSING (POST-RN), FIRST YEAR, SEMESTER-I
SOCIAL SCIENCES (PSYCHOLOGY) – COURSE NO. 706
UNIT VI: THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE
Syllabus topics: Concept formation; problem solving; decision-making; reasoning; language development.
Q-1. Define thinking and explain concept formation.
Thinking is the mental manipulation of information (images, concepts, symbols) in order to solve problems, make decisions and understand the world.
Concepts
A concept is a mental category of objects, events or ideas that share common features (e.g. “fever”, “infection”, “fruit”). Concepts make thinking efficient because they let us treat new examples as members of a known group.
How concepts are formed
- Observe many examples.
- Notice common features and differences.
- Form a general rule or definition (abstraction).
- Test it on new examples and refine it.
- Prototype: the best, most typical example of a category (a robin is a prototype of “bird”).
- Formal concepts have clear rules (a triangle); natural concepts are fuzzy and based on prototypes (“chair”).
Nursing relevance: clinical concepts (pain, shock, hypoxia) are built from repeated experience and learning.
Q-2. Explain problem solving. Describe its steps, strategies and obstacles.
Problem solving is thinking directed at finding a way to reach a goal when the path is not obvious.
Steps
- Identify and define the problem.
- Gather information.
- Generate possible solutions.
- Evaluate the options.
- Choose and implement the best solution.
- Evaluate the result and revise.
| Strategy | Description |
|---|---|
| Trial and error | Try different solutions until one works |
| Algorithm | A step-by-step rule that guarantees a solution (e.g. a drug dose formula) |
| Heuristic | A rule of thumb; fast but may be wrong |
| Insight | Sudden realization of the solution |
| Means–end analysis | Reduce the gap between the present state and the goal in small steps |
Obstacles
- Mental set: sticking to a method that worked before.
- Functional fixedness: seeing objects only in their usual use.
- Confirmation bias: looking only for evidence that supports one’s belief.
- Stress, fatigue, anxiety and lack of knowledge.
Q-3. Discuss decision-making, including the biases that affect it.
Decision-making is choosing among alternatives.
Rational decision-making steps
- Define the decision to be made.
- Collect relevant information.
- List the options.
- Weigh the advantages, risks and consequences of each.
- Choose the best option.
- Act.
- Evaluate the outcome.
Heuristics and biases
- Availability heuristic: judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind.
- Representativeness heuristic: judging by similarity to a typical case.
- Anchoring: relying too much on the first information received.
- Confirmation bias and overconfidence.
- Framing: the way options are presented changes the choice.
Nursing relevance: clinical decisions use the nursing process, evidence, protocols and consultation. Awareness of bias, double-checking and teamwork reduce errors.
Q-4. Describe reasoning. Differentiate between deductive and inductive reasoning.
Reasoning is drawing conclusions from facts, evidence or premises.
| Point | Deductive reasoning | Inductive reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | General to specific | Specific to general |
| Conclusion | Certain if the premises are true and the logic is valid | Probable, not certain |
| Example | All patients with severe dehydration need fluids. This patient has severe dehydration. Therefore this patient needs fluids. | Five patients with the same rash had been exposed to the same chemical, so the chemical may cause the rash. |
| Use | Applying protocols and theory | Forming hypotheses and nursing research (generating ideas) |
Critical thinking combines both: questioning assumptions, evaluating evidence and reaching sound judgements.
Q-5. Describe language development in children.
Language is a system of symbols (sounds, words, signs) and rules for combining them to communicate.
Components
- Phonology: the sounds of language (phonemes).
- Morphology: the smallest units of meaning (morphemes).
- Syntax: grammar rules for word order.
- Semantics: meaning.
- Pragmatics: using language appropriately in social situations.
| Stage | Approx. age | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Crying and cooing | 0–4 months | Reflex sounds, vowel-like cooing |
| Babbling | About 4–6 months | Repeated syllables (“ba-ba”) |
| One-word stage | About 12 months | First meaningful words (“mama”) |
| Two-word (telegraphic) stage | About 18–24 months | Short phrases (“want milk”) |
| Sentences and grammar | 2–5 years | Rapid growth of vocabulary and grammar; overregularization (“goed”) |
Ages are approximate; children vary.
| Theory | Main idea |
|---|---|
| Learning theory (Skinner) | Language is learned by imitation and reinforcement |
| Nativist (Chomsky) | Humans are biologically prepared for language (a built-in capacity for grammar) |
| Interactionist (Vygotsky and others) | Language develops through social interaction together with biological readiness |
Critical (sensitive) period: early childhood is the best time to acquire language.
Nursing relevance: speak slowly and simply, use words suitable for the child’s age, and refer children with delayed speech or hearing concerns for assessment.
Course references (as listed in the syllabus): Atkinson, R.L., Atkinson, R.C., Smith, E.E., Bem, D.J., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1996). Hilgard’s Introduction to Psychology (12th ed.). Harcourt Brace. Feldman, R.S. (1993). Understanding Psychology (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Source syllabus: Post RN BSN Nursing Psychology Course (original post dated April 12, 2019).
Series: Part 2 of 4 – Units IV–VI. Part 1: Units I–III. Part 3: Units VII (mental ability), VII (emotions) and VIII. Part 4: Units IX–XII.
Independent educational resource: POST RN BSN Nursing Resources is not affiliated with, endorsed by or an official publication of LUMHS or PNMC. Model answers are study aids; verify against your course notes and textbooks.
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