Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESSPSY 200

JSRCC

CONSCIOUSNESS

• Awareness of external events and internal sensations under a condition of arousal

• All the feelings, thoughts, and aroused states of which a person is aware

• Many gradations of consciousness

• Altered states of consciouness

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Stream of consciousness

• Term used by William James to describe the mind as a continuous flow changing sensation images, thoughts, and feelings

THEORY OF MIND

• Being aware of others having private thoughts and feelings

HIGHER- LEVEL CONSCIOUSNESS

• Involves controlled processing, in which individuals actively focus their efforts on attaining a goal; the most alert stated of consciousness

• Examples• Doing math or science problem• Preparing for a debate• Taking an at-bat in a baseball game

LOWER –LEVEL CONSCIOUSNESS

• Includes automatic processing that requires little attention, as well as daydreaming

• Includes automatic processing that requires little attention

• Examples:• Punching in a number on a cell phone• Typing on a keyboard when one is an expert• Gazing at a sunset

ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Can be produced by drugs, trauma, fatigue, possibly hypnosis, and sensory deprivation

• Mental states that are noticeably different from normal awarness

• Examples• Feeling the effect of having taken alcohol or psychedelic drugs• Undergoing hypnosis to quit smoking or lose weight

SUBCONSCIOUS AWARENESS

• Can occur when people are awake, as well as when they are sleeping and dreaming

• Examples• Sleeping and dreaming

NO AWARENESS

• Freud’s belief that some unconscious thoughts are too laden with anxiety and other negative emotions for consciousness to admit them

• Examples:• Having unconscious thoughts being knocked out by a blow or anesthetized

CONTROLLED PROCESSES

• Most alert state of human consciousness, during which individuals activity focus their effort to a goal

AUTOMATIC PROCESSES

• Require little attention/ conscious effort

• Don’t interfere with other ongoing activities

• Daydreaming• Wandering thoughts • Fantasy, imagination, rumination

CIRCADIAN RYTHMS

• Daily behavioral or physiological cycles that involve the sleep/wake cycle, body temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar level

SUPRACHIASMATIC NUCLEUS

• Suprachiasmatic Nucleus: The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) plays an important role in keeping our biological clock running on time. The SCN is located in the hypothalamus. It receives information from the retina about light, which is the external stimulus that synchronizes the SCN. Output from the SCN is distributed to the rest of the hypothalamus and to the reticular formation

• A small brain structure that uses input from the retina to synchronize its own rhythm with the daily cycle of light and dark; the body’s way of monitoring the change from day to night

• Supprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

SLEEP STAGES

• Stage 1• Only lasts a few minutes, and you usually only experience it once a nightour

brain produces theta waves• Kind of awake and kind of asleep• Light sleep, theta wave

• Stage 2• Clearly asleep, sleep spindles• More theta waves that get progressively slower

• Stage 3• Transitional Stages, delta waves

• Stage 4• Deep sleep, body maintenance and restoration

INSOMNIA

• Inability to get to sleep and/ or stay asleep

• Most common disorder- 50% of adults have insomnia at some point

• Associated with stressors, changes in schedule, physical ailments

• May be treated medically, but side effects and dependence are problem

NIGHTMARES VS. NIGHT TERRORS

• Nightmares• Anxiety-arousing dreams occurring near the end of sleep, during REM sleep

• Night Terrors• Abrupt awakenings from NREM sleep accompanied by intense physiological

arousal and feeling of panic• Wake up screaming and have no idea why• Not a nightmare• Most common in children (boys) between ages of 2-8

NARCOLEPSY

• Suffer from sleeplessness and may fall asleep at unpredictable or inappropriate times

• Directly into REM sleep

• Less than.001% of population

SLEEP APNEA

• Apnea-stops breathing while sleeping• May feel sluggish, tired, irritable during day • Increased chance when overweight, using alcohol; may have genetic basis• Treatment may include weight loss, sleeping appliances• 3 to 28% of population

DREAMS

• Dreams• Everyone may not remember dreams, but all progress through dream states• Similarities across cultures: dreams focused on basic needs (sex, aggression,

death)• Other content specific to particular cultures• Dream about what we know, influenced by culture

• Freud’s Psychodynamic Approach• Royal road to the unconscious

• Dreams allow expression of fears and sexual, aggressive desires without censorship

MANIFEST VS. LATENT CONTENT

• Manifest Content• According to Freud, the surface content of a dream, containg dream symbol

that disguise the dream’s true meaning• Actual content of dream• Storyline

• Latent Content• According to Freud, a dream’s hidden content; its unconscious and true

meaning• Symbolic interpretation• Underlying meaning

THE ACTIVATION SYNTHESIS THEORY

• Theory that dreaming occurs when the cerebral cortex synthesizes neural signals generated from activity in the lower part of the brain and that dreams result from the brain’s attempts to find logic in random brain activity that occurs during sleep

• Consequence of aroused brain during REM sleep; cortex attempts to make meaning out of neural impulses

• Our cerebral cortex is trying to interpret random electrical activity we have while sleeping

• That is why our dreams sometimes makes no sense

USES OF PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS

• Psychoactive Drug States- likely a changes in activation, awareness span, self-awareness, and sensory dynamics• Balanced metabolic system: can bring about changes in metabolic rate•  • Moderate level of arousal: depressants decrease arousal; stimulants increase

arousal

PHYSICAL DEPENDENCE

• Physical Dependence• Drugs that act on the nervous system to alter consciousness, modify

perception, and change moods• Not physically addictive, but user has a psychological need to use the drug• Stress-relieving drugs

• Tolerance• The need to take increasing amounts of a drug to get the same effect• Diminishing effect with regular use

• Withdrawal • Discomfort and distress that follow discontinued use

• Psychological Dependence• The strong desire to repeat the use of a drug for emotional reasons, such as

a feeling of well-being and reduction of stress

DEPRESSANTS AND ALCOHOL

• Depressants• Psychoactive drugs that slow down mental and physical activity• Slows down the body processes

• Alcohol• Is a powerful drug• Acts on the body primarily as a depressant and slows down the brain’s

activates

BARBITURATES AND TRANQUILIZERS

• Barbiturates• Depressant drugs, such as Nembutal and Seconal, that decrease central

nervous system activity

• Tranquilizers• Depressant drugs, such as valium and Xanax, that reduce anxiety and induce

relaxation

OPIATES

• Opium and its derivatives; narcotic drugs that depress activity in the central nervous system and eliminate pain

• Has depressive and hallucinogenic qualities

• Agonist for endorphins derived from poppy plant

STIMULANTS• Stimulants

• Psychoactive drugs, including caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine, that increase the central nervous system’s activity

• Caffeine• is a stimulant and a natural component of the plants that are the sources of coffee, tea,

and cola drinks• also is present in chocolate, in many nonprescription medications, and in energy drinks

such as Red Bull.

• Nicotine• The main psychoactive ingredient in all forms of smoking and smokeless tobacco

• Amphetamines

• Are classified as and in the same class as nicotine and caffeine

• Drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes

• Cocaine• Illegal drug that comes from the coca plant, native to Bolivia and Peru

HYPNOSIS

• An altered state of consciousness or a psychological state of altered attention and expectation in which the individual is unusually receptive to suggestions

• Hypnosis- likely a change in activation awareness span, self-awareness, and sensory dynamics• Individuals who are highly vulnerable to suggestion are most easily

hypnotized • Hypnosis linked to increased awareness, lower activation, suggestibility

MEDITATION

• Involves attaining a peaceful state of mind in which thoughts are not occupied by worry; the meditator is mindfully present to his or her thoughts and feelings but is not consumed by them

• Meditation-Likely a change in activation awareness span, self-awareness, and sensory dynamics• Frequently associated with frontal lobe changes • Increases sense of control over consciousness

• Activation: typically relaxed• Awareness span: can range from wide to narrow• Self-awareness: can range from absorption to dissociation• Sensory dynamics: typically enhanced sensory experience