psych 101 chapter 5 1 prologue to chapter 5: states of consciousness life is made up of many kinds...

Psych 101 Chapter 5 1

Prologue to Chapter 5: States of Consciousness Life is made up of many kinds of

conscious awareness Who/what is perceiving this particular

stimulus here, now? When you say, “I am” what are you

referring to? Who is the “you?” What is the “you” you are talking about?

What is consciousness?


What is consciousness?What is consciousness?


Wide Awake: Normal waking consciousness Three varieties of normal waking consciousness

directed consciousness flowing consciousness daydreaming

Directed consciousness a focused and orderly “one tracked” awareness centered on a specific stimulus


Normal waking consciousness

Flowing consciousness a drifting, unfocused awareness your awareness (attention) moves at random

from attention to one stimulus to another Daydreams

focused and directed thinking, like directed consciousness, but these involve fantasies (and not stimuli immediately at hand)


Daydreams



Divided consciousness: Being two places (mentally) at the same time the process of “splitting off” two or more

conscious activities that occur simultaneously similar to “multi-tasking” that can be done by

computers for example: rub your head and pat your

stomach or divide 81 by 3 while saying the “Pledge of Allegiance”



The concept of the “Unconscious Mind” the notion of an unconscious mind helps to explain

mental processes that occur without conscious awareness

for example: when you forget something and then, hours later, suddenly remember it though you had not been consciously trying to remember it

the “Unconscious Mind” is a big part of the Psychoanalytic school of thought in psychology


Sleeping and dreaming: Consciousness while asleep Stages of sleep

involves passing from waking state into a semi-wakeful state, then into 4 stages of progressively deeper sleep

Hypnagogic State a twilight state that is neither daydreaming or

sleeping that occurs as you begin to fall asleep but are not yet sleeping

unusual things can happen in the hypnagogic state


Sleeping and dreaming

States of light and deep sleep 4 stages of sleep based on EEG measures of

brainwave activity during sleep that reveal different brain-wave patterns in sleep

Stage 1 sleep: shifting from beta-to-alpha wave brain activity patterns; the brain is slowing down

Stage 2 sleep: alpha-to-theta brain wave patterns; the brain is slowing further



States of light and deep sleep Stage 3 sleep: theta-to-delta brain wave

patterns; the brain is slowing further Stage 4 sleep: delta wave brain patterns; the

brain is at its slowest Dream Sleep

Emergent sleep: the brain begins to move faster; returns to beta wave pattern of wakefulness though you are still asleep



Dream Sleep Beta-wave brain activity is present and REM

(rapid eye movement) activity is present most people generally dream more than once

in a single night; virtually everyone dreams every night

The reoccuring sleep cycle moves from beta-alpha-theta-delta-beta in the course of about 1.5 hours



The normal sleep required by individuals is 7.5 hours per night; a typical sleep cycle is about 1.5 hours long so the typical person has 4 to 5 sleep cycles occurring per sleep period

The normal person may have as much as 1 to 2 hours of dreaming every night



Why do we sleep and dream? What good is it to sleep and dream anyway?

Isn’t it a waste of about 33% of your life? NO! Sleep and dreaming is important to maintain

normal psychological functioning Sleep deprivation studies show that going more

than 40 hours without sleep begins to tell by the appearance of forgetting, irritation, poor judgment, and other symptoms



Extreme sleep deprivation studies of extreme sleep deprivation have

shown that at about 120 hours of sleep deprivation individuals will begin to behave in ways indistinguishable from paranoid schizophrenics

these symptoms include: hostility, suspicion, paranoia, unpredictable behavior, halucinations and delusions



What important thing happens in sleep? Studies on sleep and REM deprivation show

that it is the REM (dreaming state) of sleep that is the KEY reason why we sleep; sleeping without dreaming is not useful in the big picture

We do, like Shakespeare said, “sleep, perchance to dream…”



The Content and Meaning of Dreams Freud’s view of dreams

Dreams have “manifest” content Dreams have “latent” content Dreams provide information from the unconscious

mind that a person can use to understand themselves

Dream interpretation We’ll do some dream interpretation now so you

can decide for yourself if Freud was right


What do dreams mean?What do dreams mean?



Nightmares and other sleep phenomena Nightmares are exceptionally frightening

dreams they typically involve anxieties they often involve being chased, being late, or

falling they are typically dark and foreboding individuals may wake up after nightmares with a

sense of uneasiness


Nightmares



Nightmares and other sleep phenomena Night Terrors

very frightening event typically in children where they scream out in the night and cannot be easily awakened by a concerned parent

typically these are outgrown as the child gets older they are not typically a “sign” of emotional

problems in the child; rather it is likely that they are due to cognitive physical immaturity



Nightmares and other sleep phenomena Sleepwalking and sleeptalking

typically occur in Stage 4 sleep (not in REM sleep) about 15% of the population has experienced these

phenomena the sleeper should be protected from hurting themself;

individuals have been known to leave their home driving their car while asleep

there is no truth to the wive’s tale that the sleepwalker should not be awakened



Sleep disorders Insomnia: affects about 20 million Americans Narcolepsy: a form of epilepsy that causes

sudden, immediate sleeping Sleep apnea: cessation of breathing while

sleeping; associated with the very loud snoring person

Incubus/Succubus attacks



Sleep is one of the cycles that the body does daily. These cycles are called “circadian rhythms” and the body typically operates on a cycle of about 24 hours. Other circadian body cycles include: body temperature urine production metabolism


Altered states of consciousness

Altered states involve several common characteristics: Distortions of perception Intense emotions (positive or negative) A sense of “unity” Altered states are often illogical,

indescribable, and transcendent; they may involve a sense of “self-evident” reality


Altered States of Consciousness


Altered states

Meditation can produce an altered state of consciousness extreme focused concentration away from

thoughts and feelings generates a sense of relaxation focusing on not thinking; try to stop thinking

and see if you can do it use of mantras, koens, praying, or other

techniques may be useful in meditating


Altered states

Hypnosis can produce an altered state of consciousness characterized by relaxation, hypnotic

halucinations, hypnotic analgesia, age regression, and hypnotic control

is hypnotism real, fake, or role playing? about 15% of the population is easily

hypnotized


Altered states

History of hypnotism Anton Mesmer and Mesmerism

his use of “magnetic waters”, magical incantations, and showmanship as “treatment” of psychological/medical problems

was a hit in France in the 1790s

Freud became interested in it for a time but later rejected it as nonsense

Picked up by American behaviorists in the US in the 1930s; still used in the US today


Altered states

Applications of hypnotism used (with varying results) to help people:

stop smoking stop drinking stop eating

has been used to induce anesthesia in certain individuals, e.g., drug-free childbirth; there have been surgeries carried out with the patient only under hypnotic suggestion for pain control


Altered states

Another altered state is “depersonalization” the perceptual experience of one’s body or

surroundings becoming distorted or unreal in some way

a sense of being out of one’s body or that one’s body has no limit; this experience can happen to individuals on an LSD trip

can be very frightening; a bad trip


Altered states

Yet another altered state is the “Near Death Experience” experienced by individuals clinically dead

during surgery or accident who can return to tell about it

similarity of reports of NDE is it real or is it something else? heaven/hell or just neurochemistry at work?


Altering consciousness with drugs Drug use: some basic considerations

Individuals have variable responses to drugs many factors influence how a person reacts to

drugs, e.g., dosage, purity of a drug, a person’s expectations surrounding use of a given drug, a person’s characteristics/personality, as well as a person’s mood

one must consider the drug to be taken and the person taking a drug when considering the effect of any given drug

Psych 101 Chapter 5 33Drug use is stupidity in action


Altering consciousness

Drug use: some basic considerations Problems associated with drug use

some drugs can cause physical dependency, e.g., cocaine, heroin

some drugs can cause psychological dependency, e.g., marijuana

physiological addiction to a drug is a huge price to pay for experiencing a drug’s effects

drugs are generally a stupid way of inducing altered states because you can do it without using drugs


Altering States of ConsciousnessAltering States of Consciousness



Psychotropic drugs: Drugs that will induce altered states Stimulants: amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine,

and nicotine Depressants: sedatives, tranquilizers, bennies Narcotics: morphine, heroin, codeine, as well

as Demerol, Percodan, and Methadone Inhalants: airplane glue, cleaning fluid, some

paints, and gasoline



Psychotropic drugs Halucinogens: mescaline, hashish, marijuana,

peyote, psilocybin Typically drug abusers will abuse many

drugs (polydrug use). The outcome is often addiction, mental illness, and death.

Use alternate ways to induce altered states, e.g., meditation, fasting, prayer, etc.


Use methods other than drugs to induce altered states


Application of psychology

The legal consciousness-altering drugs alcohol is the widest-used drug that alters persons’

consciousness caffeine and nicotine are used by millions of people history is filled with the trade of drugs designed to

induce altered states, e.g., the British East India Company trafficed in opium

Altered states and religions, e.g., ganja, peyote


Questions?

Any questions about Chapter 5?

psych 101 chapter 5 1 prologue to chapter 5: states of consciousness life is made up of many kinds...

Documents

delta wave brain

delta brain wave patterns

theta brain wave patterns

different brainwave

dreamingthe normal sleep

waking state

deep sleep4 stages of

dreamingstates of light