Consciousness

What is Consciousness?

• Consciousness has been defined by psychologists as our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

• The awareness varies depending on our attention to the task at hand. Ex: driving.

Consciousness and Information Processing

• Consciousness describes what we are aware of but many things are processed outside of our “consciousness.”

• Difficult or novel tasks require more conscious attention than well learned tasks.

• Consciousness has a limited capacity

SIGMUND FREUD

• Sigmund Freud had earlier developed the three levels of consciousness. These are the conscious, pre-conscious and the unconscious. He used this levels to better explain a person’s psyche or that which influences the way a person thinks, behaves and personality.

• The conscious deals with everyday functions like our feelings, memories or fantasies at any particular moment. The conscious is what we use when we are fully alert and aware of everything that is around us.

• The pre-conscious exists as a middle ground between the unconscious and the conscious. We have here our stored knowledge, past memories and other data that we can readily access and brought to our consciousness.

• The unconscious is a place in our mind that we store shameful experiences, sexual desires, fears, violent motives, repressed memories and other dark thoughts. According to Freud, access to the unconscious can be manifested through our dreams or slip of the tongue and other unintended impulsive behavior.

• Sigmund Freud states that only 10% of our psyche is visible, that being the conscious, while the remaining 90%, the pre-conscious and unconscious hidden or submerged. This is why, according to him, the mind disguises our hidden wants and desires as dreams because we are not fully aware of the levels of our consciousness.

The id operates on pleasure. He states that the id is childlike and demands instant satisfaction for its urges and desires. The id operates on the unconscious. It only knows one thing and it is “want”. During our infancy the id is the most active part of our mind. The id is primitive, selfish and contains all our basic needs and feelings. The id is the “child” within us.

The ego is rational. It can slip in between our pre-conscious and unconscious. Unlike the id, it operates on reality. The ego takes care of the id’s desires as long as circumstances or situations permit it. Inappropriate urges or desires are repressed. The ego constantly negotiates between the id and the super-ego. It gratifies the id while dealing with the long term consequences of storing repressed urges in the super-ego. The ego is the “adult”.

The super-ego is the moral part of the mind. It imposes the rules. It controls the id through guilt and anxiety. The super-ego struggles with right and wrong. Freud calls the super-ego as the conscience. There are two divisions of the super-ego the Ego Ideal and the conscience. The ego-ideal are those behaviors or modes of conduct that our parents approve of, or the goals which society has deemed ideal. The conscience is what forces the id to become inhibited. It represses the urges of the id by punishing it.

Personality Structure according to Freud

ID-a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives to survive, reproduce, and aggress.

The id operates on the pleasure principle: If not constrained by reality, it seeks immediate gratification.

Ego-the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates the demands of the id, superego, and reality.

The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Superego-represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscious) and for future aspirations.

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More Specifically: Id, Ego, Superego

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the following:

• Id: The inherited instinctive impulses of the individual, forming part of the unconscious.

• Ego: That part of the mind which is most conscious of self; in the work of Freud that part which, acted upon by both the id and the super-ego, mediates with the environment.

• Superego: A Freudian term for that aspect of the psyche which has internalized parental and social prohibitions or ideals early in life and imposes them as a censor on the wishes of the ego; the agent of self-criticism or self-observation.

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What It Meansor

Freud in Layman’s terms

• Id is where the innermost desires live. Those dark places where passions and the basest of instincts and wants reside.

• Ego is our conscious mind that tells us what is good and bad. Our conscience. It mediates between the id and superego.

• Superego is what everyone else and society want for us.

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

•

•

Social rules/Frigidity, impotence, unsatisfactory relationships

Physical changes reawaken repressed needs. Direct sexual feelings towards others lead to sexual gratification.

Genitalpuberty onward

(Usually no fixation at this stage; but if so, sexual immaturity and dissatisfaction) 

Sexual urges sublimated into sports and hobbies. Same-sex friends help avoid sexual feelings.

Latency6-puberty

Oedipus (boys), Electra (girls)GenitalsPhallic4-5

Toilet training; self control/Retentive: obsessive neatnessExpulsive: reckless; disorganized

defecating or retaining faeces

Anal2-4

Weaning from mother's breast/Passive dependence or excessive smoking or eating

sucking, biting, swallowing

Oral0-2

Conflict/Effect of Fixation

Pleasure sourceNameAge

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

•

•

Social rules/Frigidity, impotence, unsatisfactory relationships

Physical changes reawaken repressed needs. Direct sexual feelings towards others lead to sexual gratification.

Genitalpuberty onward

(Usually no fixation at this stage; but if so, sexual immaturity and dissatisfaction) 

Sexual urges sublimated into sports and hobbies. Same-sex friends help avoid sexual feelings.

Latency6-puberty

Oedipus (boys), Electra (girls)GenitalsPhallic4-5

Toilet training; self control/Retentive: obsessive neatnessExpulsive: reckless; disorganized

defecating or retaining faeces

Anal2-4

Weaning from mother's breast/Passive dependence or excessive smoking or eating

sucking, biting, swallowing

Oral0-2

Conflict/Effect of Fixation

Pleasure sourceNameAge

•Sublimation: redirecting 'wrong' urges into socially acceptable actions.•Repression: pushing uncomfortable thoughts into the

subconscious. •Denial: Blindness to uncomfortable facts; clinging to

false beliefs to avoid fear/shame/arousal. •Displacement: redirecting emotions to a substitute target. •Intellectualization: taking an overly rationalistic

viewpoint to deny/avoid emotions. •Projection: attributing one’s own unconscious uncomfortable feelings to others. •Rationalization: creating false but credible

justifications to avoid guilt/shame. •Reaction Formation: overacting in the opposite way

to an emotion in order to control it. •Regression: reverting to prior developmental states.

Sleep• Sleep is a behavior AND

an altered state of consciousness

• We spend about a third of our lives in sleep.

Sleep

• Sleep: refers to the periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness.

• Using an EEG, sleep researchers have shown the mind is “awake” during various stages of sleep.

Sleep Stages: Stage 1• As we lay with our eyes closed we are in an

awake but highly relaxed state characterized by alpha waves (slow waves) being emitted from our brain.

• As we fall asleep, we have a 50% decrease in alpha wave activity…sometimes referred to as “drowsy sleep.”

• During Stage 1 sleep, we often experience hallucinations: false sensory experiences. We may feel a sensation of falling or floating.

• 5 minutes

Second Stage: Sleep Spindles

• After about 5 minutes in stage 1 sleep, you sleep into Stage 2 sleep which is characterized by Sleep Spindles: bursts of rapid, rhythmic, brain wave activity.

• Stage where you are clearly asleep, sleep talking can occur in this stage or any other later stage.

• 20 minutes

Stage Three: Transition Stage

• Stage Three begins your descent into “slow wave sleep.”

• Delta Waves: (large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep) begin appearing in stage 3 but are increasingly apparent in Stage 4.

Stage Four: Delta Waves• Stage of deep sleep

characterized by Delta Waves.

• Stage when you are hard to awaken…but still aware of stimuli around you.

• Stage at which children may wet the bed or sleep walk.

• Also experience night terrors.

Night Terrors

• Occur during late stage 4 sleep and are characterized by high arousal and an appearance of terror but are seldom remembered.

R.E.M. Sleep (Paradoxical Sleep)

• After stage 4, your bodies cycles back to stage 3, stage 2, and into REM sleep.

• A Normal Sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes.

R.E.M. Sleep (Paradoxical Sleep)• R.E.M.: rapid eye movement sleep, stage where

vivid dreams occur. Known as Paradoxical because muscles are relaxed yet body is highly active.

• Heart rate increases, Breathing more rapid, eyes dart behind lids.

• Genitals become aroused during R.E.M. sleep even when dreams are not sexual in nature.

• As sleep cycle continues, R.E.M. sleep gets longer and longer.

Brain Waves and Stages of Sleep

So Why Do We Sleep?

• Most ppl will sleep for 9 hours if they could

• Sleep debt

• Decrease in work productivity

• Increase in auto accidents

• Suppressed immune system

• Alter metabolic and hormonal functioning

• Decrease in performance and creativity

Sleep Function

• Theories:

• 1. Sleep protects

• 2. Helps us recuperate

• 3. Might help us grow

Tips for Sleeping

1. Relax before bed2. Avoid caffeine3. A glass of milk4. Regular cycle5. Exercise regularly,but not in

the late evening

Dreams

SLEEP AND DREAMS…

Chapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 NairneChapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 NairneStates ofStates of ConsciousnessConsciousness

What’s the Meaning Of Dreams? Depends Who You Ask!

• Psychoanalytic Theorists like Freud will argue that dreams represent the royal road to the “unconscious.” Dreams represent unresolved wishes/desires and discharge feelings that would be unacceptable if consciously voiced.

• Sigmund Freud- The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)– wish fulfillment – discharge otherwise unacceptable feelings

• Manifest Content: represents remembered story line of a dream.

• Latent Content: represents underlying meaning of dreams dealing with wishes and drives.

What’s The Meaning of Dreams? Depends Who You

Ask?As Information Processing

– helps consolidate the day’s memories

– Stimulates neural development

What’s The Meaning of Dreams? Depends Who You Ask?

• Physiological Function of Dreams: periodic brain activity associated with R.E.M. sleep gives the brain needed activity to make neural connections. Also helps facilitate memory.

• Activation-Synthesis Theory: dreams are result of brain’s attempt to make sense of random neural activity. Visual cortex among other areas like the Limbic System are active during R.E.M. sleep. Mind always tries to make sense of stimuli.

What’s The Meaning Of Dreams? Depends Who You Ask!

• Dreams As Part of Cognitive Development: all mammals experience R.E.M. sleep and many researchers believe it helps facilitate cognitive development.

• R.E.M. Rebound: tendency for R.E.M. sleep to increase following deprivation. May illustrate a biological need for it.

Lucid Dreams

• Lucid Dreams: are dreams in which you become aware that you are dreaming and you can control aspects of your environment in the dream.

What do we dream about? • Sex- 1 in 30 for women;1 in 10 for men • Women dream about men and women; 65% of

men's dreams are about men• Most dreams are about events in our daily lives

• Previous day’s experiences

• Forget things that happen 5 minute before we fall asleep

• Do not remember taped info

Have you ever dreamed of…..?

• Falling 83%• Being attacked 77%• School,teacher, studying 71%• Sexual experiences 66%• Arriving late 64%• Eating 62%• A loved person dying 57%• Being locked up 56%

Have you ever dreamed of…..?

• Finding money 56%• Swimming 52%• Snakes 49%• Being inappropriately dressed 46%• Unable to breathe 44%• Being nude 43%• Fire 41%• Failing an Exam 39%• Killing Someone 26%

Hypnosis

Hypnosis

• Hypnosis- a social interaction in which one person ( the hypnotist) suggests to another ( the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts or behaviors will occur

•

Hypnosis

Can anyone Experience Hypnosis?

• It depends on the subject’s openness to suggestion

Hypnosis

Can Hypnosis Enhance Recall of Forgotten Events?

• Hypnosis does not help us recover “accurate memories as far back as birth”

• Highly hypnotizable ppl are especially venerable to false memory suggestions

Hypnosis

Can hypnosis force ppl to act against their will?

• An authoritative person in a legitimate context can induce ppl- hypnotized or not- to perform some unlikely acts

Can Hypnosis Alleviate Pain

• YES • 10% of us can become so deeply hypnotized that even

major surgery can be performed without anesthesia • Dissociation- a split between levels of consciousness.

• Dissociate the sensation of the pain from the emotional suffering

• Selective Attention

Is Hypnosis an Altered State of Consciousness

Hypnosis as a social phenomenon

• Behaviors produced through hypnotic procedures can also be produced without them

• PPl. do what is expected of them

• Unhypnotizedpersons can also do this

Is Hypnosis an Altered State of Consciousness

Hypnosis As A Divided Consciousness

• Explains hypnosis not as a unique “trance state” where the “subconscious” is under control by the hypnotist but rather as a split in awareness caused by the “subjective experience of hypnosis.”

• Hilgard’s Experiment

Perspectives On Dissociation

Hilgard’s Hidden Observer

• Hidden Observer: describes hypnotized subject’s awareness of experiences, such as pain, that go unreported during hypnosis.– Is a part of the person

that has the experience.

Hypnosis Concepts: Can Hypnosis Have an Effect After The Session?

• Posthypnotic Amnesia: supposed inability to recall what one experienced during hypnosis; induced by the hypnotist’s suggestion. “You will no longer remember anything you experienced today.”

• Posthypnotic Suggestion: a suggestion made during a hypnosis session that will be carried out after hypnosis session is over. “You will no longer feel the need to smoke after this session is over.”

Near Death Experiences

Near Death Experiences

• Near Death Experiences: an altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death.

Dualism

• Dualism: argues that the mind and body are two distinct entities that interact. The “mind” is nonphysical and can exist apart from the physical body.

• Was put forth by many philosophers including Renee Descartes and Socrates.

Monism (Materialism)• Monism argues that the mind and

body are different aspects of the same thing.

• Mind and body cannot be separated without bodies we are nobodies.

• Thomas Hobbes along with many philosophers and scientists support this viewpoint.