States of Consciousness

•Consciousness: our awareness of ourselves and our environment

•Where does it come from? •No one knows. Possibly arises from the

interaction of various brain functions•Does consciousness dictate our behavior

or describe it?

The Nonconscious Process

• The nonconscious mind is great at multitasking. Where the conscious mind has the ability to focus on just one task, the nonconscious mind has no such restrictions.

• The conscious mind has to process things serially, while the nonconscious mind can handle many streams of information at the same time, called parallel processing.

• Most of our brain processes take place outside of our awareness

What Consciousness Does

3. Consciousness allows us to create a mental model of the world that we can manipulate.

– Unlike other, simpler organisms, we are not prisoners of the moment: We don’t just act reflexively to stimulation.

– Humans are the only animal with the ability to set goals.

Levels of the Nonconscious Mind

• There are two levels of the nonconscious (subconscious) mind: preconscious and unconscious.

• Preconscious memories: Information that is not currently in consciousness, but can be recalled voluntarily.

• Unconscious: Cognition (thought) without awareness. – Involves levels of brain systems that range from autopilot to those which can

have subtle influences on consciousness and behavior.

What is Unconsciousness

• A dictionary might define the term as being a loss of all consciousness, like when a person faints.

• But in psychology, we define it a little differently. To show this, lets look at an example.

Fill in the blanks to complete the word below:

D E F _ _ _

Answer

• Using a technique called priming, psychologists can have some influence on the answer people give.

• This idea of priming is similar to asking “leading questions” in court, or framing questions by asking them in a way which increases the likelihood of certain answers.

• There were a number of possible answers to the example: defend, defeat, defect, defile, deform, defray, defuse and define.

• There is an increased likelihood you chose define. Why?

Freud’s View of Consciousness

Sleep and Dreams

•Circadian Rhythm▫24 hour cycle

•Night owls and early birds•Light- causes the pineal gland to decrease

melatonin•Biological clock can be adjusted- Daylight

saving time?

Sleep Stages

•Stage 1▫Beginning sleep▫May have hallucinations or dreamlike

images▫You cannot remember the exact moment

you fell asleep•Stage 2- 20 minutes

▫Sleep spindles▫Easily awakened

•Stage 3- a few minutes▫Transitional

•Stage 4 – about 30 minutes▫Deep sleep▫Delta waves▫Hard to awaken▫Brain still processing stimuli

•Stage 3 – again•Stage 2 - again

•REM Sleep▫Jagged brain waves▫Eye movement – signals dreams▫Brain stem blocks messages from motor

cortex, leaving you mostly paralyzed•Whole sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes•As night goes on, stage 4 becomes

shorter, and REM longer

Why we sleep

•Protection from predators•To incorporate memories•To repair neural connections and brain

tissue – “closed for routine maintenance” •Growth

Sleep deprivation

•Sleep debt•How much sleep do we need?•Affects of sleep deprivation

▫Fatigue▫Decreased concentration▫Irritability▫Depressed immune system▫Vulnerability

Jet Lag

2,400

2,700

2,600

2,500

2,800

Spring time change(hour sleep loss)

3,600

4,200

4000

3,800

Fall time change(hour sleep gained)

Less sleep,more accidents

More sleep,fewer accidents

Monday before time change Monday after time change

Accident frequency

Sleep disorders

•Insomnia- difficulty in falling asleep•Narcolepsy- inability to restrain sleep•Sleep apnea- person momentarily stops

breathing during sleep, causing the person to awaken (which disrupts the sleep cycle)

Fig. 5-11, p. 188

Why do we dream?

•To fulfill our wishes/fantasies•To preserve memories•To repair neurons “closed for routine

maintenance”•To make sense of neural static•To reflect cognitive development•Everyone dreams!

Dreams

• Why do you have dreams that seem random?

• Typically the first dream connects with events from the previous day. Later dreams tend to build on a theme in the previous dream.

• Often times, the final dream is remembered most vividly, but has very little to do with the previous days events, or events that lay ahead.

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What We Dream

• Negative Emotional Content: 8 out of 10 dreams have negative emotional content.

• Failure Dreams: People commonly dream about failure, being attacked, pursued, rejected, or struck with misfortune.

• Sexual Dreams: Contrary to our thinking, sexual dreams are sparse. Sexual dreams in men are 1 in 10; and in women 1 in 30.

Truth About Dreams

• Despite his theories there is no solid evidence to support Freud’s interpretations of latent dream content.

• Dreams, do however, vary by age, gender and culture.

• Children are more likely to dream about animals that are large and threatening, while adults dream more about pets.

• Women are more likely to dream about men and women; men are more likely to dream about men.

Culture and Dreams

• Many studies have supported the theory that culture plays a large role in dream content.– Ghana: Attacking cows– Americans: Public nakedness– Mexican-Americans: Death

• There is strong support for the idea that dreams reflect life events that are important to the dreamer.

Hypnosis

•Is it real?•Suggestibility – 20%•Can you make someone do something

they don’t want to do?•Pain?

Drugs

•Depressants – reduce neural activity▫Alcohol▫Barbiturates – tranquilizers (like sleeping

pills)▫Opiates – Opium. Morphine and heroin.

•Stimulants – excite neural activity▫Caffeine▫Nicotine▫Amphetamines▫Methamphetamines▫Cocaine▫Ecstasy

•Hallucinogens – distort perceptions▫LSD▫Marijuana

Near Death Experiences