Psychology: Brain, Mind,
and Culture, 2e
by
Drew Westen
Paul J. Wellman
Texas A&M University
John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
PowerPoint  Presentation: Chapter 9
Consciousness
Lecture Outline


Consciousness
Perspectives on Consciousness
 Psychodynamic
 Cognitive


Sleep and Dreaming
Altered States of Consciousness
 Hypnosis
 Drug-Induced state of consciousness
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Consciousness

William James (1890):
 Consciousness is a constantly moving stream
of thoughts, feelings, and emotions


Consciousness can be viewed as our
subjective awareness of mental events
Functions of consciousness:
 Monitoring mental events
 Control: consciousness allows us to formulate
and reach goals
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Attention



Our conscious awareness is limited in
capacity and we are aware of only a small
amount of the stimuli around us at any one
time
Attention refers to the process by which we
focus our awareness
Three functions of attentional processes:
 Orienting function
 Control of the content of consciousness
 Maintaining alertness
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Sampling Day-Dreams in High
School Students
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
(Figure adapted from Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1984, p. 117)
Psychodynamic View of
Consciousness

Freud argued for three mental
systems within consciousness
 Conscious: mental events that
you are aware of
 Preconscious: Mental events
that can be brought into
awareness
 Unconscious: Mental events
that are inaccessible to
awareness; are actively kept out
of awareness
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Subliminal Perception


Notion that brief exposure to sub-threshold
stimuli can influence awareness
Study: subjects are shown aggressive (A)
or positive (B) stimuli
 and then rate a neutral stimulus (C)
 Subjects shown panel A rated the boy in panel
C more negatively
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
(Figure adapted from Eagle, 1959)
Unconscious Cognitive Processes

Information-processing view can be
extended to analyses of unconscious
processes
 Notion is that many brain mechanisms
operate in parallel
• Some of these mechanisms operate outside of
consciousness
 Functional significance of unconscious
mechanisms:
• Are efficient and rapid
• Can operate simultaneously
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Sleep and Dreaming

Behavioral characteristics of sleep
 Minimal movement
 Stereotyped posture
 Require a high degree of stimulation to
arouse organism

Physiological characteristics of sleep
 EEG
 EMG: paralysis of muscle
 Cardiovascular changes
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Species Variation in Sleep
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Function of Sleep




Memory consolidation
Energy conservation
Preservation from predators
Restoring bodily functions
 Sleep deprivation can alter immune
function and lead to early death
 Sleep deprivation can also lead to
hallucinations and perceptual disorder
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Mortality Rates and Sleep
(Figure adapted from Kripke et al., 1979)
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
EEG Stages of Sleep
(Figure adapted from Cartwright, 1978)
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
REM Sleep

Characteristics of REM sleep




Presence of rapid-eye-movements
Presence of dreaming
Increased autonomic nervous system activity
EEG resembles that of awake state (beta
wave)
 Motor paralysis (except for diaphragm)
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Dreaming

Psychoanalytic view: Dreams represent a
window into the unconscious
 The latent content (meaning) can be inferred
from the manifest content (the actual dream)


Cognitive view: Dreams are constructed
from the daily issues of the dreamer
Biological view: Dreams represent the
attempt of the cortex to interpret the random
neural firing of the brain during sleep
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Sleep Disorders

Insomnia: the inability to achieve or maintain
sleep
 Many causes for insomnia
• Stress
• Depression
• Sleeping pills
 Some suggestions for treating insomnia
• Only use your bed for sleeping
• Avoid physical activity prior to sleep
• Avoid consumption of caffeine and alcohol before
bed
• Keep a regular sleep schedule
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Other Sleep Disorders

Nightmares: refer to vivid fear-evoking
dreams
 Occur during REM sleep

Night Terrors: are episodes of intense
panic
 Occur during delta sleep (early in night)


Sleep apnea: refers to awakening brought
on by cessation of breathing during sleep
Narcolepsy: falling asleep during the day
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Altered States of Consciousness

Changes in consciousness can be
brought on by




Meditation
Hypnosis
Drug ingestion
Religious experience
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a state of consciousness
characterized by
 Deep relaxation
 Suggestibility

Effects observed during hypnotic state:
 Age regression
 Change in pain perception
 Ability to recall memories into consciousness
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Changes in Pain Perception
during Hypnosis

Hilgard’s
demonstration of the
“Hidden Observer”
 Subjective pain report
depends on the aspect
of consciousness that
is reporting on pain
(Figure adapted from Cartwright, 1978)
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Drug-Induced States of
Consciousness

Drug effects on consciousness depend
on:
 Biological activity of the drug
 Expectations of drug effect

Drug classes




Depressants (including alcohol)
Stimulants (amphetamine, cocaine)
Hallucinogens (LSD)
Marijuana
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Copyright
Copyright 1999 by John Wiley and Sons, New
York, NY. All rights reserved. No part of the
material protected by this copyright may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission of the
copyright owner.
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.