States of Consciousness
Wide Awake:
Normal Waking Consciousness
 Consciousness – state of awareness
 More than one kind of state
 Qualities of awareness vary
States of Consciousness
Wide Awake:
Normal Waking Consciousness
 Daydreams
 Everyday consciousness and dreams combined
 Thinking and feeling not bound by logic
 Freud: daydreams reduce tensions
 Content varies from sorrow to sexual desire
 Some dreams create tensions
States of Consciousness
Divided Consciousness
 Being two places (mentally) at the same time
 Hilgard: conscious awareness is split and
simultaneously perform two activities
 Driving and talking on cell phone?
 Some studies strongly suggest conscious awareness
cannot be allocated
 Distractions linked to errors and accidents?
States of Consciousness
The Concept of the Unconscious
Mind
 Unconscious – consciously unaware
 Cocktail party phenomenon - one voice in a room
gets attention while all other voices are tuned out
 Voice processes unconsciously by brain
 Giving more attention to threatening words than
nonthreatening words – emotional cues?
States of Consciousness
Sleep and Dreams:
Conscious While Asleep
 Sleep is complex combination of states
 Stages of sleep
 Hypnagogic state – twilight
 Stages of light and deep sleep

Four stages of progressively deeper sleep

Electroencephalogram (EEG) measures changing brain
activity during sleep stages
Relaxed - awake
Stage 3 sleep
Stage 1 sleep
spindles
Stage 2 sleep
Zzzz
Stage 4 sleep
REM sleep
States of Consciousness
REM Sleep and Dreams
 1952 at University of Chicago – first REM sleep
recorded in child with EEG
 Movement of eyes related to dreaming
 REM – rapid-eye-movement sleep
 Webb: dream sleep is like autonomic storms




Blood flow to brain increases
Irregular heartbeat
Face and finger muscles twitch
Irregular breathing
REM
EEG
Sleep stage
0
+1
+2
+3
+4
0
1
2
3
4
Hours of sleep
5
6
7
8
States of Consciousness
Time Spent Dreaming
 College survey
 15% dream every night
 25% dream on most nights
 Almost one-third rarely or never dream
 Studies show average college student
 Spends 2 hours a night in REM sleep, divided into four
to six separate episodes
 Length of REM dreams vary, longest about 1 hour
States of Consciousness
Non-REM Sleep and Dreams
 Non-REM dreams occur more frequently
 Dreams less bizarre, less negative emotions on
average than REM dreams
 Occurs in about half of 4 to 6 hours during sleep
States of Consciousness
Circadian Rhythms
 Biological cycle, regulates patterns of sleep
 Cycle length of about 24 hours
 Parts of body’s internal clock

Hypothalamus

Hormone melatonin

Pituitary gland secretes growth hormone

Adrenal stress hormone – cortisol secretion
States of Consciousness
Circadian Rhythms
 Biological cycle
 Body temperature linked to cycle
 Influenced by light and dark illumination
 Body’s clock resets each day at daylight
 Disrupting circadian rhythms
 Flying west – longer period of daylight
 Flying east – less time adapting to jet lag
 Effects of shift work: easier to rotate from night to
day
It takes longer to adjust to local sleep
schedules and get over jet lag when
traveling west to east
8
7
6
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
Average number of
days to adjust to
local sleep schedule
Average number of
days to adjust to
local sleep schedule
States of Consciousness
Sleep Deprivation and the Need for
Sleep
 Create sleep debt if sleep is missed
 Lost sleep changes behavior
 Irritable
 Fatigued
 Inattentive and inefficient
 Fall asleep faster, sleep longer the next night
 Webb: sleep has protective role, not health linked
States of Consciousness
Sleep Deprivation and the Need for
Sleep
 Current research good health linked to sleep
 Short-term deprivation slows immune system
 Possible links to diabetes, obesity, and other life-
threatening medical conditions
 Most sleep 7 to 8 hours per night
 High death rates associated with extreme sleep
deprivation (ie: accidental deaths)
 Need for REM sleep and dreaming is clear
States of Consciousness
Content of Dreams
 Fascinating aspect since ancient pharaohs
 Psychologists still seek meaning of dreams
 Calkins: first systematic study
 Great advances made in sleep labs
 Images and characters in dreams
 About 25% or less have auditory, bodily, or sexual
body sensations
States of Consciousness
Content of Dreams
 Images and characters in dreams
 Most dreams have blurry backgrounds and few
intense colors
 Dreamer has active role about 75% of time
 About 50% of characters are known to dreamer
 Characters are about even mixture of males and
females
States of Consciousness
Sweet Dreams:
The Emotional Content of Dreams
 Most dreams contain positive emotions
 Negative dreams late in the sleep cycle are more
likely to wake a person
 Gender differences exist in emotional qualities of
dreams
 Men more likely to recall positive dreams
States of Consciousness
Sweet Dreams:
The Emotional Content of Dreams
 Gender differences
 Men’s dreams

Less friendliness between characters

Less aggression toward other dream players
 Both men and women

More likely to be victim than perpetrator when
verbal/physical aggression in dreams
States of Consciousness
Creative and Bizarre Aspects of
Dreams
 Dreams amazingly creative and bizarre
 About 75% of dreams have at least one bizarre or
unrealistic element
 About 10% of dreams have nonsensical story
 About 10% of dreams are fantastic and bizarre
States of Consciousness
Meaning of Dreams
 Day residue and stimulus incorporation
 Freud: day residue – one character or event from
preceding day, week, or earlier life included in dream
 Events and concerns of daily life are among most
common things in dreams
 Stimulus incorporation: something in real
environment is directly incorporated in dream
States of Consciousness
Dream Interpretation
 Psychologists’ views vary on meanings of dreams
 Freudians: hidden conflicts and motives of
unconscious mind are symbols in dreams

Manifest level of dreams – the obvious

Latent content level – the hidden meanings
 Controversy over Freud’s interpretations
States of Consciousness
Nightmares and Other Sleep
Phenomena
 Nightmares – terrifying dreams
 Occur during REM sleep
 Upsetting enough to awake the dreamer
 Night terrors are less common
 Awakens in state of panic, sometimes screaming
with poor memory of dream content
 Occur during deepest phases of non-REM sleep
States of Consciousness
Nightmares and Other Sleep
Phenomena
 Sleepwalking
 Occurs in deepest phases of non-REM sleep
 Rise out of bed, carry on complicated activities
 Most common in children before age of puberty
 Sleeptalking
 Common in any phase of sleep cycle
 Most common in young adults
States of Consciousness
Sleep Disorders
 Usually troublesome but highly treatable disorders
- sleep is normal once it begins
 Insomnia: sleeping less than one wishes to

Sleep-onset disorder - difficulty falling asleep when
desired

Early-awakening insomnia – waking up too early or
several times during night
States of Consciousness
Sleep Disorders
 Narcolepsy – rare sleep disorder
 Effects one-half of 1%, impact is quite serious
 Person suddenly, unexpectedly falls asleep during
any activity or event
 Dream sleep but not REM sleep
 Affects those getting adequate sleep
States of Consciousness
Sleep Disorders
 Sleep apnea – sudden, temporary interruption of
breathing during sleep
 Interruptions last longer than 20 seconds
 Common in overweight and older adults
 Causation may be

Too much relaxation of throat muscles

Temporary cessation of brain signals for breathing
States of Consciousness
Altered States of Consciousness
General characteristics
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Distortions of perception
Intense positive emotions
Sense of unity
Illogical
Indescribable
Transcendent
Self-evident reality
Types of states
 Meditation
 During drug use
 Moment of religious
conversion
 Unusual intense
sexual orgasm
States of Consciousness
Altered States
 Meditation
 Roots in Buddhism
 Many varieties of meditation

Simplest – relax, concentrate on breathing

Mantras – silent repetition of sounds or words with
special meaning have calm effect

Transcendental state – achieved, desired altered state of
consciousness
 Natural remedy for stress-related problems
States of Consciousness
Altered States
 Mindfulness - focus awareness on present
 Example: father concentrates on children, blocks out
thoughts of work and other events
 Mindfulness training may reduce mood disturbance
during stressful experiences
 Not all benefit from intense focusing on present
 Psychologists have great interest in this
States of Consciousness
Altered States
 Hypnosis

 Hypnotist’s voice talks or lulls person into
altered state of consciousness
 Typical characteristics

Relaxation

Hypnotic hallucinations


Hypnotic analgesia

Hypnotic age regression

Hypnotic control
States of Consciousness
Mesmer and Mesmerism
 Mesmer trained in classical medicine
 Unusual practice called quackery by others
 Treated patients with magnetic seances
 Sought to creat magnetism in patient’s body
 Created mysterious hypnotic trance known as
Mesmerism
 Limited belief that pain of some may be effectively
controlled with hypnotism
States of Consciousness
Depersonalization
 Perceptual experience of one’s body becoming
distorted or unreal in some way
 Astral projection: out-of-body experience
 Reoccurring experiences may be indication of
psychological problems
 Isolated experiences seem quite normal
States of Consciousness
Drugs and Altered Consciousness
 Induced altered states involving chemicals
 Psychotropic drugs
 Influence specific neurotransmitters in brain
 Range of effects: mild to vivid hallucinations
 Four major categories

Depressants

Stimulants
• Hallucinogens
• Inhalants
States of Consciousness
Drug Use: Basic Considerations
 Five factors affecting response to a drug
 Dose and purity
 Personal characteristics
 Expectations
 Social situation
 Moods
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
 Many are used and abused today
 Stimulants
 Uppers
 Caffeine
 Nicotine
 Amphetamines


• Powerful in effects
• Often powerfully addictive
• Usually used illegally
Methamphetamine (speed, crystal meth, ice)
Amphetamine psychosis – prolonged reaction to excessive
use of stimulants
Anxiety
Hostility
Depression
Change in
test score
for each
measure of
emotion
3
Change in emotion
after drinking
decaffeinated
coffee, and coffee
containing small
or large amounts
of caffeine
2
1
0
None
Low
Dose of caffeine
High
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
 Stimulants
 Cocaine – powder, injected, or smoked

Produces both positive and negative emotions dependent
on when used

Reduces need for food and sleep

Dangerous to even occasional user – can cause heart
attacks

User tolerance varies so overdose is easy
 Ephedra (ma huang) – herbal stimulant
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
 Depressants
 Sedatives
 Used for sleep problems
 Both highly addictive and
dangerous with alcohol



Ambien
Halcion
Restoril
– Tranquilizers
• Milder drugs
• Common names
• Xanax
• Valium
• Librium
• Ativan
• Miltown
• Equanil
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
 Depressants
 Narcotics: Opium

Powerful, high physiological addictive; prolonged addiction
profoundly damages body

Use of opium poppy is over 7,000 years old
 Opiates: Morphine, heroin, codeine

Sudden rush, then relaxed state
 Labs have produced synthetic narcotics

Demerol, Percodan, OxyContin
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
 Inhalants
 Produce sense of intoxication
 Types



Glue
Cleaning fluid
Paint
 Use more common among children
 Highly addictive, extremely dangerous as
toxic fumes cause brain damage
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
• Types
 Hallucinogens
 Alter perceptual experiences
–
–
–
–
LSD
Mescaline
Psilocybin
PCP
 Imaginary visions, too real
 Usually not physiologically addictive
 High risk of psychological dependence

Flashbacks or bad trips affect about 25% of regular
users
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
 PCP or phencyclidine
 Derived from animal tranquilizer
 Usage common among adolescents
 Effects last 4 to 6 hours
 Some experience hallucinations, detachment
from the environment, and euphoria
 Considered one of most dangerous street drugs
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
 Marijuana
 Hotly debated, popular conscious-altering drug
 Not physically addictive; regular users have
uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms
 Prolonged use

decreases cognitive processing efficiency

Weakens immune system response

Decreases action of male sex hormones

Greatly increases risk of lung cancer
States of Consciousness
Psychotropic Drugs
 Act-Alike and Designer Drugs
 Legal in most states to manufacture and sell drugs
that look and act like illegal substances
 Act-alike drugs: combinations of high doses of
powdered caffeine and some over-the-counter
decongestants produce same effects of
amphetamines
 Designer drugs – not yet classified illegal
States of Consciousness
Drug Abuse and Dependence
 Drug abuse – when it causes physical or
psychological harm
 Alcohol and liver damage
 Inhalants and brain damage
 Performance decline and marijuana
 Stimulants and heart attacks
 Shared needles and HIV
States of Consciousness
Drug Abuse and Dependence
 Drug dependence – intense cravings and
withdrawal symptoms when not using drug
 Three reasons for psychoactive drug addiction

Sensitization of pleasure and reward systems in the brain

Reduction of negative feelings

Learning
States of Consciousness
Human Diversity:
Substance Abuse and Human
Diversity
 Drug and alcohol abuse – major U.S. problem
 About 1 in 4 once had substance abuse problem
 Men 2x as likely as women to abuse substances
 African Americans less likely to abuse drugs, alcohol,
and tobacco than whites; ethnic influence counters
income and education trends
States of Consciousness
Nicotine and Alcohol
 Nicotine found in tobacco products
 Usage rates high, given clear evidence of cancer, heart
attacks, lung and birth problems, and death
 Most smokers began in teenage years. Why?

Peer pressure

Rebel against parental authority

Nicotine dependence takes over
States of Consciousness
Nicotine and Alcohol
 Alcohol
 Works as depressant in liquid form



Stimulates sociability, depresses inhibitions
Reduces anxiety, increases self-confidence
Can deepen moods, increase aggression
 Impairs visual judgment, motor control, and induces
sleepiness
 Heavy use harms work, health, and social life


Fetal alcohol syndrome
Alcoholism
States of Consciousness