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The Study of
Consciousness
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Consciousness
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Consciousness means the awareness of things that are both
inside and outside ourselves.
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American Psychologist William James coined the term
“Stream of Consciousness” highlighting the simple fact that
consciousness has an ever-changing, shifting and elusive
nature.
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Meaning of Consciousness
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Generally speaking, consciousness means awareness, but
there is more than one type of awareness.
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Psychologically speaking there are two types of
consciousness:
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Sensory Awareness
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Inner Awareness
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Consciousness as Sensory
Awareness
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Our senses help us to become aware of our environment.
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See dew drops on blades of grass on a cool morning.
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Hear Mr. Dixon’s voice
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Smell Pizza in the Cafeteria
Because our senses play such a large role in this type of
consciousness, one meaning of consciousness must be
Sensory Awareness
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Selective Attention
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Focusing on a particular stimulus to one of your senses is
referred to as Selective Attention
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To pay attention to this lecture you must filter out the clicking of
keys around you. To do homework you must pay more attention to
it over the music in your ears. We may even be able to pick up the
speech of a single person across a room at a party.
We tend to be more conscious of some things than others.
Specifically sudden changes, unusual stimuli, and intense
stimuli
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Cool breeze in a warm room, A boy in the girls restroom, a
monkey in the classroom, Bright colors, loud noises, sharp pains
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Consciousness as Inner Awareness
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Thoughts, Images and Emotions are often stored deep within
us. We have the ability to recall these things and they affect
our moods and feelings.
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Psychologists call this level of awareness Direct Inner
Awareness.
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Some of these feeling are more forward and pronounced,
Anger for instance
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Some are less up front. Perhaps remember a former best
friend that you have grown away from. Thinking of Abstract
Concepts such as fairness.
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Levels of Consciousness
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So far we have only discussed one level of consciousnessthe level at which people are aware of something.
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But many psychologists speak of other levels of
consciousness. These include preconscious, the
unconscious, and the nonconscious.
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The Preconscious Level
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Preconscious ideas are not in your awareness now, but you
could recall them.
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What did you wear yesterday? What did you do last night? What
was the last funeral you went to? How did you feel?
You can make these preconscious bit of information
conscious by directing your inner awareness, or attention, to
them.
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The Unconscious Level
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Many psychologist have been influenced by the theories of
Sigmund Freud.
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Freud theorized that people have an unconscious mind. This
information is stored in the unconscious and is unavailable to
awareness under most circumstances. In other words, this
information is hidden from the the conscious mind.
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Certain painful memories and impulses such as aggressiveness
are often considered unacceptable so our minds repress them
until they are no longer available to consciousness.
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We use various mental strategies called defense mechanisms to
push painful or unacceptable ideas out
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Protects us from feelings of anxiety, guilt, and shame
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The Nonconscious Level
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Many of our basic biological functions exist on a
nonconscious level.
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Even if you tried, you cannot sense your fingernails or hair
growing.
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You know that you are breathing in and out, but you cannot sense
the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen.
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Altered States of Consciousness
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Altered State of Consciousness- when a person’s sense of self
or sense of environment changes.
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Dozing Off in Class
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Medication
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Hypnosis
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Drug Effects
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Questions
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What are two examples of ideas that are not in your
awareness right now but can be recalled?
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How does an altered state of consciousness differ from the
other three levels at which awareness is limited
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Do you think a person can study or understand the
consciousness of another person? Explain
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Give examples of each level of consciousness. At least three
each.
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Dreams. . .
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The Sleep Cycle
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Circadian Rhythms
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Latin words circa and dies meaning about and day.
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Circadian Rhythms for humans include a sequence of bodily
changes
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Body temperature
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Blood pressure
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Sleepiness
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Wakefulness
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Normally associated with the rotation of the Earth, 24 hours
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When cues are removed that signal day/ night humans tend to
expand their circadian rhythms to 25 hour days
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Stages of Sleep
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Stage 1- lightest stage- mostly remember everything
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30-40 mins
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Progress deeper into stages 2,3,4
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After about 30 mins in stage 4 we descend quickly 3-2-1
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REM
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Rapid Eye Movement
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Heart rate rises, brain activity increases
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Deepest, most restful stage of sleep
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Stages of Sleep
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Stages 1-4 and back down with the addition of REM at the
end is considered a single Sleep Cycle.
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Typically we go through an entire sleep cycle 4-5 times
during a full night’s rest.
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As we move through the cycles, stages 1-4 become shorter
and REM lengthens.
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Dreams
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The most vivid, detailed dreams happen in the REM cycle
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In the other four stages the plots of our dreams tend to be
vaguer, more confusing and the images are more fleeting.
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We have difficulty recalling many of our dreams because our
brains do not easily hold on to information when we
transition through stages of consciousness, in this case
sleeping and waking.
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The Freudian View
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Freud believed that the deepest desires and urges of the
Unconscious or the Id are often revealed in dreams.
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Believed dreams were symbolic of something much deeper
in a person’s heart and psyche.
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Biopsychological Approach
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Some psychologist believe dreams begin because of
biological not psychological activity.
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During Sleep, neurons fire in a part of the brain that controls
movement and vision.
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These neuron bursts are random and the brain tries to make
sense of them by weaving them into a story- hence a dream.