PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Psychology 358, Section 1
Fall 2006
Location:
Meeting Times:
ILC 150
Tues & Thurs 3:30 – 4:45 pm
Instructor:
Office Hours:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Victor A. Shamas, Ph.D.
By Appointment
621-7447 (message phone only)
vas@email.arizona.edu
Teaching Assistant: Dusana Rybarova
Office Hours:
Tues & Thurs, 1-2:30pm, Psyc 413
E-mail:
dusana@email.arizona.edu
Required Materials: Consciousness and Behavior by Benjamin Wallace & Leslie E. Fisher
Four Meditations, audio CD
Biofeedback, Hypnosis, & Progressive Relaxation, audio CD
Course Study Guide and Online Readings
(http://vas.web.arizona.edu)
Recommended:
Lectures on the Psychological Unconscious, audio CD
Course Overview
Psychology began as the study of human consciousness, but with the advent of behaviorism in the
Twentieth Century, psychologists distanced themselves from the subject of consciousness. Since the
1960’s, however, interest in consciousness research has slowly increased, largely because of the
influence of consciousness-altering drugs and Eastern practices such as meditation and yoga. Today,
psychologists who study consciousness focus primarily on the distinction between conscious and
unconscious phenomena, the relationship of brain and mind, and alterations of consciousness.
In this course, we will cover the following topics:
Unit 1: Consciousness, Drugs & the Brain
This unit will begin with an overview of current theories of consciousness (Chapter 1). We will then
explore the physiological foundations of consciousness (Chapter 2) and the effects of consciousnessaltering drugs (Chapter 3).
Unit 2: Hypnosis, Biofeedback, and Meditation
In this unit, we will consider three common methods for altering consciousness: hypnosis (Chapter
4), biofeedback (Chapter 5), and meditation (Chapter 6).
Unit 3: Sleep, Sensory Deprivation and Parapsychology
This unit will examine the alterations of consciousness associated with sleep and dreams (Chapter 7)
and with sensory deprivation (Chapter 8). We will conclude the course with an overview of
parapsychology and its implications for the study of consciousness (Chapter 9).
1
Course Structure
This is a lecture/discussion course in which your grade is based entirely on three multiple-choice
exams and a term paper. Although class attendance will not be taken, you will find attendance to be
extremely beneficial because many of the exam questions will deal directly with concepts and
information covered in class. Here is how the course will be organized:




Study Guide. You can find this Microsoft Word file on the instructor’s homepage
(http://vas.web.arizona.edu). The study guide divides the course material into three units
and each unit into 18 lessons. Every lesson includes a set of objectives and key terms. This
is the information you will need to know on the exams.
Lectures. Each lecture in this course will cover the material related to a specific chapter in
the textbook or an online reading. Questions and discussion are strongly encouraged. You
should make sure to do the readings before coming to class and to get all of your questions
answered by the time you leave class. The readings corresponding to each lecture are shown
in the Course Schedule section below.
Exams. You will be taking three multiple-choice exams in this course, one at the end of
each unit. These exams are described in greater detail in the Grading Policy section below.
Term Paper. You will record your observations as you try various exercises—including
meditation, hypnosis, biofeedback, and relaxation. Towards the end of the semester, you
will submit these observations in the form of a 5-10 page typewritten paper. See the
Grading Policy section below for more details.
Grading Policy
Your grade will be based on three multiple-choice exams and the term paper. The exams will be
held on the following dates:
Midterm 1: Tuesday, September 26
Midterm 2: Tuesday, October 31
Final Exam: Tuesday, December 5
Attendance and punctuality are absolutely required at all three exams. If you miss an exam or arrive
more than 15 minutes late, you will receive an automatic score of zero. There are no makeup exams
except in the event of an extreme and verifiable emergency.
The exams are multiple-choice and each question has four choices. The midterms have 30 questions
each and the final has 60 questions. Because the tests are computer-graded, you will need to bring a
Number 2 pencil to the exams and to make sure that you fill in the accompanying scantron form
according to the instructions that will be provided. Each question is worth one point. On the final,
approximately 40 questions will cover new material (Unit 3) and the other 20 will be review from
Units 1 and 2.
All of the exams are closed-book and closed-notes tests. You will have one hour to complete the
midterms and two hours for the final.
There are a total of 140 points for this course, which are distributed as follows:
2
Midterm 1:
Midterm 2:
Final exam:
Term Paper:
TOTAL
30 points
30 points
60 points
20 points
140 points
Your grade will be based on the grade cutoffs shown below:
Grade
Score___
A
115-140
B
95-114
C
75-94
D
55-74
F
below 55
The term paper is intended to be a first-person account of your experience of various “altered
states” of consciousness. You will be recording your thoughts, feelings, and impressions as you try
the exercises on the Hypnosis, Biofeedback and Progressive Muscle Relaxation CD and on the Four
Meditations CD. Additionally, you will be trying another consciousness-altering technique of your
choice, which could include: shamanic journeying, breathing exercises, yoga, sensory deprivation,
trance drumming, Sufi dancing, Tai Chi, quiet contemplation, or any of various other exercises that
might sound interesting to you.
Here are some questions to keep in mind as you write your term paper: What did it feel like to do
these exercises? What changes in consciousness, if any, did you experience? How did the exercises
compare to your expectations? How did the various exercises compare to one another? In what
ways do you feel the experiences are similar? In what ways are they different? What have you
learned about your own consciousness by doing these exercises? Would you do these exercises
again, and if so, when would you do them and why? What value, if any, is there in doing these kinds
of exercises?
The term paper is due by the start of class (3:30pm) on Thursday, November 30. You can
submit a hard copy of your paper or a Microsoft Word file of the document via e-mail:
vas@email.arizona.edu. The document should be 5-10 typewritten pages using 12-point Times
New Roman font (or something similar in size but not bigger) and one-inch margins.
Please note: There is no extra credit in this course and no grade of "incomplete."
Course Schedule
Each of the lectures in this course pertains to an assigned reading and to the corresponding lessons
in the study guide. Please complete the assigned readings and work through the corresponding
lessons before class. For instance, prior to class on August 24, you should read “The Concept of
Consciousness” by G. William Farthing and work through Lesson I-16 in your study guide. You
can find a link to this online reading, and any other assigned reading that is not in the textbook, on
the instructor’s homepage.
3
WEEK 1
8/22- Course Introduction
8/24- “The Concept of Consciousness”
by G. William Farthing
WEEK 8
10/10- CH.5: Biofeedback
10/12- CH.6: Meditation
WEEK 9
10/17- CH.6: Meditation
10/19- “The Psychological Unconscious”
by John F. Kihlstrom
WEEK 2
8/29- “Mind and Body: Rene Descartes
to William James” by Wozniak
8/31- “The Stream of Consciousness” by
William James
WEEK 10
10/24- “The Psychological Unconscious”
by John F. Kihlstrom
10/26- Review
WEEK 3
9/5- CH.1: Introduction
9/7- CH.2: The Physiology of
Consciousness
WEEK 11
10/31- MIDTERM 2
11/2- CH.7: Sleep and Dreams
WEEK 4
9/12- CH.2: The Physiology of
Consciousness
9/14- CH.3: Consciousness-Altering
Drugs
WEEK 12
11/7- CH.7: Sleep and Dreams
11/9- “Lucidity Research, Past and
Future” by Stephen LaBerge
WEEK 5
9/19- CH.3: Consciousness-Altering
Drugs
9/21- Review
WEEK 13
11/14- CH.8: Sensory Deprivation
11/16- CH.8: Sensory Deprivation
WEEK 6
9/26- MIDTERM 1
9/28- CH.4: Hypnosis
WEEK 14
11/21- CH.9: Parapsychology
11/23- THANKSGIVING
WEEK 7
10/3- CH.4: Hypnosis
10/5- CH.5: Biofeedback
WEEK 15
11/28- “Does Psi Exist?” by Daryl J. Bem
& Charles Honorton
11/30- Review
DUE: TERM PAPER
WEEK 16
12/5- FINAL EXAM
4