AP Psychology
Unit 5: Consciousness
Waking, Sleeping, Dreaming, & Hypnosis
Key Topics and Terms:
 Consciousness
 Selective Attention
 Daydreams
 Circadian Rhythms
 Sleep
 Brain waves
 Sleep Disorders
 insomnia, narcolepsy
 Dreams
 Purpose: Theoretical Perspectives
 Content
 Hypnosis
 Social-cognitive view
 Neodissociation view
 Posthypnotic suggestion
 Hypnosis and pain
 Hidden observer
States of Consciousness: Varying degrees of awareness of ourselves and outside world
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What are the different states of consciousness?
Why do we need sleep?
What are the purpose of dreams?
States of Consciousness
 Selective Attention
Waking States of Consciousness
 Level of Processing
 automatic
 controlled
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Content of Daydreams
 internal (imagination) and external (TV) sources
 success or failure
 aggression or hostility
 problem solving
 erotic fantasies
 gender differences
Daydreams and Fantasies
 Fantasy Prone Personality
Daydreams
 can help prepare for future events
 enhance creativity
 substitute for impulsive behavior
Circadian Rhythms
(“internal clock”)
Circadian Rhythm: Cyclic changes in bodily processes over 24 hour period
Sleep
 Major Stages (shifts in EEG patterns)
 Stage 1- alpha waves
 Stage 2- sleep spindles
 Stage 3 and 4- delta waves
 REM sleep- beta-like waves, dreams
 Function of Sleep
 restores bodily resources
 parallels circadian rhythms (survival?)
 Effects of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep Across the Lifespan
Sleep Deprivation
 Effects of Sleep Loss
 fatigue
 impaired concentration
 immune suppression
 irritability
 slowed performance
 accidents
 planes
 autos and trucks
Sleep Deprivation
Sleep Disorders
 Insomnia- difficulty falling asleep
 Somnambulism- sleepwalking
 Night Terrors high arousal-appearance of being terrified
 usually in Stage 4, within 2-3 hours of falling asleep, no memory
 Apnea- intermittently stop breathing
 Narcolepsy- unexpected bouts of sleep while awake
Dreams
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Purpose of Dreams
 Psychodynamic view- repressed wishes
 Physiological view- brain’s interpretation of random bursts of activity
 Cognitive view- cerebral cortex is highly active
 Linking Dreams and Waking Behavior
Hypnosis
Hypnosis: A trance-like state leading to increased suggestibility
 a social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the
subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts or behaviors will spontaneously
occur
Views of Hypnosis
 Social-cognitive view- expectations of social role as “hypnotized subject”
 Neodissociation view- a split between different levels of consciousness
Evidence supports both views

Hypnosis
 Divided Consciousness or Social Phenomenon?
Hypnosis
 Orne & Evans (1965)
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Posthypnotic Suggestion
Hypnosis and Pain
 Dissociation
 a split in consciousness
 Hidden Observer
 Hilgard’s term describing a hypnotized subject’s awareness of experiences, such as
pain, that go unreported during hypnosis