Consciousness and Altered States Psychology

Does Consciousness Exist? William James 1904 Questioned the value of studying consciousness due to not being able to study other people’s consciousness through standard science. Huge! possibly the most influential figure in the study of consciousness (you know that phrase, "stream of consciousness"? That's his). He identified the following 4 basic perspectives on consciousness. He indicated that, consciousness is: 1) ... Always Changing - can't be held for study: "No state once gone can recur and be identical with what it was before." If that is the case, then how in the world do we study it? 2) ... A Personal Experience - you can try to tell me about your consciousness but I can never appreciate it or experience it. 3) ... Continuous - our awareness is not broken into pieces, and there are no gaps. We really can't tell where one thought ends and one begins. "Consciousness then does not appear to itself chopped up in bits...It is nothing jointed; it flows. A river or stream is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let us call it the stream of thought, of consciousness..." 4) ... Selective - awareness is often a matter of making choices, of selecting what to attend to and what to ignore. In general, when we speak of "consciousness" we refer to either being awake or being asleep. There are, however, altered states of consciousness: sleep, drugs, hypnosis, meditation, sensory deprivation, sensory confusion.

Consciousness AWARENESS – refers to different levels of awareness of one’s thoughts and feelings. It may include creating images in one’s mind, following one’s thought processes, or having unique emotional experiences, all of which are part of consciousness.

Controlled Processes activities that require full awareness, alertness and concentration to reach some goal.

Automatic Processes activities that require little awareness, take minimal attention, and do not interfere with other ongoing activities.

Daydreaming automatic processes, and involves fantasizing or dreaming while awake. is an activity that requires a low level of awareness, often occurs during

Altered States results from any number of procedures such as meditation, psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, or sleep deprivation, to produce an awareness that differs from normal consciousness.

Sleeps and Dreams The human circadian is a 24 hour day. People, animals, and even plants function in circadian rhythms or biological clocks. The human circadian is a 24 hour day. Stages of sleep- refer to distinctive changes in electrical activity of the brain and accompanying physiological responses of the body that occur as you pass through different phases of sleep.

The stages of sleep Sleep Stages: Brain Activity 1- light brief images and alpha brain waves (30-40 minutes) 2-4- deep sleep with Delta waves and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Stage four is deepest and hardest to awake from. 1-4 stages 5x per night. Sleep stages are defined in terms of brain wave patterns (EEG). *Beta- short, quick, awake *Alpha- slower into unconsciousness

REM Sleep- It stands for ‘rapid eye movement’ because your eyes move rapidly back and forth behind closed lids. During REM, your body is physiologically aroused, but all your voluntary muscles are paralyzed, called ‘paradoxical sleep’. REM sleep is highly associated with dreaming.

Dreaming is a unique consciousness in which we are asleep but experience a variety of astonishing visual, auditory, and tactile images, often connected in strange ways and often in color.

Cognitive unconscious consists of mental and emotional processes that we are unaware of but that bias and influence our conscious feelings, thoughts and behavior.

Theories of sleep Adaptive Theory Repair Theory - suggests that during the day deplete key factors in our brain or body that are replenished or repaired by sleep. - says that sleep is primarily a restorative process. Adaptive Theory - suggests that sleep evolved because it prevented early humans and animals from wasting energy and exposing themselves to the dangers of nocturnal predators.

Two Major effects of sleep deprivation Effects on the Body- sleep deprivation, even 11 days, has minimal effects on a person’s heart rate, blood pressure, and hormone secretions. However, sleep deprivation does affect our immune system, which is the body’s defense against viruses, infections, and other toxic agents. Effects on the Nervous System- sleep deprivation has consistently been shown to interfere with tasks that require vigilance and concentration. Sleep deprivation causes irritability and unhappiness.

“Dream Interpretation” Extensions of waking life – therapist believe that dreams are extensions of waking life. The theory that dreams are extension of waking life means that our dreams reflect the same thoughts, fears, concerns, problems, and emotions present awake. Freud and Dreams Freud's theory of dreams says that we have a ‘censor’ that protects us from realizing threatening and unconscious desires or wishes, especially those involving sex and aggression.

Activation-Synthesis Theory According to J. Alan Hobson and Robert McCarley, dreaming represents the random and meaningless activity of nerve cells in the brain. According to this theory, an area in the brain, called the ‘Pons’, sends millions of random nerve impulses to the cortex.

Typical dreams have the following characteristics: They have several characters They involve motions such as running and walking They are more likely to take place indoors than out They are filled with visual sensations but rarely include sensations of taste, smell or pain.

They seem bizarre because they disregard physical laws by flying or falling without injury They may be recurrent They frequently involve emotions of anxiety or fear than joy or happiness They rarely involve sexual encounters and are almost never about sexual intercourse Rarely can we dream about something we intend to They are usually in color in sighted people and are auditory or tactile in blind people.