Chapter 7 States of Consciousness

Waking Consciousness  Consciousness  our awareness of ourselves and our environments  Daydreams / Fantasies  Young adults more than older adults  Prepare/rehearse for activity  Enhance creativity  Children & imaginative play

Sleep IQ Test: True or False? 1.During sleep, your brain rests. 2.You cannot learn to function normally with 1 or 2 fewer hours of sleep than you need. 3.Boredom makes you feel sleepy, even if you have had enough sleep. 4.Resting in bed with your eyes closed cannot satisfy your body’s need for sleep. 5.Snoring is not harmful as long as it doesn’t disturb others or wake you up. 6.Everyone dreams nightly. 7.The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep you need. 8.Most people don’t know when they are sleepy. 9.Raising the volume of your radio will help you stay awake while driving. 10.Sleep disorders are mainly due to worry or psychological problems. 11.The human body never adjusts to night shift work. 12.Most sleep disorders go away, even without treatment.

Sleep and Dreams Circadian Rhythm  24 biological clock  Body temp rises toward morning, peaks during day, dips early afternoon, drops in evening  Bright light prompts awakening  Light activates substances in retina, causes area in hypothalamus to decrease melatonin

Sleep Stages  Stage 1 – 5 minutes  Slowed breathing  Floating / falling sensation  Stage 2 – 20 minutes  Sleep spindles – bursts of activity  Stage 3 – transition phase  Slow, large Delta waves  Lasts few minutes

Sleep Stages  Stage 4  Slow Delta Waves  30 minutes  Return to Stage 3  Return to Stage 2

Sleep Stages  Stage 5  REM Sleep  10 minutes  Brain waves – rapid & jagged  Heart rate rises  Breathing – rapid & irregular  Eyes dart around – beginning of dream  Sex organs aroused  Motor cortex is active but brainstem blocks messages  “Paradoxical” Sleep

Sleep Deprivation  Effects of Sleep Loss  fatigue  impaired concentration  depressed immune system  greater vulnerability to accidents

Sleep Disorders  Insomnia  persistent problems in falling or staying asleep  Narcolepsy  uncontrollable sleep attacks  Sleep Apnea  temporary cessation of breathing  momentary reawakenings

Night Terrors and Nightmares  Night Terrors  occur within 2 or 3 hours of falling asleep, usually during Stage 4  high arousal-- appearance of being terrified

Meaning of Dreams?  Sigmund Freud  wish fulfillment  discharge otherwise unacceptable feelings  Manifest Content  remembered story line  Latent Content  underlying meaning  As Information Processing  helps facilitate memories  Physiological Function  Dreams provide brain with stimulation  Activation/Synthesis theory – random activity

Hypnosis  Hypnosis  a social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur  Posthypnotic Amnesia  supposed inability to recall what one experienced during hypnosis  induced by the hypnotist’s suggestion  1700’s – Anton Mesmer  Austrian physician  Trancelike states (mesmerized) to heal them  Bad reputation

Attitudes Toward Hypnosis Respond using this scale: 1=not at all; 7=very true zI find the whole idea of being hypnotized an attractive prospect. zI would like to become deeply hypnotized. zI would not mind being known as someone who can be deeply hypnotized. zI am totally open to being hypnotized. zOne’s ability to be hypnotized is a sign of creativity and inner strength. zI wonder about the mental stability of those who become deeply hypnotized. zThose who are easily hypnotized are weak people.

Attitudes Toward Hypnosis 8. Those who can become deeply hypnotized are as normal and well-adjusted as anyone. 9. Intelligent people are the least likely to get hypnotized. 10. I have some apprehensions about hypnosis and being hypnotized. 11. If someone attempted to hypnotize me, I would tend to hold myself back rather than let myself get carried away by the process. 12. I’m not afraid of being hypnotized. 13. I am wary about becoming hypnotized because it means giving up my free will to the hypnotist. 14.A deeply hypnotized person is robotlike and goes along automatically with whatever the hypnotist suggests. Reverse Questions 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 (1=7, 2=6, 3=5, 4=4, 5=3, 6=2, 7=1). Add up numbers. Higher scores reflect a more positive attitude toward hypnosis.

Hypnosis  Power of hypnosis resides in subject’s openness to suggestion  Hypnotist engages people’s ability to focus on certain things  If you respond to suggestion without hypnosis, then you will likely respond to hypnosis.  Typically absorbed in imaginative activities  Rich fantasy lives  Become easily absorbed in novel

Hypnosis-Pain Theories  Dissociation  a split in consciousness between physical pain & emotion sense of pain  allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others  Selective Attention  Hypnosis does not block sensory input but may block our attention to this input  Focus on other things  PET scans

Drugs and Consciousness  Psychoactive Drug  a chemical substance that alters perceptions and mood  Physical Dependence  physiological need for a drug  marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms  Psychological Dependence  a psychological need to use a drug  for example, to relieve negative emotions

Dependence and Addiction  Tolerance  diminishing effect with regular use  Withdrawal  discomfort and distress that follow discontinued use

Psychoactive Drugs  Depressants  drugs that reduce neural activity  slow body functions  alcohol, barbiturates, opiates  Stimulants  drugs that excite neural activity  speed up body functions  caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine

Psychoactive Drugs  Hallucinogens  psychedelic (mind-manifesting) drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input  LSD

Psychoactive Drugs  Barbiturates  drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgement

Psychoactive Drugs  Opiates  opium and its derivatives (morphine and heroin)  opiates depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety

Psychoactive Drugs  Amphetamines  drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes

Psychoactive Drugs  Ecstasy (MDMA)  synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen  both short-term and long-term health risks  LSD  lysergic acid diethylamide  a powerful hallucinogenic drug  also known as acid  THC  the major active ingredient in marijuana  triggers a variety of effects, including mild hallucinations

Near-Death Experiences  Near-Death Experience  an altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death  often similar to drug-induced hallucinations  Dualism  the presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact  Monism  the presumption that mind and body are different aspects of the same thing