1. Consciousness
Psychology 1106
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2. Introduction
One of the early definitions of psychology was ‘the study of consciousness’
How do we study the unobservable
Behaviourism took over
Big problem is, how do you define it?
Self awareness?
How do you measure that?
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3. Some thoughts
Conscious processing = effortful processing done serially
Unconscious processing = automatic processing, done in parallel
Things become automatic over time
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4. Sleep and dreams Daydreams are not sleep Fantasies Ok
Fantasy prone personality
4% of the population
Replaced by drugs and violence?
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5. Circadian rhythms 24 hr clock Sleep and wakefulness cycle
Clock can be set and reset
Jet lag
Exercise and sex
Pineal gland and SCN play a role
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6. sleep There are rhythms within sleep too
90 min or so cycle of dreaming
Five stages of sleep
Alpha to delta
REM
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7. REM 25% of the night Eye movement Hallucinations Genital arousal
Everybody dreams
We need REM
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8. Without REM Tired Immune system depressed Creativity drops
Trouble concentrating
Slowed performance
Misperception
HGH is released during sleep
So insomnia is a big deal
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9. Sleep disorders Insomnia as mentioned Narcolepsy Sleep apnea
Drop right into REM
Sleep apnea
Deprived of O2, less slow wave sleep
Potentially fatal
Night terrors
Stage 4
Mostly kids
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10. Dream On Male female differences External stimuli can have an effect
Number of characters
Sex of characters
External stimuli can have an effect
May be able to learn simple associations
NOT taped material (Eich, 1990)
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11. Why do we dream? Safety valve? (Freud) Learning? Physiology?
Brain gets stimulated
Makes sense of random stimulation
Probably a good guess
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12. Hypnosis Myths debunked! Could be a social phenomenon
DOES NOT work on everyone
DOES NOT enhance recall
DOES NOT make you do stuff against your will
DOES NOT cure diseases, drug dependence
DOES alleviate pain (makes sense)
Could be a social phenomenon
Could be divided attantion
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13. Drugs
Alter our inner mental life, so seems appropriate to discuss here
Tolerance
Dependence
Addiction?
Is this a disease?
Mesolimbic dopamine system
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14. Depressants Stuff that slows you down Alcohol Benzodiazepines
Barbiturates
Opiates
Brain activity slowed
Disinhibition
Pretty dangerous, could slow you down too much...
expectations
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15. Stimulants Amphetamine E Coke Caffeine Nicotine Both block reuptake
Block a neuromodulator
Nicotine
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16. Hallucinogenics Acid ‘shrooms PCP
Don’t operate on the reward system but they are fun anyway!
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17. Pot Cannabis sativa Dangerous? Birth defects? Negative tolerance?
Everything is funny
You are not nearly as deep as you think you are when you are high
Has many good side effects
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