1. STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS Pertemuan 6
Matakuliah : L0014/Psikologi Umum
Tahun : 2007
STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS Pertemuan 6

2. CONSCIOUSNESS VS UNCONSCIOUSNESS
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3. CONSCIOUSNESS State of awareness
is a characteristic of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment
There is more than one kind of conscious states and conscious awareness qualities
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4. DIVIDED CONSCIOUSNESS
DAY DREAMS
Period of thinking and feeling that is not bound by what is logical or likely to happen
Sigmund Freud : daydreams reduced the tension left by our unfulfilled needs and wishes. While daydreaming, we can see all our needs, fantasies, etc.
Pope & Singer, 1978 – research : many daydreams are filled with regret, sorrow and guilt, sexual. Day dreams maybe merely a slightly distorted reflection of our current concerns and emotions.
DIVIDED CONSCIOUSNESS
Ernest Hilgard, 1975, Stanford University, Psychologist
The splitting of two conscious activities that occur simultaneously
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5. UNCONSCIOUS MIND
Mental processes that occur without conscious awareness
Cocktail party phenomenon
When you are in a room where more than one person is talking, most of the time we will pay attention to one voice and “tune out” the other voice
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6. SLEEP AND DREAMS STAGES OF SLEEP REM SLEEP AND DREAMS
NON-REM SLEEP AND DREAMS
CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND THE NEED FOR SLEEP
NIGHTMARES AND OTHER SLEEP PHENOMENA
SLEEP DISORDERS
CONTENT OF DREAMS
MEANING OF DREAMS
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7. STAGES OF SLEEP Hypnagogic State Stages of Light and Deep Sleep
A relaxed state of dreamlike awareness between wakefulness and sleep
Myoclonia : on some occasion, we are rudely snapped out of the peaceful hypnagogic state, then we suddenly feel as if we are falling and our bodies experience a sudden jerk. These jerk are caused by brief (and normal) seizure – like states of the brain as sleep commences
Stages of Light and Deep Sleep
4 stages
Measurement of electrical brain activity : electroencephalogram (EEG)
Sleep is an almost constantly changing state
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8. REM SLEEP AND DREAMS Dreaming REM : Rapid Eye Movement Autonomic Storm
Concious awareness during sleep that primarily occurs during REM
REM : Rapid Eye Movement
Kleitman & Aserinsky, 1952 : The subject brain activity looked more like he awake than asleep
The phase of sleep that characterized by movement of the eyes under the lids; often accompanies dreams
Autonomic Storm
The autonomic nervous system and the other part of the pheriperal nervous system are very active during dreams, causing noticeable changes in many parts of the body
Time spent dreaming
Young adults have 30 – 40 REM dreams/week
2 hours of REM dreaming/night
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9. NON-REM SLEEP AND DREAMS
Occurring during half of the other 4 – 6 hours that we sleep each night
CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
Internally generated cycles lasting about 24 hours a day that regulate sleepiness and wakefulness, body temperatures and the secretion of some hormones
Influenced to some extent by differences illumination during the day and night
Jet lag and work shift
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10. SLEEP DEPRIVATION
We sleep less; 19 – 30 years old average 7 – 8 hours/night and elderly adults average just under 6 hours
Sleep deprivation :
(-) Mood (e.g. irritability), cognitive (mental task – e.g. logical reasoning, word memory), physical tasks (e.g. walking)
(-) health, slow down body’s immune system
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11. THE NEED FOR SLEEP Sleep and body restoration
Sleep recharges our run-down bodies and allow us to recover from physical and mental fatigue (Hess, 1965)
Adenosien : cells consume energy. Adenosine accumulates, it inhibit brain circuits responsible for keeping us awake, thereby signaling the body to slow down because the energy has been burned
Sleep as an evolved adaptation
Sleep’s main purpose is to increase a species’ chances of survival in relation to its environmental demands (Webb, 1974)
Evolved as a mechanism for conserving energy
Sleep and memory consolidation
A gradual process by which the brain transfers information in the long term memory (Smith et al.,1004, Winston, 1990)
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12. SLEEP DISORDRES (1) Insomnia Narcolepsy REM-sleep behavior disorder
Chronic difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep or experiencing restful sleep
Frequent and persistent sleep troubles
Medical conditions, mental disorders, drugs, stress, lifestyles, jet lag, etc
Treatment : stimulus control – conditioning your body to associate stimuli in your sleep environment with sleep
Narcolepsy
Extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks that may last from less than a minute to an hour
May experienced cataplexy a sudden loss of mucles tone often triggered by excitement and other strong emotion
REM-sleep behavior disorder
The loss of muscle tone that causes normal REM-sleep paralysis is absent
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13. SLEEP DISORDRES (2) Sleepwalking Nightmare and Night Terrors
Waking and carrying on complicated activities during the deepest part of non-REM sleep
Inherited, daytime stress, alcohol and certain illnesses and medication
Treatments : psychotherapy, hypnosis, and awakening the children before the time they typically sleepwalk
Nightmare and Night Terrors
Nightmare : bad dreams
Night terrors : frightening dreams that arouse the sleeper to a near – panic state
Sleep talking
Talking during any phase of the sleep cycle
Sleep Apnea
Repeatedly stop and restart breathing during sleep
Stoppages usually last 20 – 40 seconds but can continue for 1 to 2 minutes
Cause by obstruction in the upper airways
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14. CONTENT OF DREAMS Images and characters of dreams
Most of the conscious experience in dreams is visual
Black and white or color – in between
Main character : the dreamer (75%), other character : friends, acquaintances, family member, or other people that you don’t know (50%), animal (4%)
Mixture between man and woman
Sweet dreams : the emotional content of dreams
Most of the dreams contain positive emotions
We forget our positive dreams (because the don’t wake us up) and are most likely to be aware of the negatively charged dreams that awaken us
Creative and Bizarre Aspects of dreams
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15. MEANING OF DREAMS Day residue and Stimulus incorporation
Day residue (Freud) : dream content that is similar to events in the person’s waking life
Stimulus incorporation : stimuli occurring during sleep that are incorporated in dreams either directly or in altered form
Dream Interpretation
Dreams (Freud) : Royal road to unconscious  allow us to travel deep in the unconscious mind and view hidden conflict and motives cloaked only by the symbols of dreams
Content of dreams (2)
Manifest : the events that we experience in dreams (the symbols)
Latent : the true meaning
Train – tunnel : penis – vagina  woman conflicts about having sex
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16. ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS (1)
Unusual and less familiar realms of conscious experience
Occur during : meditation, drug use, an unusually intense sexual orgasm, a moment of religious conversion, etc
The general characteristic :
Distortions of perception
Intense positive emotions
Sense of unity
Illogical
Indescribable
Transcendent
Self-evidence reality
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17. ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS (2)
Meditation
Several methods of focusing concentration away from thoughts and feelings and generating a sense of relaxation
Mindfulness
The state of focusing conscious awareness completely on what is going on at the present moment
Hypnosis
The individual is highly relaxed and susceptible for suggestions
Depersonalization
The perceptual experience of one’s body or surroundings becoming distorted of unreal
Astral projection : illusion that the mind has left the body
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18. DRUGS AND ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS
Psychotropic drugs : the various classes of drugs, including stimulants, depressants and hallucinogens, that alter conscious experience
4 major categories :
Depressants : reduce the activity of inhibitory centers of the central nervous system, leading to a sense of relaxation and lowered inhibitions
Stimulants : drugs that increase the activity of the motivational centers and decrease action in inhibitory centers of the central nervous system, providing a sense of energy and well-being
Inhalants : common household chemicals that are put to dangerous use when inhaled to produce feelings of intoxication
Hallucinogens : produce dreamlike alterations in perceptual experience
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19. DRUGS AND ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS
4 major categories :
Depressants : reduce the activity of inhibitory centers of the central nervous system, leading to a sense of relaxation and lowered inhibitions
Sedatives : in mild doses produce a state of calm relaxation
narcotics
Stimulants : drugs that increase the activity of the motivational centers and decrease action in inhibitory centers of the central nervous system, providing a sense of energy and well-being
Amphetamines : produce a conscious sense of increase energy and euphoria
Caffeine, nicotine
Inhalants : common household chemicals that are put to dangerous use when inhaled to produce feelings of intoxication
Hallucinogens : produce dreamlike alterations in perceptual experience
LSD, PCP
Others :
Marijuana
Act-like and designers Drugs
ecstacy
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20. DRUGS AND ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS Drug use : basic considerations
5 sets of factors influence the individual’s response to drugs
Dose and purity
Personal characteristic
Expectations
Social Situation
Moods
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21. DRUGS AND ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS Drug Abuse and Dependence
If its use causes physical or psychological harm to the individual
Dependence
Use psychoactive drugs find that they come to crave them intensely and suffer intense withdrawal symptoms when they do not take the drug
3 reasons :
Sensitization of pleasure and reward systems in the brain
Reduction of negative feelings
Classical conditionings
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