1. States of Consciousness

2. Consciousness: our awareness of ourselves and our environment
Where does it come from?
No one knows. Possibly arises from the interaction of various brain functions
Does consciousness dictate our behavior or describe it?

3. The Nonconscious Process
The nonconscious mind is great at multitasking. Where the conscious mind has the ability to focus on just one task, the nonconscious mind has no such restrictions.
The conscious mind has to process things serially, while the nonconscious mind can handle many streams of information at the same time, called parallel processing.
Most of our brain processes take place outside of our awareness

4. What Consciousness Does
3. Consciousness allows us to create a mental model of the world that we can manipulate.
Unlike other, simpler organisms, we are not prisoners of the moment: We don’t just act reflexively to stimulation.
Humans are the only animal with the ability to set goals.

5. Levels of the Nonconscious Mind
There are two levels of the nonconscious (subconscious) mind: preconscious and unconscious.
Preconscious memories: Information that is not currently in consciousness, but can be recalled voluntarily.
Unconscious: Cognition (thought) without awareness.
Involves levels of brain systems that range from autopilot to those which can have subtle influences on consciousness and behavior.

6. What is Unconsciousness
A dictionary might define the term as being a loss of all consciousness, like when a person faints.
But in psychology, we define it a little differently. To show this, lets look at an example.
Fill in the blanks to complete the word below:
D E F _ _ _

7. Answer
Using a technique called priming, psychologists can have some influence on the answer people give.
This idea of priming is similar to asking “leading questions” in court, or framing questions by asking them in a way which increases the likelihood of certain answers.
There were a number of possible answers to the example: defend, defeat, defect, defile, deform, defray, defuse and define.
There is an increased likelihood you chose define. Why?

8. Freud’s View of Consciousness

9. Sleep and Dreams Circadian Rhythm Night owls and early birds
24 hour cycle
Night owls and early birds
Light- causes the pineal gland to decrease melatonin
Biological clock can be adjusted- Daylight saving time?

11. Sleep Stages Stage 1 Stage 2- 20 minutes Beginning sleep
May have hallucinations or dreamlike images
You cannot remember the exact moment you fell asleep
Stage minutes
Sleep spindles
Easily awakened

12. Stage 3- a few minutes Stage 4 – about 30 minutes Stage 3 – again
Transitional
Stage 4 – about 30 minutes
Deep sleep
Delta waves
Hard to awaken
Brain still processing stimuli
Stage 3 – again
Stage 2 - again

13. Whole sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes
REM Sleep
Jagged brain waves
Eye movement – signals dreams
Brain stem blocks messages from motor cortex, leaving you mostly paralyzed
Whole sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes
As night goes on, stage 4 becomes shorter, and REM longer

16. Why we sleep Protection from predators To incorporate memories
To repair neural connections and brain tissue – “closed for routine maintenance”
Growth

17. Sleep deprivation Sleep debt How much sleep do we need?
Affects of sleep deprivation
Fatigue
Decreased concentration
Irritability
Depressed immune system
Vulnerability

18. Jet Lag

19. Monday before time change Monday after time change Accident frequency
2,400
2,700
2,600
2,500
2,800
Spring time change
(hour sleep loss)
3,600
4,200
4000
3,800
Fall time change
(hour sleep gained)
Less sleep,
more accidents
More sleep,
fewer accidents
Monday before time change
Monday after time change
Accident
frequency

20. Sleep disorders Insomnia- difficulty in falling asleep
Narcolepsy- inability to restrain sleep
Sleep apnea- person momentarily stops breathing during sleep, causing the person to awaken (which disrupts the sleep cycle)

21. Fig. 5-11, p. 188

22. Why do we dream? To fulfill our wishes/fantasies To preserve memories
To repair neurons “closed for routine maintenance”
To make sense of neural static
To reflect cognitive development
Everyone dreams!

23. Dreams Why do you have dreams that seem random?
Typically the first dream connects with events from the previous day. Later dreams tend to build on a theme in the previous dream.
Often times, the final dream is remembered most vividly, but has very little to do with the previous days events, or events that lay ahead.

24. What We Dream
Negative Emotional Content: 8 out of 10 dreams have negative emotional content.
Failure Dreams: People commonly dream about failure, being attacked, pursued, rejected, or struck with misfortune.
Sexual Dreams: Contrary to our thinking, sexual dreams are sparse. Sexual dreams in men are 1 in 10; and in women 1 in 30.

25. Truth About Dreams
Despite his theories there is no solid evidence to support Freud’s interpretations of latent dream content.
Dreams, do however, vary by age, gender and culture.
Children are more likely to dream about animals that are large and threatening, while adults dream more about pets.
Women are more likely to dream about men and women; men are more likely to dream about men.

26. Culture and Dreams
Many studies have supported the theory that culture plays a large role in dream content.
Ghana: Attacking cows
Americans: Public nakedness
Mexican-Americans: Death
There is strong support for the idea that dreams reflect life events that are important to the dreamer.

27. Hypnosis Is it real? Suggestibility – 20%
Can you make someone do something they don’t want to do?
Pain?

30. Drugs Depressants – reduce neural activity Alcohol
Barbiturates – tranquilizers (like sleeping pills)
Opiates – Opium. Morphine and heroin.

31. Stimulants – excite neural activity
Caffeine
Nicotine
Amphetamines
Methamphetamines
Cocaine
Ecstasy

32. Hallucinogens – distort perceptions
LSD
Marijuana

33. Near Death Experiences