Psychology 10:  Introduction to Psychology (Spring 2009)

Professor Halford Fairchild

 

The Psychology of Consciousness:  Instructor’s Comments (Feb. 10, 2009)

 

Consciousness refers to our level of awareness, which is variable.  It ranges from alert and attentive to asleep and inattentive, and everything in between.  Consciousness is affected by our physical and social environments, and our internal environments (chemicals and drugs).

 

Exploring human consciousness may be our “final frontier” of discovery.  Just as the brain is infinite in its complexity, so too is human consciousness infinite in its complexities.

 

The Scope of Consciousness

 

  1. States of Consciousness – a continuum
  2. Levels of Consciousness
    1. Nonconscious (e.g., autonomic processes such as blood pressure regulation).  Note the effects of biofeedback training.
    2. Preconscious (outside awareness, but easily brought in, for example, long term memories:  “What high school did you attend?”)
    3. Unconscious or subconscious:  A contribution by Sigmund Freud who suggested that certain thoughts and feelings are actively suppressed because they are threatening or painful.  Example:  the homophobe who projects his homosexual inclinations onto others.  In extreme forms, this can take the form of hate crimes.
  3. Mental Processing Without Awareness
    1. Learning while unaware; hearing your name while sleeping; blindsight, mere exposure effects.
    2. Subliminal persuasion (see “Thinking critically”) – perception occurs, the evidence on persuasion is waiting to be demonstrated.  In Rock Music, the evidence does not support the folk myths.  Backward phrases are not intelligible.
    3. Altered States of Consciousness

                                                               i.      Waking consciousness vs. others

                                                             ii.      Hallucinations (perceptions in the absence of external stimuli).  Culture differences.

  1. Sleeping and Dreaming
    1. Stages of sleep (we cycle through five stages, numbered 1 through 4 and REM).  REM – rapid eye movements or paradoxical sleep – muscle paralysis and dreaming.
    2. Sleep Disorders

                                                               i.      Insomnia – can’t fall asleep

                                                             ii.      Narcolepsy – can’t stay awake

                                                            iii.      Sleep apnea – breathing irregularities

                                                           iv.      SIDS – sudden infant death syndrome

                                                             v.      Sleepwalking (in REM sleep)

                                                           vi.      Nightmares (frightening REM dreams)

                                                          vii.      night terrors (horrific dreams during stage 4 sleep)

                                                        viii.      REM behavior disorder – moving around during the dream

    1. Why Sleep?

                                                               i.      Circadian Rhythm (24 hour patterns).  24 hour clock is in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus.  [??? I doubt this simplistic, reductionistic conclusion.]

                                                             ii.      Functions of sleep (assessed through sleep deprivation experiments)

                                                            iii.      Sleep, perchance, to dream

    1. Dreams and Dreaming

                                                               i.      Lucid dreams – see the books by Carlos Castaneda, for example, Journey to Ixtlan. 

  1. Hypnosis
    1. People cannot by hypnotized against their will.  (Of course not, by definition, it is the submission to the will of another.)
    2. Hypnosis as a conscious event.
    3. Mass hypnosis and support for war.  (Text:  “Hypnosis has been defined as an altered state of consciousness brought on by special techniques and producing responsiveness to suggestions for changes in experience and behavior (Kirsch, 1994a).  Most hypnotized people do not feel forced to follow the hypnotist’s instructions.  They simply see no reason to refuse (Hilgard, 1965).”  (p. 143)  A political viewpoint:  Our going to war against Iraq meets these definitions.  
    4. State theory (altered state of consciousness), role theory (role playing, not a state of consciousness), dissociation theory (blending – splitting consciousness). 
    5. Applications:  especially beneficial in pain management
  2. Meditation
  3. Psychoactive Drugs
    1. Psychopharmacology
    2. Varying Effects of Drugs

                                                               i.      Agonist – drug mimics a neurotransmitter

                                                             ii.      Antagonist – drug blocks actions of a neurotransmitter

    1. Addiction – substance abuse marked by withdrawal syndromes.
    2. Depressants (alcohol, barbiturates or sleeping pills), GHB or Gamma hydroxybutyrate)
    3. Stimulants (amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, MDMA or ecstasy)
    4. Opiates (pin killers such as opium, morphine, heroin, and codeine)
    5. Hallucinogens (LSD, Ketamine, Marijuana – which is likely misclassified here).  Text commits a number of scare tactics with respect to several of the drugs, especially marijuana (e.g., “…long-term use can lead to psychological dependence [and] impairments in reasoning and memory that last for months or years after marijuana use stops” (p. 154).