Consciousness.

Rene Descartes.

• Reasoned that the mind is a non-physical entity (i.e. A soul), whereas the body is a physical, fleshy structure (i.e. Matter)

• He believed mind and body interacted through the pineal gland (a structure near the centre of the brain.

• He believe the mind and body are two different/separate things.

DEBATE:• Mind body problem: the problem of working out the

relationship between the conscious mind and the physical brain.

• Do you think that the mind is a separate entity from the brain or the body?

• Materialistic monism: Consciousness is a result of complex physical interactions between neurons.

Yes No. Dualism Monism.

The belief that the mind is a separate entity from the body.

The belief that the mind and body are a single entity.

William James –streams of consciousness.

• The idea that consciousness is constantly changing, that there is continual movement of thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, sensations, and so on in and out of our conscious mind.

• Consciousness is:– Personal –unique to the individual– Changing –constantly moves between topics and

perceptions.– Selective –incorporates some data and ignores others.– Continuous –has no beginning middles or gaps.

Consciousness

• Awareness of our thoughts, feelings and perceptions (internal) and our surroundings (external)

• Awareness of internal thoughts and feelings and external stimuli in the environment.

• Awareness of objects and events in the external world and of our own existence and mental experience at any given moment.

Consciousness.

• Consciousness is a hypothetical construct because it is believed to exist and descriptions are ‘constructed’ to explain it but it cannot be directly observed or measured. (It is subjective).

• We experience multiple states of consciousness– Asleep Vs. Awake– Sober Vs. Intoxicated– Concentrating in an exam Vs. Miss D’s class.

Normal waking consciousness.

• Normal waking consciousness can be loosely defined as the state of consciousness you experience when you are awake and aware of your thoughts feelings and perceptions from internal events and the surrounding environment.

• Provides a baseline from which to judge all other states of consciousness.

• General everyday state of consciousness, the one you’re probably in now (unless your daydreaming) is normal waking consciousness.

Altered State of Consciousness

• Altered states of consciousness occur when there is a change from an ordinary pattern of mental functioning to a state that seems different to the person experiencing the change.

• Altered states of consciousness vary from the slight distraction of a daydream to the major confusion and perceptual distortions of drug intoxication

Characteristics of Normal Waking Consciousness in terms of:

• Awareness: • Content Limitations:• Controlled Process: • Automatic Process:• Perception & Cognitive Distortions:• Emotions Awareness• Self Control• Time Orientation.

Normal Waking Consciousness:- Awareness.

Awareness refers to all current perceptions, thoughts, motives and feels.

Your awareness will vary will in normal waking consciousness.

Normal waking consciousness generally includes those in the upper level of the continuum.

Normal Waking Consciousness: Content Limitations.

• Content limitations is the process of selecting which information to attend to at any one time.

• There is more information in the environment than we can ever focus upon at one time, so we usually limit ourselves to the content that matters most.

Normal Waking ConsciousnessContent Limitations

Selective and Divided attention.

• Attention is the concentration of mental activity that involves focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring other stimuli.

• Selective attention is the ability to focus awareness on certain stimuli while ignoring others.

• Cocktail party phenomenon: People quickly change their attention focus from a current conversation when their name is spoken somewhere in the room and then try to listen in to this new conversation.

• Divided attention is the ability to focus attention on two or more activities simultaneously.

YOU TUBE CLIP.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

Content Limitations.

Altered States of Consciousness• In an ASC, especially a drug

induced ASC, our ability to control our attention is reduced and leads to a reduction in content limitation or an increase in content.

• Drug user may switch attention every few seconds or dwell on thoughts that make them unhappy.

Normal Waking Consciousness.

• Content limitation lets us sort out and organise our conscious thoughts in a logical and coherent order.

• Can tune out information that might have negative emotional effects upon us.

Normal Waking ConsciousnessControlled and automatic processes.

• Automatic processes require little conscious awareness and mental effort, minimal attention and does not interfere with the performance of other activities.

• When a controlled process is used, the processing of information involves conscious, alert awareness and mental effort in which the individual actively focuses their attention on achieving a particular goal.

Normal Waking Consciousness:Perceptual and Cognitive Distortion.

• Perception is the process of organising sensory input and giving it meaning. During normal waking consciousness our perceptions are usually clear and rational.

• Cognition is a broad term that relates to mental activities such as thinking, problem solving, language and reasoning.

Controlled Processes

Altered States of Consciousness

• Automatic processes may still be possible during an ASC because they don’t require much conscious effort.

• However, sometimes they may require more control during an ASC, like driving.

• Controlled processes may be impossible.

Normal Waking Consciousness • Controlled processes

require you to be alert and focused and are usually best done in NWC.

Perception.

Altered States of Consciousness• An ASC seems to have one of

two effects on the sense, it either makes them more receptive to external stimuli, or dulls them to such an extent that some sensations are not experienced at all.

• May lose sense of identity.• Thought processes are often

more disorganised (eg. during sleep).

Normal Waking Consciousness • During normal waking

consciousness we have a sense of reality, the brain actively stores information in memory and retrieves it from the memory for use in thinking.

Emotional State

Altered State of Consciousness.

• ASC appear to put individuals into a state of turmoil, resulting in uncharacteristic responses. Eg. In an alcohol induced ASC some people become more emotional and open. May become emotionless or emotions can be inappropriate.

Normal Waking Consciousness.

• Emotional states are very personal and difficult to describe to others, but we can usually assume that a person in a NWC feels and reacts to their emotions in a ‘normal’ or predictable way

Self Control

Altered States of Consciousness.• Changes in our ability to

maintain self control is evident during ASC.

• Individuals often have difficultly coordinating and controlling movements (Alcohol)

• Some ASC people gain greater self control. EG therapeutic use of hypnosis has helped people to stop smoking.

Normal Waking Consciousness.

• Generally have an accurate sense of our self and our identity and are used to controlling our movements, reactions and behaviours to some extent.

Time Orientation.

Altered States of Consciousness.

• Estimation of time can be distorted significantly with time passing faster or slower.

• For example when you are woken from nap you may sometimes be surprise to learn that only an house has passed.

Normal Waking Consciousness.

• Time is perceived as ‘real’. Our sense of time is typically good.

• We can make accurate guesses as to what time it is, estimate how long it took to complete a task.

Daydreaming

• Daydreams are a major part of the flow of consciousness in which we turn out attention from external to internal thoughts and imagined scenarios.

• Daydreams seem to occur more less regularly, about every 90 to 100 minutes in a day.

• Optimal conditions seem to be when we are doing an unexciting or boring task or alone.

Daydream as an ASC• Lowered level of awareness: especially in surround environment.• Fewer content limitations: Often bizarre, uncommon or unrealistic

thoughts. Mind often wonders off with thoughts.• Difficulty performing controlled process: daydreaming while driving can

lead to accidents. The ability to perform controlled tasks is lowered. • Changes in emotional awareness: daydreams are more likely to be

positive or pleasurable and this may enhance our mood. Unpleasant daydream can also reduce mood.

• Changes in self control: Monitoring you behaviour while daydreaming is lowers as you focus on internal events. You may well be dribble without noticing.

• Distortion of time orientation: we lose our sense of time. May go fast or slow.

Mediation:

• Meditation involves the use of a technique to deliberately alter normal waking consciousness in order to induce an A.S.C characterised by a deep state of relaxation.

• Brain scans indicate that person’s level of awareness diminishes in a meditative state.

Mediation as an ASC• Awareness: Overall level of awareness decreases. Level of pain can decrease,

awareness of external environment lowers.• More or less content limitations: Attention is narrowly focused on a single

thought.• Difficulty performing controlled processes: Unlikely to successfully perform

any controlled processes. • Perceptual and cognitive distortions: Can remove pain by not paying

attention to it. Can lead ‘enlightenment’.• Changes in emotional awareness: Can reduce feelings associated with stress,

reduce negative feelings.• Changes in self control: Can increase your self control, takes many years to

master.• Diminishing time orientation: Lose sense of time. Time can fly by or remain

stationary.

Alcohol-Induced States.

• Alcohol generally includes drinks such as beer, wine, or spirits.

• Alcohol is a psychoactive drug –these chemicals change conscious awareness, perception and mood.

• Alcohol is also a depressant.• Alcohol is often mistaken as a simulant because it

produces talkativeness and good humour however these subjective experiences occur because alcohol lessens inhibitions by depressing the activity of the brain centres responsible for judgement and self control.

Alcohol as an ASC.• Awareness: depresses nervous systems therefore reduces persons level of

awareness, difficulty concentration on everything, easily distracted, focus on immediate and not future consequences.

• Content limitations: less restricted, information processed more broader, may be irrational and illogical.

• Difficultly performing controlled processes: Carrying out complex tasks becomes more difficult as reaction times and balance and co-ordination is impaired.

• Perceptual and cognitive distortion: Perception from senses is dulled.• Emotional awareness: Gives a false sense of confidence. People can become

aggressive or sad. • Self Control: People may take increased risks, can become over friendly, etc.• Time Orientation diminishes: Ability to track time is lost, can past slower or

faster.

Characteristics of Normal Waking Consciousness:

• Controlled process information processing involving conscious, alert awareness and mental effort.

• Automatic processes information processing involving minimal awareness and mental effort.

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