Chapter 5

States of
Consciousness
 States of Consciousness

History of Psychology: Dualism and Monism

Dualists believe humans (and the universe) consists of

thought and matter (each independent of one another).

Matter is everything that has substance; thought is a non-

material aspect that arises from matter.
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Monists believe that everything is the same substance, and

thought and matter are one in the same thing.

Consciousness is our level of awareness about ourselves and

our environment.
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Conscious level: Information about you and your
environment that you are currently aware of

Nonconscious level: Bodily processes, like heart rate and

breathing, that you are not usually aware of.

Preconscious level: Information about you or your

environment that you are not currently thinking about but you
could be; What’s your favorite color?
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Subconscious level: Information that you are not consciously
aware of, but researchers know exists due to our behavior –
Mere Exposure Effect as an example.

Unconscious level: Psychoanalytic theory suggests some events

and feelings are unacceptable to our conscious minds and are
repressed into the unconscious mind (examples, sexual
fantasies, hurtful memories, embarrassment, etc.).
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Circadian Rhythm: During a 24-hour day, our metabolic
processes follow a certain pattern.

One way we can study the circadian rhythm is by using an

electroencephalograph.

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a device that measures and

records the electrical activity of your brain.
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Sleep Disorders

Insomnia (the most common sleep disorder): is a disorder

where an individual has persistent problems getting to sleep
or staying asleep.

Treatment: Reduce intake of caffeine and other stimulants,

exercise, maintain a consist sleep pattern, and sleeping aids.
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Narcolepsy: Individuals suffer from periods of intense
sleepiness and may fall asleep at unpredictable and
inappropriate times.

Treatment: Medication and changing sleep patterns to include

naps at certain times of the day.
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Sleep Apnea: Apnea causes a person to stop breathing for
short periods of time during the night; the person then wakes
up, gasping for air, and then goes back to sleep, possibly
without even noticing.

The person may not be able to have sustained deep sleep

(delta wave/REM) and this can interfere with memory
consolidation.
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Sleep Apnea can be treated with a respiration machine that

provides air for the person as he or she sleeps.
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Night terrors are nightmares where the individual wakes up
in a panic.

Somnambulism is sleep walking. Occurs more commonly in

children and occurs during the first few hours of the night in
stage four sleep.

Night terrors and somnambulism usual fade with age.

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Dreams are the story-like images we experience during sleep.

Dreaming probably occurs most often during REM sleep, as

evidenced by people reporting dreams most often after being
woken by researchers during REM sleep.
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Psychoanalytic Theory & Dreams

Freudian psychoanalytical theory emphasizes dream

interpretation as a method to uncover the repressed
information in the unconscious mind.
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Manifest Content is the literal content of our dreams; if you
dream about showing up at school naked, the manifest
content is your nudity.

Latent Content is the unconscious meaning of the manifest

content; showing up at school naked could mean that the
person feels vulnerable or anxious at school.
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Psychoanalysis & Dreams

Freudian method (psychoanalysis) is subjective, hard to test,

and psychoanalysis does not have much scientific backing.
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Activation-Synthesis Theory: Our cerebral cortex is trying to
interpret random electrical activity we have while sleeping.
That is why dreams sometimes seem random and fictitious.
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Information Processing Theory & Dreams:

Dreaming falls somewhere in-between Freud’s

psychoanalysis and Activation Synthesis Theory.
Information processing theory points out that stress during
the day will increase the number and intensity of dreams
during the night.

Proponents of information processing theorize that perhaps

the brain is processing daily stress and information during
REM dreams.
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Posthypnotic Amnesia: When people report forgetting events
that occurred while they were hypnotized.

Posthypnotic Suggestion: A suggestion that a hypnotized

person behave in a certain way after he or she is brought out
of hypnosis.
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Role Theory states that hypnosis is not an alternate state of
consciousness at all. Role theory suggests that some people
are more easily hypnotized than others. This is called
hypnotic suggestibility.
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State Theory suggests that hypnosis meets some parts of the
definition for an altered state of consciousness.

Hypnotists seem to be able to suggest that we become more

or less aware of events and our environment.
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Dissociation Theory & Ernest Hilgard

Dissociation Theory suggests that hypnosis causes us to

divide our consciousness voluntarily; one part or level of our
consciousness responds to the suggestions of the hypnotist,
while another part or level retains awareness of reality.
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When investigating hypnotism and pain control, Hilgard

asked hypnotized participants to put their arm in an ice water
bath; the hypnotized participants reported feeling no pain, but
when Hilgard asked them to lift their index finger if any of
them felt pain, most of them lifted their finger.

Demonstrated the presence of a ‘hidden observer’ or some

different level of consciousness.
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Psychoactive drugs are chemicals that change the chemistry
of the brain and body.
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Drugs are just chemicals. They are not inherently good or
bad.
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The route of administration affects the drug’s effect.
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Why do doctors use intravenous and gas masks to deliver

drugs to patients?
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The brain is protected from certain chemicals in the
bloodstream by thicker walls surrounding the brain’s blood
vessels. This is the blood-brain barrier.

Psychoactive drugs are able to pass this barrier and get into
the brain.
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Molecules either mimic or block naturally occurring
neurotransmitters in the brain.

Agonists: Drugs that mimic neurotransmitters are called

agonists.

Antagonists: Drugs that block neurotransmitters are

antagonists.

No matter what mechanism they use, drugs alter the natural

levels of neurotransmitters, and affect consciousness.
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Tolerance: A physiological change that produces a need for
more of the same drug in order to achieve the same effect.

Tolerance will cause withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal symptoms are a craving for a drug’s effect, and

range from mild to severe depending on the potency/type of
drug and the duration in which it was used.
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Stimulants are drugs that speed up bodily
processes/metabolic activity. For example, cocaine,
amphetamines, and nicotine (nicotine is actually both a
stimulant and a depressant), but for the AP psych test it is a
stimulant.

Depressants slow down metabolic processes; examples are

alcohol (has stimulant like effects at first, but is a depressant
at higher doses), barbiturates, and heroin, morphine.
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Hallucinogens do not necessarily speed up or slow down the
body; they change perceptions by interfering with sensory
processing systems in the brain such as the thalamus.

Examples: LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin (mushrooms), marijuana

(for AP test) .
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Morphine, heroin, methadone, codeine are all similar in
chemical structure to opium, which comes from a poppy
plant.

Opiates are depressants which cause drowsiness and a

euphoria associated with elevated endorphin levels.

Fairly addictive and withdrawal symptoms can be severe.

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Drug Classification
 Drugs: Reverse Tolerance
Some amount of certain drugs can remain in the body for
weeks: ingesting more THC at a later period may add to the
lingering amount.

THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) is the active compound in

marijuana and stores itself in fat cells.

The addition of more substance to the lingering amount is

sometimes called reverse tolerance because the second dose
may be less than the first, but cause the same or greater
effects.
 States of Consciousness Quiz
States of Consciousness Quiz