Consciousness

TIP, QC
 Consciousness as
awareness
1.sensory awareness of the environment
2.consciousness is selective attention
(focusing ones consciousness on a
particular stimulus)
--makes our senses more keener
--advertisement (what captured your
attention)
3. Direct inner awareness-knowledge of
ones thoughts, feelings, and emotions
 Preconscious
Preconscious - descriptive of material that is
not awareness but can be brought into
awareness by focusing ones attention

Unconscious- unavailable to awareness under

most circumstances/ not available to
awareness
Freud- painful memories, sexual, and
aggressive impulses are unacceptable ideas
or distractionswe automatically eject them
from awareness
Repression- allows us to avoid feelings of
anxiety, guilt, or shame
or the unconscious ejection of anxiety
evoking ideas, impulses, or images
from awareness

Suppression- deliberate or conscious placing

of certain ideas, impulses, or images out of
awareness (non-Freudian)

--consciously eject unwanted mental events

from awareness
Nonconscious-firing of neurons
---cannot be experienced through
sensory awareness or direct inner
awareness

Examples
Growing of hair
Carrying oxygen in the blood
 Drugs-altering substance
Depressant retards CNS
Stimulant stimulate CNS
Hallucinogen- peyote cactus/
mushroom
(THC) / LSD
Hallucination
Narcotics- relieve pain --- opiates
Substance abuse- persistent use of a
substance even though it is causing or
compounding problems in meeting the
demands of life

Substance dependence- loss of control over

use of a substance

Tolerance-habituation to a drug, with the

result that increasingly higher doses of the
drug are needed to achieve similar effects
 Withdrawal Symptoms
Anxiety
Tremors
Rapid pulse
High blood pressure
Restlessness
 Sleep and Dreams
Circadian rhythm-cycle that is connected
with the twenty-four hour period of
earths rotation
Stages of Sleep
1.Stage 1- theta waves (low frequency, low
amplitude)
2.Stage 2-sleep spindles and the K
complex
3.Stage 3-beginning of delta waves (low
frequency and high amplitude)
4. Stage 4- delta waves continue to
increase in amplitude
5. REM Sleep brain waves patterns
are very similar to those of initial
NREM sleep
 Functions of Sleep
Why do we sleep?
--rejuvenates the body
--helps us recover from stress
--helps us to consolidate learning
--promote development of infants
brain
 Sleep Disorders
Insomia
Narcolepsy-sleep attack- a person
falls asleep suddenly and irresistably
Apnea-temporary absence or
cessation of breathing
Sleep Terrors- frightening dreamlike
experiences that occur during the
deepest stage of NREM sleep
 Dreams
Imagery in the absence of external
stimulation and can seem real
Vivid during REM sleep

1.Dreams as the residue of the day

2.Expression of unconscious desires
3.Activation synthesis model of
dreams (pons and RAS)