CONSCIOUSNESS

Awareness of one’s own perceptions,

thought, feelings, sensations and
external environment
 FUNCTIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Restricts our attention

• Combines sensation with learning and
memory
• Helps us select personally meaningful
stimuli from the input of our senses
• Allows us to draw on lessons stored in
memory
• What is the nature of consciousness?
• The brain creates consciousness
when it combines external stimulation
with internal experiences
STRUCTURES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
 LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Preconsciousness (preconsciousness memories) – lie in

the background of the mind until they are
needed & are retrieved with relative ease
• Subconscious – store of information that was
registered in memory without being consciously
attended to
• Unconscious – part of the mind that houses
memories, desires, & feelings that would be
threatening if brought to consciousness
 UNCONSCIOUS
(Sigmund Freud)

o Unconscious thoughts can shape behavior even

though we may have no awareness of their
existence
o Harbors memories , desires & emotions that, at
a conscious level, may cause anxiety
 CONTINUUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
• Controlled Processes –
activities that require full
awareness, alertness &
concentration to reach
some goal
• Automatic Processes –
require little awareness,
take minimal attention,
and do not interfere with
other ongoing activities
 CONTINUUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Daydreaming – activities that require a low

level of awareness, and involves
fantasizing or dreaming while awake
• Attention focuses internally on memories,
expectations, & desires
• Occurs when people are alone, relaxed,
engaged in a boring or routine task, or just about
to fall asleep
• May be a source of creativity
CONTINUUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Altered states –
mental state other
than ordinary
waking
consciousness
such as sleep,
meditation,
hypnosis, or a
drug-induced state
 SLEEP

• Circadian rhythms – physiological patterns that

repeat approximately every 24 hours
• Sleep debt – deficiency caused by not getting the
amount of sleep required
• Functions: 1. Conserve 2. Restore
 STAGES OF SLEEP
• 1– fast brain waves similar to waking state
• 2 – slower EEG, punctuated by sleep spindles; drowsy
state
• 3 & 4 – sleeper enters progressively deeper state of
relaxed sleep; brain waves (also heart & breathing) slow
dramatically
• As stage 4 ends, electrical activity of brain increases,
sleeper climbs back up through stages in reverse order
• As brain reaches stage 1 again, waves become fast;
sleeper now enters REM sleep, after few minutes, entire
cycle begins to repeat itself
(REM – rapid eye movements – quick bursts of eye
movements at periodic intervals during sleep)
• Do you often get sleepy in your classes?
• Do you sleep late on weekends?
• Do you usually get sleepy when you get bored?
• Do you often fall asleep while reading or watching TV?
• Do you usually fall asleep within five minutes of going to
bed?
• Do you awake in the morning feeling that you are not
rested?
• Would you oversleep if you did not use an alarm clock to
drive you out of bed?
 SLEEP DISORDERS
 Insomnia
 Sleep Apnea – respiratory d/o where person
intermittently stops breathing while asleep
 Narcolepsy – disorder of REM sleep, involving sudden REM-
sleep attacks accompanied by cataplexy
 Cataplexy – sudden loss of muscle control that may occur just
before a narcoleptic sleep attack; waking form of sleep paralysis
(Sleep paralysis – inability to move any of the voluntary muscles,
except those controlling the eyes; normally occurs during REM
sleep)
 DREAMS
- psychoanalytic view -
• “royal road to the
unconscious” (Freud)
 Guardian role by relieving
psychic tensions created
during the day
 Wish-fulfillment: allowing
dreamer to work through
unconscious desires
 Clues to motives &
conflicts
 Relates to recent
experience
 DREAMS
- biological view -
• Activation-synthesis theory (Hobson & McCarley):
dreams begin with random electrical activation
coming from the brain stem. Dreams, then, are
the brain’s attempt to make sense of – to
synthesize – this random activity
ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
THROUGH CONCENTRATION & SUGGESTION

• Meditation –form of consciousness change often induced by

focusing on a repetitive behavior, assuming certain body positions &
minimizing external stimulation
• Hypnosis – an induced alternate state of awareness,
characterized by heightened suggestibility and (usually) deep
relaxation
 Hypnosis
• Procedure where hypnotist uses power of
suggestion to induce changes in thoughts,
feeling, sensation, perception in another
person
• Hypnotizability – degree to which an
individual is responsive to hypnotic
suggestions
• Uses: research; pain control;
desensitizisation (phobia)
ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
AND DRUG-INDUCED STATES

 PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS –drugs that influence

subjective experience & behavior by acting on the
nervous system; alter normal mental functioning (e.g.
mood, perception, or thought
 STIMULANTS – speed up activity in the CNS, suppress
appetite, & cause a person
 DEPRESSANTS
 HALLUCINOGENS
 DRUG ADMINISTRATION and
ABSORPTION
Ingestion
Injection
Inhalation
Absorption through
mucous
membranes of the
nose, mouth, and
rectum
 DRUG ADDICTION
(slavery to a substance)

• Physical dependence – compulsive pattern of drug use

where user develops drug tolerance coupled
w/unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when drug is
discontinued
• Psychological dependence – craving or irresistible urge
for a drug’s pleasurable effects
 DRUG ADDICTION
(slavery to a substance)

• Drug tolerance – when user becomes

progressively less affected by the drug so that
larger & larger doses are necessary to maintain
the same effect
• Withdrawal symptoms – usu. physical &
psychological, when a regularly used drug is
discontinued
• Addicts –habitual drug users who continue to
use drugs despite its adverse effects on their
health & social life and despite their repeated
efforts to stop using it.
COMMONLY ABUSED DRUGS
 STIMULANTS
(“uppers”)
 DEPRESSANTS
(“downers”)
 HALLUCINOGENS
(“psychedelics”)
 STIMULANTS
(drugs that speed up activity in the CNS, suppress appetite,
& cause perform to feel more awake, alert, & energetic)

- Caffeine
- Nicotine
- Amphetamines (increase arousal, relieve
fatigue, improve alertness, & suppress the
appetite)
- Cocaine (produces feeling of euphoria)
 DEPRESSANTS
(decrease activity in CNS, slow down bodily functions,
& reduce sensitivity to outside stimulation)
• Alcohol
• Barbiturates - addictive
depressants used as sedative,
sleeping pills & anesthetics
• Narcotics – derived from
opium poppy & produces pain-
relieving & calming effects
(ex. Heroin – derived from
morphine)
• Benzodiazepines or
Anxiolytics – calms user
(ex. Valium)
 HALLUCINOGENS
(alter perception & mood and can cause hallucinations)

o Marijuana – effects from relaxation & giddiness to

perceptual distortions & hallucinations
o LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) – unpredictable
effects ranging from perceptual changes & vivid
hallucinations to states of panic & terror
o MDMA (methylene-dioxy-metamphetamine) –
produces both stimulant & psychedelic effects (ex.
Ecstasy)