Download Ch. 4 Consciousness

Chapter 4:
Consciousness
Scope of Consciousness
• Consciousness – awareness of external stimuli & our own
mental activity.
• State of Consciousness – consciousness at any moment.
• Conscious Level – mental activities accessible to awareness.
• Non-conscious Level – mental processes that are totally
inaccessible to conscious awareness.
• Preconscious Level – mental events that are not currently
conscious but can become conscious at will.
• Unconscious – mental activity which an individual is
unaware.
– Freud said it contained unacceptable sexual, aggressive & other
impulses.
• Subconscious – influential, but normally inaccessible,
mental processes take place.
Altered States of Consciousness
• Altered State of Consciousness – A condition that
exists when changes in mental processes are
extensive enough to produce noticeable differences
in psychological & behavioral functioning.
– Waking consciousness used as baseline to compare
“altered” states too.
– Judgments about altered states vary culturally.
(Hallucinations)
Sleeping and Dreaming
During sleep we alternate between REM and non-REM
REM – Rapid eye movement
• Lasts a few minutes up to an hour, average about 30 - 45 min., gets
longer and more frequent during the night.
– Electrical patterns resemble being fully awake.
– Time dreaming occurs
– Called “paradoxical sleep”
– Body movement
Non-REM – non- rapid eye movement
– Periods of less eye movement
– Non-REM is divided into 4 stages:
• Feel self drifting on the edge of consciousness
• Sleeping soundly, not usually awakened by minor noises.
• Brain waves, breathing, pulse have slowed considerably
• Deep sleep & are difficult to awaken; sleepwalking or talking occurs
• Then you move back 4,3,2 but instead of going into stage 1 you enter
REM.
• Sleep Patterns change w/ age & by individuals
• Infant sleeps 16 hrs.
• 70 yr. old sleeps 6 hrs.
• REM makes up ½ of sleep of newborns
• REM makes up ¼ of sleep in young adults
Sleep Disorders
• Insomnia – feel daytime fatigue due to trouble
falling asleep or staying asleep.
– Associated w/ depressive & anxiety disorders.
– 3x’s more likely to have mental disorders.
– Treatments = short term sleeping pills & long term
learning based treatment seems best.
Sleep Disorders (con’t)
• Narcolepsy – abruptly enters REM sleep directly
from the waking state.
– People 15 –25 yrs. Usually during some emotional state.
– Cause seems to be a deficiency of orexin; a
neurotransmitter.
– Treatments= regular naps and stimulant drugs help.
• Sleep Apnea – briefly stop breathing hundreds of
times each night, waking each time to breath.
– Feel tired & have headaches, reduced attention, learning
difficulties.
– Causes = genetic predisposition, obesity, problems w/
brain mechanism that controls of breathing.
Sleep Disorders (con’t)
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) – infants stop
breathing & die
– 2 of 1000 infants, usually of low birth weight.
– Causes = problems w/ brain stem regulation of breathing, cigarette
smoke, genetic causes and sleeping face down.
• Sleepwalking – in non-REM sleep & childhood
• Nightmares – frightening REM dreams
– Occur in 4 – 8% of people, highest in PTSD sufferers.
• Night Terrors – horrific dream images during stage 4 sleep.
– Awaken w/ a bloodcurdling scream & remain intensely afraid for
up to 30 min.
• REM Behavior Disorder – near paralysis of REM doesn’t
occur.
– Sleepers move as if acting out their dreams, can be dangerous.
– Drug treatments usually effective.
Why Do People Sleep?
Circadian Rhythm
• Set of behaviors, cycles every 24 hrs. (sleeping, eating,
urination, hormone release, etc.)
• Effected by light of day & dark of night but continues in
their absence.
• Sleep-Wake Cycle Disruption
– Jet-lag – air travel across multiple time zones;
• Causes fatigue, irritability, inattention & sleeping problems, lasts
several days.
• Night Shift, going to bed earlier to catch up
• Length of Rhythm varies by individuals
• Suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of hypothalamus
– Internal clock. Receives light info. from eyes.
– Regulates melatonin to maintain CR.
Functions of Sleep
Sleep Deprivation causes:
• Fatigue, irritability, inattention, learning is hindered,
increase in work mishaps, car accidents.
Sleep results:
• Restores the body, the brain, consolidates memories
of new information; happens during non-REM.
Dreaming Brain
Dreams – brain activity during sleep is experienced as
the story-like sensations & perceptions.
– Most dreams occur during REM.
– Its rare for a person to transform into an object.
Lucid Dreaming – awareness of dreams while
dreaming.
Why we dream?
– Analyze & consolidate information that is personally
important or has survival value.
– Freud, dreams are a disguised form of “wish fulfillment,”
a way to satisfy unconscious urges or resolve
unconscious conflicts too upsetting to deal w/
consciously.
Hypnosis
•
Hypnosis – an altered state of consciousness brought on by
special techniques & produces responsiveness to
suggestions for changes in experience or behavior
–
•
More open you are to it the more likely you are to be hypnotized.
Hypnotic Susceptibility – degree to which a person will
respond to hypnotic suggestions.
– Susceptible people tend to have common traits:
•
•
–
Active imaginations, fantasize, capacity to process information quickly &
easily, suggestible & positive attitude towards hypnosis.
Effects can be extended for hrs, days by posthypnotic suggestions.
Main changes;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Tend not to begin actions on their own
Ignore all but the hypnotist’s voice & whatever it points out
Enhances the ability to fantasize
Readily take on roles
Reduced reality testing, don’t question things or statements.
Explaining Hypnosis
• State theory – notable changes in brain activity that
occurs & dramatic effects hypnosis can produce.
• Role theory – participants are playing a role of the
situation. Not actually hypnotized.
– Non-hypnotized people can show signs of being Hypn.
– Motivation can cause similar behaviors.
– People who have been rendered blind or deaf by Hypn. can
still hear and see.
• Dissociative theory – not an altered state but a general
condition that temporarily reorganizes or breaks down
our normal control over thoughts and actions.
– Participant has agreed to relinquish control or share control w/
the hypnotist.
– Imaging studies shows the ability to dissociate behavior greater
in those who are more susceptible to hypnosis.
Applications of Hypnosis
• Useful
– w/ pain; dental work, childbirth, burns, surgery, chronic
pain.
– Can eliminate diarrhea, reduce nausea & vomiting due to
chemotherapy, speed postoperative recovery.
• Some are controversial:
– Aid memory, recall details of crime, etc.
Psychoactive Drugs
• Psychopharmacology – study of psychoactive drugs.
• Psychoactive Drugs – drugs that affect the brain, changing
consciousness and other psychological processes.
– Alters interactions between neurotransmitters & their receptors
– Blood-brain barrier – feature of blood vessels in brain that prevents
substances from getting into blood stream.
– Agonists – bind to receptors & imitate or mimic normal
neurotransmitters.
– Antagonists – similar enough to bind to NT but not mimic, just
block normal NT.
– Other drugs will increase or decrease the release of specific NT.
– Some work by speeding or slowing removal of NT from synapses.
– Brain can compensate by producing more receptors sites.
Drug Effects Vary
• Substance Abuse
– Pattern of use that causes serious social, legal, or
interpersonal problems for the user.
– Psychological dependence – need drug for sense of wellbeing & preoccupied w/ trying to get it.
– Physical dependence (Addiction) – a strong craving for
drug & drug necessary to prevent withdrawal syndromes.
• Can develop in anyone, very easily, w/o our awareness
• Addictive drugs stimulate “pleasure centers,” dopamine areas
– Withdrawal Symptoms – intense desire for drug, physical
effects generally opposite to those of drug itself.
– Tolerance – ever larger doses required to produce same
effect.
Expectations & Drug Effects
• Effects not determined by biochemistry alone.
• Expectations play a role, act according to what we
believe to be the effects of a drug.
– Develop from watching people, what they see differs by
individual & culture.
– Learned expectations contribute to effects of heroin,
cocaine & marijuana.