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Chapter 5: States of Consciousness
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other
vocabulary
Here are some more American idioms, words used with figurative meanings, and other vocabulary
items that you may not be familiar with. Match each item in column A with the appropriate
meaning given in column B. If you are unsure, look at the sentence context given below.
Remember that words may have different meanings in different contexts. The meanings given here
are appropriate for the contexts from your textbook, but in different contexts the words in question
might have different meanings. Answers are given on the last page of this document.
COLUMN A
COLUMN B
a. to liken (something) to
1. a distinguishing characteristic; a mark of
genuineness
2. a secondary and sometimes unexpected or
unintended result
3. excited
4. to desire strongly
5. harm or damage caused during normal use of
something
6. to be engrossed in; to be fascinated by; to
focus all one’s attention on
7. to abandon something addictive
8. to complete or compensate for something at a
later time
9. to compare
10. someone with little or no medical education
who attempts to cure people, often with unusual
methods
11. irregular; unpredictable
12. ready to fall asleep
13. to ignore; to become unresponsive to
14. obvious; typical; clear
15. to urinate while sleeping
16. a psychological and physiological condition
which occurs after flying through several time
zones
17. terrible; tragic
b. to be/become absorbed
c. hallmark
d. wear and tear
e. catastrophic
f. jet lag
g drowsy
h. to wet the bed
i. to catch up on
j. by-product
k. telltale
l. fired up
m. erratic
n. to crave
o. to kick the habit
p. to tune out
q. quack
Sentence context
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a.
William James, the first American psychologist, likened consciousness to a stream
that’s constantly changing yet always the same.
b.
Have you ever been so absorbed during an exam that you completely forgot your
surroundings until the instructor announced, “Time is up,” and asked for your paper?
c.
This type of focused attention is the hallmark of controlled processes.
d.
“When I learned to type, I had to do it painfully and with much nervous wear and
tear.”
e.
Although catastrophic accidents can sometimes be traced to simple, but unusual
coincidences, we need to recognize that shift workers may be fighting a dangerous
battle with their own circadian rhythms.
f.
Have you ever taken a long airline flight and felt fatigued, sluggish, and irritable
for the first few days after arriving? If so, you experienced symptoms of jet lag.
(p.172)
g.
During the day, do you feel drowsy while driving?
h.
Stage 4 sleep is also the time when children are most likely to wet the bed and when
sleepwalking occurs.
i.
That is, they try to “catch up” on REM sleep on subsequent occasions by spending
more time than usual in this state.
j.
In contrast to Freudian perspective, the activationsynthesis hypothesis, dreams are a
by-product of random stimulation of brain cells during REM sleep.
k.
A telltale complaint of insomnia is that the person feels poorly rested the next day.
l.
But don’t exercise vigorously late in the day, or you’ll get fired up instead.
m. Keep regular hours. An erratic schedule can disrupt biological rhythms.
n.
Do you crave a drink or other drug at a definite time daily, or do you want a drink or
other drug the next morning?
o.
As scientific evidence of the dangers of smoking accumulates, and as social pressure
from nonsmokers increases, many smokers are trying to kick the habit.
p.
The participant is able to “tune out” competing sensory stimuli.
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q.
From the 1700’s to modern times, hypnosis has been used (and abused) by
entertainers and quacks.
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
One area of English grammar which is problematic for many non-native speakers is that of
articles, both definite (the) and indefinite (a, an, some). There is one other related
grammar point which it is important to know about. You may have noticed that not all
nouns in English occur with an article. For example, plural common nouns such as people,
animals, researchers, etc. can occur with either the definite article the or with no article at
all. We call this lack of an article the “zero article” (Ø). The rule for Ø vs. the in English is
relatively simple: no article is used when all cases of the plural noun are being referred to - that is, when only generalities or generalizations are being discussed. The is used when a
specific group of the plural noun is being referred to. Often, this specific group is further
qualified through the use of a prepositional phrase or relative clause.
The zero article (Ø) refers to all cases of the noun (i.e., to the noun in general) when it
occurs in the plural form.
More than 20% of workers in the United States are on rotating shift schedules that force
them to keep changing their sleep and waking cycles.
Studies show that shift workers typically suffer from increased fatigue and sleep disorders
due to disruptions in their normal circadian rhythms.
The refers to a specific group of the noun when it occurs in the plural form.
(Prepositional phrases and relative clauses which help to qualify the specific group even
more are double underlined.)
Many people believe that the workers in the Union Carbide chemical accident in Bhopal,
India were not alert because they worked a rotating shift and suffered from fatigue.
It is also believed that the crew members who were aboard the Exxon Valdez were
fatigued and that their condition contributed to the Alaskan oil spill.
In the paragraph below, insert either the or Ø (leave the space blank) in the blanks. Use the
above rules to guide you in making decisions. When you are finished, you may check your
answers in the answer key section.
While _____ nocturnal animals, such as _____ rats, sleep in the daytime and stay awake at
night, _____ humans and most other animals are awake during _____ light times of the 24hour period and asleep during _____ periods when it is dark. For _____ humans, _____
circadian rhythms influence not only sleep and waking, but also blood pressure, pulse rate,
body temperature, blood sugar level, and cell growth. These daily rhythms help explain
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
why we feel irritable, hungry, listless, or energetic at different times of the day. For
example, _____ morning people reach their peak body temperature and maximum
efficiency levels at midmorning, whereas _____ night people have higher temperatures and
function better in the evening.
Finding key information
In this chapter, the authors describe in detail the effects of substances that produce an
alternate state of consciousness. One pattern that is followed is to look at the different
effects of a drug as it is administered in different doses (for example, low, high, and very
high doses). Examine the paragraph below, which describes the effects of differing
amounts of the drug marijuana. Then study the chart to see how this paragraph is logically
organized:
Marijuana, one of the most popular of all illegal consciousness-altering drugs today, is a
hard drug to classify because it has the properties of depressants as well as stimulants and
hallucinogens. In low doses it induces a sense of relaxation and mild euphoria sometime s
characterized by detachment or uncontrollable giggles. With higher doses subjects often
report disruptions in time perception and sensory experiences. With very high doses, it can
cause visual or auditory hallucinations.
EFFECTS OF MARIJUANA
LOW DOSES
HIGH DOSES
a sense of relaxation and disruptions in time
mild euphoria; detachment perception and sensory
and/or uncontrollable
experiences
giggles
VERY HIGH DOSES
visual or auditory hallucinations
Read the section called “Depressants”. Then fill in the chart below with key words that
identify the different effects of alcohol according to blood alcohol level.
EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL
LOW DOSES
HIGH DOSES
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VERY HIGH DOSES
EXTREMELY
HIGH DOSES
Examining structural clues
There are many ways in English to signal a cause/effect relationship. Sometimes, the
mention of the cause precedes the effect; other times, the effect is mentioned first, and is
followed by an explanation of the cause. To see how these relationships are expressed,
study the sentences below:
CAUSE
EFFECT
A warm bath
can cause drowsiness.
When a person is in an ASC
distorted.
his or her awareness of the world is lessened or
Because of his 200-hour wake-a-thon
Peter Tripp suffered delusions such as seeing cobwebs
in his shoes and a suit of furry worms.
People who regularly use sleeping pills run
the risk of psychological and physiological drug
dependence.
EFFECT
CAUSE
We experience ASC
meditation.
as a result of sleep, dreaming, drugs, hypnosis, and
Rotating shift workers are more
due to fatigue and the interruption of their natural
circadian accident-prone rhythms.
You can get out of sync with your
circadian rhythms
Sleep apnea
by flying across several time zones.
results from blocked upper air passages.
There are a variety of words and expressions which are signal words for cause/effect
relationships. Some of them are: because, because of, to bring about, to bring on, to
induce, to cause, a cause, to lead to, to be due to, on account of, as a consequence of,
in consequence, for, for this reason and as a result.
Locate 5 sentences in this chapter which contain a cause/effect relationship and write the
sentences in the spaces below. Decide which part of each sentence refers to the cause and
which to the effect.
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1. ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Answer key
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
a. 9;
m. 11;
b. 6;
n. 4;
c. 1;
o. 7;
d. 5;
p. 13;
e. 17;
q. 10;
f. 16;
g. 12;
h. 15;
i. 8;
j. 2;
k. 14;
l. 3;
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
While _____ nocturnal animals, such as _____ rats, sleep in the daytime and stay awake at
night, _____ humans and most other animals are awake during the light times of the 24hour period and asleep during the periods when it is dark. For _____ humans, _____
circadian rhythms influence not only sleep and waking, but also blood pressure, pulse rate,
body temperature, blood sugar level, and cell growth. These daily rhythms help explain
why we feel irritable, hungry, listless, or energetic at different times of the day. For
example, _____ morning people reach their peak body temperature and maximum
efficiency levels at midmorning, whereas _____ night people have higher temperatures and
function better in the evening.
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers
Finding key information
EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL
LOW DOSES
HIGH DOSES
has stimulating
effects; relaxes
inhibitions and
enlivens a person at
the same time
symptoms of
drunkenness appear;
reactions slow; speech
slurs; skilled
performance deteriorates
Examining structural clues
Answers will vary.
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VERY HIGH DOSES
EXTREMELY
HIGH DOSES
drinker is “out of
risk of coma and even
control” and incapable death from respiratory
of involuntary action depression