Transcript Today we will

Today we will...
• Discuss the different states of
consciousness.
Individual Warm-up - Memory Refresher – Fill in the Blank
Word Bank – proactive, priming, retroactive, anterograde,
retrograde
1. __________ interference happens when new information makes it
harder to remember previously learned material.
2. To retrieve a specific memory, you often need to find one of the
strands that lead to it. For example, you visit your old elementary
school and as you walk down the hall you remember you friend Carol
who you were in the 3rd grade with. This process of using strands to
get to a memory is called __________
3. Tommy was in a car accident and he had a brain injury that damaged
his hippocampus. Since his accident, he can’t form any new
memories. This loss of memory for things that have happened after
his injury occurred is called __________ amnesia.
4. Suppose your best friend has a new cell phone number, but you
keep calling the old number instead. When something you learned
earlier gets in the way of new, it is called __________ interference.
5. Rory was injured in the war when his vehicle ran over an explosive
device. Since his brain injury, he cannot remember things that
happened for years before his accident. This is called __________
amnesia
Questions to Consider
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What is the relationship between
consciousness and arousal? How are
different states of arousal, such as sleep
or coma, related to consciousness?
How do people with problems such as
"blindsight" help us to understand the
nature of consciousness?
Psychodynamic
Freud: Levels of Consciousness
• Freud's theory lays the
foundation for personality
development.
• His theory attempts to
explain individual
differences by examining
the major constructs of
personality as influenced
by unconscious mental
thoughts, feelings and
behavior.
Levels of Consciousness
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Freud believed that
there are three levels
of consciousness:
1. the conscious level,
2. preconscious level,
and
3. the unconscious
level.
Freud described these
levels of
consciousness using
the analogy of an
iceberg.
The Conscious Level
• The first level of awareness
is the conscious level. It is
the part of the iceberg above
the water's surface.
– the smallest part of the
iceberg and you can
readily see it.
• The conscious level is
composed of thoughts,
feelings and actions that you
are presently aware of at any
given moment.
– For example, you are
presently aware of the
words in the text you're
reading.
The Preconscious Level
• This is the part of the
iceberg immediately below
the surface of the water
and is larger than the
above conscious level.
• The preconscious level is
where we temporarily store
thoughts, wishes, and
feelings before they are
brought into conscious
awareness.
– includes memories and
feelings which are
readily retrievable for
conscious awareness.
The Unconscious Level
• The third, and largest level of
consciousness, is the
unconscious level.
– It is the largest part of the
iceberg.
• According to Freud, this level
is responsible for storing
your most primitive and
instinctual motives.
– Although you are not
aware of the thoughts and
feelings stored at the
unconscious level, they
exert the greatest
influence on your
behavior.
Unconscious Destruction
• According to Freud,
information in the
unconscious level is
difficult to retrieve.
• However, like the part of
the iceberg that's hard to
see, it has the potential to
destroy normal
psychological functioning.
• Freud believed that
psychological disorders
originate from repressed
memories and instincts
stored in the unconscious
level.
Summary Question
• The poets and philosophers before me
discovered the unconscious; what I discovered
was the scientific method by which the
unconscious can be studied.
» Sigmund Freud
• In light of what you already know about our
current level of sophistication regarding the
scientific method and our current level of
knowledge about the unconscious, how would
your respond to Freud’s statement.
Contemporary (Cognitive) view
of Consciousness
• Consciousness has three important
functions:
1.Restricts our attention.
2.Provides a place where sensation
combines with memory, emotions, motives
and other psychological processes.
3.Allows manipulating our environment,
rather than just responding to the
environment
Two Main Divisions
• Preconscious
– Memories are not currently in one’s
consciousness, but they can be recalled into
consciousness voluntarily or after something
calls attention to them.
• Unconscious
– Refers to cognition occurring without
awareness.
– Priming is an example of unconscious
processing.
Sleeping and Dreaming
• There are four stages
of non-REM sleep.
After being in stage 4,
you go back up through
the stages to get to
REM sleep, where
dreaming occurs.
– So, you go through
stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and
then back up through
stages 3 and 2. Instead
of going back to 1, REM
sleep occurs.
REM Sleep
• First cycle of REM sleep about 10 minutes
• By the end of the night, REM may be up to
60 minutes.
• Usually dream about 90 minutes.
• As REM sleep increases during the night,
stage 3 & 4 sleep decrease.
During REM
1. Motor output is inhibited
2. Genitals aroused, even if dream not sexual
3. Everyone appears to dream but often dreams not
remembered.
– Vivid & story-like dreams occur
4. Hormones are released that influence the thinking
process and counteract fatigue, irritability, and
inattention
5. Sleep paralysis – the sleeper is unable to move any of
the body’s voluntary muscles, except those
controlling the eyes.
6. Body replenishes itself physically in several ways.
– For example, the pituitary gland releases growth
hormones, and body tissues are restored
B. Theories of Dreaming
1. Sigmund Freud viewed dreams as wish fulfillment in which
the manifest content (the actual content) is a censored
version of the latent content (true meaning)
– Freud believed that when people were in conflict, if he
could uncover or get to the latent content, then he
could identify the person's problem and resolve their
conflict.
2. Activation-synthesis theory states that the dream story
results from the brains trying to interpret meaningless,
periodic, random neural firings occurring during REM.
Activity comes from the pons.
3. Problem solving/information processing theory states that
dreams are caused by peoples reviewing problems they
faced during waking hours
– Reverse Learning - The brain sorts the information,
tosses out the things we don’t need, solidifies
experiences to keep.
Dream Interpretation
• All people dream; some remember their dreams,
at least from time to time. Many psychologists
believe that dreams have underlying symbolic
meaning, and provide clues to the workings of
the unconscious mind.
• Other psychologists believe that dreams are the
brain's way of processing and consolidating
information while we sleep. In any case, it's
interesting to remember your dreams, talk about
them, or even analyze them to see what they
might mea
Example
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Think of a dream you had recently, one where
you still remember the details - write it down.
http://www.dreammoods.com/
Did you agree with the web site's interpretation
of your dream? Why or why not?
In general, do you believe that our dreams
have symbolic meaning? How do you tend to
use the information from dreams in your daily
life?
Sleep Disorders
Important to Remember
• Insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, SIDS (Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome), Night Terrors, Sleepwalking, Seasonal
Affective Disorder
• Impact everyday life, such as in driving, in industrial
accidents, or even in family relationships.
• Being less alert and attentive, and more inclined to irritability
and altering moods can affect relationships with family,
friends, and co-workers.
– In fact, major industrial catastrophes, such as the Three
Mile Island incident, have been attributed to human error
that occurred during a time when the body is at its
sleepiest.
– The 7% rise in automobile accidents the day after Daylight
Savings Time "springs forward," and the congressional
request for the research project "NASA Ames Fatigue/Jet
Lag Program" are also indicators of the serious problems
arising from sleeplessness and sleep disorders.
The Big Four
1. Insomnia – Most common!!!
– Involves insufficient sleep, inability to fall asleep,
frequent arousals, or early awakenings.
2. Sleep Apnea
– A respiratory disorder in which the person intermittently
stops breathing several times while asleep.
3. Night Terrors
– Occur mainly in children and involve deep sleep
episodes that produce vivid and terrifying images that
are usually forgotten upon awakening.
4. Narcolepsy
–
Produces sudden daytime sleep attacks and is usually
accompanied by cataplexy (a sudden loss of muscle control)
C. Hypnotic Ability and Susceptibility
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An induced state of awareness, characterized
by heightened suggestibility, deep relaxation,
and highly focused attention.
1. Openness to suggestion is key.
2. 20% of people are highly hypnotizable; 10%
difficult/impossible
3. Correlates to rich fantasy life, imagination,
ability to focus attention and ignore distraction
4. Expectancy plays a role
C. Hypnotic Ability and Susceptibility
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Inaccurate memories are common
Can sometimes boost recall
False recollections can occur
Memories are often constructed
Normal rules of memory formation, storage,
and retrieval apply
H. Uses of Hypnosis
1. Control undesired symptoms and behaviors
2. Used for pain control
3. treatment of headaches, asthma, warts,
stress-related skin disorders, self-control
problems such as smoking, weight control,
and nail biting
Why should meditation promote feelings of well-being
and relaxation?
• Induced by focusing on a repetitive behavior, assuming certain
body positions, and minimizing external stimulation. It
produces relaxation and sense of well-being.
• Researchers have reported that the physiological effects of
meditation are related to lowered activity of the sympathetic
nervous system, the branch of the autonomic nervous system
that functions as the arousal center during emergency or
stressful situations.
• The most common bodily change reported is hypometabolism,
which is characterized by decreases in the body's metabolic
rate as reflected by lowered oxygen consumption, in heart and
respiration rates, and in carbon dioxide production.