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Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Consciousness. Questions We Will Be Addressing in This Chapter. Can unconscious thoughts affect your behavior? Does your brain go to sleep when you do? Can you be hypnotized against your will? How do drugs affect the brain?. What Is “Consciousness”?. Medical definition:

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Chapter 4

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  1. Chapter 4 Consciousness

  2. Questions We Will Be Addressingin This Chapter Can unconscious thoughts affect your behavior? Does your brain go to sleep when you do? Can you be hypnotized against your will? How do drugs affect the brain?

  3. What Is “Consciousness”? Medical definition: Awareness demonstrated by any ability to recall an experience. Psychological definition: One’s awareness of the outside world and Awareness of one’s mental processes, thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.

  4. The Scope of Consciousness Can unconscious thoughts affect your behavior?

  5. Levels of Consciousness Conscious Level e.g., The Necker Cube Nonconscious Level Can learn to alter through biofeedback training. Preconscious Level Unconscious Freud’s usage of term Current usage of term

  6. Figure 4.1: The Necker Cube Which square is the front surface of the cube? Which square is the rear surface of the cube?

  7. Can We Mentally Process Information Without Awareness? Research studies Surgery patients’ word preferences Research participants unknowingly learning and using complex rules Blindsight Priming See Thinking Critically – Subliminal Messages See Focus on Research – Subliminal Messages in Rock Music

  8. Figure 4.2: Stimuli Used ina Priming Experiment Which of these figures can actually exist?

  9. Altered States of Consciousness Mental processing shows distinct changes unique to that state. Waking consciousness viewed as the most common, or “baseline,” state. But considerable cultural variation in what is considered “normal consciousness.”

  10. Sleeping and Dreaming Does your brain go to sleep when you do?

  11. Stages of Sleep Non-REM sleep REM sleep

  12. Figure 4.3: EEG During Sleep

  13. ANIMATION: EEG and Different Stages of Sleep

  14. Figure 4.4: A Night’s Sleep

  15. Sleep Disorders Insomnia Narcolepsy Sleep Apnea Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Sleepwalking Nightmares Night Terrors REM Behavior Disorder

  16. Sleep as a Circadian Rhythm Cycles of behavior and physiology that repeat about every 24 hours. Disruptions of sleep-wake cycle can create problems, e.g., jet lag Individual variations in length of circadian sleep rhythms Must have an internal “biological clock”

  17. Figure 4.5: Sleep, Dreaming, and the Brain

  18. Functions of Sleep Sleep deprivation can lead to fatigue, irritability, and inattention. Can be dangerous to self and others. Sleep is restorative, especially during non-REM sleep. Helps to restore body and brain for future activities. Helps to consolidate memories of newly learned facts.

  19. Special Functions of REM Sleep? May improve functioning of neurons that use norepinephrine. May be a time for creating and strengthening neural connections. May help to solidify and absorb the day’s experiences and skills.

  20. VIDEO: Sleepless in America Discussion Questions

  21. Dreams and Dreaming Some brain activity during sleep is experienced as dreams. Occurs mostly during REM sleep. May last a few seconds or for many minutes. Despite senselessness, often contain some logic. Daytime activities may have some influence on dream content. Lucid dreaming involves intentionally directing dream content.

  22. Why Do We Dream? A process for analyzing and consolidating important information? Freud: Dreams are a disguised form of wish fulfillment. Activation-Synthesis Theory Even if random brain activity, content may still have psychological significance.

  23. ANIMATION: The Activation-Synthesis Theory

  24. Hypnosis Can you be hypnotized against your will?

  25. Hypnosis An altered state of consciousness brought on by special techniques. Produces responsiveness to suggestions for changes in one’s experience and behavior. Hypnotically susceptible people tend to differ from others.

  26. Examples of Hypnotic Results Forgetting Age regression Posthypnotic suggestions Posthypnotic amnesia

  27. Figure 4.6: Hypnotic Age Regression

  28. Main Changes in People During Hypnosis Tendency not to begin actions on one’s own. Redistributed attention. Enhanced ability to fantasize. Susceptibility to readily take on different roles. Reduced reality-testing.

  29. Explaining Hypnosis State Theory Nonstate theory Role Theory Dissociation Theory

  30. Figure 4.7: Reports of Pain in Hypnosis

  31. Applications of Hypnosis Medical uses such as helping to cope with pain. Controversial as a memory aid

  32. VIDEO: Hypnosis and Surgery Pain Discussion Questions

  33. Psychoactive Drugs How do drugs affect the brain?

  34. Psychoactive Drugs Drugs that change consciousness and other physiological processes. Most alter the interactions between neurotransmitters and their receptors. Must cross the blood-brain barrier. Effects depends on several factors.

  35. Figure 4.8: Agonists and Antagonists

  36. The Varying Effects of Drugs Drug Abuse Psychological dependence Physical dependence or addiction Drug withdrawal Drug tolerance Learned expectations

  37. Figure 4.10: Expectancies and Alcohol Consumption

  38. CNS Depressant Drugs Reduces or depresses CNS activity. Examples: Alcohol Barbiturates GHB

  39. VIDEO: CNS Depressants

  40. CNS Stimulant Drugs Speeds up CNS activity. Examples: Amphetamines Cocaine Caffeine Nicotine MDMA (“Ecstasy”)

  41. Opiates Can induce sleep and relieve pain. Highly addictive class of drugs. Examples: Opium Morphine Heroin Codeine

  42. Hallucinogens Creates a loss of contact with reality Alters other aspects of emotion, perception, and thought. Also called psychedelic drugs Examples: LSD Ketamine Marijuana

  43. End of Chapter 4

  44. Thinking Critically: Can Subliminal Messages Change Your Behavior? What am I being asked to believe or accept? Subliminal stimuli can influence behavior. Subliminal stimuli provide an effective means of changing people’s behavior and/or attitudes. Is there evidence available to support the claim? Laboratory studies showing impact of subliminal information on judgments and emotion. But no evidence supporting the effectiveness of subliminal self-help tapes. Continue to next slide

  45. Thinking Critically: Can Subliminal Messages Change Your Behavior? (cont’d) Can that evidence be interpreted another way? Many claims for subliminal advertising are hoaxes. Testimonials may be biased. What evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives? Controlled experiments assessing effectiveness Continue to next slide

  46. Thinking Critically: Can Subliminal Messages Change Your Behavior? (cont’d) What conclusions are most reasonable? Subliminal perception occurs, but has no potential for “mind control.” Subliminal effects are usually small and short-lived. Subliminal messages have no special powers for long-term behavior change. Return to main slide

  47. Focus on Research: Subliminal Messages in Rock Music What was the researchers’ question? Could a backward message be perceived and understood when the music was playing forward? Would such a message affect one’s behavior? How did the researchers answer the question? Tape recordings played backwards to groups of college students. Did the students hear anything meaningful? Continue to next slide

  48. Focus on Research: Subliminal Messages in Rock Music (cont’d) What did the researchers find? Participants could not understand the backward messages at a conscious level. Meaning of the backward messages were not subconsciously understood. The backward messages did not alter the participants’ behavior. Continue to next slide

  49. Focus on Research: Subliminal Messages in Rock Music (cont’d) What do the results mean? Backward messages are not consciously or unconsciously understood. Backward messages do not influence behavior. What do we still need to know? Why do people still believe that backward messages can influence behavior? Return to main slide

  50. Sleepless in America video: Discussion Questions Return to main slide Do you think the lifestyle of our society is misguided or do you feel the sleep science is being overstated? How strong do you feel the correlation may be between a decreasing amount of sleep and an increasing obesity issue in America? Has lack of sleep ever impaired your ability to do a task or perform to your potential? Do you feel that you’re sleep deprived in general?

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