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GEN 205: Introduction to Psychology Chapter 4: States of Consciousness Md. Shaheen Mollah Adjunct Faculty Department of Social Relations East West University [email protected] 1 ...

GEN 205: Introduction to Psychology Chapter 4: States of Consciousness Md. Shaheen Mollah Adjunct Faculty Department of Social Relations East West University [email protected] 1  Contents Nature of Consciousness Consciousness and Attention Sleep Dream Hypnosis Meditation 2  Nature of Consciousness Definition of Consciousness ✓ William James first pointed out the term “consciousness”. ✓ The awareness of the sensations, thoughts, and feelings being experienced at a given point (Feldman, 2009). ✓ The moment-to-moment awareness of ourselves (internal stimuli) and our environment (external stimuli). Characteristics of Consciousness Subjective and private Dynamic (ever changing) Self-reflective and central to our sense of self Selective 3  Nature of Consciousness (Cont’d) Levels of Consciousness ❖ Sigmund Freud (1900/1953) proposed that the human mind consists of three levels of awareness: 1. Conscious ✓ The conscious mind contains thoughts and perceptions of which we are currently aware. ✓ For example: the sentence you just read, if you were paying attention. 2. Preconscious ✓ Preconscious mental events are outside current awareness but can easily be recalled under certain conditions. ✓ For example: you may not have thought about a friend for years, but when someone mentions your friend’s name, you become aware of pleasant memories. 4  Nature of Consciousness (Cont’d) 3. Unconscious ✓ Unconscious events cannot be brought into conscious awareness under ordinary circumstances. ✓ Some unconscious content-such as unacceptable sexual and aggressive urges, traumatic memories, and threatening emotional conflicts- is kept out of conscious awareness because it would arouse anxiety, guilt, or other negative emotions. 5  Nature of Consciousness (Cont’d) Functions of Consciousness 1. To monitor ourselves and our environment so that percepts, memories, and thoughts are represented in awareness, and 2. To control ourselves and our environment so that we are able to initiate and terminate behavioral and cognitive activities. 6  Consciousness and Attention ❖ Consciousness is closely connected to attention. ❖ William James called attention the “searchlight of consciousness”. ❖ Attention is the means or process by which we scan the environment and then focus on only those stimuli we wish or need to be aware of at any one time. ❖ The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus is called selective attention. Types of Attention Passive Attention ✓ It is involuntary in the sense that it is controlled by external stimuli that stand out sharply from their background. ✓ For example: a loud noise, a bright flash of color, a strong odor, and the sound of our name. ✓ Stimuli that attract our attention involuntarily are known as novel stimuli. 7  Attention (Cont’d) Active Attention ✓ It is voluntary in that it is determined by our needs and intentions. ✓ For example: our ability to follow the action of one player in a football game while ignoring the other action on the field. Types of Active Attention Outward Attention ✓ We direct our attention outward when we scan a crowd for a familiar face or drive along an unfamiliar road. Inward Attention ✓ We turn our attention inward when we try to solve a verbal or mathematical problem. Divided Attention ✓ It refers to the capacity to split attention between two or more tasks. ✓ For example: following two conversations simultaneously. 8  Sleep ❖ The opposite state of consciousness is sleep. ❖ Sleep is far from a uniform state that we enter into shortly after retiring and then exit from upon awakening. ❖ People spend roughly one-third of their lives asleep. ❖ Sleep researchers measure it in well equipped laboratory by recording the EEG. ✓ EEG or Electroencephalogram is the graphic recording of the electrical changes, or brain waves. ❖ When we are awake and alert, EEG recordings of our brain’s electrical activity would show a pattern of beta waves (high speed/frequency of about 15-30cps, but low amplitude/height). ❖ When we are feeling relaxed and drowsy, our brain waves slow down and alpha waves occur at about 8-12cps. 9  The Five Stages of Sleep ❖ People progress through a series of distinct stages of sleep during a night’s rest – known as Stage 1 through Stage 4 (Non-REM) and REM Sleep. ❖ The cycle of these stages is lasting about 90 minutes. ❖ Each of these sleep stages is associated with a unique pattern of brain waves, in Figure. Stage 1 Sleep ✓ The state of transition between wakefulness and sleep, characterized by relatively rapid, low-amplitude brain waves. ✓ This stage lasts only a few minutes. ✓ During stage 1, images sometimes appear, although this is not true dreaming. 10 The Five Stages of Sleep (Cont’d) 11 The Five Stages of Sleep (Cont’d) 12  The Five Stages of Sleep (Cont’d) Stage 2 Sleep ✓ A sleep deeper than that of stage 1, characterized by a slower, more regular wave pattern, along with momentary interruptions of “sleep spindles”. ▪ The configuration of the sharply pointed and spiky waves. ✓ This stage makes up about half of the total sleep. ✓ It becomes increasingly difficult to awaken a person from stage 2 progress. Stage 3 Sleep ✓ A sleep characterized by slow brain waves, with greater peaks and valleys in the wave pattern than in stage 2 sleep. 13  The Five Stages of Sleep (Cont’d) Stage 4 Sleep ✓ The deepest stage of sleep, during which we are least responsive to outside stimulation. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep ✓ Sleep occupying 20 percent of an adult’s sleeping time, characterized by increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate; erections; eye movements; and the experience of dreaming. ✓ While all this activity is occurring, paradoxically the major muscles of the body appear to be paralyzed. ✓ Although some dreaming occurs in Non-REM stages of sleep, dreams in REM period are the most vivid and easily remembered. ✓ People deprived of REM sleep show a rebound effect. ▪ REM deprived sleepers spend significantly more time in REM sleep than they normally would. 14  The Five Stages of Sleep (Cont’d) ✓ In the first half of the night, sleep is dominated by stages 3 and 4. ✓ In the second half of the night, sleep is dominated by stages 1, 2, and REM sleep. 15  Why Do We Sleep? ❖ Sleep is a requirement for normal human functioning. ❖ It is responsible to expect that our bodies would require a tranquil “rest and relaxation” period to revitalize themselves, and experiments with rats show that total sleep deprivation results in death. But Why? 1. From evolutionary perspective, some researchers suggest that sleep permitted our ancestors to conserve energy at night. 2. Others suggest that the reduced activity of the brain during Non-REM sleep may give neurons in the brain a chance to repair themselves. 3. Others suggest that the onset of REM sleep stops the release of neurotransmitters called monoamines, and so permits receptor cells to get some necessary rest and to increase their sensitivity during periods of wakefulness. 16  Why Do We Sleep (Cont’d) Opponent-Process Model of Sleep and Wakefulness ❖ This theory was proposed by Dale Edgar and William Dement in 1992. ❖ According to this theory, the brain possesses two opponent process that govern the tendency to fall asleep or remain awake. The opponent process are: Homeostatic Sleep Drive ✓ A physiological process that strives to obtain the amount of sleep required for a stable level of daytime alertness. ✓ It is active throughout the night, but it also operates during the daytime. ✓ Throughout the day, the need to sleep is continuously building. ✓ If we have slept too little the previous night, the tendency to fall asleep during the day will be significant. 17  Opponent-Process Model (Cont’d) Clock-Dependent Alerting Process ✓ The process in the brain that arouses us at a particular time each day. ✓ It is controlled by the so-called biological clock, which consists of two tiny neural structures located in the center of the brain. ✓ This clock controls a series of psychological and physiological changes, including rhythms of alertness, that are termed circadian rhythms because they occur approximately every 24 hours. ✓ The biological clock is affected by exposure to light: Daylight signals it to stop the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that induces sleep. 18  Opponent-Process Model (Cont’d) Conclusion ❖ The two opponent processes interact to produce our daily cycle of sleep and wakefulness. ❖ Whether we are asleep or awake at any given time depends on the relative strength of the two processes. ❖ During the day, the clock-dependent alerting process usually overcomes the drive for sleep, but during the evening our alertness decreases as the urge to sleep becomes stronger. ❖ Late in the evening, the biological clock becomes inactive and we fall asleep. 19  How Much Sleep is Necessary? ✓ Today most people sleep between 7 and 8 hrs each night. ✓ Some people needing as little as 3 hrs of sleep. ✓ Sleep requirements also vary over the course of lifetime: as they age, people generally need less and less sleep. 20  Sleep Disorders 1. Insomnia 2. Sleep Apnea 3. Nightmares 4. Night Terrors 5. Narcolepsy 6. Sleeptalking & Sleepwalking 1. Insomnia ✓ A sleep disorder involving recurring problems in falling or staying asleep. ✓ It is a problem that afflicts as many as one-third of all people (American Insomnia Association, 2005). ✓ Insomnia could be due to a particular situation, such as the breakup of a relationship, concern about a test score, or the loss of a job. 21  Sleep Disorders (Cont’d) ✓ Some people are simply unable to fall asleep easily, or they go to sleep readily but wake up frequently during the night. Treatment of Insomnia ❖ Stimulus Control: involves conditioning your body to associate stimuli in your sleep environment (such as your bed) with sleep, rather than with waking activities and sleeplessness. 2. Sleep Apnea (Apnea=Stopping respiration) ✓ A condition in which a person has difficulty breathing while sleeping. ✓ About 20 million people suffer from sleep apnea. ✓ It usually occurs in overweight, middle-aged men. ✓ The result is disturbed, fitful sleep, as the person is constantly reawakened when the lack of oxygen becomes great enough to trigger a waking response. 22  Sleep Disorders (Cont’d) ✓ Some people with sleep apnea wake as many as 500 times during the course of a night, although they may not even be aware that they have wakened. ✓ it stresses the heart and contributes to hypertension and daytime fatigue. ✓ Sleep apnea may play a role in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), a mysterious killer of seemingly normal infants who die while sleeping. ✓ Their bed partners repeatedly awakened by the gasps, loud snores, and jerking body movements. Treatment of Sleep Apnea ✓ Surgery may be performed to remove the obstruction blocking the airways. 23  Sleep Disorders (Cont’d) 3. Nightmares ✓ It is vivid, frightening dreams typically associated with fears like falling, death, or calamity. ✓ It occurs during REM sleep and thus can take place at any time during the night (usually toward morning). ✓ Nightmares are bad dreams and virtually everyone has them. ✓ About 5% of people suffers from chronic nightmares. ✓ Sufferers of chronic nightmares tend to have other emotional problems or histories of trauma. ✓ Arousal during nightmares is similar to levels experienced during pleasant dreams. 24  Sleep Disorders (Cont’d) 4. Night Terrors ✓ Sudden awakenings from non-REM sleep (usually occurring in stage 4) that are accompanied by extreme fear, panic, and strong physiological arousal. ✓ It may be so frightening that a sleeper awakens with a shriek. ✓ Although night terrors initially produce great agitation, victims usually can get back to sleep fairly quickly. ✓ It occur most frequently in children (up to 6%) between the ages of 3 and 8. Treatment of Night Terrors ✓ In most childhood cases, treatment is simply to wait for the night terrors to diminish with age. 25  Sleep Disorders (Cont’d) 5. Narcolepsy ✓ Involves extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks that may last from less than a minute to an hour. ✓ About 1 out of every 1000 people suffers from it. ✓ No matter what the activity and no matter how much they rest at night, persons with narcolepsy may experience sleep attacks at any time. ✓ People with narcolepsy report a lowered quality of life and they are prone to accidents. ✓ The causes of narcolepsy are not known, although there could be a genetic component because narcolepsy runs in families. Treatments ✓ Daytime naps and stimulant drugs 26  Sleep Disorders (Cont’d) 6. Sleeptalking & Sleepwalking ✓ Both occur during stage 4 sleep and are more common in children than in adults. ✓ They are usually harmless. ✓ They have a vague consciousness of the world around theym, and a sleepwalker may be able to walk with agility around obstructions in a crowded room. ✓ Sleepwalkers may navigate around furniture, go to the bathroom, or find something to eat. ✓ Sleepwalker often return to bed and awaken in the morning with no memory of the event. ✓ About 10-30% of children sleepwalk at least once, but less than 5% of adults do. 27  Sleep Disorders (Cont’d) ✓ A tendency to sleepwalk may be inherited, and daytime stress, alcohol, and certain illness and medications also increase sleepwalking. Treatment of Sleepwalk ✓ Routinely awakening children before the time they typically sleepwalk ✓ Psychotherapy ✓ Hypnosis ✓ Medication 28  Advice for a Good Night’s Sleep 1. Exercise during the day (best in the late afternoon) 2. Choose a regular bedtime 3. Drink a glass of warm milk (>serotonin) at bedtime 4. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, soft-drinks, and chocolate before bedtime 5. Don’t eat heavily before bedtime 6. Avoid sleeping pills 7. Avoid spending too much time in bed 8. Don’t try to force sleep 9. Avoid stressful thoughts before bedtime and engage in soothing activities that help you relax 10. Avoid sleeping in on weekends 11. Avoid sleeping during the day if you have insomnia 12. If nothing else works, aim for less sleep; go to bed later or get up earlier. 29  Dream Definition ❖ Dreaming is an altered state of consciousness in which picture stories are constructed based on memories and current concerns, or on fantasies and images. Characteristics 1. Dreams are made up of a succession of usually vivid and colorful visual images. 2. Dreams are fantastic in that the space-time relationships of waking consciousness are distorted. 3. Dreams are often charged with emotion (such as pleasurable or frightening). 4. Dreams have a delusional quality (imagination). 30  Does Everyone Dream? ✓ Non-recallers often do as much dreaming as recallers. ▪ If someone says, “I never dream”, what they may mean is “I can’t recall my dreams”. ✓ Preschool children do not dream. ✓ Elementary school age children dream much less often than adults. ✓ Adults with certain types of brain damage also do not appear to dream. ✓ Some people may indeed not dream. 31  What Do We Dream About? ❖ Although dream tend to be subjective to the person having them, there are common elements that frequently occur in everyone's dreams that are given below: % of Dreams Reporting at Least One Thematic Event Event Males Females Aggression 47 44 Friendliness 38 42 Sexuality 12 4 Misfortune 36 33 Success 15 8 Failure 15 10 ❖ Our cultural background, life experiences, and current concerns can shape dream content. 32  When Do We Dream? ❖ Throughout the night we dream most often during REM sleep, when activity in many brain areas is highest. ❖ In contrast, people awakened from non-REM sleep report dreams about 15-50% of the time. ❖ Our REM dreams are more likely to be vivid, bizarre, and story-like than non-REM dreams. ❖ REM dreams typically are longer, allowing more time for vivid content to unfold. 33  Dreams (Cont’d) How Long Do Dreams Last? ✓ Some dreams seem almost instantaneous. ✓ The length of a typical dream is the same as the length of the REM sleep period Do People Know When They are Dreaming? ✓ The answer is “sometimes yes”. ▪ People can be taught to recognize that they are dreaming. ✓ Some people have lucid dreams, in which events seem so normal (lacking the bizarre and illogical character of most dreams) that dreamers feel as if they are awake and conscious. 34  Why Do We Dream/ Theories of Dreaming 1. Unconscious Wish Fulfillment Theory ❖ Sigmund Freud’s theory that dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled. ❖ Freud proposed two types of contents of dreams: Latent Content of Dreams ✓ According to Freud, actual wishes or the “disguised” meanings of dreams, hidden by more obvious subjects. Manifest Content of Dreams ✓ According to Freud, the apparent story line of dreams. 35  Theories of Dreaming (Cont’d) ❖ According to Freud, dreams contain common symbols with universal meanings as the follows: Symbol (Manifest Content of Dream) Interpretation (Latent Content) Climbing up a stairway, crossing a bridge, flying Sexual intercourse in an airplane, walking down a long hallway, entering a room, train travelling through a tunnel Apples, peaches, grapefruits Breasts Bullets, fire, snakes, sticks, umbrellas, guns, Male sex organs hoses, knives Ovens, boxes, tunnels, closets, caves, bottles, Female sex organs ships ❖ Many psychologists reject Freud’s view and they believe that the direct, overt action of a dream is the focal point of its meaning. ❖ Some dreams reflect events occurring in the dreamer’s environment as he or she is sleeping. ❖ Brain scan research lends support for the wish fulfillment36 theory.  Theories of Dream (Cont’d) 2. Dreams-For-Survival Theory ❖ The theory suggesting that dreams permit information that is critical for our daily survival to be reconsidered and reprocessed during sleep. ✓ Dreaming is considered an inheritance from our animal ancestors, whose small brains were unable to sift sufficient information during waking hours. ✓ Dreams represent concerns about our daily lives, illustrating our uncertainties, indecisions, ideas, and desires. ✓ Dreams are seen, as consistent with everyday living. ✓ Rather than being disguised wishes, as Freud suggested, they represent key concerns growing out of our daily experiences. 37  Theories of Dream (Cont’d) 3. Activation-Synthesis Theory ❖ Hobson’s theory that the brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep that stimulates memories lodged in various portions of the brain. ✓ Because we have a need to make sense of our world even while asleep, the brain takes these chaotic memories and weaves them into a logical story line, filling in the gaps to produce a rational scenario. ✓ Hobson does not entirely reject the view that dreams reflect unconscious wishes. ✓ He suggests that the particular scenario a dreamer produces is not random but instead is a clue to the dreamer’s fears, emotions, and concerns. 38  Comparison Among three Theories of Dream Theory Basic Explanation Meaning of Is Meaning of Dreams Dream Disguised? Unconscious Dreams represent Latent content Yes, by manifest Wish unconscious wishes the reveals content of dreams Fulfillment dreamer wants to fulfill unconscious wishes Dreams-for- Information relevant to Clues to everyday Not necessarily survival daily survival is concerns about reconsidered and survival reprocessed Activation- Dreams are the result of Dream scenario Not necessarily Synthesis random activation of that is constructed various memories, which is related to are tied together in a dreamer’s concerns logical story line 39  Hypnosis ❖ A trancelike state of heightened susceptibility to the suggestions of others. ❖ A state of heightened suggestibility in which some people are able to experience imagined situations as if they were real. ❖ About 5-20% of the population cannot be hypnotized at all, and some 15% are very easily hypnotized. Hypnotic Induction ✓ The process by which one person (a researcher or hypnotist) leads another person (the subject) into hypnosis. ✓ A hypnotist may invite the subject to sit down, relax, and gaze at an object on the wall. ✓ Then in a quiet voice, the hypnotist may suggest that the subject’s eyes are becoming heavy and tired. 40  Hypnosis (Cont’d) ✓ The goal is to relax the subject and increase his or her concentration. ✓ Contrary to popular belief, people cannot be hypnotized against their will. Characteristics of Hypnotized State ✓ Planfulness ceases ✓ Attention becomes more selective than usual ✓ Enriched fantasy is readily evoked ✓ Realistic testing is reduced and reality distortion accepted ✓ Suggestibility is increased ✓ Posthypnotic amnesia is often present 41  Hypnosis (Cont’d) Application of Hypnosis 1. Controlling pain 2. Reducing smoking 3. Testing psychological disorders 4. Assisting in law enforcement 5. Improving athletic performance For more> Feldman (154-155) Meditation ❖ A learned technique for refocusing attention that brings about an altered state of consciousness. ❖ It refers to achieving an altered state of consciousness by performing certain rituals and exercises, such as: ▪ Controlling and regulating breathing, ▪ Sharply restricting one’s field of attention, 42  Meditation (Cont’d) ▪ Eliminating external stimuli, ▪ Assuming yogic body positions, and ▪ Forming mental images of an event or symbol. Transcendental Meditation (TM) ✓ A secular and commercial adaptation of a meditative technique used in Yoga, a Hindu spiritual discipline dating back thousands of years. Elements of Meditation 1. A Quiet Environment 2. A Comfortable position 3. A Mental Device 4. A Passive Attitude 43  Meditation (Cont’d) Psychological Effects of Meditations ✓ Meditators usually report a sense of calmness, detachment, and well-being while meditating, which may continue into their daily activities. Physiological Effects of Meditations ✓ A shift in the usual patterns of brain EEG (from beta to alpha wave). ✓ Decrease in breathing rate ✓ Decrease in oxygen consumption, and ✓ Decrease in heart rate Clinical Use of Meditation ✓ Increasingly used in medicine and clinical psychology as a therapy for anxiety and stress-related disorders such as headaches and hypertension 44