Investigating Altered States of Consciousness
“The question of what consciousness is, is one that has intrigued
psychologists.” (Hayes, N & Orrell, H, 2000, page 116.)
‘The term altered states of consciousness refers to significant change
in what is considered a normal waking awareness’ (Crisp, T, 2003,
Altered states of consciousness,
http://www.homepages.tesco.net/~waves/asoc.htm)
An altered state of consciousness takes many forms such sleep, dreams,
hypnosis, coma and the effects of psychoactive drugs. Learning about
these altered states of consciousness helps us learn why we have these
different altered states and how and why we benefit from it. Altered
states of awareness can be caused by drugs and are also associated
with clinical conditions like schizophrenia.
Freud ‘viewed the unconscious mind “as the repository for repressed
memories. He suggested that the preconscious could become conscious if
we switched our awareness to it” (Malim, T & Birch, A, 1998,
Introduction to psychology, Palgrave, page 205.)
Cognitive psychologists however hold a different view they ‘draw their
conclusions from the level of mental processes during altered states
of consciousness’ (Malim, T & Birch, A, 1998, Introduction to
psychology, Palgrave, page 205.)
Hilgard (1997) noted that we may use problem solving abilities that
are not always available to our conscious minds., you may have found
that an answer sometimes pops into your head yet you have no idea how
you computed it (Malim, T & Birch, A, 1998, Introduction to
psychology, Palgrave, page 205.)
Sleep is the main altered state of consciousness as we spend a third
or our ...
... middle of paper ...
...of consciousness or unconsciousness, these are
all very important in our everyday lives.
REFERENCES:
Cardwell, M et al, 1996, Psychology for A Level, Collins Educational
Mcliveen, R & Gross, R, 1996, Biopsychology, Hodder & Stoughton.
Malim, T & Birch, A, 1998, Introduction to psychology, Palgrave, page
205.
Hayes, N & Orrell, H, 2000, Psychology an Introduction, 3rd edition.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:ee7_eDFIkP8J:www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2003/07/01/20030701fea01.html+sleep+deprivation+studies+randy+gardner&hl=en&start=5&ie=UTF-8
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:yukhLgzkoOcJ:www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/david.shanks/C530/Lect5.html+famous+sleep+deprivation+studies&hl=en&start=6&ie=UTF-8Dr.
David Shanks
http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2003/07/01/20030701fea01.html,
Amuchie, M, 2003.
Neuroscientists claim that due to unconscious brain activity, we are “biochemical puppets” (Nahmias). Through experiments conducted by neuroscientists like Itzhak Fried, neural activity is shown to occur before a conscious decision is made. Fried concluded that this was a predetermined occurrence
In the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud proposed that dreams serve as a gateway between a dreamers’ conscious and his subconscious thoughts (Mccurdy, 1946). Many ideas and information were condensed into a single dream. The dream displaced important parts and insignificant parts of the dream to confuse the dreamer. Certain objects would be introduced into the dream to symbolize the embryonic substance of the dream (Sprengnether, 2003). The dreamer would then comprehend the dream, thus generating the content of th...
Vithoulkas, George, and D. F. Muresanu. "Conscience and Consciousness: A Definition.” Journal of Medicine & Life 7.1 (2014): 104-08. Print.
“I became restless and was afraid to sleep for fear that my suppressed thoughts would appear in my dreams” (70).
The book of Psalms is one of the most useful books all throughout the Biblical text. It is not just a book of stories or law but personal praises, laments, and the deepest cries of the soul to the one true King: Yahweh. The Psalter is “the most reliable theological, pastoral, and liturgical resource given us in the biblical tradition” (pp. 1). These psalms pave a path for practical faith in the world today. Author, theologian, and teacher, Walter Brueggemann, goes into depth on the psalms of orientation, disorientation, and new orientation to discuss that through the unexpected high and low seasons of life one can turn to the Psalms for authentic conversation with God.
After doing a little research I have come across a very interesting topic which is Fear-Induced Hallucination. What this paper is going to focus on is How Sleep Paralysis Triggers Hallucination. After researching, I learned that hallucination actually starts during an episode of sleep paralysis. As stated in the textbook, sleep paralysis is often compared to being an evils work of art. It results from some errors of the neural transmission in the brain during REM sleep. Also, during a frightening state of sleep paralysis, one experiences total body immobility and cannot speak or move besides little eye movements and respiration.
Psychophysics is the study of the correspondence between physical stimulation and psychological experience. This means that psychophysics is the relationship between how loud, sweet, bright, etc; a stimulus inducing action must be before it creates a mental note that something is different. For example, how loud must an alarm clock be before it awakens a person? To better understand psychophysics and how they are measured, a look must be taken at some of the key contributors to its creation.
Renner, T., Feldman, R., Majors, M., Morrissey, J., & Mae, L. (2011). States of Consciousness. Psychsmart (pp. 99-107). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Approximately three percent of the population of the U.S has said they have, in fact experienced a near death experience or NDE. While being involved in a near death experience there are reports that consist of involving one or more of the following: having an awareness of being dead, having an out of body experiences, feelings of euphoria, seeing a tunnel of light, and meeting deceased people.
Sigmund Freud’s theories on the construction of the mind are simple, but fundamentally changed the field of psychology. He proposed, among other things, that the human mind is composed of three parts: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The preconscious consists of information, such as a telephone number, that is “accessible to consciousness without emotional resistance” (Schellenberg 21). In Freud’s estimation, the unconscious is the most important area of the mind. The information stored within it has “very strong resistances” to becoming conscious (Freud 32). Residing in the unconscious is the id, which “contains everything…that is present at birth… – above all, therefore, the instincts which originate from somatic organization” (14). From birth, all action is instinctual, from the id. The id recognizes and entertains no desires but its own and is impatient to have its needs met. This phase lasts until a part of the id changes “under the influence of the real external world” (14). This changed portion b...
How has perception of consciousness developed overtime and in recent time with the rapid increase in
Cartwright, R.D. (1978) A primer on Sleep and Dreaming. Massachusetts : Addison - Wesley, Publishing, Company
The rest was a blur. I felt nothing. It was just as if I was asleep. I
“Consciousness is defined as everything of which we are aware at any given time - our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions of the external environment. Physiological researchers have returned to the study of consciousness, in examining physiological rhythms, sleep, and altered states of consciousness (changes in awareness produced by sleep, meditation, hypnosis, and drugs)” (Wood, 2011, 169). There are five levels of consciousness; Conscious (sensing, perceiving, and choosing), Preconscious (memories that we can access), Unconscious ( memories that we can not access), Non-conscious ( bodily functions without sensation), and Subconscious ( “inner child,” self image formed in early childhood).
In terms of the unconscious and conscious, Freud situates these conceptions in a topographic model of the mind. He divided it into two systems called the unconscious and the preconscious. Their knowledge in the unconscious system is repressed and unavailable to consciousness without overcoming resistances (e.g., defense mechanisms). Thereby, the repression does not allow unconscious knowledge to be completely aware; rather, it is construed by means of concealing and compromise, but only interpretable through its derivatives dream and parapraxes that overcome resistance by means of disguise and compromise. Within the preconscious system, the contents could be accessible, although only a small portion at any given moment. Unconscious thought is characterized by primary process thinking that lacks negation or logical connections and favors the over-inclusions and 'just-as' relationships evident in condensed dream images and displacements. Freud asserted that primary process of thinking was phylogenetically, and continues to be ontogenetically, prior to secondary process or logical thought, acquired later in childhood and familiar to us in our waking life (1900, 1915a).