Consciousness is considered to be a state of awareness, in which we are able to observe external events and internal sensations, which can occur under conditions of arousal. (King, 2014) In other words, consciousness is awareness or perception of some stimuli. There are levels of consciousness, which I will discuss, and there is the topic of “stream of consciousness”, which I will cover in a later paragraph. One state of consciousness is higher-level consciousness, which is characterized by a higher level of alertness and attention, what is known as the “executive function”, or the ability to plan, focus on a goal, and engage in problem solving activities, and a controlled form of mental processing. (King, 2014) On the other hand, there is …show more content…
Stream of consciousness is most simply defined as the flow of thoughts in our conscious mind. The range of thoughts we have, that we are aware of, form the “stream”, and can be any conscious thought we have. There are five characteristics that classify “thought”, according to James in his work on “stream of thought”. One is that every thought tends to be a part of personal consciousness, two is that each personal consciousness is forever changing, three is that within each personal consciousness, thought is sensibly continuous, four is that thought appears to deal with objects independent of itself, and five, that thought is interested in some parts of objects to the exclusion of others, and can choose one from another at the same time. (James, 1890) Then, there are the four characteristics of consciousness. One is that every state tends to be a part of personal consciousness, two is that personal consciousness states are always changing, three is that each personal state is sensibly continuous, and four, consciousness can be interested in some objects and not others, while choosing which to focus on. (James, 1892) Sound familiar? The characteristics of thought and consciousness are similar, if not the same, and state the basics of what consciousness is and how it is …show more content…
Such words as 'chain ' or 'train ' do not describe it fitly as it presents itself in the first instance. It is nothing jointed; it flows. A 'river ' or a 'stream ' are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described”. Conscious thought consists of “substantive” and “transitive” states of mind. Substantive is a resting-place for our thoughts, while transitive is where thoughts “take flight”. The object on the mind, has a “fringe” or the first instantaneous glimpse of someone or somethings meaning. Before the mind can decide what to make of something, and often many things at a time, it is on the “fringe”. With little data to interpret what we are observing, our minds make only what they can from what has already been given. These are the many topics of our stream of consciousness, so famously described by James. The brain has the ability to form many conscious thoughts, but to understand them all, and the many levels of consciousness we experience, takes effort itself. Most amazingly, we have control of our thought process and consciousness (for the most part), and our brains are constantly making use of its ability to focus and think, in order to
Chapter 4 discusses the several states of consciousness: the nature of consciousness, sleep and dreams, psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, and meditation. Consciousness is a crucial part of human experience, it represents that private inner mind where we think, feel, plan, wish, pray, omagine, and quietly relive experiences. William James described the mind as a stream of consciousness, a continuous flow of changing sensations, images thoughts, and feelings. Consciousness has two major parts: awareness and arousal. Awareness includes the awareness of the self and thoughts about one's experiences. Arousal is the physiological state of being engaged with the environment. Theory of mind refers to individuals understanding that they and others think,
As there are many different schools of Buddhism, each with different principles, there are also many different views on consciousness. First, we'll turn to the "Consciousness-Only School" also known as Yogacara Buddhism. According to the Consciousness-Only school there are eight parts of the consciousness. The five sense-consciousnesses, those related to the senses. There is the sixth consciousness, called the sense-center consciousness, that which forms our conceptions. The seventh is called the thought-center, the consciousness related to will and reasoning. And the eighth consciousness, called the storehouse consciousness. The storehouse consciousness basically "stores" our past experiences. The consciousness are in a constant state of change, the seed is constantly being influenced by the inward flow of perceptions, and the seed itself influences the perceptions (Chan 371). This train of thought is most similar to the existing model of cognition and memory encoding.
... cognitive acts, more generally, any mental acts, are not isolated particulars, coming or going in the stream of consciousness without any interconnections. As they are ESSENTIALLY related to one another, they display a teleological coherence and corresponding connections ... And on these connections, which present an intelligible unity a great deal depends.
Objects that are conveyed by the senses are such as “hard,” “red,” “loud,” and the like. Some are combinations of more than one simple idea derived from more than one sensory input. In the case of “fast,” the speed of something can both be derived from seeing motion as well as feeling motion. Objects conveyed by the operations of the mind are such a...
The original source of the concept of consciousness is considered to come from the English Philosopher John Locke who perceived the term to be “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind” (Locke 1690). The challenge of defining the term is even considered daunting as it is still found to be difficult in giving a specific definition. Although, most psychologists appreciate that there is a basic broad understanding of the term, that being: the general awareness of an individual whilst awake. There has not yet been an ultimate and concluding definition. This is demonstrated by Francis Crick and Christoff Koch (as cited in Güzeldere, 1997) who stated ‘they need not provide a precise definition of consciousness since everyone has a rough idea of what is meant by consciousness', this was written in 1990, a far more recent indication of consciousness still being free from complete human understanding, even the greatest minds have struggled with Sigmund Freud (as cited in Güzeldere, 1997) declaring “What is meant by consciousness we need not discuss; it is beyond all doubt.”
Others consider Consciousness a simply state of being, of existence, triggered by some mechanical patterns which developed through Evolution, while some people think Consciousness is the subjective experience of one individual, a more philosophic approach where one is aware of himself, his existence, his identity, his moralities and the role he has in this world.
I will commence by defining what makes a mental state conscious. This will be done aiming to distinguish what type of state we are addressing when we speak of a mental phenomenon and how is it, that can have a plausible explanation. By taking this first approach, we are able to build a base for our main argument to be clear enough and so that we can remain committed to.
How does an author paint a vivid picture of a character’s thoughts? Stream of consciousness, an elaborate, somewhat complicated technique of writing, is a successful method of getting inside of a character’s head. It is not only seeing their actions and environment, it is also understanding their entire thought process through what seems to be a chain reaction.
Renner, T., Feldman, R., Majors, M., Morrissey, J., & Mae, L. (2011). States of Consciousness. Psychsmart (pp. 99-107). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Stream of consciousness is when writing is written to mimic the thoughts, feelings, and reactions of the characters in a continuous flow. It can be seen in the short and long sentences in the passage, such as the rhetorical questions Milkman asks himself. He asks himself questions form “So?” to “Standing?” and even to “And how did I forget that?”. These are showing the thought process that Milkman took to remember how he got his name. The rhetorical questions show how Milkman is coping with the new information he has about his mother. It is this stream of consciousness that helps the reader understand who Milkman is by the reader following his chain of
Let the stream begin. Some body, some things, life and me, communicated the idea to talk now, not to leave it, to stay, and face up to the past, the places, the people, the pain, the many reasons why I left my home and family, all those years ago, to become a drug addict, an alcoholic, a wanderer, move nomadically from house to house, year to year, to live inside a prison, real and imaginary. I met hell. I met the devil. I met them both inside my head. I found out the hard way that humans could easily imagine evil. The path forward comes from the push to write and to deal. Yes, I felt happy in between the miserable spaces. My family helped me to survive and still do now, even more so than before. Without them, I would not exist, for in the darkest moments I realised that they kept me breathing. I want the virtual picket fence, ideal partner, children and career. They may or may not eventuate. Now as I regroup, look upon me with sober, straight and clear eyes, I can have anything. I walk to a lake, to sense nature, to allow the anxiety to live on these pages, to take shape, and mould into a form that speaks atonement.
One explain dual processing as of cognitive neuroscience's attempts to explain consciousness says that conscious experiences are produced by the synchronized activity in the brain.A stronger stimuli engages other brain areas, while a weak stimuli may only trigger a short visual cortex activity. Cognitive neuroscience explains dual processing as the idea that our brain includes a conscious cognitive process but also an unconscious automtic process we are not as aware of. One example of when my mind went on autopilot is when I play guitar. When I have piece completely memorized, and my hand has grown accustumed to the sequence of notes, my hand automatically plays the notes without me consciously thinking about it. Another example is when I
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.
How has perception of consciousness developed overtime and in recent time with the rapid increase in
“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).