5.2 altered states of consciousness Flashcards
female students dreams
tended to dream about failing
losing control and menacing animals
(negative things)
male students dreams
having supernatural powers
meeting aliens
(positive dreams)
less fear based than student females dreams
why do we dream?
sigmund freud (1st idea of dreams)
dreams as wish-fulfillment
(two main categories of goals we desire are sexuality and aggression)
we are not able to express these desires most of our lives, freud says dreaming allows us to let of steam which reality doesn’t allow us to express
dreams as wish-fulfillment
if true the content of our dreams provide us with insight with what we want deep down inside of our conscious minds
(two main categories of goals we desire are sexuality and aggression-according to freud)
manifest content
latent content
dream work
manifest content
the actual images and experiences we have while dreaming
(that we would like to happen)
manifest content matches the wish you would enjoy fulfilling
latent content
the true meaning of our dreams - our deep unconscious desires - lying at the root of the symbols that form the manifest content of our dreams
dream work
a psychoanalysis technique in which the client records their dreams and the analyst tries to interpret their true meaning
interpretation of dreams flowchart
one of the many criticisms is that freudian dream analysis is inherently gender biased and overly focused on childhood experiences
(appeals to common sense a lot-no scientific way to prove the content of the dream is what freud claims it means)
there could be more than one interpretation
psychoanalysis is now considered
pseudoscience
the activation-synthesis hypothesis
(most excepted theory-dreaming serves no purpose at all)
while we sleep and particularly during the REM stage of sleep the pons in our brain stem sends random bursts of neural activity up to the rest of the brain this activity causes rapid eye movements and stimulates the visual auditory and other centres of the brain that we rely on to experience real world sensations, as a result the activity causes us to have detailed sensory experiences even without any actual sensory inputs. that is the activation part of the process, the synthesis part comes from higher parts of the brain, probably our frontal lobes,organizing the sensory experiences activated by the pons into a coherent story, which can be difficult given the randomness of the activity that the pons generates, sometimes the more sophisticated parts of our brains succeed in putting things together in a dream that isn’t to absurd and has sort of a sensible structure, but other times the synthesis fails and results in dreams that are chaotic
the activation-synthesis hypothesis
support for the theory comes from evidence that:
- the pons produces bursts of activity that result in the characteristic features of REM sleep
- the pons connects with precisely the brain areas that provide us with visual, auditory and tactile sensations
- the majority of dreams occur during the REM stage of sleep, which is also when the pons is most active
problem solving theory of dreaming
perhaps dreams provide a way to work through life problems?
(however there is no definitive explanation for what dreaming is for
disorders of consciousness
brain death coma persistent vegetative state minimally conscious state locked in state
brain death
a condition in which no part of the brain is functional, but life support machines may keep vital organs going (eg. heart and lungs)
Coma
the brain still functions somewhat, but the person still remains unconscious and unaware of their surroundings
persistent vegetative state
the persons conscious awareness ranges from none to minimal, but they remain almost completely unaware of themselves or their surroundings
(usually involves functional brain stain, but major damage to higher brain areas)
a person who has remained in a persistent vegetative state for more than 3 months are in a permanent vegetative state. any recovery of brain function is exceedingly rare after this amount of time
minimally-conscious state (MCS)
patients occasionally exhibit actions that suggest some minimal awareness
(may sometimes be able to answer yes/no questions, perform actions on request, or express emotional reactions)
locked-in state
the person is very aware of their surroundings, yet are unable to do anything that would make them appear conscious to others
seems to arise from damage to the pons
hypnosis
a set of procedures causes people to transition into a state of high suggestibility
hypnosis occurs because of a context that a hypnosis creates
(It is not magic of special powers)
the hypnotist simply creates a situation that encourages a person to alter their state of consciousness and give their free will and their perceptions of the world over to suggestions made by the hypnotist
some people are easier to hypnotize than others
types of hypnotic suggestions
ideomotor suggestions
challenge suggestions
cognitive perceptual suggestions
ideomotor suggestions
suggestions about physical actions
challenge suggestions
suggestions about actions that cannot be performed
ex. cannot lower their arms or say their names
cognitive perceptual-suggestions
suggestions to forget of remember something or suggestions that alter their perceptions of reality
(hypnotherapy programs to help people stop smoking seek to convince people that they dont like or crave smoking)
two processing systems
- unconscious processing system
2. executive processing system
unconscious processing system
or hidden observer
contains our unconscious thoughts and guides our behaviours without the involvement of our conscious mind
executive processing system
the part of our conscious mind that maintains our awareness of events, reflects critically about the current situation, and plans and initiates our actions
dissociation theory of hypnosis
hypnosis severs the link b/w the hidden observer that reside in the unconscious processing system and replaces it with the suggestions of the hypnotist
social cognitive theory of hypnosis
the hypnotist creates expectations that the executive processing system of the hypnotized person incorporates into the conscious experience of events and into the planning and initiation of behaviours
evidence: response expectancy
the hypnotized subjects expectation that the hypnosis will be effective. this is one of the main factors that determine whether a person can be successfully hypnotized
positive uses of hypnotherapy:
in combination with other treatments, hypnosis can be effective for treating: depression anxiety eating disorders addictions phobia acute pain
a problem with hypnotherapy
hypnosis is a poor method of retrieving details about past life experiences
heightened suggestibility makes it quite likely that the hypnotized person will create detailed memories for events that never actually happened to them
the case of nadean cool-nadean went to therapy to seek help, the hypnotist used hypnosis to dig out old memories and she started telling stories of eating babies, being in the satanic cult. he planted false memories in her
people end up in prison for memories that never actually happened
hypnosis is very dangerous
they can rewrite memories from their own childhood
or change their beliefs
part of hypnosis is giving up ones free will to the suggestions made by someone else
meditation
is an altered state of consciousness that is much more personal the goal is to achieve a heightened state or awareness through developing a more calm internal state, exercising control over one’s thoughts and feelings, and to develop a better understanding of oneself
focused-attention (FA) meditation
open-monitoring (OM) meditation
focused-attention (FA) meditation
involves focusing attention on a single external or internal object, such as breathing or the ticking of clock, or a candle
open-monitoring (OM) meditation
starts with training in focused attention meditation and proceeds to learning to attend to internal and external experiences in the moment without focusing on/judging any one aspect
advantages of meditation
improves emotional and behavioural control
reduces personal anxieties about the pasta and future
helps people who struggle with serious cases of depression, anxiety, and chronic pain
dreaming
feels like real experiences
content of our dreams can differ considerably from one person to the next
females and males dream about different things
