Consciousness unit Flashcards
Consciousness
Is a person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind.
Phenomenology
The study of how things seem to the conscious person.
Problem of other minds
The fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others.
Mind-body problem
The issue of how the mind is related to the brain and body.
Consciousness four basic properties
Intentionality
Unity
Selectivity
Transience
Intentionality
Which is the quality of being directed towards an object. Consciousness is always about something.
Unity
Which is resistance to division, or the ability to integrate information from all of the body’s senses into one coherent whole
Selectivity
The capacity to include some objects but not others.
Transience
The tendency to change.
Dichotic listening
A task in which people wearing headphones hear different messages in each ear
Cocktail-party phenomenon
A phenomenon in which people tune in one message even while they filter out others nearby.
Minimal consciousness
A low level kind of sensory awareness and responsiveness that occurs when the mind inputs sensations and may output behaviour.
Full consciousness
A level of consciousness in which you know and are able to report your mental state
Self-consciousness
A distinct level of consciousness in which the person’s attention is drawn to the self as an object.
Mental control
The attempt to change conscious states of mind.
Thought suppression
The conscious avoidance of a thought.
Rebound effect of thought suppression
The tendency of a thought to return to consciousness with greater frequency following suppression.
Ironic processes of mental control
A mental process that can produce ironic errors because monitoring for errors can itself produce them.
Dynamic unconscious
Sigmund freud
An active system encompassing a lifetime of hidden memories, the person’s deepest instincts and desires, and the person’s inner struggle to control these forces.
Repression
A mental process that removes unacceptable thoughts and memories from consciousness and keeps them in the unconscious.
Freud
cognitive unconscious
All the mental processes that give rise to a person’s thoughts, choices, emotions, and behaviour even though they are not experienced by the person.
dual process theories
Theories that suggest that we have two different systems in our brains for processing information: one dedicated to fast, automatic, and unconscious processing, and the other dedicated to slow, effortful, and conscious processing.
Altered state of consciousness
A form of experience that departs significantly from the normal subjective experience of the world and the mind.
Circadian rhythm
A naturally occurring 24-hour cycle.
REM sleep
A stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements and a high level of brain activity.
Electrooculograph (EOG)
An instrument that measures eye movements.
insomnia
Difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep.
sleep apnea
A disorder in which the person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep.
somnambulism (sleepwalking)
Occurs when a person arises and walks around while asleep.
narcolepsy
A disorder in which sudden sleep attacks occur in the middle of waking activities.
sleep paralysis
The experience of waking up unable to move.
sleep terrors (night terrors)
Abrupt awakenings with panic and intense emotional arousal.
manifest content
A dream’s apparent topic or superficial meaning.
latent content
A dream’s true underlying meaning.
activation-synthesis model
The theory that dreams are produced when the brain attempts to make sense of random neural activity that occurs during sleep.
psychoactive drugs
Chemicals that influence consciousness or behaviour by altering the brain’s chemical message system.
drug tolerance
The tendency for larger doses of a drug to be required over time to achieve the same effect.
Physical dependence
refers to the pain, convulsions, hallucinations, or other unpleasant symptoms that accompany withdrawal from drug use.
Psychological dependence
refers to a strong desire to return to the drug even when physical withdrawal symptoms are gone.
Depressants
are substances that reduce the activity of the central nervous system.
Alcohol
is king of the depressants, with its worldwide use beginning in prehistory.
Expectancy theory
refers to the idea that alcohol effects can be produced by people’s expectations of how alcohol will influence them in particular situations
Balanced placebo design:
a study designed in which behviour is observed following the presence or absence of an actual stimulus and also following the presence or absence of a placebo stimulus
stimulants
Substances that excite the central nervous system, heightening arousal and activity levels.
alcohol myopia
A condition that results when alcohol hampers attention, leading people to respond in simple ways to complex situations.
narcotics (opiates)
Highly addictive drugs derived from opium that relieve pain.
hallucinogens
Drugs that alter sensation and perception and often cause visual and auditory hallucinations.
marijuana (cannabis)
The leaves and buds of the hemp plant, which contain a psychoactive drug called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
gateway drug
A drug whose use increases the risk of the subsequent use of more harmful
drugs.
hypnosis
A social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) makes suggestions that lead to a change in another person’s (the participant’s) subjective experience of the world.
posthypnotic amnesia
The failure to retrieve memories following hypnotic suggestions to forget.
hypnotic analgesia
The reduction of pain through hypnosis in people who are susceptible to hypnosis.
