constinta 2 Flashcards
freudian view
unconscious - things that we have actively suppressed
mind into different structure:
- id - unconscious
ego- pre-conscious
super ego - all levels of consciousness
what is the cognitive view
we have accepted that there is a division between consciousness and unconsciousness processing
but we have rejected ideas from Freud that unconsciousness is for repressed urges
consciousness and unconsciousness reflects different forms of information processing that goes on in the brain
what is the unconscious level
fast
automatic - little control we have over info processing
inflexible - habit based
what is the conscious level
info processing is slow
effortful
flexible
what is the role of the unconscious - subliminal perception
subliminal perception
over 6 week period in local cinema ppl were shown 2 images during a film
1 was message eat popcorn
1 was drink coca cola
shown very briefly every 5 seconds throughout the film
but they were still able to process those images
sales of popcorn rose by 57.7% and sales for coke rose 18.1%
but this study was fabricated
lab demonstration - subliminal priming
ppts shown 1 of 2 words extremely quickly
word followed by a masking stimulus
ppt is not able to consciously detect words
following the mask, a letter string is presented and ppts have to judge whether ie was a word or non word
ppl faster to make decision when first word was related to the letter string word
so brain is processing this initial item
mere exposure effect
our preferences for things can be due to exposure to that thing
ppts were shown non sense words
and chinese like symbols
ppts thought words were genuine
they had to say whether words denoted something positive or negative
the more the person was exposed to a particular word, the more likely they were to say that it denotes something positive
our preferences can be shaped by something outside of our conscious awareness like frequency of exposure
priming and social behaviour
priming can influence social behaviour
ppts thought their task was to unscramble sentences so that they make sense
these sentences were carefully constructed
some described rude/ polite/ neutral behaviour
interested in how these primes influence ppts subsequent behaviour
they stage a conversation between confederate and experimenter and found that ppl who were given rude primes were much more likely to interrupt the convo
another experiment of priming and social behaviour
unscramble sentences task
sentences describe characteristics associated with elderly or neutral things
experimenter measured walking speed after ppts left
those who were primed with elderly construct tended to walk more slowly
there are influences over our behaviour that we are not necessarily consciously aware of
BUT
controversy
failed replication of effect on walking speed
used infra red rather than using stop watch to record walking speed
increased sample size
unconscious influence on behaviour from blindsight
lesions to the visual cortex - they feel they are blind but they are still able to process items in the visual field
patient GY
decide whether an item had been presented in affected visual field and place a bet on it
patient GY correctly detected presentation of an item on 70% of trials but only placed modest bets
an unconscious level the brain is able to respond information that is presented to it but at the conscious level patient feels like they can’t see
what is function of consciousness
to bring about rational voluntary action ??
NO
ppl are aware of intending to move after the brain has started preparing our movement
so our brains know what we are gonna do before we do
so consciousness doesn’t play a cause in our actions
so what is it’s actual role
maybe consciousness is a by product of information processing but plays no causal role
but how can we talk about consciousness if it was an epiphenomenal
global workspace theory
maybe the function of consciousness is related to its effects on information processing
global workspace theory - consciousness has its effects by changing the way information is processed in brains
theatre metaphor of consciousness
unconscious process compete for access to the bright spotlight of consciousness
spotlight corresponds to attention
controlling attention controls what is currently conscious
once something is in conscious spotlight, that information can get broadcast to the rest of the brain - other parts of brain can work on that information
consciousness is having an effect of information processing
