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Consciousness means Awareness and it
varies….
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Overview The rhythms of sleep Exploring the dream world Consciousness-altering drugs
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The Rhythms of Sleep
Stage 1. Feel self drifting on the edge of consciousness
Stage 2. Minor noises won’t disturb you
Stage 3. Breathing and pulse have slowed down
Stage 4. Deep sleep
REM. Increased eye movement, loss of muscle tone, dreaming
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Typical night’s sleep for a young adult
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Your turn
Early in the evening, Joey’s parents find him walking around. They try to wake him, but he does not seem to respond. What kind of sleep is Joey in? 1. REM sleep 2. Fast-wave sleep (Stages 1 and 2) 3. Slow-wave sleep (Stages 3 and 4)
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Your turn
Early in the evening, Joey’s parents find him walking around. They try to wake him, but he does not seem to respond. What kind of sleep is Joey in? 1. REM sleep 2. Fast-wave sleep (Stages 1 and 2) 3. Slow-wave sleep (Stages 3 and 4)
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Why we sleep
The exact function of sleep is uncertain but sleep appears to provide time for the body to carry out important functions. To eliminate waste products from muscles To repair cells To strengthen the immune system To recover abilities lost during the day
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Mental benefits of sleep Sleep helps to improve memory by contributing to consolidation in which synaptic changes associated with recently stored memories become durable and stable.
Improvements in memory have been associated with REM sleep and slow-wave sleep (stages 3 and 4), and with memory for specific motor and perceptual skills.
Sleep disorders
Sleep deprivation leads to decreases in physical and mental functioning.
Sleep apnea Breathing briefly stops during sleep, causing the person to choke and gasp and momentarily waken. Narcolepsy Sudden and unpredictable daytime attacks of sleepiness or lapses into REM sleep Staying up late and not allowing oneself enough sleep 2/3 of Americans get fewer than recommended 7-8 hours
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Dream Survey
What is your experience?
1. Do you typically remember your dreams?
A. Yes B. No
What is your experience?
2. Have you ever died in a dream?
A. Yes B. No
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What is your experience?
3. Do you have (or have you ever) had a recurring dream? When?
A. Yes B. No
What is your experience?
4. Have you ever dreamed about doing something impossible (e.g., flying, playing music even though you can’t)?
A. Yes B. No
What is your experience?
5. Have you ever had a dream in which one person transformed into another?
A. Yes B. No
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What is your experience?
6. Do your dreams often contain inconsistencies?
A. Yes B. No
What is your experience?
7. Have you ever dreamed about a sexual experience?
A. Yes B. No
What is your experience?
8. Have you ever dreamed about being attacked or pursued?
A. Yes B. No
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What is your experience?
9. Have you ever dreamed about arriving too late for something important?
A. Yes B. No
Dreams as unconscious wishes
Freud concluded that dreams might provide insight into our unconscious.
Manifest content includes aspects of the dream we consciously experience. Latent content includes unconscious wishes and thoughts symbolized in the dream. To understand a dream we must distinguish manifest from latent content.
Exploring the Dream World Every culture has its theories about dreams.
Everyone dreams; except in rare cases.
Why do we dream? Why doesn’t the brain just rest? Evaluating 4 theories.
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Dreams as unconscious wishes Freud concluded that dreams might provide insight into our unconscious.
Manifest content includes aspects of the dream we consciously experience. Latent content includes unconscious wishes and thoughts symbolized in the dream.
To understand a dream we must distinguish manifest from latent content.
Not everything in dreams is symbolic “Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar!”
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But even Freud said, not everything in dreams is symbolic…
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Dreams as reflections of current concerns Dreams may reflect ongoing conscious issues such as concerns over relationships, work, sex, or health.
Dreams are more likely to contain material related to a person’s current concerns than chance would predict. Example: college students and testing
Males and females appear to dream about similar issues now that lives and concerns of the two sexes have become more similar.
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Dreams as thinking Dreaming is the same kind of activity we engage in when we are awake.
The difference is that the cerebral cortex is cut off from external stimulation.
Predicts that if we were awake, but cut off from external stimulation, our thoughts would have the same more hallucinatory quality we experience in dreams! In sensory deprivation/isolation tanks they do!
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Dreams as interpreted brain activity
Activation-synthesis theory Dreaming results from the cortical synthesis and interpretation of neural signals triggered by totally random activity in the lower part of the brain (pons) while brain regions that handle logical thought and sensation from the external world are more shut down.
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Science of Dreaming Dreams usually involve familiar places and routine activities; frequently reflect ordinary ongoing concerns over relationships, work, sex, or health.
Dreams are more likely to contain material related to a person’s current concerns than chance would predict. Example: college students and testing
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Consciousness-Altering Drugs!Hasidic Jewish men dancing to a state of religious
ecstasy in Jerusalem; the euphoric goal of of Lakota (Sioux Native American) sweat lodges in South Dakota, hallucinogenic use by shamans-in-training in the Amazon jungle…..all are aimed at the release of ordinary consciousness.
Because attempts to alter mood or consciousness appear to be universal, some researchers believe they reflect a basic human need, one as basic as the need for food or water.
Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from the
filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.”
- (William James, “The father of psychology”, 1842-1910, after inhaling nitrous oxide)
Classifying drugs Psychoactive drug Substance capable of influencing perception, mood, cognition, or behavior
Types 1. Stimulants- speed up activity in the CNS-
2. Depressants -slow down activity in the CNS.
3. Opiates -relieve pain.
4. Psychedelics- disrupt normal thought processes, such as the perception of time and space
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Physiology of drug effects Psychoactive drugs work by acting on neurotransmitters. They can. . . Increase or decrease the release of neurotransmitters
Prevent the re-absorption of excess neurotransmitters by the cells that release them
Block the effects of neurotransmitters on receiving cells
Bind to receptors that would ordinarily be triggered by a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator
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Cocaine’s effect on the brain
Blocks the brain’s reuptake of dopamine and norepinephrine, raising levels of these neurotransmitters. Results in over-stimulation of certain brain circuits and a brief euphoric high
When drug wears off, depletion of dopamine may cause user to “crash.”
Re-Read and Review Chapter 4 on Neuron communication and neurotransmitters for Class on November 3
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Psychology of drug effects Reactions to psychoactive drugs depend on several factors. 1. Individual- Physical factors such as body weight, metabolism, emotional arousal, and physical tolerance
2. Experience-The number of times a person has used a drug
3. Environmental factors such as where and with whom one uses a drug
4. Mental set or expectations of a drug’s effects. Some drink to feel sociable, some to reduce anxiety, some to have an “excuse” to be violent or seductive.
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Psychology of drug effects
Expectations can sometimes even have a more powerful effect than the chemical properties of the drug itself!
The “think-drink” effect studies p.181
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Expectations and beliefs about drugs are shaped by the culture in which you live!
In the 19th century, Americans regarded marijuana as a mild sedative, they did not expect it to get them high and it didn’t. It merely put them to sleep.
That changed in the 1930’s…scare tactics are still used…. ”
In the 1920’s cocaine was advertised as the “cure for everything.”
Psychology of drug effects This does not mean drugs are only placebos, they can have very powerful effects! But understanding the psychological and sociocultural factors can help us think critically about the both the national drug debate & Increasing pharmaceutical advertising!
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The Drug Debate
Drug USE can turn in to drug ABUSE. Because the consequences of drug abuse can lead to addiction be so devastating people and their families we often have trouble thinking critically about drugs and our arguments and stances can become overly emotional.
At one extreme, some people refuse to accept that their favorite drugs may have some harmful effects. At the other extreme, some people refuse to accept that their most hated or feared drug may not be harmful psychologically for all people, in all amounts, in all settings. Or, with our stance on “positive psychology” that it may even have benefits worth the risks for some people is some situations!
Where do YOU Stand? Examine the evidence. Think Critically.
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1. Consider culture in the film segments, contemporary indigenous
Peruvian Andes, and young adult Americans in Baltimore.
2. Watch for the governmental scare tactic ads about ecstasy (MDMA) in
the second part of the (otherwise pretty good!) National Geographic
Film Taboo…1
Notice the scare tactic ads about ecstasy in the (otherwise excellent) National Geographic Film Taboo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZEET3i9O8 • Studies done at this time, about the harmful brain effects of
ecstasy were discredited in 2003, even retracted by the prestigious journal Science for major methodological errors.
• What factors, cultural or otherwise, may have contributed to the “ecstasy scare’” Why did so many people seek to demonstrate that ecstasy was harmful…or claim that it was before evidence was available? Why did even scientists make such major errors?
• In what sense could the rave culture and use of ecstasy (MDMA) have been a cultural “rite of passage” for some young adults? Or their seeking of a rite of passage? Could this quest be successful? Who would be the contemporary “Shaman”? A DJ? Perhaps a Psychotherapist?
