States of Consciousness Flashcards
(50 cards)
What is CON
CON is the awareness of objects and events in the external world and of our own existence and mental experiences at any given moment
4 common descriptions of CON is that it is
- selective
- personal
- continuous
- changing
CON is selective because
you can choose to attend to certain things and ignore other, in other words you can voluntarily shift your attention
CON is personal because
it is your subjective understanding of both your unique internal world and the external environment
CON is continuous because
there is never a time in the course of a typical day where your consciousness is ‘empty’
CON is changing because
new info continually comes into awareness, particularly while you are awake
Our state of CON is
the level of awareness of our internal state and external events, that determines how much info we take in and respond to
Normal Waking Consciousness (NWC) refers to
the states of CON associated with being awake and aware of our thoughts, memories, feelings, and the sensations we are experiencing from the outside world
Levels of awareness refers to
the varying degrees of awareness when we are awake
The continuum of states of CON go in the order starting from total awareness as
-Focused attention
-Normal Wakefulness
-daydreaming
-meditative state
-hypnotised
-asleep
-anaesthetised
-unconscious (coma)
complete lack of awareness
what is attention?
it is a concentration of mental activity that involves focusing on a specific stimuli while ignoring other stimuli
A controlled process involves
the processing of info that involves conscious, alert awareness and mental effort in which the individual actively focuses their attention on achieving a particular goal
Controlled processes are serial, meaning that
only one activity requiring a controlled process can usually be performed at a time
Content limitations refers to
info that we hold in our NWC is more restricted than the content of CON during an altered state
this is due to the fact that in NWC we can consciously block or ignore what we allow into our NWC
an automatic process requires
little conscious awareness and mental effort, minimal attention, and does not interfere with the performance of other activities
Automatic processes are usually parallel, meaning that
two or more automatic processes can be handled at once
Altered States of CON (ASC) describes
any state of CON that is distinctly different from NWC, in terms of levels of awareness and experience, and the intensity of sensations, perceptions, thoughts, feelings and memories that are experienced
ASC’s that occur naturally include
- sleep
- daydreaming
- dreaming
ASC’s that are purposely induced are
- meditation
- hypnosis
- alcohol consumption
- medications
- illegal drug abuse
Daydreaming is an ASC where
an individual shifts their attention from external stimuli to internal thoughts, feelings and imagined scenarios
EG of daydreaming
one could be involved in conversation with friends and suddenly become aware that their conversation is occurring in the background and they are thinking about what to buy their mum for mother’s day
The 5 characteristics of ASC’s are
- perceptual distortions
- cognitive distortions
- changes in emotional awareness
- self-control
- time orientation
The 2 effects that ASC’s have on perceptual distortions are
- makes senses more receptive to external stimuli
2. dulls sense to the such an extent that some sensations are not experienced at all
Eg of senses being more receptive to external stimuli in an ASC
a drug induced ASC making colours brighter, sounds louder, tastes and smells stronger
