CONSCIOUSNESS AND UNCONSCIOUSNESS IN PSYCHOLOGY

CONSCIOUSNESS AND UNCONSCIOUSNESS IN PSYCHOLOGY

Consciousness  refers  to different  levels of awareness  of one’s thoughts and  feelings. It may include  creating images in one’s mind,  following one’s thought processes, or having unique emotional experiences.

      The continuum  of consciousness  refers to a wide  range of experiences, from  being acutely aware and alert  to being totally unaware and unresponsive.

1. A problem with cell phones is we have the ability to focus all of our attention  on only one thing, which is an example of controlled processes. CONTROLLED PROCESSES  are activities that require full awareness, alertness, and concentration to reach some goal. The focused attention required in carrying out controlled processes usually interferes with the execution of other ongoing activities.
2. Automatic Processes : man’s attention is focused primarily on reading an important report, he is almost automatically eating the apple; this is an example of an automatic process. AUTOMATIC  PROCESSES are activities that require little awareness, take minimal attention, and do not interfere with other ongoing activities.
3. Daydreaming is an activity that requires a low level of awareness, often occurs during automatic processes, and involves fantasizing or dreaming while awake.
4. Altered States : Over 3,000 years ago, Egyptians brewed alcohol to reach altered states of consciousness (Samuel, 1996). ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS  result from using any number of procedures—such as meditation, psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, or sleep deprivation—to produce an awareness that differs from normal consciousness.
5. Sleep and Dreams : We enter an altered state of consciousness every night when we go to sleep.

    SLEEP  consists of five different stages that involve different levels of awareness, consciousness, and responsiveness, as well as different levels of physiological arousal. The deepest state of sleep borders on unconsciousness.

       DREAMING  is a unique state of consciousness in which we are asleep but experience a variety of astonishing visual, auditory, and tactile images, often connected in strange ways and often in color. People blind from birth have only auditory or tactile dreams.

6. Unconscious and Implicit Memory : According to Freud’s theory, when we are faced with very threatening wishes or desires, especially if they are sexual or aggressive, we automatically defend our self-esteem by placing these psychologically threatening thoughts into a mental place of which we are not aware, called the  unconscious. We cannot voluntarily recall unconscious thoughts or images.

      Freud’s theory of the unconscious is a new concept developed by cognitive neuroscientists called implicit or nondeclarative memory (Frensch & Runger, 2003).    

       Implicit  or nondeclarative  memory means learning without awareness, such as occurs in emotional situations or in acquiring habits. We are unaware of such learning, which can influence our conscious feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.

7. Unconsciousness : If you have ever fainted,   gotten general anesthesia, or been knocked out from a blow to the head, you have experienced being unconscious or unconsciousness. UNCONSCIOUSNESS,  which can result from disease, trauma, a blow to the head, or general medical anesthesia, results in total lack of sensory awareness and complete loss of responsiveness to one’s environment.