【Psychology and Life】Chapter 05 — Main Points
* All the following abstractions are excerpted from <Psychology and Life>, Richard J. Gerrig & Philip G. Zimbardo, 19th edition
Chapter 05 — Mind, Consciousness, and Alternate States.
— The Contents of Consciousness
Consciousness is an awareness of the mind’s contents.
The contents of waking consciousness contrast with non conscious processes, preconscious memories, unattended information, the unconscious, and conscious awareness.
Research techniques such as think-aloud protocols and experience sampling are used to study the contents of consciousness.
— The Functions of Consciousness
Consciousness aids your survival and enables you to construct both personal and culturally shared realities.
Researchers have studied the relationship between conscious and unconscious processes.
— Sleep and Dreams
Circadian rhythms reflect the operation of a biological clock.
Patterns of brain activity change over the course of a night's sleep. REM sleep is signaled by rapid eye movements.
The amount of sleep and relative proportion of REM to NREM sleep change with age.
REM and NREM sleep serve different functions, including conservation and restoration.
Sleep disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea have a negative impact on people's ability to function during waking time.
Freud proposed that the content of dreams is unconscious material slipped by a sleeping censor.
In other cultures, dreams are interpreted regularly, often by people with special cultural roles.
Some dream theories have focused on biological explanations for the origins of dreams.
— Altered States of Consciousness
Lucid dreaming is an awareness that one is dreaming, in an attempt to control the dream.
Hypnosis is an alternate state of consciousness characterized by the ability of hypnotizable people to change perception, motivation, memory, and self-control in response to suggestions.
Meditation changes conscious functioning by ritual practices that focus attention away from external concerns to inner experience.
— Mind-Altering Drugs
Psychoactive drugs affect mental processes by temporarily changing consciousness as they modify nervous system activity.
Among psychoactive drugs that alter consciousness are hallucinogens, opiates, depressants, and stimulants.