1. States of Consciousness
Chapter 4
States of Consciousness
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Sleep and Dreams
Learning Outcomes
Summarize the stages of sleep
Explain REM sleep
Explain why we sleep and how much sleep is necessary
Differentiate the explanations of dreaming
State the impact of sleep disturbances
Explain circadian rhythms
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The Stages of Sleep
Consciousness: Awareness of the sensations, thoughts, and feelings being experienced at a given moment
Stage 1 sleep: transition between wakefulness and sleep; rapid, low-amplitude brain waves
Stage 2 sleep: deeper sleep; slower, more regular waves; includes momentary interruptions of sleep spindles
People progress through a series of distinct stages of sleep during a night’s rest – from consciousness through REM sleep, moving through the stages in cycles lasting about 90 minutes.
Each stage is associated with a unique pattern of brain waves. It is important to differentiate these stages.
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4. The Stages of Sleep (cont.)
Stage 3 sleep: slower brain waves; greater peaks and valleys in waves than stage 2
Stage 4 sleep: deepest stage, when we are least responsive to outside stimulation
Stages 1 through 4 are called non-REM, or NREM sleep.
There is good reason to believe that REM sleep plays a critical role in everyday human functioning. People deprived of REM sleep show a rebound effect when allowed to rest undisturbed. This means that REM-deprived sleepers spend significantly more time in REM sleep than they normally would.
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5. REM Sleep: The Paradox of Sleep
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: fifth stage of sleep, about 20% of sleep time
Increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing
Erections in males
Rapid back-and-forth eye movement
Major muscles appear to be paralyzed
Most dreams occur in REM, experienced (not necessarily remembered) by everyone
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6. Why Do We Sleep, and How Much Sleep Is Necessary?
Sleep is required for normal functioning, and ultimately for survival, but how much?
No set amount is required for everyone
Most people sleep between 7-8 hours per night, but there is much variability
Sleep is a requirement for normal human functioning, although, surprisingly, we don’t know exactly why. It’s reasonable to expect that our bodies require a tranquil “rest and relaxation” period to revitalize, and experiments with rats show that total sleep deprivation results in death.
Temporary sleep deprivation does not lead to permanent consequences, but it can lead to feeling edgy, slowed reaction times, lowered performance on academic & physical tasks, & impaired perception.
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7. The Function and Meaning of Dreaming
Unconscious wish fulfillment theory: dreams represent unconscious wishes of the dreamer (Freud)
Latent content of dreams
Manifest content of dreams
Sigmund Freud viewed dreams as a guide to the unconscious (Freud, 1900). In his unconscious wish fulfillment theory, he proposed that dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled. However, because these wishes are threatening to the dreamer’s conscious awareness, the actual wishes—called the latent content of dreams —are disguised. The true subject and meaning of a dream, then, may have little to do with its apparent story line, which Freud called the manifest content of dreams.
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8. The Function and Meaning of Dreaming (cont.)
Dreams-for-survival theory
Activation-synthesis theory
Dreams-for-survival theory The theory suggesting that dreams permit information that is critical for our daily survival to be reconsidered and reprocessed during sleep.
Activation-synthesis theory J. Allan Hobson’s theory that the brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep that stimulates memories lodged in various portions of the brain.
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9. Sleep Disturbances: Slumbering Problems
Insomnia
Sleep apnea
Night terrors
Narcolepsy
Sleepwalking and sleeptalking
Instructor’s Note: Many students believe that it is dangerous, even potentially fatal, to wake someone up while they are sleepwalking. This may be a good topic for discussion to dispel this myth.
At one time or another, almost all of us will have difficulty sleeping. Most often, the difficulty can be traced to a particular situation: stress at work, relationship issues, health issues. Sometimes, however, there’s no obvious cause.
Other sleep problems are health issues themselves, such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, etc. Situations such as these require monitoring by health professionals.
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10. Circadian Rhythms: Life Cycles
Biological processes that occur regularly on approximately a 24-hour cycle; from the Latin circa diem, “around the day”
Sleep/wake cycle
Bodily functions such as body temperature, hormone production, and blood pressure
Sleeping and waking occur naturally to the beat of an internal pacemaker that works on a cycle of about 24 hours. Several other bodily functions, such as body temperature, hormone production, and blood pressure, also follow circadian rhythms.
Circadian cycles are complex and they involve a variety of behaviors.
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11. Hypnosis and Meditation
Learning Outcomes
Define hypnosis
Describe the effects of meditation
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12. Hypnosis: A Trance-Forming Experience
Hypnosis: A trancelike state of heightened susceptibility to the suggestions of others
People do not lose all will of their own
People cannot be hypnotized against their will
More easily hypnotized if high ability to concentrate and become absorbed in what you are doing
Instructor Notes: You may wish to bring up the topic of repressed memories and accuracy of memories under hypnosis; see text on p. 138.
About 5 to 20% of the population cannot be hypnotized at all and about 15% are very easily hypnotized. Most people fall somewhere in between.
The ease with which a person is hypnotized is related to a number of other characteristics (a high ability to concentrate and to become completely absorbed in what they are doing).
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13. Meditation: Regulating Our Own State of Consciousness
Meditation: a learned technique for refocusing attention that brings about an altered state of consciousness
Repetition of a mantra to guide your focus
Oxygen usage decreases, heart rate and blood pressure decline, brain-wave patterns change
Means of bringing about deep relaxation
Practiced in many cultures
After meditation, people report feeling totally relaxed. The long-term practice of meditation may even improve health because of the biological changes it produces.
Anyone can meditate. Sit quietly in a room with eyes closed, breathing deeply and rhythmically, repeating a word or sound (such as the word one) over and over. Practiced daily for about 20 minutes, this technique is effective in bringing about relaxation.
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14. Drug Use: The Highs and Lows of Consciousness
Learning Outcomes
Explain the effects of stimulants
Explain the effects of depressants
Explain the effects of narcotics
Explain the effects of hallucinogens
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Drug Categories
Psychoactive drugs: influence a person’s emotions, perceptions, and behavior
Addictive drugs: produce a biological or psychological dependence; withdrawal leads to cravings that for some, may be nearly irresistible
Biological addiction
Psychological addiction
Drugs of one sort or another are a part of almost everyone’s life. From infancy on, most people take vitamins, aspirin, cold-relief medicine, and the like. However, these drugs rarely produce an altered state of consciousness.
If you have ever had a cup of coffee or sipped a beer, you have taken a psychoactive drug. A large number of individuals have used more potent (and dangerous) psychoactive drugs than coffee and beer.
The most dangerous drugs are addictive. Although we generally associate addiction with drugs such as heroin, everyday sorts of drugs such as caffeine and nicotine have addictive aspects as well.
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16. Stimulants: Drug Highs
Stimulants: drugs that have an arousal effect on the central nervous system, causing a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscular tension
Caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines (speed), methamphetamine, cocaine, crack
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17. Depressants: Drug Lows
Depressants: drugs that slow down the nervous system by causing neurons to fire more slowly
Alcohol, barbiturates, rohypnol (the “date rape drug”)
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18. Narcotics: Relieving Pain and Anxiety
Narcotics: drugs that increase relaxation and relieve pain and anxiety
Morphine, heroin
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19. Hallucinogens: Psychedelic Drugs
Hallucinogens: drugs that are capable of producing hallucinations (changes in the perceptual process)
Marijuana, MDMA (ecstasy), LSD (acid)
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