AP Psychology - States of Consciousness

Consciousness

Awareness of external information (or just thinking).

Dualism

A philosophical belief that humans are made of two things: thought and matter.

Monoism

A philosophical belief that humans are only one substance, and that thought and matter are a result of the substance.

Mere Exposure Effect

A preference towards stimuli a person has seen prior.

Priming

A term describing how research participants respond more quickly to questions they have seen before, even if they do not remember seeing the question.

Blind Sight

When a blind person can accurately determine the path of a moving object despite being unable to see the object.

Levels of consciousness

A psychological concept that differentiates different thought processes into different types of consciousness. You can have multiple of these occurring at the same time.

Conscious level

A level of consciousness where you are aware of and thinking about the environment around you and information about yourself.

Non-conscious level

A level of consciousness that controls body processes that you are almost always or always unaware of, like your heartbeat, breathing and digestion.

Pre-conscious level.

A level of consciousness that includes information about you or your environment that you aren’t currently thinking about but that you could think about if prompted. For example, when you are studying, there are some terms that you remember the definition of only when seeing the term, and those terms are held in this level.

Sub-conscious level

A level of consciousness that contains information that must exist because it shows up in human behavior but that people aren’t consciously aware of. The mere exposure effect is an example of this, as a person reacts differently to the stimuli even though they don’t recall seeing it.

Unconscious level

A level of consciousness that contains thoughts that are repressed from the conscious mind, like trauma. This is commonly associated with psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud.

Sleep

A state of consciousness where you are less aware of your surroundings. You enter this state of consciousness while resting, and you need to enter this state (at least occasionally) to function.

Sleep Cycle

The typical pattern of sleep a person has. This includes fluctuating through different stages. This is analogous to someone’s circadian rhythm.

Sleep Stages

The different levels of sleep, that you move between while you are sleeping.

Sleep Onset

The stage between being awake and being asleep.

REM Sleep (or Paradoxical Sleep)

A stage of sleep where you experience similar brain activity as you would if you were awake. This is

Sleep Disorders

Chronically disordered sleep cycles that affect the amount of sleep a person receives.

Insomnia

The most common sleep disorder, which prevents a person from falling and/or staying asleep. This can be caused by things like drinking coffee (or tea) before bed. Medication is not usually recommended for this.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder that makes a person incredibly tired and can place them into (REM) sleep at random times. This can be fixed with medication.

Sleep Apnea

A sleep disorder that causes people to stop breathing occasionally at night. This prevents people with this from reaching deep sleep, as they are awoken too frequently to reach it. This creates drowsiness later on. People with this disorder are unaware that they are awoken, so this disorder frequently goes undiagnosed.

Night Terrors

Screaming, flailing, and(/or) intense fear during the night. This is most common in children, but adults can have it. The person exhibiting these symptoms is also unaware they are doing them, as they are asleep.

Sleep Walking (Somnambulism)

A person walking around when they are asleep. This is more common in children than adults.

Dreams

Storylike images people experience while asleep.

Freudian Dream Interpretation

One aspect of psychoanalysis that interprets dreams as a fulfillment of thoughts abandoned in the unconscious mind. This theory asserts two aspects of dreams: manifest content and latent content. Manifest content is the literal content of dreams, without interpretation. Latent content is the information from the unconscious mind that the dreams attempt to convey with the manifest content. This concept is unverifiable, so it is primarily used in pop psychology and psychoanalytic therapy today.

Activation-synthesis Dream Theory

A theory of dreaming that asserts that dreams are just interpretation of stimuli while asleep. This belief comes from brain scans, where people are known to have similar activity during REM sleep as to when they are awake (and people dream most frequently in REM sleep). Therefore, this theory claims that dreams are interpretation of stimuli similar to what you experience when awake because of similar brain activity between the two states.

Information-processing Dream Theory

A theory of dreaming that asserts that dreams focus on daily stressors and new events and allow them to be encoded into memory. One piece of evidence that supports this theory is that most people report dreams on topics that occurred during their day. Another piece of evidence is that lack of REM sleep (when people usually dream) is associated with poorer memory.

Psychoactive Drugs

Chemicals that change the state of the brain and produce an altered state of consciousness.

Blood-Brain Barrier

The thick walls that surround the brain and prevent harmful chemicals from entering the bloodstream.

Agonists

Drugs that mimic neurotransmitters and occupy and activate receptors.

Antagonists

Drugs that occupy receptors but do not activate them and prevent neurotransmitters from activating the cell.

Tolerance

A physiological change that makes someone need more of a drug to receive the same effect they did originally.

Withdrawal

Symptoms that appear (dependent on the drug) when someone does not receive a drug (or if they receive less than their tolerance).

Stimulants

A type of drug that speeds up body processes, like the heart and respiration rate. Some examples are cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, and amphetamines.

Depressants

A type of drug that slows down body processes, like the heart and respiration rate. Some examples are barbiturates, alcohol, and anxiolytics.

Hallucinogens (or psychedelics)

A type of drug that causes changes in perceptions of reality. This can be sensory hallucinations, loss of identity, and vivid fantasies. Some examples are peyote, mushrooms, LSD, weed, and psilocybin.

Opiates

A type of drug that relieves pain and elevates mood. This drug is an agonist for endorphins. This type of drugs is extremely addictive. Some examples are methadone, morphine, heroin, and codeine.

William James

Author of the first psychology textbook, who was enthralled by the states of consciousness and encouraged its research but was unable to study it due to lack of equipment at the time.