CONSCIOUSNESS

CONSCIOUSNESS

1. REFERS TO the awareness of an individuals own exsistense and mental activities (inc. thoughts, sensations and feelings) and of objects and events in the external world.

2. hypothetical & cannot be measured directly

3. - continuous & changing (never stops, contents blend in to one another) - subjective and personal (our perceptions of internal thoughts and incorporates our external enviro) -selective (choose to focus on some things)

4. NWC

   • we are aware of the variety of sensory inputs from the outside world & internal thoughts etc.
   • when awake

5. LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

   • state of focused attention
     • ordinary waking state
       • day dreaming
         • meditative
           • hypnotic
             • sleep
               • aneathetised
                 • unconscious (coma)

6. DIFFERENCES/EFFECTS

   • AWARENESS
     • aware of internal thoughts/processes & external stimuli
       • NWC
       • clear - individual can process sensory output to form an awareness or interna state and external stimuli
         • aware of thoughts - clear & meaningful, structured capable of analytical thinking
           • activly stores and retrieves info
             • aware, normal range of appropriate emotion
               • average sense of time
     • less aware of sensations and/or external stimuli
       • ASC
       • perceptual distortions may occur, senses, feelings & emotions can be stronger and more vivid. PAIN
         • loose touch with reality, information processing is distorted. illogical, non sequential and unable problem solving
           • continuity distrupted, gaps info hasnt been processed due to cognitive disruptions
             • heightened or lowered. emotionless, unpredictable
               • may over or under estimate / no sense (sleep) distorted
     • PERCEPTIONS
       • COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS
         • MEMORY
           • EMOTIONS
             • TIME

7. ATTENTION

   • enables us to focus on and be aware of some stimuli and ignore others
   • selective attention- focusing on certain stimuli to the exclusion of other stimuli
     • divided attention: simultaneously focusing on and/or shifting attention between two sets of stimuli

8. ASC

   • A state that is distinctly different in experience from NWC.

9. PROCESSES

   • the higher the level of awareness, the more likely an activity will require or involve a controlled process; the lower the level of awareness, the more likely an activity will require or involve an automatic process
   • CONTROLLED
     • use of a high level of conscious awreness and mental effort in an activity
       • requires selective "focused" attention
         • can interfere with performance of other ongoing activities
     • can become automatic with practise
   • AUTOMATIC
     • Use of low level of conscious awareness and mental effort
       • divided attention is possible
         • minimally interferes with performance of other ongoing activities