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Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice® is a cross-disciplinary journal that

encompasses experimental, clinical, and social psychology, as well as cognitive science and
neuroscience. It publishes articles on theory, research, methodology, and clinical applications related
to the psychology of consciousness.

The journal devotes substantial coverage to topics that span the traditional rubrics of sensory
consciousness, subconsciousness, and self-consciousness; plus, it presents scientific approaches to
studying first-person experiences often deemed to lie outside the boundaries of traditional
consciousness studies, and presents clinical approaches to modifying attention and consciousness
more generally.

Manuscripts of interest extend across, but are not limited to, the following topics:

Sensory consciousness

sensations, qualia, the phenomenal field, and the causal efficacy of subjective pain and
pleasurepsychophysical relations, perception, binocular rivalry and fusion, attention, and mindful
meditationfantasy and mind-wandering, mental image vividness, hypnotic, psychotic, and drug-
related hallucinatingsensory memory, sensory information processing, and the neuropsychology of
sensory consciousness

Subconsciousness

unconscious information processing, implicit cognition, and objective thresholds for

consciousnesssensations below the limen for apperception, partial conscious perception, and fringe
consciousnesshypnotic and dissociative amnesia, metacognition, and levels of awarenessblindsight,
deaf-hearing, hemifield neglect, and the neuropsychology of subconsciousness

Self-consciousness

self as subject, dualist versus materialist theories, déjà vu, out-of-body experiences, transcendental
meditationself as object, self-recognition, dissociative depersonalization, and multiple dissociated
identitiesself as agent, hypnotic and psychopathological loss of self-control, suggestibility,
automaticitylucid dreams, executive processes, and the neuropsychology of self-consciousness

Additional topics

anomalous experiences, mystical experiences, near-death experiences, and sleep-deprivation

experiencesindividual differences, sociocultural differences and psychopathological differences in
consciousnessmeditation, hypnosis, and transcranial magnetic stimulation as interventions for
modifying consciousnesspsychosomatic effects, placebo effects, and anesthesia effects

The journal will not review submissions related to the effects of specific drugs on consciousness or
sleep-related experiences, apart from the preceding topics.

Psychology of Consciousness welcomes theoretical papers, critical analyses, and literature reviews;
however, the journal's emphasis is on empirical papers, including meta-analyses and studies that
describe the development of psychometrically sound measures which foster a scientific
understanding of consciousness.

The journal welcomes methodologically rigorous clinical case studies (e.g., single-case time series
studies) and groundbreaking pilot studies; however, preference is given to randomized controlled
clinical trials.

The editor will consider proposals for special issues on theoretical controversies, research topics, or
clinical applications.

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Psychological Association

Consciousness: The Psychology of Awareness

By Kendra Cherry
Updated September 09, 2018

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Theories of Psychology

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Consciousness refers to your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings,
sensations, and environment.

Your conscious experiences are constantly shifting and changing. For example, in one moment you
may be focused on reading this article. Your consciousness may then shift to the memory of a
conversation you had earlier with a co-worker. Next, you might notice how uncomfortable your chair
is, or maybe you are mentally planning dinner.

This ever-shifting stream of thoughts can change dramatically from one moment to the next, but
your experience of it seems smooth and effortless.
What aspects of consciousness to researchers study? Topics such as sleep, dreams, hypnosis,
hallucinations, meditation and the effects of psychoactive drugs are just a few of the major topics
related to consciousness that psychologists study.

Early Research on Consciousness

For thousands of years, the study of human consciousness was largely done by philosophers. French
philosopher Rene Descartes introduced the concept of mind-body dualism or the idea that while the
mind and body are separate, they do interact.

Once psychology was established as a discipline separate from philosopher and biology, the study of
the conscious experience was one of the first topics studied by early psychologists.

Structuralists used a process known as introspection to analyze and report conscious sensations,
thoughts, and experiences. Trained observers would carefully inspect the contents of their own
minds. Obviously, this was a very subjective process, but it helped inspire further research on the
scientific study of consciousness.

American psychologist William James compared consciousness to a stream; unbroken and

continuous despite constant shifts and changes. While the focus of much of the research in
psychology shifted to purely observable behaviors during the first half of the twentieth century,
research on human consciousness has grown tremendously since the 1950s.

How Is Consciousness Defined in Psychology?

One of the problems with the study of consciousness is a lack of a universally accepted operational
definition. Descartes proposed the idea of "cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am), suggested that
the very act of thinking demonstrates the reality of one’s existence and consciousness.

Today, consciousness is often viewed as an individual’s awareness of their own internal states as
well as the events going on around them. If you can describe something you are experiencing in
words, then it is part of your consciousness.
In psychology, consciousness is occasionally confused with the conscience. It is important to note
that while consciousness involves awareness of yourself and the world, your conscience is related to
your morality and sense of right or wrong.

Research on consciousness has focused on understanding the neuroscience behind our conscious
experiences. Scientists have even utilized brain scanning technology to seek out specific neurons
that might be linked to different conscious events.

Modern Theories of Consciousness

Modern researchers have proposed two major theories of consciousness:

Integrated information theory attempts to look at consciousness by learning more about the physical
processes that underlie our conscious experiences. The theory attempts to create a measure of the
integrated information that forms consciousness. The quality of an organism’s consciousness is
represented by the level of integration. This theory tends to focus on whether something is
conscious and to what degree it is conscious.

The global workspace theory suggests that we have a memory bank from which the brain draws
information to form the experience of conscious awareness. While integrated information theory
focuses more on identifying whether an organism is conscious, the global workspace theory offers a
much broader approach to understanding how consciousness works.

While consciousness has intrigued philosophers and scientists for thousands of years, we clearly
have a long way to go in our understanding the concept. Researchers continue to explore the
different bases of consciousness including the physical, social, cultural and psychological influences
that contribute to our conscious awareness.

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Any parent can vouch for just how complicated things become when a child starts reaching the age
of hard questions. We’ve all been there:

“Why is the sky blue?”

“Because, honey, the molecules in the air scatter blue light more than other colors.”

“Oh. Where do babies come from?”

“Sperm and egg come together to form a zygote, which develops into a fetus and then a child.”

“Hmm. Is there a God?”

“Maybe.”

“What about Santa?”

“Definitely.”

“Why does his breath always smell funny?”

“He uses a special mouthwash from the North Pole.”

“Daddy, what’s consciousness?”

“Um…”

Source: http://realizingconsciousness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/consciousness.jpg
If someone asked you to explain consciousness, could you do it? Very, very smart people have spent
their entire careers trying to understand the answer to that question. It is surprising that something
we all experience is so hard to explain. The difficulty comes in describing the “what it’s likeness” that
characterizes consciousness. There’s something it’s like to experience the color red, to taste
chocolate, to feel happy or sad. Philosophers call this phenomenology. Unlike other worldly stuff, it
isn’t something we can point to or hold in our hand. It’s not something we’ve been able to calculate.
And we’ve yet to find a rigorous method of measuring it.

In 1994 David Chalmers published a paper explaining why consciousness is such a challenging
phenomenon to understand. Although he wasn’t the first to discuss these challenges, he was the
first to categorize them into two types of problems: “easy” problems and the “hard” problem. Easy
problems involve the explanation of how the mind integrates information, focuses attention and
allows us to report on mental states. Though not a piece of cake, such problems are easy because
solving them only requires that we determine the mechanisms that explain these behaviors. Easy
problems are physical by nature, falling within the empirical domains of psychology, cognitive
science and neuroscience. Given the current trend in science of the mind, we’re confident that one
day we will solve these problems.

The hard problem, by contrast, may never be solved. Specifically, the hard problem is determining
why or how consciousness occurs given the right arrangement of brain matter. What makes it hard is
that we cannot just point to some physical mechanism to solve it, for that would be the solution to
the easy problem. Instead, our goal is to explain why certain physical mechanism gives rise to
consciousness instead of something else or nothing at all. Consider an analogy from physics:
knowing every equation predicting how mass and gravity interact does not tell us why they interact
in the way they do. To understand why mass and gravity interact, we must appeal to highly esoteric
explanations involving relativity, quantum mechanics or string theory.

But while theoretical physicists have produced some pretty specific models that are ready to be
tested with the likes of the Large Hadron Collider, consciousness lacks the sort of general consensus
that would allow us to move on and test our theories. And for good reason—the hard problem is
tricky.

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Some argue that the hard problem simply is unsolvable. The argument for this view can take two
different forms. The first argument is that our puny brains aren’t capable of coming up with a
solution, for our brains do not have the ability to process the complicated information that would
lead to an understanding of consciousness. The second argument is that a solution to a problem
requires that you aren’t a part of the problem. What does this mean? To solve a problem, or so goes
the argument, you must have a bird’s eye view of all the facts. But since we are all conscious, we can
never have such a view. We simply cannot solve the hard problem because we don’t have access to
the level of information necessary to piece everything together.

I think this argument fails, for proponents of this view don’t explain why we cannot come to
understand such high concepts through induction. Inductive reasoning is the “bottom-up” logic we
often use to construct general belief from individual examples.

One way we use induction every day is when choosing what to wear. We choose a particular type of
outfit to wear based on past weather patterns surrounding that morning. If we know the outdoor
temperature has been 25 degrees fahrenheit for the last 10 days, we can assume it will be cold
outside, thus it is appropriate to put on winter clothes. Of course, you could fail to arrive at a true
proposition through induction. For example, if you live in St. Louis sometimes you might find that a
65-degree day follows a 25-degree day. In that case the belief you arrived at through induction is
false. You instead should choose spring clothing. But induction seems to work in many cases,
especially in the physical and mathematical realms. So it’s unclear why we could not use inductive
reasoning to solve the hard problem.

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This inductive approach is indeed what many philosophers and cognitive scientists have tried to
take. Based on what is known about phenomenal states along with the brains that possess them,
many theories of consciousness have emerged, leading to huge debates in philosophy and the
sciences. Perhaps the greatest debate has focused the distinction between dualism and physicalism.

Physicalism holds that consciousness is entirely physical. One type of physicalism denies there is a
problem at all. For folk in this philosophical camp, called identity theorists, the mental just is the
physical, that is, the mental is nothing else than certain physical situation that obtains given certain
arrangements of atoms. Why would one want to hold this view? First off, its simplicity is attractive.
We need not appeal to “spooky” concepts like emergence to explain what’s going on when we’re
conscious. Second, it gives us a really good reason to think that computers can become conscious. If
brains are nothing but biological implementations of computers running a certain program, it’s
possible that a silicon chip could run the same software as us.

Another theory, functionalism, holds that mental states are constituted by the function or role they
play in a given system. Under this view, mental states exist as causal relations to other mental states.
Functionalism is especially popular among computationalists, those who believe the brain is just a
biological implementation of a computer. According to computationalists the brain is one system
physically able to realize mental states, other systems such as computers could also realize these
mental states. However functionalism does have its weaknesses. Many philosophers have argued
that the theory is insufficient to account for consciousness because the role a mental state plays
doesn’t explain why the state must be one that is conscious. It's not clear why all our mental states
wouldn't just be processed unconsciously.

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Fundamentally different than physicalism, dualism is the theory that consciousness somehow falls
outside the domain of the physical. To be a dualist, you need not believe that consciousness is a
totally non-physical entity floating about the tops of our physical brains, you simply must believe
that the hard problem is not solvable merely through sole appeal to the physical.

There are many types of dualism purported to best solve different aspects of the hard problem. For
example, Cartesian dualism, one of the oldest forms of substance dualism, holds that there are both
physical and non-physical substances and that consciousness is located within non-physical
substance. Another theory, property dualism, holds that consciousness is a non-physical property
that emerges from the same things that give rise to physical properties. Property dualists believe
that neural activity has both physical and non-physical properties. Physical properties include things
like electromagnetic potential while non-physical properties include things like consciousness.

Property dualists can further be distinguished into fundamental, emergence and neutral monist
groups. Proposed by Chalmers, fundamental property dualism holds that conscious properties are
basic properties of the universe similar to physical properties like electromagnetic charge. According
to Chalmers, these properties can interact with other properties such as physical properties, but like
fundamental physical properties, conscious properties are their own distinct fundamental entities.
Consciousness works like electrical charge or other physical properties do: it may cause physical
matter to transition among physical states and these physical states in turn may affect
consciousness.

A closely related theory, panpsychism, holds that all aspects of reality have some “psychological”
properties apart from their physical properties. This type of property dualism suggests that the
universe has consciousness at its base. While this theory certainly is elegant, it is thought by some to
carry metaphysical baggage. One complaint has been that, if this theory is true, then all matter
would have a certain element of consciousness to it. Because consciousness is inherently connected
with the phenomenal, this is a peculiar result, for it’s hard to imagine how there could be something
it’s “like” to be an electron, table, chair, tire or other inanimate object.
Furthermore, consciousness seems to have boundaries. There is something that it’s like to be me, to
be you and to be someone else. Panpsychism has trouble explaining how phenomenology has a
boundary. If consciousness is a fundamental property of matter, it appears as though all matter and
collections of matter have a conscious aspect. Collective consciousness entails that, not only do
individual electrons have consciousness, so do neurons and collections of neurons. It’s hard to see
the level at which you would exist as a conscious being. How many neurons constitute you? Is it one
of them, a few of them, all of them? Of course, one might respond that, compared to other
problems of consciousness, the boundary problem is rather small. In that case, the elegance of the
theory might outweigh its weaknesses.

Like fundamental property dualism, emergent property dualism holds that consciousness is a
property that emerges from particular types of physical arrangements of matter. But is differs in that
consciousness is a property that emerges over and above what could be predicted given the
arrangements of the matter’s physical properties. Yet another type of property dualism, neutral
monist property dualism holds that physical and conscious properties are both dependent on some
more basic level of reality.

Why would one be motivated to hold one of the above dualist views? What is the need to postulate
such spooky entities as non-physical conscious properties? Physicalists have trouble explaining
several aspects of consciousness in a way that is consistent with our observations of how physical
properties interact.

Frank Jackson’s thought experiment gets at one of the problems of the physicalist approach:

Mary is a brilliant scientist who is, for whatever reason, forced to investigate the world from a black
and white room via a black and white television monitor. She specializes in the neurophysiology of
vision and acquires, let us suppose, all the physical information there is to obtain about what goes
on when we see ripe tomatoes, or the sky, and use terms like ‘red’, ‘blue’, and so on. She discovers,
for example, just which wavelength combinations from the sky stimulate the retina, and exactly how
this produces via the central nervous system the contraction of the vocal cords and expulsion of air
from the lungs that results in the uttering of the sentence ‘The sky is blue’. [...] What will happen
when Mary is released from her black and white room or is given a color television monitor? Will she
learn anything or not?

Jackson argues that Mary in fact will learn something new: what it’s like to see blue. Even though
she knows everything about the science of color, she has never experienced color. Jackson later
discusses another person, Frank, who experiences a color that no other human has ever seen. It
seems that no matter how much information we have about the neural processes behind Frank’s
experience of the color, we will never know what it’s like to have Frank’s experience. According to
Jackson, that there is something learned only through phenomenal experience shows that
experience is not reducible to the purely physical.

Chalmers poses a different problem for physicalism. He tells us to imagine a molecule-by-molecule

replica of ourselves, exact down to each individual neuron and its firing state. He then asks to
consider whether it’s conceivable that this creature is a philosophical zombie, that is, a creature that
is behaviorally indistinct from us but lacking consciousness. Even though on the outside a zombie
appears conscious just like you and me, is it possible for it to be “dark” inside? Chalmers says yes.
And if that’s the case, he argues, then physicalism must be false. If we admit we can conceive of a
world physically indistinct from ours yet lacking phenomenal consciousness, we cannot hold that the
mental wholly is based on or reduces to the physical.

But can we really conceive of an exact copy of ourselves that lacks consciousness? On the face of it,
most of us would say no. I simply cannot imagine what it would be like to be me without there being
anything it’s like to be me. But that’s not what Chalmers is asking us to do. As part of his argument,
he makes a distinction between positive and negative conceivability. Positive conceivability means
that something is conceivable insofar as you have an imaginative picture of the situation that obtains
if the conception were true. But negative conceivability means that something is conceivable insofar
as you cannot rule it out a priori, that is, you cannot rule it out from reason alone.

This distinction is crucial for Chalmers’ argument to work. Now all he needs is to get you to admit
that reason alone does not provide you with motivation to reject the possibility that your exact
physical copy could lack consciousness. Since physicalism holds the physical gives rise to the mental,
and because we’ve provided an example of a situation wherein the physical does not give rise to the
mental, we must either reject physicalism or reject our negative conception of zombies. Since it isn’t
possible to reject the latter, we must reject the former. So physicalism must be false.

Philosophers like Chalmers and Jackson argue that the only appropriate action is to reject
physicalism and move in the direction of dualism. These arguments have gotten much attention in
the literature from authors on both sides of the debate. And many objections have arisen.

In response to Jackson, Laurence Nemirow argues that knowing what it’s like to have an experience
is the same thing as knowing how to imagine having the experience. In Mary’s case, she didn’t learn
something new, she just gained the ability to experience color. David Lewis makes a similar
argument: Mary gained the ability to remember, imagine and recognize.
Earl Conee makes a slightly different argument: knowing what it’s like does not require having an
imaginative experience. He introduces Martha, who is able to visualize intermediate shades of colors
she has not experienced that fall between pairs of shades that she has experienced. Martha is not
familiar with the shade of “cherry red” but knows that cherry red is halfway between burgundy red
and fire red, two shades she has experienced. According to Conee, Martha could know what it’s like
to experience cherry red, but so long as she never imagined it, she might never have experienced
that color.

Interestingly, Jackson himself changed his mind several times as to the implications of the Mary
argument. Although the argument appeared to offer a strong problem for physicalism, he also
believed that all behavior is caused by physical forces. Given that the argument seemed to prove the
existence of non-physical phenomenology, Jackson needed to find a way square it away with his
conception of the physical. His strategy was to argue for epiphenomenalism, which holds that
phenomenal states are caused by physical states, but phenomenal states do not affect the physical.
Epiphenomenalism means that our phenomenal states are akin to movies that constantly play while
unconscious brain processes direct all behavior.

Later on, Jackson decided that Mary’s conscious recognition of color did have an effect on the
physical: it made her say “wow.” If a conscious recognition could be the cause for an expression
requiring, which requires a change in mental states, then consciousness appears to play some role in
guiding our behavior. So epiphenomenalism would be false. He argued that physicalism could in fact
account for this “wow” experience. If the color experience is entirely contained within in the brain,
it’s possible that a new experience can cause further changes to the brain, resulting in the utterance
of a “wow” statement. He used the analogy of akinetopsia, a deficit that causes the inability to
perceive motion. He argued that someone cured of this condition would not discover anything new
about the world (since she knows about motion). Instead, surprise would be the response of a brain
now able to see motion.

Chalmers’ zombie argument has been subject to scrutiny as well. Because it’s logically valid, that is,
because evaluation of the argument’s premises do lead it its conclusion, one must attack the
premises in order to undermine the argument. One objection has been that the zombie argument
undermines itself. Because the argument builds a world that is defined entirely physically, the world
necessarily would contain consciousness; therefore zombies cannot exist in it. Other philosophers
attack negative conceivability. They argue that the mere possibility of something does not mean it
actually exists. Although zombie worlds might be possible, it is still the case in this world that
consciousness is entirely physical.

So which theory wins? Dualism or physicalism? It depends on who you ask. Many empirical
researchers are hardcore physicalists, but not all are. The answer to this question will require more
insight into the fundamental structure of our physical world. It might turn out that a really consistent
theory of physics could lead us to understand exactly what consciousness is. But it might not.
Consciousness might forever remain a mystery.

To learn more about the philosophy of consciousness, check out the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy.

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About the Authors

Berit Brogaard, D.M.Sci., Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy and the Director of the Brogaard Lab for
Multisensory Research at the University of Miami.

In Print:

On Romantic Love: Simple Truths about a Complex Emotion (Philosophy in Action)

Online: University of Miami

What Is Consciousness Psychology?

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Updated December 17, 2018

Reviewer Avia James

What does it mean to be conscious? Doesit simply mean to be aware, or are there different levels
and states of consciousness? While many people consider consciousness as a social or spiritual
quality, in psychology, it has a very specific meaning for the individuals and their mental capacities.

What Is Consciousness In Psychology?

So, what is consciousness in psychology? Consciousness is one of the most difficult terms to define.
You can define consciousness in psychology simply as awareness, but that doesn't give a complete
picture. It's awareness of your internal processes like thinking, feeling, sensing, and perceiving. It
knows who you are and what you possess.

Consciousness can mean the awareness of memories. It can mean the control you exercise over your
behaviors. It can refer to how awake and responsive you are. When you're conscious of experience,
you know what it's like to have that experience. It can also mean being attuned to the present
moment in the here and now.

Source: pixabay.com

Is Your Consciousness Separate From Your Physical Being?

Some psychologists suggest that there is no such thing as consciousness apart from physiological
processes. This view is called monism because it assumes that your mind and body are the same.
With the growing of scientific studies that showthe connections between mental experiences and
brain conditions, asreflectedon EEGs, the concept of monism becomes more acceptable.
Other psychologists prefer the Cartesian model of consciousness, in which the mind and body are
distinct entities. This dualistic theory isn't as popular as it once was, but no one has come up with
another definition that recognizes the physical aspects of mind without obliterating the notion of
free will.

Levels Of Consciousness

The idea of levels of consciousness psychology comes from psychoanalytic theory. Sigmund Freud
developed a theory of the levels of consciousness. Although Freudian psychology has passed out of
favor, for the most part, this and other Freudian theories are still used to describe aspects of
psychology. Freud's model divided consciousness into three levels: the conscious, unconscious, and
preconscious.

Conscious

For Freud, consciousness was defined as a part of the mind that contains all the thoughts,
sensations, emotions, and experiences you're aware of in the present moment. When you're
conscious of something, you can think about it logically and talk about what you're experiencing.

Preconscious

Freud's concept of the preconscious was simple. He considered the preconscious as all the memories
you have that you can access easily. You aren't aware of them in the present moment, but you can
call up those memories whenever you choose to do so.

Unconscious

Freud was particularly interested in the unconscious. He felt thatunlocking the unconscious would
provide relief from neuroticism. The unconscious, he thought, was a part of the mind that couldn't
be accessed directly. He saw this part of the mind as a place where urges, emotions, and ideas
created conflicts, anxiety, and pain.The unconscious contained fears, immoral and sexual urges,
violent motives, irrational wishes, selfish needs, and shameful experiences.
The unconscious wasn't just an intellectual blank space, either. Instead, it was like the largest part of
an iceberg, hidden below the surface of awareness. To Freud, the unconscious influenced
consciousness and behavior in dramatic ways.

States Of Consciousness

Source: publicdomainpictures.net

States of consciousness psychology include different states of consciousness including:

Ordinary wakeful consciousness

Hypervigilance

Lethargy

Sleep

Dreaming

Hypnotic state

Drug-induced states

Meditative state

Dissociative states

Lack of consciousness

Partial epileptic seizures

Death

Your state of consciousness has a major impact on the way you perceive your experiences. It
changes the quality of that experience for you. It may determine your emotions or your sensory
perceptions of the experience.
The Altered States Of Consciousness

Simply put, an altered state of consciousness is a condition in which your thoughts, emotions,
sensations, perceptions, and sense of selfare changed. If you're in an altered state of consciousness,
you may experience changes in:

Sense of self

Time perception

Mental unity

Volition

Perception of reality

Body image

Emotions

You may choose to do something that puts you into an altered state of consciousness, or it may
happen to you for a variety of other reasons.

Hypnotic State

The hypnotic state has been compared to sleepwalking. Hypnosis, however, is induced intentionally
and artificially. It is a state of heightened awareness in which you're more susceptible to suggestion.
When a hypnotherapist directs you to do something, you do it more readily during the hypnotic
state.

You can also practice self-hypnosis. It's a process by which you put yourself into a trancelike state as
you focus on a single thought or object. Self-hypnosis can be used for weight control, smoking
cessation, controlling other bad habits and behaviors, and pain management. Self-hypnosis starts
with relaxation, deep breathing, and repetition of phrases.

Recently, hypnotism has become a well-respected way to reduce the perception of pain. One study
suggests that hypnotism reduces pain perception by 50% and creates physiological changes in the
brain.
Meditative State

Source: maxpixel.net

The meditative state is very similar to the state of self-hypnosis. You relax and focus on an object or
idea. The difference is that hypnosis has a specific objective with a definite end while meditation is
an end in itself. For instance, when you've successfully put smoking behind you, you don't need to
practice self-hypnosis for smoking cessation anymore. Meditation is an ongoing practice. Its only aim
is to empty the mind.

The consciousness is altered in several ways during and after meditation. One study revealed that
the changes in consciousness were most profound when the eyes were closed for meditation. These
changes include:

Sense of time

Unusual meanings

Imagery

Self-consciousness

Increased meaning

Sense of unity

Mental clarity

Positive emotions

The sense of being in an altered state

Drug-Induced State

A drug-induced state of consciousness can be mildly or extremely different from normal awareness.
Using psychoactive drugs causes changes in the brain function, including changes in awareness,
perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. Different drugs affect the brain differently:
Alcohol -changes levels of neurotransmitters, slows actionsand reactions, increases GABA decreases
glutamate, causes cognitive functions to slow down, and increases dopamine.

Marijuana - changes thoughts, memory, and the perception of pain.

Cocaine -changes the reuptake of neurotransmitters, including norepinephrine, dopamine, and

serotonin.

Ecstasy - increases positive emotions, decreases inhibitions, and increases the sense of intimacy with
other people.

Opiates -reduce pain, cause euphoria, and ultimatelydecrease the production of endorphins.

LSD -turns on serotonin receptors, affects the central cortex of the brain, which in turn changes
thoughts, attitudes, insight, and sensory perceptions. Can also change emotions dramatically over
the course of its effect.

Psychosis

Psychosis is an altered consciousness state in which it's very hard to distinguish what is real from
what isn't. You may visual or auditory hallucinations that others may not see or hear. You may have
delusions, which are false beliefs. Your thoughts, speech, and behavior may become disorganized.

Lack Of Consciousness

Lack of consciousness can happen during coma or brain death. In a coma, you aren't aware of what
is happening around and within you. You may have reflexive and involuntary reactions. In brain
death, even your reflexes stop.Psychology is less concerned withthese levels of consciousness, as
they appear to be more in the realm of physiological science.

Sleep

For a long time, scientists have assumed that deep, non-REM sleep is the same state as lack of
consciousness. However, recent studies suggest that other altered states happen during sleep. There
are different functions of non-REM sleep, such as memory consolidation and different non-REM
sleep experiences, including sensations and the perception that you're asleep.

Dreaming
Source: pixabay.com

Dreaming is a type of altered state in which you experience hallucinations that have a story-like
quality. Dreams contain vivid images that come from your imagination. You may have imagined
sensory perceptions such as seeing, hearing or touching things that are not there. People are usually
the main actors in their dreams. You may experience the perceptions of speaking and engaging in all
sorts of activities.

Partial Epileptic Seizures

Epilepsy can cause an altered state during seizures. Studies of partial epileptic seizures have found
that people hallucinatedduring seizures, although the hallucinations are considered nonpsychotic.
The person's thoughts and behaviors were also changed, and they felt dissociated from reality.

Free Will And Consciousness

Philosophers and scientists don't all agree on whether people have free will. Some say that an
important part of consciousness is the sense of volition, meaning the sense that you are in control of
your actions. This debate is far from settled. However, most scientists agree that the belief that you
have free will is essential to maintaining good mental health.

Escaping From Consciousness

Assuming people can make choices, is it possible to choose your state of consciousness? Some
would say yes. You can choose to practice meditation or use a psychotropic drug, knowing that your
state of consciousness will change.Thiscanhelp if you practice self-hypnosis to overcome a bad habit.
However, it becomes extremely harmful when you escape from reality by using illicit and addictive
drugs with serious side effects.

Dealing With Problems

Most people have life challenges and mental health issues sometime in their lives. Assuming you
have a choice, it makes sense to work towards making positive changes to minimize or eliminate
these issues. Therapy can help you stay in an alert waking state of mind when you need to interact
with the world. A therapist can also teach you self-hypnosis and other ways of working with your
state and level of consciousness to achieve better living situations.

You can talk to a licensed counselor at BetterHelp.com when you like, and from anywhere you
choose. Online counseling can begin after you're matched with an appropriate counselor by taking a
brief survey. Your therapist can help you deal with reality in the here and now as well as make use of
the information you get when you're in other states of consciousness. You can open yourself up to
new insights and deal with past experiences as you explore what consciousness means to you.

PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

V.George Mathew

INTRODUCTION

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

VALIDATION OF THE MYSTIC EXPERIENCE

DYNAMICS OF CHANGE IN CONSCIOUSNESS

BASES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

METHODS OF ALTERING CONSCIOUSNESS

1. Physical methods

2. Social Methods
3. Psychological methods

***

INTRODUCTION

Consciousness has been defined as awareness of awareness. It has emerged as a field of psychology
only in recent times though some of its concerns have their roots in religion, mysticism and
occultism. The emergence of the study of consciousness in psychology reflects a change in the
mentality of people. Today people are more troubled by existential problems than hysteric
symptoms. People are asking questions about self-actualization and the possibility of growth instead
of how to get rid of pathological symptoms. Consciousness is also becoming a new approach in
psychology, a new way of looking at behavior, based on systems theory and the holistic method. The
study of consciousness emphasizes certain areas like dreams, creativity and supernormal
experiences. Consciousness has relevance for all science, as it is related to philosophical issues and
the model of man. It is empirical, but open to descriptive, theoretical and insightful understanding.
In the 21st century psychology may well be redefined as the study of consciousness and all
psychology may be rewritten in that perspective. The study of consciousness may also serve to
integrate many areas of psychology and other sciences.

The concept of consciousness arises out of the experience of altered states of consciousness. An
alteration in consciousness involves qualitative change in perceptual, cognitive and conative aspects.
It involves alteration of mediational processes between stimulus and response. Altered states of
consciousness can be induced by overstimulation, sensory deprivation or by altering body chemistry.

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

1. Waking and Sleeping

These two states which are so different are regularly experienced by everybody every day. Some
people experience a pronounced hypnogogic state in between waking and sleeping and some
people get vivid hallucinations during this state.

2. Dreaming
Dreaming involves a state which is physiologically and psychologically different from deep sleep.
Lucid dream is a still different mode of functioning where the dreamer has the awareness that he is
dreaming. This state is said to be conducive for gaining insight into and awareness of the
unconscious and is a technique in mystic training.

3. Hypnosis

This state is characterized by increased suggestibility and surrender of one's will.

4. Pathological States

The hysteric trance and schizoid states have been studied as altered states of consciousness using
the phenomenological approach.

5. Orgiastic Trances

This type of trance results from group singing and dancing, often associated with religious
ceremonies. These may be psi conducive states.

6. Drug Induced States

The notion of altered states of consciousness evolved originally as a result of the study of subjects
who were habituated to drugs like LSD. Aldous Huxley's `Doors of Perception' which he wrote on the
basis of his experiences with Mescaline is one of the pioneering classics in this area. Many of the
effects are due to physiological changes like hypoglycemia. Some of the positive experiences include
remembering forgotten painful experiences, ego dissolution, seeing beauty and significance in trivial
things, and increase in awareness

while those who do not trust get bad trips characterized by terror, panic and suicidal tendencies.
Though there seem to be some similarities between drug induced states and aesthetic and mystic
states, the similarities may only be superficial and the drug may be producing these effects by
damaging the brain of a person who may not be ready or mature enough for a transformation of
personality required for genuine mystic experiences. Therefore most authorities do not recommend
the use of drugs for altering consciousness though some think that under expert supervision the
drugs may play a useful role in efforts to alter states of consciousness. Drugs like ganja, traditionally
used for mystic training produce memory disorders, decrement in complex psychomotor tasks,
lethargy, lack of motivation and lowering of testosterone levels. Some develop psychosis.

7. Aesthetic State

Many great artists have described sudden changes in consciousness revealing great beauty which
inspire them for creation of works of art. It is almost like a veil falling off from the eyes. Some people
regard the aesthetic state as `extraverted' mystic experience i.e. the projection of the experience of
integration within onto the external world.

8. Mystic State

This is the most important among all the altered states of consciousness. The term mystic is used in
the sense of beyond description. This is supposed to be the absolute state of pure consciousness.
This involves an alteration of the self-process and freedom from symbolic thinking. At the perceptual
level there is unity, the experienced emotion is bliss and at the conative level there is control and
self-sufficiency.

Mystics belonging to different mystic traditions have different names for this experience. Hindus call
this samadhi, Buddhists nirvana, Sufis fana, Christians pneuma and the term used in Zen Buddhism is
satori. Those experiencing this consider this realization of truth or self-realization, This to some
extent overlaps with Maslow's transcendent self-actualization. Fragmentary mystic experiences
(peak experiences) have been reported by artists, and spontaneous experiences resembling the
mystic experience by people viewing landscapes and during childbirth. The highest mystic
experience is supposed to be beyond time and space.

9. Other States of Consciousness

There seems to be no sharp line of demarcation between feeling states and states of consciousness.
A person in a fit of rage functions differently from his normal pattern of behavior. Fainting may
involve alterations in consciousness and effects of isolation may produce alterations in
consciousness. Activities like sports may induce peak experience in expert players.
VALIDATION OF THE MYSTIC EXPERIENCE

Since mystic state is the basic altered state of consciousness with which all other states are
compared, validation of the genuineness of this state as different from the pathological states
becomes very important. Before the psychology of consciousness evolved as a discipline, many
psychologists considered such experiences as close to withdrawal into intra-uterine narcism and
undifferentiated infantile ego state of Freud. Jung has written that the 'samadhi' experience involves
merging of the meaningful contents of the unconscious into a meaningless homogeneity, unlike the
state of full integration achieved through his technique of individuation where the different contents
of the unconscious are accessible to the self.

There is no logical reason to suppose that the ordinary experience of reality is the most valid one. All
perception is essentially subjective and psychological research has demonstrated how perception is
influenced by constancy phenomena, illusions and past experience and unconscious factors. Modern
physics has given a jolt to the supposition that reality is as it is experienced by the senses. Perception
of time changes with alteration of consciousness. When the psyche observes itself, space and time
become relative. Just because we seem to agree upon certain aspects of our ordinary waking
experience and just because it has some pragmatic value in our everyday life we cannot assert that
this experience is the most valid one. The mystic says that there is an absolute state wherein the
person has full insight and is able to experience reality uncolored by any subjective equation. Much
of the psychology of consciousness is concerned with validating the mystic experience and studying
the nature and characteristics of this experience and means for achieving this experience.

DYNAMICS OF CHANGE IN CONSCIOUSNESS

Deautomatisation is the process of changing the hierarchical ordering of perceptual and cognitive
structure and function which limit, select, organize and interpret stimuli. It involves nullifying the
habitual patterns of behavior. It means getting freedom from instinctual stimulus-response patterns,
released by social milieu and strengthened throughout life. It amounts to becoming less of an S-R
machine and becoming more of a person. It is the culmination of a process of intensification of
awareness and consciousness and becoming more live. It is the end point of the development of
insight and self-control. The ordinary man is the slave and victim of a set of situationally induced
motives and it is not easy to get out of the socially induced matrix of loves and hates.
Deautomatisation involves loosening of existential insecurity and reduction of survival anxiety and
the consequent change in the perception of self-environment relationship. Solitude, renunciation of
usual stimuli, blocking habitual stimuli by chants and meditation, exposure to unusual stimuli (eg.
large expanse of water, scenery, view from a mountain top, etc.) and so on may help in
Deautomatisation. Exposure to mightiness and immensity of the elements and forces of nature helps
in losing self-centeredness and self-importance. This leads to acceptance of the triviality and
insignificance of one's individual existence and ego dissolution. When an individual is not bothered
about himself, his restlessness ceases, leading to increased tranquillity and peace.

The change in personality leading to mystic experience is one of increasing integration, opposite to
the psychotic change, which is change towards disintegration.

BASES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The factors which influence, mould and maintain a habitual functioning level of consciousness can be
grouped into three : Physical, Social and Psychological.

1. Physical bases of Consciousness

Some philosophers think that mind and body are one. It is supposed that the structure and form
determine the emergent vitality. Though the systems of physiognomy and phrenology in which
bodily signs are used to predict behavior traits are not accepted by many, there is some evidence
showing that bodily structure and function influence behavior, in general terms. It was believed that
Buddha had a perfect body. The modern psychosomatic concept also points to the same direction.
Mystic consciousness is supposed to involve body transcendence. A healthy functioning of the body
is essential for forgetting the body. Any disease or imperfection cause pain or lethargy and brings
down the level of mental functioning.

Of the different systems of the body the endocrine system and the nervous system are perhaps most
important in conditioning the mind. The pineal gland and the limbic system have been related to
physical changes mediating higher levels of consciousness. It has been hypothesized that pure
consciousness is experienced when the brain comes to a state of rest, permitting transcendence
when the excitatory and inhibitory processed have been stilled. Recent evidence points to the
conclusion that experience can to some extent modify and alter heredity. There are hormones which
switch on and off the functioning of various genes. Genes change place (jumping genes)altering
characteristics, mediating higher forms of consciousness. It has been found that the two
hemispheres of the brain function somewhat independently. This has been called the split brain
hypothesis or bimodal consciousness. For right-handed people, the left hemisphere mediates
rational and analytic functions more than the right, while the right hemisphere mediates holistic,
synthetic and intuitive functions. Naming, ordinary speech and reading and writing, abstraction,
arithmetic processes and aggressive, manipulative problems solving, etc. are more a function of the
left hemisphere, while the right shows dominance in singing words, arts and crafts, recognition,
affective experiences, body images, dream, figurative modes of function and so on.

It has been found that processes like meditation lead to better integration of function of both
hemispheres (as indicated by increased coherence of brain waves from the two hemispheres), which
may be required for experiencing the higher states of consciousness.

2. Social Bases of Consciousness :

A. Culture & Reality

Different cultures codify reality differently. An individual, growing up in a culture imbibes the
characteristic perception of reality in that culture. Modern cultures emphasize the analytical, logical
mode. Language is the main mechanism for transmitting a mode of consciousness and an analysis of
language can to some reveal the mentality of people who speak that language.

In modern cultures words denote specific objects while in some primitive cultures words denote
emotive reactions to objects rather than observed forms. For example, in Java, the word Ave (for
sibling of the opposite sex), literally means strain and propriety and Kainga (for sibling of the same
sex) means easy relationship. Intensification of consciousness is associated with emphasizing the
present more than the past or future. In modern cultures, as a result of concern over the future and
consequent stress on causality and linear connection of events, people lose touch with the present.
In some primitive cultures, the concept of causality is almost absent. In a Trobriand culture, events
and objects are seen as self-contained. There seems to be no perception of change, or lineal
connection. Their language has no adjectives. There are separate words for a green fruit and ripe
fruit. An object ceases to be itself when it changes. There are no words for past or future.Past and
future are described in the present tense. There is no notion of becoming, only pre-ordained
patterns are recognized.

B. Social Relationships

Man's self-concept is related to his perception of others. Your perception of other people and how
you treat others reflect your attitude to self. How a person functions is determined largely by his
matrix of loves and hatreds, attachments, identifications and rivalries. Situationally induced motives
and socially conditioned tension-relaxation patterns influence how a person functions. Survival
depends on the pattern of co-operation and competition. This determines release of instincts and
their possible sublimation and transcendence.

3. Psychological Bases of Consciousness

The elevation of consciousness is supposed to be a function of degree of Psychosynthesis achieved,

the degree of integration of the conscious and unconscious elements, the degree of insight achieved.
This depends on self-acceptance, awareness, detachment and instinctual transcendence. This
implies freedom from pre-conceptions, entanglements, complexes, inferiorities and dissociative
tendencies. Insecurity, restlessness and compensatory desires lead to self-love, self-importance and
the ego. On the other hand stilling of the mind and loss of ego lead to increased unitiveness.

METHODS OF ALTERING CONSCIOUSNESS

Unlike most other fields of activity and attainment, there is no guaranteed one method that leads to
higher states of consciousness. In fact the `doing-achieving' orientation itself is supposed to be a
block. It is not what you do actually, but the mental state which counts.

1.Physical methods

Relaxation:

The physical methods suppose that the body is almost the same as the unconscious. Free body
movement implies free emotional expression. Every repression is a muscular block.

Energy gets locked up in bodily tension. Conflicts are contained in and expressed through the body.
People who are mentally tense have physical symptoms like clenched fist, gripping arms, blinking,
mannerisms, gestures, propitiatory smiles, strained voice, shallow breath and dead hands. Presence
of coldness, inability to express anger, etc. show up through the body. Increasing body awareness is
one method of achieving relaxation. According to the Weber-Fechner law, there is greater sensitivity
in lower muscular tension. So cultivating body awareness by concentrating on various points in the
body and achieving bodily relaxation is a method of achieving mental or total relaxation. Jacobson's
relaxation technique or yogic techniques of yoganidra and savasan help in relaxation.

B. Massage:
Massage is used to treat stress-related behavior disorders. It is supposed to have a bearing on
consciousness. The theory supposes that personality is reflected in the physical body. structural
blockage goes with emotional blocks. Attitudes influence structure of body. Emotions cause change
in length and thickness of muscles, change in connective tissue and immobilization.

Massage causes reorganization of muscle function and reintegration of structure. Ida Rolf has
developed techniques of massage called Rolfing and there is some evidence showing increased
sensitivity and awareness and changes in perception following Rolfing. When several people jointly
massage a person, he gets a feeling of belongingness also.

C. Dance:

All dance probably has a bearing on consciousness. Certain specially designed dances like the Sufi
dance where the to dervishes whirl very fast and Tai Chi Ch'uan of China are supposed to help in
alteration of consciousness in addition to promoting mental and physical fitness.

D: Yogic Postures:

The yogic system of exercises or asanas and kriyas are supposed to stimulate psychic centers. They
produce a feeling of fitness and well being.

E. Breathing Exercises:

Breathing is supposed to be a bridge connecting the somatic and autonomic nervous systems as
breathing is voluntary, though without deliberate effort it goes on. Deep breathing helps in
relaxation, as there is a connection between breathing rhythm and the mind. Breathing pattern
changes with the state of consciousness and controlling breath enables a person to control the mind.
Pranayama or yogic breathing techniques help in achieving mind control.

F. Expressive Techniques:
Permitting a person to express his suppressed anger (anger therapy) and other emotions before
others as in encounter groups, helps in tension release and physical and mental relaxation. People
pound a pillow, stamp their feet, bite, shout or scream (primal scream therapy), venting their
emotions and inhibitions. These have an indirect liberating effect on consciousness. Cathartic
methods, however have to be used with caution. If overdone, they may reinforce the negative
emotions and accompanying aggressive and other undesirable acts.

G. Kasina Exercise:

These are rhythmic activities used for fixating the impulse to action. These are similar to some
people twitching their moustache, or playing with the tablecloth, rapping, smoking, arranging things,
etc. to get rid of surplus energy. Many people use hobbies for such a benefit. Rituals also probably
serve some such function. Kasina exercises were used by Buddhist monks.

2. Social Methods

A.Manipulation of Social Factors:

Getting to know several languages helps a person to get unstuck form one mode of perceiving
reality. Religious teachings (eg. love thy neighbor, nishkama karma, etc.) help in altering the mode of
social functioning with consequent changes in mental functioning. Changed social functioning as well
as total withdrawal from society into solitude may help different types of persons at different levels
of personality to achieve changes in mode of functioning.

B. Altering Social Relationships:

There is a potential growth situation whenever people interact. Counseling can have a deeper level
effect than is ordinarily recognized by counselors. In consciousness oriented counseling the aim is
long-term or deep level change rather than solving a specific problem or removal of symptoms. From
this perspective, suffering or maladjustment is desirable, if that would lead to greater integration or
growth or maturity in the long run. Many esoteric disciplines recognize periods of depression (when
a practitioner realizes the impermanence of all things) or heightened sex drive during certain stages
of practice, as normal. These schools recognize the personality of the guru or the stage of growth
reached by him as the most important factor helping growth in the disciple. In sat sang persons
develop through psychic interexchange or by sympathetic vibrations while interacting with highly
developed persons. Social values and way of life are probably related to a person's personality
structure and changes in these can help in altering consciousness.

3. Psychological Methods

Freud wrote that the unconscious is omniscient, omni-present and omnipotent. His main technique
was integration through insight. Jung extended this concept to individuation process to include
integration of the elements of the collective unconscious also. Roberto Assagioli developed
techniques of concentration involving vivid visualization of archetypal symbols to achieve
Psychosynthesis. Meditation, once a technique of various religious traditions is now being perfected
as a psychological technique. Meditation is mind-fasting or the deliberate attempt to still the mind. It
is an easy, effortless and restful state of alertness. It leads to both physical and mental relaxation.
Though some people speak of concentrative meditation and opening-up mediation, the general
policy is to regard concentration (on an object or idea) as a preliminary training and meditation
proper as reduction of thoughts or thoughtlessness. Meditation culminates in super consciousness.

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