Psych. Ch. 5 "Consciousness"
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Consciousness
A person’s subjective experience of the world
Experience is…
The defining feature of consciousness
Psychology, apart from objects, has to make sense of…
Subjects
The two great mysteries of consciousness:
the problem of other minds, and the mind/body problem.
Phenomenology-
How things seem to the conscious person
Problem of other minds:
the fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others; no way to tell if someone’s experience is at all like yours.
“zombie”:
a hypothetical nonconscious person
Two dimensions of mind perception:
experience and agency
Agency:
ability for self-control, planning, memory, or thought
The mind/body problem:
the issue of how the mind is related to the brain and body
Rene Descartes:
proposed that the human body is a machine made of physical matter but that the human mind or soul is a separate entity made of a “thinking substance”.
Brain activity happens before:
conscious experience or movement
• Four properties of consciousness:
intentionality, unity, selectivity, and transience
• Intentionality:
being directed toward an object
• Unity:
resistance to division; attention
• Selectivity:
the capacity to include some objects but not others.
• Dichotic listening:
consciousness can filter out some info, but it can also tune in to other info.
• The cocktail party phenomenon:
people tune in one message even while they filter out other nearby.
• Transience:
the tendency to change; the mind is a constant stream.
• Minimal consciousness:
consciousness that occurs when the mind inputs sensations and may output behavior; sensing sunlight.
• Full consciousness:
you know and are able to report your mental state; thinking about the fact that you are thinking about things.
• Self consciousness:
focuses on oneself to the exclusion of almost everything else; embarrassed, center of attention; on camera; deep thought about personal qualities.
• Experience sampling technique:
people are asked to report their conscious experiences at particular times; thinking aloud.
• Mental control:
the attempt to change conscious states of mind. .