第38章 (第3/3页)
immediate goals
b) Consciousness performs a selective storage function for those
special stimuli that are to be analyzed, interpreted, and acted
on
c) Consciousness performs a planning or executive control
function that enables the suppression of strong desires when
they conflict with moral, ethical, or practical concerns
C. Personal and Cultural Constructions of Reality
1. A personal construction of reality is an individual’s unique
interpretation of a current situation based on knowledge, memories,
needs, values, beliefs, and goals
a) When a personal construction of reality remains stable over
time, a sense of self or consciousness of self has continuity
over time
2. Cultural constructions of reality are ways of thinking about the world
that are shared by most members of a particular group of people
3. Consensual validation is the mutual affirmation of conscious
constructions of reality
D. Studying the Functions of Consciousness
1. Researchers use the SLIP (Spoonerisms of Laboratory Induced
Predisposition) technique to study the way in which unconscious
forces affect speech errors
III. Sleep and Dreams
A. Circadian rhythms–the human time cycle–influence arousal levels, metabolism, heart
rate, body temperature, hormonal activity, and other bodily processes. Circadian rhythms
are close to 24 hours.
1. Mismatches between circadian rhythms and environmental clocks can
affect how individuals feel, as it does in jet lag
2. About a third of each circadian rhythm is devoted to sleep
B. The Sleep Cycle
1. The electroencephalogram (EEG), which records electrical brain wave
activity, provided a methodological breakthrough in sleep research.
2. As an individual prepares for bed, brain wave activity averages about
14 cycles per second (cps)
3. Stage 1 sleep is characterized by brain waves of about 3 to 7 cps
4. Stage 2 sleep is characterized by sleep spindles, minute bursts of
electrical activity of 12 to 16 cps
5. Stage 3 sleep is characterized by deep relaxation and brain wave
activity of about 1 to 2 cps
88
CHAPTER 6: MIND, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND ALTERED STATES
6. Stage 4 sleep is characterized by even deeper relaxation and very slow
brain wave activity
7. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is characterized by a return to brain
wave activity similar to that found in stages 1 and 2, by the rapid eye
movements for which this stage is named, and by the presence of
dreams
8. The first four stages of sleep require about 90 minutes. REM sleep
about 10 minutes. During the course of a night, this 100-minute cycle
is repeated four to six times.
C. Why Sleep?