Consciousness

1
Consciousness
The most complicated achievements of thought are
possible without the assistance of consciousness
-Sigmund Freud

• Panel Presentation
• PSYCH 100
• Jessica Koppel, Kevin Maggi and Lisa Harada

2
What is Consciousness?

• Described as one of the most mysterious aspects
  of life
• No complete definition
• Term used in 3 distinct senses
• 1. Consciousness as wakefulness
• 2. Consciousness as voluntary action
• 3. Consciousness as awareness

3
Wakefulness

• Why do we sleep?
• Evolutionary adaptation to night and day
• Why are we awake?
• Daniel Dennett (1995)

The lion and the lamb shall lie down together,
but the lamb will not be very sleepy -Woody Allen
Source Google Images
4
Voluntary Action

• Not everything we do or think involves
  consciousness
• Examples walking or eye movements
• Cognitive unconsciousness
• Controlled and automatic processes
• Practical and social skills

Source Google Images
5
Awareness

• Unity of Consciousness
• Unity of Self and Unity of the world
• Binding problem and common sense
• Visual dominance

6
Awareness

• Self-Awareness
• Primate experiments
• Video
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vvJFo3trMuD8feature
  related

7
Article

• "The goal pursuit can involve deliberate and
  conscious processes, but can also occur
  automatically and nonconsciously, following the
  priming of specific contents"

• Interesting Points
• consciousness and goals
• Performance/competitiveness
• Wire game

8
Critical Review

• Evolutionary Psych
• Interesting Points
• Primate experiment
• No complete definition
• Binding problem
• Arguments
• Consciousness as wakefulness
• Self-deception
• Controlled vs. automatic processing

9
Test Questions

• 1) According to Gaulin and McBurneys
  Evolutionary Psychology, consciousness is
  related in all these distinct senses except
  consciousness as
• a) wakefulness
• b) alertness
• c) voluntary action
• d) awareness
• 2) All of the following exemplify automatic
  processing except for
• A) eating food
• B) walking
• C) typing
• D) blinking
• 3) When it comes to the senses, which is the most
  dominant in identification?
• A) taste
• B) touch
• C) sight
• D) sound
• 4) T/F Although both primates, chimpanzees have
  proven through various studies to have far more
  self-awareness.
• 5) T/F A sense that often involves conscious
  sensations is walking.
• 6) T/F Humans spend 1/4 of their lives sleeping

10
Bibliography

• Dawkins, Richard (1976). Genesmanship The
  Selfish Gene, 88-108.
• Delouvee, Sylvain, Legal, Jean-Baptiste, and
  Meyer, Thierry (2006). Effect Of Compatibility
  Between Conscious Goal And Nonconscious Priming
  On Performance. Current Research in Social
  Psychology, 126, 80-90.
• Gaulin, Steven J.C., McBurney, Donald H.
  (2004). Consciousness Evolutionary Psychology
  2nd Ed, 101-120.
• (2008, March 13). National Geographic.
  Self-Recognition in Apes. Retrieved from
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vvJFo3trMuD8feature
  related