Wize University Psychology Textbook > Consciousness
Levels of Consciousness
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Levels of Consciousness
Psychodynamic Perspective
Conscious- things that we are currently aware of
Preconscious - things that we are not currently aware of, but can be brought to mind with relative ease.
Unconscious - things that cannot be brought to awareness in most circumstances.
Non-conscious processes do influence behaviour.
Example: placebo effects, subliminal perception
Cognitive Perspective
Unconscious processes are necessary to support conscious processes.
Controlled vs. Automatic Processing - some tasks are completed in an automatic way, that requires little or no awareness or effort. Some tasks are completed in a controlled way, that requires significant awareness and effort. Automatic processing is fast, but can result in errors and rarely comes up with novel solutions. Controlled processing is slow, but more creative.
Divided attention - the ability to perform more than one task at a time. Dividing attention is more difficult when tasks are more similar.
Low vs. High Awareness
Low awareness - processing of stimuli is largely unconscious, with only some stimuli making it into conscious awareness.
Examples: Priming (responding in a particular way because the concept has been "activated" without conscious awareness), Implicit Associations Test (IAT) that looks at reaction times to stimuli and categories to determine biases.
High awareness - effortful attention and decision making, of the kind required to solve a logic puzzle or listen to the details of a conversation.
We alternate between high and low awareness. We are more susceptible to influence by non-conscious stimuli when in a state of low awareness.
Flexible Correction Model - if we are aware that our thoughts or behaviours are being influenced by an outside source, we can correct against that bias.
Practice: Levels of Consciousness
During a particularly difficult exam, you are engaged in which level of consciousness?