PSYC 1001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Disinhibition, Caffeine, Charlotte Selver

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1001
• Professor: Elaine Waddington Lamont

Document Summary

Consciousness: the awareness of internal and external stimuli, being awake, consciousness of self. William james (1902) named this flow the stream of consciousness. Constant shifting and changing seem to be part of the essential nature of consciousness. Conscious experience (feeling of presence) is caused by the activity of the brain, can change conscious experience by changing the timing of physical sensations. Mind wandering: refers to people"s experience of task-unrelated thoughts, that aren"t related to what they are intentionally trying to do at a given moment. People spend 15-50% of their time mind wandering. The quality of decisions made under conditions when individuals do not have the opportunity to engage in conscious thought may sometimes be more accurate. If people are distracted or diverted from conscious deliberation , some decisions may actually be enhanced, compared to conditions under which people have ample opportunity for conscious deliberation. Eeg: brain-wave tracings vary in amplitude (height) and frequency (cycles per second, cps).