Consciousness, Dreams, and Past Lives
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Transcript Consciousness, Dreams, and Past Lives
Psychology Chapter 2 & 6
Consciousness is awareness, experiencing
reality, your normal walking state
Unconscious: The memories and feelings that
are stored in your brain that you are not aware
of, but still effect your thoughts and behaviors
Altered states of consciousness (ASCs) reached
through dreams, hypnosis, or drugs
Create a world where senses and perceptions are no
longer restricted by reality
Dream research: Electroencephalograph (EEG)
records brain wave patterns
Do past lives exist? Can we connect to them
through our dreams?
Do you have any irrational and unexplained
phobias?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25aeYRUSGU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21sJme48HV
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eijor1bL8z0&
feature=relmfu
Body shuts down various functions, less
sensitive to stimuli
REM sleep (rapid eye movement): stage I where
most dreaming occurs, closest to consciousness
75% of time spent in deep sleep (stages II,III,IV)
Cycles about every 90 minutes
Everyone dreams: they occupy 18-33% of sleep
time
Essential to your physical and mental well-being
Allows body/brain to repair cells, sort and store
memories, waste cleared out, restore nerve systems,
and process info learned during the day
Allows unconscious an outlet so that it doesn’t affect
waking hours in form of hallucinations
Some believe these are the only functions, others
believe interpretations allow for insights into your
life and issues
Stories your brain makes up, based on things
you have seen/experienced, everyday life
Hormone levels change like experiencing
actual waking emotion, but muscles turned off
Dreams more often about anxiety or anger,
something that needs to be processed and dealt
with in your life
Dream meaning: Interpretation through
symbols
Manifest Content: what happens in the dream
Latent Content: the meaning behind what happens in the
dream
Falling: Fall from grace, fall out of favor or out of touch,
failing
Flying: Success and freedom or escaping something
Nudity: Usually in public, means anxiety
Exams: feeling unprepared, test in life
Losing money: warning about valuables or suggestion of
other type of loss
Finding money: Go ahead with plan/purchase, or reminder
that you are a person of value
Lucid Dreaming: You are aware you are dreaming and take control
of the content of the dream
Sleep talking: During transitions between sleep cycles, vocalizing
dreams
Sleep Walking: Caused by illness, stress, emotional issues or sleep
deprivation
Not in relation to dream content because it happens during deep
cycles of sleep
Reflex actions of routines from daily life, such as driving, eating,
bathing, etc.
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/sleepwalking.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuNzubLTI_A&safe=active
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPdgog3afTI&safe=active
Ancient people saw them as messages from God
Freud calls them “the royal road to knowledge of
the unconscious activities of the mind”
During sleep: unconscious calls attention to your
deepest needs, allows you “wish fulfillment”
Filled with imagery and symbols that can tell us
about various issues and the root cause of them
Attachment issues with parents, discover hidden desires,
sexual imagery and jealousy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lig53eW2
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1CJCAv
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feat
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feat
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Do you believe in hypnosis and the power of
suggestion?
ASC where subject enters into state of increased
suggestibility, total concentration on hypnotist
creates trance
9 out of 10 can be hypnotized: Best candidates are
cooperative, have good reason to do it, and are
creative and intelligent
http://app.discoveryeducation.com/search?Ntt=h
ypnosis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mW2YU3X
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Medical Use: To control/reduce/block-out
pain during surgery, dentistry, childbirth, etc.
Psychological Use: Discuss and deal with
issues to hard to talk about normally, as well as
childhood and past life regression
Overcome addictions: posthypnotic suggestion
Legal Use: Crime evidence and courtroom
testimonies (controversial)
Subjects are eager to please hypnotist so though they
will tell the truth, they may create info to fill in gaps
The unique pattern of thought, feelings and
behavior by which each person reacts to the
external world
Grows from a complex system of conscious
thought, unconscious drives, and life
experiences
Creates the personal values and goals that help
you set priorities
Everyone’s personality is unique
An individual will generally behave consistently
from one situation to another
Modern General Consensus: Environment has
the most influence on personality development
proper childhood nurturing, good diet, available
health care, freedom from worry, and feelings shared
with family/friends
Hard to study, widely debated, various
theories
Studied to determine what is
normal/abnormal, learn about social/cultural
differences, explain morals and values
Ancient beliefs about influences of gods,
demons, spirits, and astrology
Gall’s Phrenology: Feeling bumps on the head
to determine traits of personality (1800s)
Sociobiology: Genes programmed to determine
behavior based on survival instinct
Studied twins separated at birth
Humors: Created by Hippocrates in 400 BC,
determine health and behavior due to excess or
deficiency of bodily fluids
Phlegm: passive, careful, slow-moving
Black bile: Melancholic, anxious
Yellow bile: Irritable, angry
Blood: Easygoing, optimistic
Altered in 1960s to this form:
http://similarminds.com/eysenck.html
Body type determines personality and behavior
Pioneer in
mental testing
to determine
range of personality
characteristics
Freud forms first major personality theory
Combination of hereditary and environment shapes
personality developments, as well as contributions
of unconscious = Freud’s unique contribution
Controversial: Changed mindset of psychology
Theory grew from Freud’s treatments of mentally ill
His discoveries lead to proper treatment
Many controversial studies for time period; not
given recognition until 1920s
Your mind is an iceberg: conscious,
preconscious and unconscious
Freudian slip: indicator of unconscious issues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpu_iEsISuI&
safe=active
Life and Death forces in all of us:
Eros: Life-survival instincts, fueled by psychic
energy of libido which allows us to love
Thanatos: Death wish-can lead to suicide, crime,
genocide and war if unchecked
Humans are caught between their own needs and
the needs of society
Three forces to help resolve conflict
Id: Goal is to maximize pleasure and minimize
pain = selfish needs and desires
Wants immediate satisfaction, whether it’s right
or wrong
Allows us to find joy in experiences
Buried in the unconscious
Moderating force between demands of Id and
the world around you
Measures risk and analyzes consequences
before allowing Id to take action
Wants to provide pleasure with least amount of
pain
Helps suppress desires that conflict with
society but ultimately wants to satisfy Id
Superego absorbs social morals/values taught
to us by our parents/society
Demands you behave morally, do what’s right
In conflict with Id’s desire for pleasure
Saves you from temptation
Punishes with feelings of guilt when you do
something wrong (conscience)
Rewards with good feelings when you
do something right (ego ideal)
Repression: block out painful memories to protect
yourself, but still effect your life
Displacement: Take your emotions out on
someone else more vulnerable
Sublimation: Turn powerful negative feelings into
positive socially accepted expression of emotion
Projection: Displace hard to deal with internal
stress and project it onto outside target to cope
with your own inadequacies/insecurities
Regression: Return to infantile state of behavior when
faced with stress/anxiety, overuse can lead to pattern
of nonproductive behavior
Reaction Formation: converts forbidden feelings into
positive feelings/motivation, with underlying
resentment
Rationalization: Justifying excuses when you feel
guilty for not living up to your own expectations,
issues with never taking responsibility for your own
actions
Procrastination: Avoid completing unpleasant task to
avoid stress or fear of failure, usually causes more
stress
Children formerly thought to be “pure and
innocent angels”
Freud “murdered childhood” saying we all
have sexual feelings/desire from birth
We are taught these natural feelings are
“abnormal” and attempt to repress them
Sexual feelings surface in dreams, Freudian
slips, jokes, etc.
Freud believes sex is the single most powerful
force in determining our feelings, thoughts and
actions
Oral Stage: First year of life; eating
Explore with mouth
Oral fixation later in life is not resolved
Anal Stage: Age 2-3; potty training
Child needs to feel pride and learn in their own time
Develop a rebellious or anal retentive (controlling) personality
later in life if forced
Phallic Stage: Age 4-6; Oedipus complex
Children learn relationship skills from opposite sex parent
Develop issues is that parent isn’t present/attentive
Daddy issues or Mama’s boy
Latency Period: Age 6-puberty
Spend time with same sex groups
Opposite sex “has cooties”
Genital Stage: Puberty into adult life
Explore love relationships and sexuality
If some stage is unresolved then it prevents normal development
and healthy intimacy
Penis envy and sexism issues
Use couch; therapist is mostly silent until
personal progress is made, then make
observations and suggestions
Free association: Speak freely about anything
that comes to mind without guilt
Use insights about past to overcome present
barriers to happiness
Transference: Attach feelings about important
people to analyst, rely on them, love/hate
relationship, then ask yourself what you want
from analyst and from life